Samuel P. Wheeler (1839–1906) was a prominent

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

of the nineteenth century.

Biography

Samuel P. Wheeler was born in

Binghamton, New York Binghamton () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, and serves as the county seat of Broome County. Surrounded by rolling hills, it lies in the state's Southern Tier region near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the conflue ...

on January 12, 1839, the son of

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

Dr. Alvan Wheeler. After

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

, he moved to

, initially finding work as a

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

. He was

admitted to the bar An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...

of Illinois at age 20 and then established a

law practice In its most general sense, the practice of law involves giving legal advice to clients, drafting legal documents for clients, and representing clients in legal negotiations and court proceedings such as lawsuits, and is applied to the professi ...

Mound City, Illinois Mound City is a city and the county seat of Pulaski County, Illinois, United States. It is located along the Ohio River just north of its confluence with the Mississippi River. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 588. History Mound Ci ...

. He later moved his practice to

Cairo, Illinois Cairo ( ) is the southernmost city in Illinois and the county seat of Alexander County. The city is located at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Fort Defiance, a Civil War camp, was built here in 1862 by Union General Ulysses ...

, where he was associated with

William J. Allen William Joshua Allen (June 9, 1829 – January 26, 1901), frequently known as W. J. Allen, was an American lawyer, jurist, and politician. He served as a United States representative from Illinois and a United States district judge of the United ...

. Wheeler practiced law in Cairo until 1887, although he did move to

Mount Carmel, Illinois Mount Carmel is a city in and the county seat of Wabash County, Illinois, United States. At the time of the 2010 census, the population was 7,284, and it is the largest city in the county. The next largest town in Wabash County is Allendale, po ...

at one point to serve as a director of the

Cairo and Vincennes Railroad The Cairo and Vincennes Railroad was a 19th-century American railroad that connected Cairo, Illinois, with Vincennes, Indiana. It was chartered by the state of Illinois in 1867 through the efforts of former American Civil War General Green B. Raum ...

. In 1887, Wheeler's longtime law partner William Joshua Allen was appointed as a

United States federal judge In the United States, federal judges are judges who serve on courts established under Article Three of the U.S. Constitution. They include the chief justice and the associate justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, the circuit judges of the U.S. Cou ...

for the

United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois The United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois (in case citations, S.D. Ill.) is a federal district court covering approximately the southern third of the state of Illinois. Appeals from the Southern District of Illinois ...

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...

Grover Cleveland Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. Cleveland is the only president in American ...

. At this point, Wheeler moved to

Springfield, Illinois Springfield is the capital of the U.S. state of Illinois and the county seat and largest city of Sangamon County. The city's population was 114,394 at the 2020 census, which makes it the state's seventh most-populous city, the second largest o ...

, joining the firm of Brown, Wheeler, Brown & Hay (the firm is still in existence, and has been known as Brown, Hay & Stephens since 1921). His colleagues there included Christopher C. Brown,

John T. Stuart John Todd Stuart (November 10, 1807 – November 28, 1885) was a lawyer and a U.S. Representative from Illinois. Born near Lexington, Kentucky, Stuart graduated from Centre College, Danville, Kentucky, in 1826. He then studied law, was ...

, and

Benjamin S. Edwards Benjamin S. Edwards (June 3, 1818 – February 4, 1886) was an Illinois lawyer, politician, and judge. Benjamin S. Edwards' Biography Benjamin S. Edwards was born on June 3, 1818, in Edwardsville, Illinois, the son of Ninian Edwards, who was g ...

. During his time at Springfield, Wheeler acted as receiver for the

, the Jacksonville, Louisville and St. Louis Railway, and the Chicago, Peoria and St. Louis Railroad. Wheeler was active in the

Illinois State Bar Association The Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA) is among largest voluntary state bar associations in the United States. Approximately 28,000 lawyers are members of the ISBA. Unlike some state bar associations, in which membership is mandatory, ISBA memb ...

, and took a special interest in advocating on behalf of the act that created the

Illinois Appellate Court The Illinois Appellate Court is the court of first appeal for civil and criminal cases rising in the Illinois Circuit Courts. Three Illinois Appellate Court judges hear each case and the concurrence of two is necessary to render a decision. The ...

. When the constitutionality of this act was challenged, Wheeler, along with Anthony Thornton and Harvey B. Hurd argued successfully in favor of the act's constitutionality. Wheeler was elected president of the Illinois State Bar Association in 1893, succeeding

Lyman Trumbull Lyman Trumbull (October 12, 1813 – June 25, 1896) was a lawyer, judge, and United States Senator from Illinois and the co-author of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Born in Colchester, Connecticut, Trumbull esta ...

. Wheeler was active in the

Presbyterian Church in the United States of America The Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (PCUSA) was the first national Presbyterian denomination in the United States, existing from 1789 to 1958. In that year, the PCUSA merged with the United Presbyterian Church of North Americ ...

and served as a member of the

board of directors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

of the Southern Illinois Normal School for twenty five years. Wheeler died on December 2, 1906.

References

James H. Matheny, "Samuel P. Wheeler: A Memorial," ''Transactions of the Illinois State Historical Society for the Year 1907'', pp. 141-144
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wheeler, Samuel P. 1839 births 1906 deaths Lawyers from Springfield, Illinois Lawyers from Binghamton, New York People from Mound City, Illinois