Bio: Wheeler, Rev. Lucius Nathan (China Missionary)
Contact: Stan

Surnames: Wheeler, Lewis, Davis

----Source: "The Gospel in All Lands", Methodist Episcopal Church, Missionary Society

West China Mission. (pg. 60)

THE West China Mission is in the province of Szechuen, its principal stations being Chungking, Chentu, and Suiling. Mission work was commenced by Rev. L. N. Wheeler, D.D., who arrived in Chungking in December, 1881, rented property, and after a few months of preaching returned to Kiuklang, and again arrived in Chungking December 3, 1882, accompanied by his wife and Rev. Spencer Lewis and wife. The Mission was broken up by a riot in 1885 and resumed in 1887. Rev. Spencer Lewis is the superintendent.

(Pg. 235) Rev. Lucius Nathan Wheeler and wife (Mary Eliza Davis) arrived in China May 81, 1866; left in May 1873. Returned to China in 1881; left in 1884. Dr. Wheeler went again to China 1890 as the Agent for China of the American Bible Society, and died in Shanghai April 20, 1893. Mrs. Wheeler resides at Lake Mills, Wis. Two of their daughters are missionaries in China.

Rev. Lucius Nathan Wheeler, D.D., pg. 282-283

 LUCIUS N. WHEELER was born in Waukesha, Wis., January 1839. When a small boy his parents moved to Fond du Lac., Wis., and soon afterward his father died ; and his widow found it no little struggle to provide for herself and her four boys.

Lucius secured a high school education, and early learned the printers' trade. He was a diligent student, especially of the Latin and Greek languages, and in these became very proficient.

At eighteen years of age he was editor of a paper. He married Miss May Eliza Davis November 20, 1857, at Oshkosh, Wis., and the following May was received into the Wisconsin Conference on trial.

In 1865 his attention was called to the foreign mission work by a call through the papers from the Methodist Episcopal Mission Rooms in New York for a man to superintend the printing press at Foochow, China. The qualifications asked for were —a practical printer, a minister with several years' experience, a man with a family. He answered the call, was accepted, and sailed for China, arriving in Foochow May 31. 1866, after a tedious voyage of five months.

Here he printed the Anglo- Chinese Dictionary and many other works. Assisted by Dr. S. L. Baldwin he started a missionary paper which grew into the Chinese Recorder. After three years of labor in Foochow his health made it necessary he should go to another climate, and as the Missionary Society was about to open work in North China it seemed providential that he should be appointed for this purpose. Writing of this afterward he said :

"On March 12, 1869, I arrived with my family In the city of Peking, after a stormy trip up the coast and a toilsome journey overland from Tientsin. Several of us had suffered much from exposure, and our only little boy died before we could secure a hired house.

"Six weeks after our advent in the great city Rev. H. H. Lowry and family joined us ; and, having begun home life in temporary quarters, we addressed ourselves to the task of securing a permanent location.

"One year was spent in looking through that ancient capital, and many attempts were made by wily natives to deceive us into the purchase of inferior property at enormous prices. But we finally secured, at a reasonable figure, very desirable premises in the southeastern part of the Tartar city, made necessary repairs and improvements, and soon opened a domestic chapel, where we began to hold forth the word of life.

" At the end of four years we had a small native church, one native helper, a day school, and three preaching places or chapels in the city with the beginnings of the woman's work."

In March 1873, he wrote from Peking : "The 16th instant was a notable day in connection with the Sabbath services in our domestic chapel. After the usual morning sermon I baptized the infant son of our student helper, giving him the name of Yohan, which is Chinese for John. This ceremony was followed by another still more interesting and important. I requested any present who might be desirous of joining the church on probation to manifest that wish by standing up, when eight persons presented themselves at the altar, all known to me as inquirers. In reply to my questions they expressed faith in Christ, and their determination to forsake the worship of idols and serve the living and the true God. Four of these persons were women, the first of the six received into our mission church, one of them being the wife of the helper, another a widow lady aged sixty-nine years. The chapel was crowded with natives, and a a deep interest was apparent throughout the entire service. We now have a membership of 15, including two baptized children and one person received by letter, with the prospect of a speedy increase both at this point and in the southern part of the city, and this, too, in about three years since we began our first feeble attempts at preaching in the local dialect. We are greatly encouraged by these indications of success."

Mr. Wheeler was obliged to return to the United States in 1873, on account of his health, and he filled several appointments in the Wisconsin Conference. In 1878 he received from Lawrence University the honorary degree of A.M., and in 1881 that of D.D. He led the Wisconsin Conference delegation to the General Conference of IPSO.

In 1881 the offer of Dr. J. F. Goncher to give $5,000 a year for three years toward opening and sustaining a mission in West China made it possible to commence a mission there, and the health of Dr. Wheeler having been restored he was asked to become the founder and superintendent of the mission.

He accepted the appointment, and sailed, on September 6, 1881, from San Francisco for China, with his family. He left his faintly at Kiukiang, and with Mr. Benjamin Bagnall made a trip of one thousand miles up the treacherous Yang-tze Kiang. Their boat was wrecked, but they finally reached Chungking, finding only three English-speaking people in the city. After renting a Chinese house he returned to Kinkiang for his family, taking them as far as Ichang by steamer, and the rest of the journey, a distance of four hundred miles, in a native boat, and requiring four weeks to accomplish. With Dr. Wheeler was his wife, his daughter Frances. 

They arrived at Chungking, December 2, 1882. Dr. Wheeler wrote in 1883: "With the beginning of the Chinese New Year commenced an experience never to be forgotten. First, the Taotai, who is the principal mandarin of the city, followed by a numerous retinue, called on us. Then came snood of visitors, some men, but mostly women and young girls. The latter thronged our gates, filled the courts, and invaded the Inner apartments, anxious to see everything and to hear all that might be said to them.  There was a remarkable absence of the fear and distrust of foreigners, so noticeable, especially among this class of people, in other parts of China. The hours of study and ordinary household avocations were interfered with by this intrusive, but not unwelcome curiosity.

" Sze-chnen is the largest of the etthteen provinces possessing more natural resources and a greater variety of industrial pursuits than any other part of China. The population is large, and the people as a whole are not unfriendly to foreigners. Certain material and moral advantages will be gained by our being here in advance of European trades and adventurers.

"Tibet is now the only 'forbidden land' and our presence with an organized force not far from the border should guarantee to us the privilege and the honor, when the opportunity shall come, for leading the way of a conquering Gospel into the heart of Asia. We have, moreover, on the west and southwest no less than twelve aboriginal tribes, whose wild and degraded state, and whose relative geographical position will, some day, present an irresistible challenge to the heroic and adventurous missionary spirit among us.

"Our call to this work seems clearly providential. The proclamation of the governor-general, forbidding opposition to preachers of the Gospel from foreign lands and the generous offer of Mr. Goucher to be at the expense of founding a mission in West China, were very nearly simultaneous events.

 "With our first and central station in Chungking, a city of such commercial importance as to entitle it to be called the Liverpool' and the Shanghai' of West China and with another and not less important Mallon in the provincial capital—a great city possessing wide official and literary correspondence - a living and aggressive mission, such as, with God's blessing, we hope to be, most inevitably send forth streams of influence to five or six provinces and to vast regions beyond."

 Within a few months property was bought and a chapel opened. The anxiety connected with the work, and the trying climate again resulted in breaking down the health of Dr. Wheeler, and in March, 1884, he was obliged to return to the United States.

Six years was given to the pastorate in Wisconsin, and when in 1890 the American Bible Society needed a superintendent for its work in China he was appointed to the position. He accepted the appointment because he would be located in Shanghai, with good sanitary conditions and advantages not found in other cities of China.

He arrived in China in 1890 to commence his third and last period of labor for the Chinese. His friends doubted the advisability of his giving himself to this work, but his heart went out for the people of China. Ile entered upon his duties with earnestness and prosecuted them with intense zeal, often neglecting to take proper rest. For nearly three years he labored, attending to the complicated business of his office and editing the Chinese Recorder.

Suddenly his work was brought to a close. On April 9, 1893, he had a stroke of paralysis, and after lingering for eleven days died in Shanghai, April 20, and was buried in the beautiful English cemetery near the city.

His brethren of the Wisconsin Conference in the memoir adopted by them, said of hint "He was radical in theory but mildly conservative in action. Though ever modestly retiring rather than boldly aggressive, he yet possessed the courage of his convictions. His name is indelibly written in the Christian history of China."

He wrote The Foreigner in China, translated -Nast's Catechism, and the Methodist Ritual into Chinese, and did the principal work on two Chinese hymnals.

His widow resides in Lake Mills, Wis., and he has two daughters in the mission work in China— Mrs. Frances Wheeler Verity and Mrs. Lucy Wheeler Newman, wives of missionaries of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

We Pass But Once

WE pass this way but once.

  There's work divine for thee;

     On every hand

     The needy stand

 And sigh for sympathy.

We pass this way but once.

  In love's sweet accents tell

      Of constant joy

      Without alloy

In hearts where Christ doth dwell.

We pass this way but once.

  Does life's sojourn seem drear?

     Then fill thy days

     With gladsome praise;

God wills thy sojourn here.

We pass this way but once.

  Then truth's blest cause defend,

     With heroes' might

      Stand for the right;

'Twill triumph in the end.

We pass this way but once.

  Live nobly while you may;

     Then rise above

      Earth's groveling love,

Seek realms of endless day.

We pass this way but once.

  Wage well thy warfare now;

     Beyond the strife

     Bright crowns of life

Await the victor's brow.  

*********************

----Source: Manitowoc Semi Weekly Tribune April 3, 1863

Rue The Rest

We the undersigned have purchased Singer's celebrated Sewing Machines, and have them now in use in our families.

Judging from the experience we have had with them, we consider, them superior for all purposes to any now in use; and recommend
them to any who are desirous of purchasing a good sewing machine. The advantages which we note primarily are:

They do good work
They, run smoothly
They are ornamehtal
They run easily, any person can work tbem.

So far as We know they do more Work than any other machine can in the same length of time. They will hem, fell, tuck, quilt and
gather. They are worth all they cost.

Disclaiming any wish to disparage the manufactures of other Houses, we advise all who intend purchasing, ito examine Singer's Machines.

J. D. Marham
L. Sherman
Wm. Lynch
Fred. Carus
L. N. Wheeler
H.S. Pierpont
Oscar Koch

I have one of the above machines on exhibition at the Franklin Bookstore and another in use at my house. Persons desirous of purchasing are invited to call and examine them.

S.W. Smith, Agent

----Source: Waukesha Freeman June 16, 1881

Rev. L. N. Wheeler, for several years presiding elder of the Fond du Lac M. E. District, has decided to return to China as a missionary. Mr. Wheeler spent six or seven years in China, returning to Wisconsin in 1873.