Almon Lufkin Wheeler was born January 30, 1851, in Stockbridge, Wisconsin. Almon married Maria Cook on October 26, 1873, in Mankato, Minnesota.
The 1880 United States census showed Almon Wheeler (age 29, born in Wisconsin, brick maker) married to Maria (age 27, born in Wisconsin) and living in Albert Lea, Minnesota.
The 1885 Minnesota census showed Albert L. Wheeler (age 34, born in Wisconsin) married to Maria (age 32, born in Wisconsin) and living in Belgrade Township, Nicollet County, Minnesota.
The 1900 United States census showed Almond L. Wheeler (age 49, born in January 1851 in Wisconsin) married to Maria (age 47, born in March 1853 in Wisconsin) and living in North Mankato, Minnesota.
The 1905 Minnesota census showed Almon L. Wheeler (age 54, born in Wisconsin, brick maker) married to Maria (age 52, born in Wisconsin) and living in North Mankato, Minnesota.
Page 605. Wheeler, Almon L. – The above named gentleman has just cause to take pride in the work of his hands, for through his industry, persistency and good business judgment Mankato has been generally benefited, and he has the special satisfaction of seeing in the construction of some of its finest buildings the honest and attractive output of his brick manufacturing plant. He was trained in the business and the industry "from the ground up," or in his case the saying might be paraphrased, "from the ground down." With limited opportunities for acquiring an education, or advancement of any kind, he came to Mankato forty years ago, with just two dollars and fifty cents in his pocket, but with determination in his eye, he has since become one of the most prosperous brick manufacturers in Southern Minnesota, and a most honored citizen of his adopted city. Mr. Wheeler comes of English ancestry on the paternal side and of Scotch on the maternal, his birthplace being Stockbridge, Wisconsin, and the day, January 30, 1851. The son of Samuel F. and Alice C. (Duelley) Wheeler, his parents were natives of Massachusetts, who removed to that
Page 606. Wisconsin town a few years after their marriage, pre-empted land, returned to Massachusetts for twelve years, and then made the Badger state their home for seven years before coming to Minnesota. For twenty years the family resided in McLeod and Meeker counties, Minnesota, after which the parents migrated still further west to Oregon, where they still live – the father, at the age of eighty-two, and the mother, aged eighty. Almon L. Wheeler is the second in a family of nine children, six boys and three girls. When he was a lad in Wisconsin he learned the art of brick making, and was superintendent of several plants before he located at Mankato. In 1887 he first established an independent business by purchasing twenty-six acres of land in North Mankato in partnership with Oscar E. Bennett, under the firm name of Wheeler & Bennett. This connection has since continued and the enterprise has developed to large proportions. The twenty-six acres mentioned now embraces a portion of the village of North Mankato, where Mr. Wheeler has not only erected his own fine brick residence, but attractive homes for others.
He has the honor of building the first house in the village of North Mankato, which is still well preserved and occupied. Many public buildings of the city of Mankato also contain evidences of the fine output of his firm, which has also established a plant at Wrenshall, Minnesota, with an annual capacity of six million brick. Personally Mr. Wheeler is the owner of six hundred and twenty acres of land in Northern Minnesota, and is in every respect esteemed an enterprising, substantial and honorable member of the community. In 1873 Mr. Wheeler was united in marriage to Miss Maria Cook, daughter of Andrew C. and Phebe (Belcher) Cook and granddaughter of the late Ex-Governor Belcher, an old and well known resident of New Jersey. Outside of his domestic and social family circles, he is quite active in his fraternal relations, having filled all the chairs in the I. O. O. F. lodge and being identified with the B. P. O. E. He is also active in the work of the Commercial Club, whose aims are both social and toward the development of the business and industrial progress of Mankato. (History of Blue Earth County and Biographies of its Leading Citizens, Thomas Hughes, Middle West Publishing Company, Chicago, 1909)
The 1910 United States census showed Almond L. Wheeler (age 59, born in Wisconsin, own income) married to Mariah (age 57, born in Wisconsin) and living in North Mankato, Minnesota.
WHEELER, ALMON L., b. in Stockbridge, Wis., Jan. 30, 1851; established a brickyard in Mankato, Minn., in 1887; owned a large farm in northern Minnesota. (Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society, Volume XIV, Minnesota Biographies 1655-1912, Compiled by Warren Upham and Rose Barteau, Published by the Society, St. Paul, MN, June 1912, Page 844)
Almon L. Wheeler died April 9, 1918, in Nicollet County, Minnesota.
Schmidt Wm, Good Thunder.
Fowler & Pay, Broad on C St P M & O Ry, Mankato.
Jefferson Adam, n w city limits, Mankato.
Mather Brick Co The, 306-307 Y M I Co’s Bldg, Mankato.
Willard & Polchow, 113 S Front; Yard, C M & St P R R, nr W Mankato, Mankato.
Meihofer Martin, North Mankato, Mankato.
Wheeler & Bennett, North Mankato. (Mankato City Directory, 1892, Page 531)
Schmidt E W, Good Thunder.
Schmidt Wm, Good Thunder.
Fowler & Pay, N Broad nr C St P M & O Ry, Mankato.
Mankato Tile, Fire Brick & Clay Co, 121 E Hickory, Mankato.
Mather Brick Co The, 308 Y M I Co’s bldg, Mankato.
North Mankato Brick Co, Office 404-405 Y M I Co’s bldg., Mankato.
Pannenberg & Pay, Broad bet Lafayette and Franklin, Mankato.
Willard & Polchow, 113 S Front, Mankato.
Wheeler & Bennett, North Mankato. (Mankato City and Blue Earth County Directory, 1895, R. L. Polk & Co., St. Paul, 1895, Page 519)
NMBC 1
(Mankato City and Blue Earth County Directory, 1895, R. L. Polk & Co., St. Paul, 1895, Page 75)
NMBC 2
(Mankato City and Blue Earth County Directory, R. L. Polk & Co, St. Paul, Minnesota, 1900, Page 14)
Reichelt Frederick, Good Thunder.
Fowler & Pay, N Broad ne C St P M & O Ry, Mankato.
Pannenberg F G & Co, Broad n w cor Lime, Mankato.
North Mankato Brick Co, N Mankato.
Wheeler & Bennett, 448 Wheeler, N Mankato. (Mankato City and Blue Earth County Directory, R. L. Polk & Co, St. Paul, Minnesota, 1900, Page 534)