Wheeler Cemetery History

The Wheeler Cemetery is located approximately five miles southwest of Stockdale in Wilson County.  It is in a pasture about 1000 feet south of County Road 312.

The land containing the Wheeler Cemetery was originally owned by John Edwin Wheeler, then sold to his brother, David Thwing (D. T.) Wheeler in the 1860s.  It was here that D. T. lived and worked the land with his large family for several decades.  D. T. and John also operated the Wheeler Mill on the Cibolo River, located close to the family home about one-half mile east of the cemetery.

Having no public cemetery available at the time, D. T. set aside the plot on his farm for family burials.  His second wife, Maniza and daughter, Lela, were among the first to be buried here in 1863.  D. T.’s father, John, having brought the family to Texas in 1840, was buried here in 1867.  D. T. and his third wife, Mary Watson, were buried here in February, 1892.  His first wife, Mary E. Allen died of Cholera, with her infant, in San Antonio.  They are believed to be buried in that city.

The Wheeler and Butler families were close neighbors owning adjacent tracts of land, and developed a kinship when D. T. Wheeler’s daughter, Lenora Angelina (Angie) Wheeler married John Crittenden (J. C.) Butler in December of 1874.  J. C. Butler died in June of 1892 and was the first member of the Butler family to be buried here.  Thereafter the cemetery was sometimes known as “Wheeler-Butler Cemetery.”

Other families with relatives buried in the cemetery are that of Allison, Carmichael, Harrell, and Lambert.