Ann (Wheeler) Elder (1709 - 1739)

Born 15 Sep 1709 in Charles County, Maryland

Ancestors

Wife of Willam Elder II — married 1728 in Charles County, Maryland

Descendants

Died 11 Aug 1739 at age 29 in Emmitsburg, Frederick County, Maryland

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This profile is part of the Wheeler Name Study.

Biography

Ann Wheeler was the first wife of the patriarch William Elder, who in turn was the first European to settle in the norternmost reaches of what is now Frederick County, Maryland. She died in 1739 near Mechanicstown (subsequently renamed "Thurmont", leaving her widower and five children. Tradition says she was buried in the hollowed-out trunk of a chestnut tree, a wood known for its high resistance to decay. When William Elder moved to the site of his final homestead, some six miles to the north, he had Ann's remains reinterred at a site adjacent to his new home.

Birth: 1709 Charles co. Maryland^[1]

Marriage

m.1 (1728 Charles co, MD) Ann WHEELER (b: 1705/9 Charles co., MD). Issue:

1. William ELDER b: 5 Sep 1729 in "Good Will", Prince George's Co, MD
2. Charles ELDER b: 1730 in Prince George's Co., MD
3. Guy ELDER b: 1731 in "Good Will", Prince George's Co, MD
4. Richard ELDER b: 1734 in "Good Will", Prince George's Co, MD
5. Mary ELDER b: ABT 1735 in "Good Will", Prince George's Co, MD

Death

• Fact: Burial (11 August 1739) Emmitsburg, Frederick, Maryland.^[1]
• Fact: Place of Death - Near Mechanicstown, renamed "Thurmont". Was moved to her final resting place when William Elder moved 6 miles to the north to his final homestead. "Having no lumber to construct a coffin, they hollowed out a log, which was used instead. Some years after he removed to the farm known as Pleasant Level (opposite Clairvoux Mansion), he took his wife's remains with him, reburying her on this farm the area now known as the Elder family Cemetery ^[2]

Buried Elder Family Cemetery, Emmitsburg, Frederick Co., MD. ^[3]

“Ann’s tombstone is believed to be the oldest in the Emmitsburg area...Several years ago the original markers were removed to the Marylandia Collection of Mount Saint Mary’s College and were replaced by marble markers. The inscriptions from these markers reads as follows:- ...2. Here Remains the Body of Ann Wheeler, first wife of William Elder Senior Departed this life August the 6th, 1739, Aged 30 years.” ^[4]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Maryland Elder and family; Russell-net
2. ↑ James A. Helman's (1906) - History of Emmitsburg, Maryland : with a prelude of historical facts of Frederick County, and a romance https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/records/item/221013-history-of-emmitsburg-maryland-with-a-prelude-of-historical-facts-of-frederick-county-and-a-romance-entitled-disappointed-or-the-recluse-of-huckle-s-field?viewer=1&offset=0#page=14&viewer=picture&o=info&n=0&q=
3. ↑ https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/80919/elder-family-cemetery
4. ↑ Gilland, Steve. "Early Families of Frederick County.." (Westminster, MD: Heritage Books, Inc., 2006), p. 11.

• FamilySearch 22 Feb 2017, 16:32), entry for Ann Wheeler.[1]

• Find A Grave: Memorial #7711836

• Marcella Jehl Dawson GEDCOM - Dunstan CONT Houston, TX 77005

• Webb, B.J. (1880). Catholicity in Kentucky: The Elder family of Maryland and Kentucky. The American Catholic Quarterly Review, 5, pp. 654. Philadelphia: Hardy & Mahony. Google Books. see section of: William Elder 1707 - 1775. Note that Webb (1880), writing 20 years before Williams (1910), states that William immigrated from England.[2]

• Williams, T.J.C. (1910). History of Frederick County, Maryland, 2, pp. 835. Hathitrust. eBook.[3]