James Wheeler was born on April 11, 1811, in London, England, to James Wheeler and Susan Kennedy. He probably immigrated to Kentucky by the early 1840s. He married Elizabeth Watkins, and they had at least twelve children: William, born around 1841; Mary, born around 1844; James, born around 1845; Susan, born around 1851; Virginia, born around 1855; John, born around 1855; Laura, born around 1857; Sarah, born around 1858; Joel, born around 1859; Kate, born around 1860; Charles, born around 1863, and Emma, born around 1865.

 

By 1850, he was working as a physician in Christian County, Kentucky, and he owned $7,500 in real estate. A decade later, he owned $45,000 in real estate and $40,000 in personal property, including at least 35 slaves. The Civil War apparently devastated his finances, and in 1870, he reported only $18,000 in real estate and $5,000 in personal property. The 1870 and 1880 federal censuses list him as a "farmer" and "farm laborer." He died in Hopkinsville on March 22, 1886.

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