John Wheeler was born in Humphreysville in 1823 and moved to New York at the age of 20. He was elected to Congress in 1852 and took an active part in the debates over the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. The issue became a party question, with the Democrats favoring it. Wheeler and a few other Democrats took a bold and open stand against it. He was the only member of the city of New York to oppose the measure.
    He was re-nominated by the Democrats but declined. At one time he was considered for the position of mayor of New York City, but he declined.
    Wheeler was a member of an old Nyumphs family, being a descendent of John Wheeler of the Nyumphs area of Beacon Falls.

SYLVESTER SMITH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNION LEAGUE

    Sylvester Smith was a leading paper manufacturer, with a mill at the corner of Main and Day Streets. He was one of the leaders in the Humphreysville (now Seymour) Methodist Church.
    He was born in Springfield, Mass., in 1808 and in 1832 removed to Seymour. He found work in a paper mill, and later began his own manufacturing business. He continued in that business until 1869, when he was the oldest paper manufacturer in Seymour.
    He also was engaged in making strawboard, employing a large number of hands.
    Ardent in his political convictions, he was a Republican twice elected to the State Legislature - first in 1850 to represent the Town of Derby, which then included Seymour, and later in 1865 from Seymour.
    He was renowned locally for his preaching. It is said that he preached in every village within 20 miles of his home.
    At the opening of the Civil War, he was a strong supporter of the Union and was elected president of the Union League.
    Sylvester married Henrietta Cadwell; they had twelve children. Sylvester died in 1892 at the age of 84; his wife died at the age of 82 years.