Background
Everett Pepperrell Wheeler was born on March 10, 1840 in New York, New York, United States. He was a son of David E. and Elizabeth (Jarvis) Wheeler.
Everett Pepperrell Wheeler was born on March 10, 1840 in New York, New York, United States. He was a son of David E. and Elizabeth (Jarvis) Wheeler.
Everett Pepperrell Wheeler received in public school. In 1856 received Bachelor of Arts degree from the College of the City of New York (then the Free Academy), a Bachelor of Science degree in 1857, a Master of Arts degree in 1859. In 1859 he obtained a Bachelor of Laws degree from Harvard University.
After his admission to the bar in 1861, Wheeler practiced steadily until his death. Eminently fair to opponents and deferential to the bench, he never failed to make the most of his vast legal learning, nor could he be intimidated or imposed on. In admiralty law, a field in which he specialized, some of his cases have become classic. Not satisfied with mere attainment in the practice of his profession, Wheeler consistently adhered to his belief that a lawyer owes disinterested service to the profession itself. He was one of the founders of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York in 1869, a member of the executive committee (1876 - 78) and of many important standing committees, and vice-president (1890). He also served on many of the important committees of the New York state and the American bar associations. In 1914-15 he lectured on the preparation and argument of cases before the students of the Yale Law School. Although he never held elective office Wheeler was a member of the elevated railroad commission of New York (1875) and of the board of education (1877 - 79), and the candidate of reform Democrats for the governorship of New York in 1894. These official services were less important, however, than his devotion to civil service reform and to societies seeking better government.
He assisted in drafting the revised Pendleton Bill which in 1881 established true civil service. Two years later he joined with Edward Morse Shepard in writing the bill that applied civil service reform to the state of New York, and in 1884 he drafted the rules for the city of New York. He was a pioneer in the activities of the Civil Service Reform Association, serving as chairman of the executive committee (1880 - 97), vice-president (1903-13, 1918 - 25), and president (1913 - 18). He gave wise and courageous service as chairman of the New York civil service commission (1883-89, 1895 - 97).
In 1894 he worked zealously as one of the "Committee of Seventy" for the election of Mayor William Lafayette Strong. His deep passion for good government caused him to sign the "Address to the Citizens" which resulted in the formation of the Citizen's Union in 1899, and he took part in all the activities of the Union, particularly in the campaign of 1901 to elect Seth Low. From 1912 to 1918 he worked actively against woman suffrage, serving as president of the Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage and expressing his views with frequency in the letter columns of the New York Times. A list of the important committees he headed and of the offices he held is staggering, but to each he gave tireless and intelligent service. His devotion to honest public service was not without motive in his deeply religious nature. Though forceful in opposition to corruption and unyielding in moral and ethical questions, he was a man of genuine humility and marked sweetness of nature. His deep piety found expression in service to the Protestant Episcopal Church as a vestryman, as deputy to general conventions (1907, 1910, 1913) and as president of the Church Club (1887 - 90), in work for the Young Men's Christian Association, and in his unflagging labors for the East Side House, a settlement he founded in 1891 and served as president or head worker until his death.
Wheeler wrote extensively for periodicals in the fields of law, history, and economics. His most important books are The Modern Law of Carriers (1890), Real Bi-Metallism (1895), Daniel Webster, the Expounder of the Constitution (1905), Sixty Years of American Life (1916), A Lawyer's Study of the Bible (1919).
On November 22, 1866, he married Lydia Lorraine Hodges of Rutland, Vermont. She died in 1902. His second wife was Alice Gilman, daughter of Daniel Coit Gilman, whom he married in Baltimore, April 26, 1904.