Notes for Gershom WHEELOCK
The following is excerpted from "Old Times in Shrewsbury Massachusetts, Gleanings from History and Tradition", by Elizabeth Ward, 1892. This book is available in the Shrewsbury Public Library.
One of the first names that appears to us on the records is that of Gershom Wheelock, who for his enterprise and cheerful disposition, deserves especial mention. He is said to have been the first man to build a house in the new settlement and spent one winter in its erection. This house was situated on what is now the old road to Worcester in the valley near "Middlebrook."
He labored alone that winter, keeping up his spirits through the cold, dreary days by his merry whistling, sleeping in the loft and pulling the ladder up after him at night, always whistling his morning song before putting it down again. His courage never failed until the spring birds sang to him while he whistled, and the house was done; then he married Abigail Flagg of Marlboro, and housekeeping began in Shrewsbury. In 1720 his father Samuel Wheelock, who owned the land, gave him a deed of eighty acres and the house, "In consideration of Love, Good will and affection which I have and do have towards my dutiful Son Gershom Wheelock!" The first house built in town was the first to be burned; nothing was saved from the fire but a few pieces of furniture. Being dissatisfied with his ventures in that part of the town, he next built a house on the Boylston road, the one which is now occupied by his great-grandson Erastus Wheelock.
Gershom appears to have been quite an important man in the new town, holding at different times several town offices. He was ensign in the first military company here and afterwards commissioned Captain. The Wheelock house as shown in the engraving is a low, ancient house, shingled on the outside, with narrow windows and quaint, low rooms. It has not been added to, but remains much the same as when built more than a century and a half ago. [Note by Rick Sullivan: This was written in 1892. One hundred years later the same still holds true.]
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The following is excerpted from "History of the Town of Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, From Its Settlement in 1717 to 1829, With Other Matter Relating Thereto Not Before Published, Including An Extensive Family Register", by Andrew H. Ward, Member of the New England Historic and Genealogical Society, Boston, Published by Samuel G. Drake; J. Howe, Printer, 1847.
In reference to Captain Gershom Wheelock:
He is said to have been the first of the family, who settled here [Shrewsbury], if not the first settler in this town. He erected a house between where the houses now are of Joseph Nurse and the late Daniel Maynard, and on the same side of the road. There he made improvements and spent one winter alone. He is said to have been of a cheerful disposition, and, that while here solitary and alone, he slept aloft in his log house, drawing the ladder up after him at night, and whistling a tune in the morning before leaving his bed.
His father with his family moved there, from Marlboro, the next spring, and being owner of the land, he was accounted the first settler. Having been burnt out there, they removed to house lot No. 26, of which he received soon after a deed of gift from his father, bearing date in 1720.
He was one of the four first appointed sergeants in the military company when he first organized in this town. He was afterward Ensign, Lieutenant, and in 1742, commissioned a Captain in the Regiment commanded by Col Nahum Ward.
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Also, from Ward, "History of Shrewsbury, 1717 to 1829", it is stated that Gershom was on the board of selectmen in the years 1731 and 1736. His father, Samuel Wheelock, was on the board of selectmen in the years 1727, 1730, and 1732.