The highlight of that day for me (besides spending quality time with her) was turning the page to find an old tintype with a label underneath the photo that said "Check's grandfather, Grandfather Wheeler". Check is what they called my grandfather, William Chester Wheeler. I knew right away what I was looking at because I have searched for many years in hopes to find a photo of this man, my 2 times Great Grandfather. I was looking at a tintype photo of Jesse Wheeler and his wife E.C. Wheeler and their child.
A little back story if you will......... When I first started in my family research there was one name that really stuck out to me. Jesse Wheeler, from Hall County, Ga. Jesse was born in Hall County, Ga. but moved to Lamar County in the 1850s. His headstone says that he was in Company D of the 26th Alabama Infantry during what many now refer to as the Civil War. Jesse is buried at Mt. Zion in Lamar County. The first time I visited his grave was a very emotional day for me. I was standing at his grave in amazement that so many years after he was laid to rest I was meeting him (so to speak) for the first time! I envisioned him going to church there a few feet away from his grave in the little church building. I envisioned so many things that he would have lived through in the 1800s. I thought about what he may have looked like. I could just see these things in my mind and felt compelled to learn more about him and also the 26th Alabama Infantry.
As it would turn out information on him was limited. I searched everywhere for a photo of him but could not find one anywhere that I looked. A local book about the first settlers had his parents wrong and sent me on a 3 year wild goose chase. I eventually figured out that the book had his parents listed wrongly and once I figured that out many doors started to open. I was able to track him back to Hall County, Ga and found photos of some of this brothers but never much on him.
Over the years of researching my family and obsessing with Jesse and also the 26 Alabama Infantry I started to realize that I had a rather large collection of photos and documents from the 26th Alabama. I started a facebook page dedicated to the men of the 26th in hopes that I could help others find photos or documents on their ancestor, and admittedly, I hoped one day someone would come to my page and have a photo of my ancestor. I can tell you that I feel a great deal of joy when someone comes to my page and tells me that because of my page they have seen a photo of their ancestor for the first time or the final resting place of their ancestor.
For years I have added things to that page as I found them and have tons more to add from my records as I have time but I was starting to think that I would never find a photo of my ancestor, Jesse Wheeler. Maybe a photo of him didn't exist. Maybe it did but was not labeled and I would never have a way of knowing. I won't say I was losing hope but I will say that I felt like my chances were slim. My only hope was the advances in technology on the internet with websites such as ancestry.com and other sites where users are always adding new photos and information.
Now, here I was this weekend with my eyes and mouth wide open! Looking face to face with a man I have researched for many many hours. I was in amazement all over again even more than when I stood at his grave. I found it! There he was with his wife and child!
I will say here that I was beyond happy that the photo was labeled underneath it because right away I had a question about the child. The child appeared to be in a dress of some sort. The child's age was too young to be the last girl child of Jesse. I had heard about boys wearing "dresses" or "gowns" back in the old days. I even have a photo from the 1920's of my grandfather on my moms side wearing what appears to be a gown of some type. I guess this was common practice among young children due to an ease of changing them. That said, I wanted to be sure so I sent copies of the photo to three different people whom I consider experts in styles of the day, photos of the day and just experts in general when it comes to old photographs such as this. I did not give them any information on the photo and all three came back and dated the photo as being late 1860s through very early 1870s. That fit in perfect with the age of the man in the photo along with when he died, around 1871.
What about the child? ..........Well all three said they felt it was a boy. One said the boots appeared to be that of a girl but still felt it was a boy due to a side part in the hair rather than a middle part which was common in girls of the day and which can also be seen on the woman in the photo. I was also told that poor families would use hand me downs and that the boots the child were wearing could quite possibly be left over from the child's sister a few years earlier.
With everything checking out with the photo I was very happy. I just wanted to be sure, even though it was labeled.
On top of all of that, my grandmother seen the excitement that I had when finding the old tintype so she told me I could have it. It is now one of my most prized possessions. I will cherish it from now till my dying day. (Thank you Maw, Love You)
If you made it to the end of this long post I want to thank you. I had to share my joy and excitement and let it also be known that if you are looking for something on an ancestor to NEVER give up that search. You may find what you are looking for and it may be right under your nose somewhere like this photo.
(Me holding the tintype photo of my 2x Great Grandfather Jesse Wheeler, Wife E.C. Wheeler and Child who is thought to be either Thomas Nathan Wheeler, my Great Grandfather or Wesley Carl Wheeler, their last child)
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