Biography extracted from History of Sauk County, Wisconsin Chicago: Western Historical Company, published 1880.

Ironton:

Nelson Wheeler, deceased; son of F. E. Wheeler, was born in Onondaga Co., N. Y., in 1811. He was married to Emeline Warner, of New York, and moved to Ohio in 1838; lived there till 1854, then came to Wisconsin, and settled on Sec. 35, Town 12, Range 3, now Ironton. Had seven children- Jane was married to La Fayette Ackerman, now deceased; Henry, married to Electa Benson, living on Sec. 35, Ironton; Leander, married to Phoebe Blakeslee, living on Sec. 35, Ironton; Robert A., married to Mary Shafer; Emily E., now Mrs. James Priest; Mary J, now Mrs. Ed Blank, and Nelson D. Mr. Wheeler was Justice of the Peace and Chairman of Washington several years, and also of Ironton; he was the first Chairman of Washington, was present at the organization, and suggested naming the town Washington in honor of G. Washington Gray, the first white settler, and it was carried; was Assessor and Justice of the Peace, and a member of the Wisconsin Legislature of 1859. Politics, Republican. His death occurred in October, 1869.

Biography extracted from A Standard History of Sauk County Harry Ellsworth Cole, General Supervising Editor, The Lewis Publishing Co. Chicago and New York 1918 [pgs. 273-4]

Nels Wheeler was among the elders of the law, and continued to be a lively factor down to the times fitly called recent. He was not so much a lawyer as a wag, good fellow, man of humor and entertaining speaker. In fact he was in great demand in the school districts round- about Baraboo and also Chippewa Falls, where for several years he practiced, as a funny lecturer, in which he certainly had real talent. He wrote a book entitled Old Thunderbolt in Justice Court, which was an attempt to portray his experience at the bar, but it fell so far short of reaching the mark as to be disappointing. While there are some really good things in' the book, it only serves to show how impossible it is to transfer a living personality to the cold printed page, and especially such a rollicking, side-splitting, good-natured fellow as Nels Wheeler really was. And yet he could try a case in court very well. It depended on the kind of case. If such as to afford a field for the play of his fun and sarcasm, he could utterly annihilate his adversary and win a victory with flying colors. But if a close knowledge of the law was required, then he was at a disadvantage, for he did not claim to be studious, and preferred to sit and joke and tell stories in the hotel than be thumbing the dusty volumes in his office. He was not difficult with his clients in matters of fees, and would often take his fee from a farmer in a basket of vegetables and carry it home himself. He was a pleasant appearing man of stout build and rather dark complexion. His countenance was full, broad and prepossessing. His mouth was large and it was the easiest thing in the world for him to break into a hearty laugh, though he rarely laughed at his own jokes, which made them all the more comical. He was a veritable caricaturist with his physiognomy and voice, and could imitate the manner of almost anyone he chose so as to not be mistaken. His fund of good stories was inexhaustible and he could select one or more to cover almost any case in hand. No one ever thought of being offended by any of his sallies of wit, even if a party on the opposite side of a lawsuit. His genial manner thus saved him from making enemies, which a more stern disposition would have surely done under like circumstances.

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