HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.
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(two volumes, 1864) and "By-Ways of Literature'' (1883), besides some translations.
WHEELER, Hamilton K., ex-Congressman, was born at Ballston, N. Y., August 5, 1848, but emigrated with his parents to Illinois in 1852; remained on a farm until 19 years of age, his educational advantages being limited to three months' attendance upon a district school eacli year. In 1871, he was admitted to the bar at Kankakee, where he has since continued to practice. In 1884 he was elected to represent the Sixteenth District in the State Senate, where he served on many important committees, being Chairman of that on the Judicial Department. In 1892 he was elected Representative in Congress from the Ninth Illinois District, on the Republican ticket.
WHEELING, a town on the northern border of Cook County, on the Wisconsin Central Railway. Population (1890), 811; (1000), 331.
WHISTLER, (Maj.) John, soldier and builder of the first Fort Dearborn, was born in Ulster, Ireland, about 1756; served under Burgoyne in the Revolution, and was with the force surrendered by that officer at Saratoga, in 1777. After the peace he returned to the United States, settled at Hagerstown, Md., and entered the United States Army, serving at first in the ranks and being severely wounded in the disastrous Indian campaigns of 1791. Later, he was promoted to a captaincy and, in the summer of 1803, sent with his company, to the head of Lake Michigan, where he constructed the first Fort Dearborn within the limits of the present city of Chicago, remaining in command until 1811, when he was succeeded by Captain Heald. He received the brevet rank of Major, in 1815 was appointed military store-keeper at Newport, Ky., and afterwards at Jefferson Barracks, near St. Louis, where he died, Sept. 3, 1829. Lieut. William Whistler, his son, who was with his father, for a time, in old Fort Dearborn-but transferred, in 1809, to Fort Wayne-was of the force included in Hull's surrender at Detroit in 1812. After his exchange he was promoted to a captaincy, to the rank of Major in 1826 and to a Lieutenant-Colonelcy in 1845, dying at Newport, Ky., in 1863. James Abbott McNiel Whistler, the celebrated, but eccentric artist of that name, is a grandson of the first Major Whistler.
WHITE, George E., ex-Congressman, was born in Massachusetts in 1848; after graduating, at the age of 16, he enlisted as a private in the Fifty-seventh Massachusetts Veteran Volunteers, s
