William A. Wheeler 1819 – 1887

Biography

Born in Malone, New York in 1819, William A. Wheeler climbed the political ranks to become Vice President under Rutherford B. Hayes from 1877 to 1881—a remarkable ascent that made him one of the most powerful figures in American government during a transformative era. His rise from upstate New York roots to the nation’s second-highest office cemented his place in the political establishment of the Gilded Age, when the country was navigating Reconstruction’s aftermath and charting its industrial future.

Wheeler never strayed far from his Malone origins, maintaining deep community ties even as his federal responsibilities grew. He remained a grounded statesman in an age of outsized personalities, serving during one of the most pivotal periods in American politics. When he died on June 4, 1887—just shy of his sixty-eighth birthday—Wheeler’s long life had been spent almost entirely in the small town where it began. He was buried at Morningside Cemetery in Malone, remembered as a homegrown American who reached the highest echelons of power.