John H. Wheeler

John H. Wheeler

John Hill Wheeler (1806-1882) was a politician and historian who served as North Carolina State Treasurer (1843-1845) and as United States Minister to Nicaragua (1855-1856).

Born in Murfreesboro, North Carolina, Wheeler earned a bachelor's degree at Columbian College (now George Washington University), read law under John Louis Taylor, was admitted to the bar in 1827, and the following year received a master's degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He was elected to the North Carolina House of Commons from Hertford County at age 21, serving four years, and was also elected to the House from Lincoln County years later. President Andrew Jackson appointed him superintendent of the federal mint in Charlotte, North Carolina (1837-1841).

In 1842, Wheeler was elected state treasurer by the North Carolina General Assembly but he was defeated for re-election in 1844.

Wheeler became an assistant secretary to President Franklin Pierce in 1854 and shortly thereafter was appointed minister to Nicaragua. There, he recognized the government of William Walker.

He spent much of his later life in minor federal government posts, and wrote or edited several books on state history, including Historical Sketches of North Carolina, from 1584 to 1851, The Narrative of Colonel David Fanning, Legislative Manual and Political Register of the State of North Carolina for the Year 1874, and Reminiscences and Memoirs of North Carolina and Eminent North Carolinians (published after his death).

He was the owner of Hannah Bond, a slave who taught herself to read and write. Bond later escaped to the New York, and then New Jersey, and is the first African American Woman to write a novel, The Bondwoman's Narrative, by Hannah Crafts.

See also

• Jane Johnson (slave)
• Passmore Williamson

References

• Biography from Dictionary of NC Biography
• Reminiscences and Memoirs of North Carolina and Eminent North Carolinians by Wheeler