S.W. WHEELOCK

 

Stillman W. Wheelock, President of the Moline Plow Company, of the Moline Paper Mill Company, and of the Moline National Bank. The Wheelocks were among the earliest settlers, dating their ancestry in this country back to the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers. Their history, first to last, were it possible
to chronicle it within any allotted space, would be,in a large number of individual instances, an unbroken recital of simple life, exemplary morals, industry, energy, and good citizenship.

Chapin and Miss Lucy Wheelock) both having the same inherited name) were married at their native town, Worcester, Mass., in 1808, and of their six sons, brought up to manhood, the one whose name heads this article was third in order of birth. His parents moved from Massachusetts to Erie Co., N. Y., in 1812, and there, on June 18,1816, Stillman W. Wheelock was born. The elder Mr. Wheelock was a farmer, and brought his sons up to know something of that industry, though it does not appear any one of them ever followed it for any length of time, except one brother, Hon. D. L. Wheelock, who movod to Moline from his farm in Cook Co., Ill., in 1865, which he sold. After remaining in the city ten years he was elected at first Mayor, and reelected two terms. On his removal from this place he settled in Washington Co., Iowa, where he now owns a large farm. Chapin Wheelock, Sr., died Jan. 10, 1835, at the old home in Massachusetts, to which place he had temporarily returned.

In September of the same year S. W. left his home at Holland, N, Y., and spent two years in Massachusetts, making his home with his grandparents, but working out in Worcester and Brookfield, at a low rate of wages. In the fall of 1837 he took his accumulated earnings (some $250), returned to the family home in New York, and spent the amount in schooling, at the Aurora Academy. The following winter he taught a public school in his native village, at $15 per month and board (" boarding round " was then the custom in that section), and in the spring of 1839, with just $60 in his pocket, he left Buffalo, on the old steamer "Anthony Wayne," landing at Chicago May 10, 1839. At that time there was no railroad into Chicago. The city had but one brick building, the old " Lake House," on the North Side. The streets were a sea of mud, and the side­ walks were few and exceedingly rickety and irreg­ ular. Mr. Wheelock took out of his trunk sufficient clothing for immediate use, tied it in a yellow bandana, slung the bundle over his shoulder on the end of a hickory stick, and took foot passage to Naperville, 15 miles distant, where he spent the first night.

Next day he walked to St. Charles, then a promising Western town on Fox River. Determined to take employment at something which would make him a living, without caring much what the work might be, he took a job in a hard-wood saw-mill at $ji per day, of 12 hours each. The board he received was mostly mush and milk, fat pork and corn bread. Here he worked one year, in company with S. B. Flint (now dead), whose sister Mr. Wheelock after­ ward married. The Flint family had come to St. Charles a year before. In 1840 the two men named, under the firm name of Flint & Wheelock, rented the saw-mill, and ran it on their own account. It had two upright saws and one lath saw. The business partnership naturally developed an intimacy which resulted in the marriage of S. W. Wheelock and Lydia Flint, at St. Charles, in March, 1842.

Abandoning the sawmill, Mr. Wheelock went into the hotel business, in the same town, which he continued for two years. He then exchanged the hotel for a farm, lying some seven miles from St. Charles, and in the meantime built a brick dwelling in town, which he occupied for several years, giving his attention to his farm.

During the period covered by these memoranda, O. M. Butler and B. T. Hunt built a paper-mill at St. Charles, of which C. N. Smedley, of Vermont, was superintendent.

Convinced that paper making would be a thrifty business in the West, and learning that there was a splendid water-power at Moline, Mr. Wheelock and Mr. Smedley, having but small capital between them, came down to Moline in the spring of 1851, and bought out the old foundry of N. B. Buford, for $5,000. It stood on the site of the present Moline Paper Mill. The purchase, outside of the real estate, was a shaky frame building, about 40 x 60 feet. Smedley at once went to Brattleboro, Vt., and made a contract for machinery for the new mill. Mr. Butler, of St. Charles, evidently fearing that this mill might interfere with his business, promptly represented to the manufacturers that Wheelock & Smedley, with whom the contract had been made, were not a sound firm. On this representation, the firm declined to make the machines, although they had twice agreed to do so. Mr. Wheelock then went to Goddard, Rice & Co., of Worcester, Mass., ordered his machinery, and it was promptly made. This machinery came from Boston to New Orleans by ocean; thence by boat up the Mississippi River, and was landed near the foot of Lynde Street. Its arrival excited a great deal of curiosity, and its landing was witnessed by many interested spectators. Since then Mr. W. has bought all his machinery from Goddard, Rice & Company, because they had the good sense to trust him when he was struggling for a business footing.

In the fall of 1851 Mr. W. brought his wife and furniture down from St. Charles in a wagon. Here Mr. and Mrs. W. went to housekeeping, mutually aiding each other in life's duties, faithfully toiling together, and together reaping the fruit of their united industry. In 1853 Mr. Smedley sold his interest in the paper mill to James Fergus. Prior to 1854,16 year in which the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad was completed to this point, all chemicals used in the mill had to be hauled by teams from Peru, Ill., to which point they were brought by canal from Chicago. The paper manufactured was delivered by teams to Galena, Dubuque, Cedar Rapids, Oltumwa, Galesburg, Peoria, Knoxville, and other towns in Illinois and Iowa. They usually returned with a cargo of rags. Mr. Weelock himself started with a four horse load of print paper for Galena on a cold day in the winter of 1856. At Hampton he was compelled to buy a warm cap. He delivered the paper to the purchaser, reloaded with a cargo of rags, and reached home all right.

Mr. W. claims to have made his greatest money, has invested in it a capital stock of $140,000, about $80,- ooo of which is held by the President, Mr. W. j-^Mr. Wheelock was also one of the organizers of and stockholders in the Malleable Iron Works, under its organization of June, 1884, with a capital stock of $75,000, of which he is by far the largest stock­holder. In this year also was organized the Moline Central Street Railway, with Mr. Wheelock as Presi­ dent, and in June, 1885, the road was thrown open to the public.

Of the three sisters and five brothers of Mr. Wheelock, only one of the former and two of the latter are living. To these Mr. Wheelock, from the great abundance of his wealth, has liberally given from time to time. The Churches ot every denomi­ nation in the city have been the recipients of his bounty, and the poor and needy ever find in him a friend that causes them to remember him with their blessing. The three story building occupied 12 years by the Moline posloffice was built by Mr. and Mrs. Wheelock. and its second and third stories presented to the Free Library Association. Nor was this all: the first large moneyed donation to this great public institution was by Mr. Wheelock, and opposite his name was placed the sum of $500.

Notwithstanding his gigantic business interests, covering over a million of dollars, and involving the welfare of hundreds of people, he has found time to render the public in an official way much service. In 1877 he was elected Mayor of the city; re-elected in 1879, and again in i88r. Public-spirited at all times, his moral and substantial support may always

In 1860 he built the stone portion of the mill now standing, and put in a 68-inch Fourdrinier paper machine. The original machine was removed to the basement, where it is still doing service in the manufacture of wrapping paper.

The Paper Mill Company is at present a chartered incorporation, with a capital stock of $140,000. The officers are S. W. Wheelock, President; Everett Wheelock, Secretary and Treasurer.

During the past few years Mr. Wheelock has paid considerable attention to the raising of thoroughbred horses and cattle, and numbers among his posses­ sions in that line some of the finest bloods in the State.

In 1872 Canbee, Swan & Company, plow manufacturers, having been somewhat pressed to the wall by moneyed and ambitious rivals, Mr. Wheelock, first through sympathy, and second as a business scheme, came to their rescue, and at once laid down $75,000, reorganized the concern, converted it into a stock company, and became its President. In 1884 a statement of the Moline Plow Company showed that the capital stock was $400,000, and its cash surplus amounted to $800,000. July 1, 1885, the capital stock was increased to $800,000, one-half of which is controlled by Mr. Wheelock, leaving a net surplus of $400,000.

Chapin A. Wheelock, his elder brother, is associ­ ated with him in the paper-mill, owning a portion of the stock, and has been active in the business since its organization, and has now retired mostly from the business. He has two sons engaged in the mill.

He has been a Republican since the organization of that party, and during the late Civil War did much to aid the authorities in carrying forward the cause of the Union. As financial agent of the appropri­ ations and funds raised for caring for the soldiers' families, he did efficient service. During the various campaigns he has always given liberally, both of time and money, to promote the cause of the party with whose principles he was in sympathy.

Personally, Mr. Wheelock is a man of genial and pleasing address and impresses one at sight with the force and strength of his character. His executive abilities are really wonderful. He will successfully manage a large number of important enterprises, any one of which would be quite sufficient for about all the energy of an ordinary man. But Mr. Wheelock

has the rare faculty of infusing his force into the minds of his associates; hence his very presence in an establishment has the effect of drawing out anddeveloping the best working talent of every employe.

This aggressive force is what has made Mr. \Vheelock the success that he is. When he makes up his mind that a certain thing has to be done, it is almost equally certain that it will be done, and obstacles and opposition which would discourage most men, seem to have on him nothing more than the effect of a stimulant, by bringing out his reserve force.

As a friend, Mr. Wheelock is an ardent and constant one, and a friendship once formed by him can be broken only by the basest ingratitude or treachery on the part of the one in whom he had reposed confidence. No one man has done more to build up and advance the interests of Moline; hence he can appropriately be termed one of its strongest pillars.

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