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.
m.1 (1728 Charles co, MD) Ann WHEELER (b: 1705/9 Charles co., MD). Issue:
William ELDER b: 5 Sep 1729 in "Good Will", Prince George's Co, MD
Charles ELDER b: 1730 in Prince George's Co., MD
Guy ELDER b: 1731 in "Good Will", Prince George's Co, MD
Richard ELDER b: 1734 in "Good Will", Prince George's Co, MD
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]
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]
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DNA Connections
It may be possible to confirm family relationships with Ann by comparing test results with other carriers of her mitochondrial DNA.
However, there are no known mtDNA test-takers in her direct maternal line.
It is likely that these autosomal DNA test-takers will share some percentage of DNA with Ann: