quantity of tea fell on the floor, revealing the cause of his
absence. Seeing the tea, a female neighbor, who had sat up with Mrs.
Wheeler to keep her company, in her husband's absence, exclaimed, "Save
it; it will make a nice mess." Taking down her broom, this patriotic
woman swept it all into the fire, saying, "Don't touch the cursed
stuff." Wheeler commanded a company of minute-men at the opening of the
Revolution, most of whom were skilled carpenters and joiners, and by
Washington's order, he superintended the erection of the forts, on
Dorchester Heights. He was also employed in building the State House, in
Boston. He died in Boston, in August, 1817; aged seventy-four. His
daughter, Mrs. Carney, was living in 1873, at Sheepscot, Maine, at the
age of eighty-six. George W. Wheeler, a grandson, many years City
Treasurer of Worcester, is now (1884) living in that city. Captain
Wheeler was one of the volunteer guard on board the "Dartmouth."

JEREMIAH WILLIAMS

Was a blacksmith, who resided in the old mansion, yet standing, near Hog
Bridge, in Roxbury, known as the "John Curtis House." He was the brother
of Colonel Joseph, a distinguished citizen, and the father of Major
Edward Payson Williams, an officer of the Revolutionary army, who died
in the service.

THOMAS WILLIAMS,

Also of Roxbury, was one of the minute-men in Captain Moses Whiting's
company, at Lexington. He, with his brother-in-law, Thomas Dana, Jr.,
and other Roxbury men, rendezvoused at the house of his father, John
Williams, preparatory to the tea party, and returning home, Williams and
Dana refused to join in sacking the house of a Tory, regarding it as no
part of their enterprise. In 1812, Williams settled in Cazenovia, N.Y.,
and died in Utica, N.Y., July 31, 1817; aged sixty-three.

NATHANIEL WILLIS,

Journalist, born in Boston, February 7, 1755, died near Chillicothe, O.,
April 1, 1831. After serving an apprenticeship in a printing-office, in
Boston, he became one of the proprietors and publishers of the
"Independent Chronicle," a leading political journal, from 1776 to 1784.
He subsequently issued the first newspaper ever published in Ohio, the
"Scioto Gazette," and was for several years State printer of Ohio. His
son, Nathaniel, also a journalist, was the father of Nathaniel P.
Willis, Richard Storrs Willis, and Sarah Payson Willis, ("Fanny Fern,")
afterwards Mrs. Parton. Member of St. Andrew's Lodge in 1779.

JOSHUA WYETH,

Whose