Jerome W. Wheeler, born January 15, 1863, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, served as president of the First National Bank of Crookston, Minnesota. The son of Jerome B. and Katherine (Deming) Wheeler, his ancestry includes Israel Putnam. Educated by his mother, he graduated from McMynn Academy in 1880. Wheeler’s banking career began in Kenosha and continued at the First National Bank of Crookston, where he became president in 1895. A leader in financial and social circles, Wheeler was active in the State Bankers’ Association and various fraternal organizations. He married Eva Hill in 1887, and they had three children: Katherine, Marion, and Jerome W., Jr.
Jerome W. Wheeler, president of the First National Bank of Crookston, Minnesota, was born in Kenosha, Wis., January 15, 1863, and, with an older brother, who resides in Chicago, were the only children of Jerome B. and Katherine (Deming) Wheeler, whose ancestry dates back to the Seventeenth century. His great grandmother on his mother’s side was a daughter of Israel Putnam.
At the age of three years, Mr. Wheeler’s father died, and his mother being a woman of extraordinary educational qualifica-tions, conducted a private school in which she educated her sons and fitted them for college. Jerome entered the McMynn Academy at Racine, Wis., in 1878, from which he graduated with the class of 1880, thoroughly equipped for a business career. Soon after his graduation he secured a position as clerk in the Dan Head & Company’s bank, in Kenosha, Wis., where he re-mained for about five years and then took a position as book-keeper in the First National Bank of Crookston. Here he worked until 1892, and engaged as cashier with the Scandia bank, where he remained three years, and in 1895, with his brother, A. D. Wheeler, purchased the controlling interest of the First National bank, which was founded in 1881 by the members of the J. I. Case Threshing Machine Company, with a capital stock of $50,000; this increased in 1884 to $100,000, and the present cap-ital stock is $75,000. It is now one of the strongest banking institutions in the Northwest, and its details are carefully looked after by our subject.
Mr. Wheeler is one of the leaders of financial and social interests in Polk county in ability and executive force, and is considered a valuable citizen in the community. For some twenty years Mr. Wheeler conducted an extensive real estate and loan business, in which he was very successful. He has been con-nected as a member with the State Bankers’ Association for several years, is a member of the Commercial Club, and a pro-moter of every movement on foot for the advancement of Crookston and the Northwest.
A Republican in politics, Mr. Wheeler has served in various local offices and is a former chairman of the Republican County Central Committee, and belongs to the Methodist Church. Fra-ternally he has long been a Mason and member of the Blue Lodge, Chapter, Commandery, Consistory and Shrine. He is also a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, the Knights of Pythias, and Order of Elks.
Mr. Wheeler was married in 1887 to Miss Eva Hill. They have three children, viz. : Katherine, Marion and Jerome W., Jr.
Source
C.F. Cooper & Company, History of the Red River Valley, Past And Present: Including an Account of the Counties, Cities, Towns And Villages of the Valley From the Time of Their First Settlement And Formation, volumes 1-2; Grand Forks: Herald printing company, 1909.