Shaver, F. A., Arthur P. Rose, R. F. Steele, and A. E. Adams, compilers.  "An
Illustrated History of Central Oregon." ("Embracing Wasco, Sherman, Gilliam,
Wheeler, Crook, Lake, & Klamath Counties")  Spokane, WA: Western Historical
Publishing Co., 1905.  p. 486.
 
JACOB B. WHEAT

     a well-known pioneer of Sherman county and a veteran of the civil war, is
at present a farmer residing three miles east of Moro.  He was born in Jefferson
county, Indiana, May 1, 1836, the son of Nathaniel and Martha (McCloud) Wheat,
the former a native of Virginia; the latter of North Carolina, her ancestry
being Scottish.  The parents of Nathaniel Wheat were Virginians, but their
ancestors came from Holland.  Nathaniel served with distinction in the War of
1812; his father was in the Revolutionary War.  Nathaniel was a member of
Colonel Johnson's Kentucky Mounted Riflemen, and was with Johnson at the time
the great Indian chief, Tecumseh, was killed.  Following the War of 1812
Nathaniel removed to Indiana.
   Jacob B. Wheat, our subject, lived in Indiana until he was thirteen years of
age, when his parents removed to Missouri.  They were farmers, the father being
quite a prominent man in Lawrence county.  He was an old line Whig, a union man
during the Civil war, and, although often urged to accept office refrained from
doing so.  All through the war he remained a stanch Republican.  He died in
1867.  The mother had passed away in 1863.
   In May, 1861, our subject enlisted in Captain Burrows' home guard company,
Colonel Martin's regiment.  In October, 1862, he enlisted in Company K., Captain
Thomas Burgess, Colonel John Allen. He was in the Price raid campaign, and in a
number of bushwhacker fights, until the close of the war, his field of action
having been confined to Missouri and Arkansas. After the war he worked at
various employments, farming, carpentry and wagon making, continuing the same
for a period of about thirteen years. In 1880 he came to Sherman county, and in
the spring of 1881 located at his present home, but with limited capital. He
took up a half section of land, which he now rents, but resides there with his
wife.
     In September, 1855, in Lawrence county, Missouri, Mr. Wheat was married to
Charlotte T. Neece, a native of Tennessee. She is the daughter of Ellis and
Annie (Reese) Neece, both natives of Tennessee, as were their parents. The
ancestors of the father were Virginians, of Norman extraction ; those of the
mother of Scotch lineage.
     Our subject has one sister living, Rachel, widow of Leroy Ayers, of
Arkansas. Mrs. Wheat has two brothers and six sisters living Robert, of Canyon
City, Oregon; William, of Colorado, both in the stock business ; Sophie, widow
of Daniel Jones, of Lawrence county, Missouri; Huldah, wife of William C. Elsey;
Alcy, wife of Levi G. Hillhouse, both of Lawrence county, Missouri ; and
Elizabeth, wife of John Stuart, a farmer in Christian county, Missouri ;
America, wife of T. C. Elsey ; Sarah, wife of James Askins; besides two sisters
and three brothers deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Wheat have four children ; Nathaniel
P., a farmer living near Oakland, Oregon ; Edwin B., an optician and jeweler at
Boise, Idaho; Don C., a farmer living two miles from Moro ; and Henrietta M.,
wife of William H. Rose, a farmer near Roseburg, Oregon.
     Both Mr. Wheat and his estimable wife are members of the Baptist church,
and have been since 1855. He is a Republican, politically, and has frequently
been delegate to county conventions since the organization of Sherman county. He
was precinct committeeman when the county was cut off from other territory, and
was chairman of the first Republican county convention held in the new political
division. He has never sought office, but has frequently served as school
director, and clerk.   A man of strict integrity and sound business judgment,
popular in social and business circles, he is one highly esteemed by all who
know him.


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Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in January 2010 by Diana Smith.  Submitter
has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.