Hoyt Henry Wheeler

Hoyt Henry Wheeler.

Hoyt Henry Wheeler (August 30, 1833 – November 19, 1906) was a Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court, and later a United States federal judge.

Born in Chesterfield, New Hampshire, Wheeler was raised in Chesterfield and in Newfane, Vermont. He was educated in Newfane and at the Chesterfield Academy, where he later taught. He also taught at schools in Dummerston, Newfane, Townshend, and Westminster.

Wheeler later began to read law, studying in the offices of Charles K. Field, Jonathan D. Bradley and George Bradley Kellogg. Wheeler was admitted to the bar in 1859 and began a practice as the partner of John E. Butler in Jamaica, Vermont. he later practiced as the senior partner of Lavant M. Reed.

A Republican, Wheeler was a member of the Vermont House of Representatives in 1867, and of the Vermont State Senate from 1868 to 1869. He was a judge on the Vermont Supreme Court from 1869 to 1877.

On March 15, 1877, Wheeler was nominated by President Rutherford B. Hayes to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of Vermont vacated by David Allen Smalley. Wheeler was confirmed by the United States Senate on March 16, 1877, and received his commission the same day. According to contemporary accounts, Wheeler had not sought the appointment, but received it because he had made a favorable impression on Hayes when Hayes visited Newfane. (Hayes's family was originally from nearby Dummerston.)

In 1886 Wheeler received the honorary degree of LL.D. from the University of Vermont.

He retired on September 30, 1906, and died less than two months later in Brattleboro, Vermont.

Wheeler was buried at Morningside Cemetery in Brattleboro.

Sources

• Hoyt Henry Wheeler at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
• Hoyt Henry Wheeler at Find a Grave
• Memorial sketch of Hoyt Henry Wheeler, by E. L. Waterman, Vermont Bar Association Journal, 1909, page 145
• Hoyt Henry Wheeler, Honorary graduates, University of Vermont General Catalogue, 1901, page 227
• Hoyt Henry Wheeler at Genealogical and Family History of the State of Vermont, by Hiram Carleton, 1903, page 76
• Judge Hoyt H. Wheeler at Annals of Brattleboro, 1681-1895, Volume 2, edited by Mary Rogers Cabot, 1922, page 961