William Wheeler Synthesizes Ojibwe and Gilded Age Values

Abstract

Unnamed people try to steal the windmill patent from Harriet, but William goes to Washington and secures it. He then takes charge of the company. Because the windmill has a device that keeps it from blowing over in a high wind, it sells well and wins first prize at the 1876 World’s Fair in Philadelphia and at the Paris Expedition of 1878. William enters passionately into the business world. First, he manages the Eclipse Windmill Company, then the Eclipse Engine Company, and then the Williams Engine Company. After selling these businesses to Fairbanks Morse, he founds W.H. Wheeler & Company and builds water towers. At the start of the twentieth century, he buys farmland and establishes the city of South Beloit there. Like the Ojibwe, William stays close to one place and his family, often involving his siblings in his businesses all of which enhance communities. His younger brother Fred embraces the entrepreneurial ambitions the Gilded Age recommends, taking him far from Beloit: to Dallas, to Atlanta, to Indianapolis, to New York, and to Chicago, forever seeking a big deal that evades him. Fred dies shortly after asking a brother for money to buy clothes.