Thomas Ellis Wheeler, Sr.
My father, Thomas Ellis Wheeler, Sr. (1926-2014), was the son of Ellis L. Wheeler (1896-1944) and Mary Agnes “Mae” Brennan Wheeler (1904-1997). Tom grew up in Augusta, Georgia during the Great Depression.
February 23, 2024
1926, Augusta, Georgia
Faded snapshot of Ellis Levi Wheeler (1896-1944) holding his firstborn child, Thomas Ellis Wheeler (1926-2014).
According to the 1923 city directory for Augusta, Ellis L. Wheeler was an auto salesman living at 1901 Warren, with no spouse listed. Ellis married Mae Brennan in October 1924. In the 1925 city directory, he and Mae were living at 820 13th St., and he was a salesman.
About 1928
Snapshot of Mary Agnes “Mae” Brennan Wheeler (1904-1997) with her son Tom.
About 1929
Toddler Tom in his fire engine truck. The 1929 city directory for Augusta listed Ellis L. Wheeler as a salesman at Service Motor Company. His residence was across the Savannah River at 367 Georgia Avenue in North Augusta, South Carolina.
On Sunday, December 19, 1928, an announcement in the Augusta Chronicle stated that Mae’s mother, Mrs. Lula Brennan, had married Mr. C. S. Bradshaw. Their home address was given as 367 Georgia Avenue in North Augusta, SC.
1930 US Census
In the 1930 US census, Ellis L. Wheeler was the head of household at dwelling 60 at 1159 Railroad Avenue in Augusta, Georgia. He was living with his wife Mary A. Wheeler, and their two children, Thomas E., 4, and Patricia A., 2.
Also listed as children of the head of household were Helen C. Brennan, 16, Bennie E. Brennan, 13, and James J. Brennan, 9. B. Elizabeth Swindler, 65, was listed as Ellis’ mother. Michael Nightingale, Paul S. Kemp, Aaron C. Ward, and Chas. G. Thomason were boarders. Nightingale and Kemp were medical students. Ward and Thomason had no occupation.
The information for Ellis, Mae, and their two young children was correct. However, the three Brennans were not Ellis’ children. They were Mae’s younger siblings, the children of Thomas Joseph Brennan (1873-1926) and his widow, Martha Tallulah “Lula” Swindler Brennan Bradshaw (1879-1951).
B. Elizabeth Swindler, who was recorded as Ellis’ mother, was Mae’s maternal grandmother, John Benjamin Elizabeth Campbell Swindler Coleman (1864-1931). She was known in the family as Momma Bennie.
Lula Swindler McGuinn Brennan Bradshaw, Mae’s mother and Momma Bennie’s daughter, was also living at 1159 Railroad Avenue with her third husband, Clemont S. Bradshaw, but they were listed at dwelling 59. Lula and Clemont had married in 1928, but they split up after the 1930 census. When Clemont died in North Augusta in 1937, his South Carolina death certificate recorded him as married, but no spouse was listed.
About 1933 or 1934
Tom, in the back, with his sister Patsy and twin brothers Griggs and Billy.
In the 1932 Augusta city directory, Ellis L. Wheeler, meterman, lived at 1415 Heath Street with his wife Mary B.
Two years later, in the 1934 Augusta city directory, Ellis L. Wheeler, assistant meter foreman in the City Water Works Department, lived at 1430 Stovall with his wife Mary A.
About 1936
Tom and his younger siblings Patsy, Griggs, and Billy, with their maternal grandmother, Lula. Lula was known to her grandchildren as Granny Brennan.
The 1935 Augusta city directory listed Ellis L. Wheeler, assistant meter foreman in the City Water Works Department, as living at Pendleton Camp with his wife Mary A.
Pendleton Camp: The Wheeler Home at 1700 Johns Road Extension
Henry Barclay King built homes on fifteen acres of land in Augusta as a memorial to his son Lt. John Pendleton King, who was killed in WWI. These homes were offered to disabled WWI veterans and their families. At the entrance to the development, a large boulder was inscribed with the following words:
PENDLETON CAMP WAS FOUNDED MAY 28, 1919 AS A MEMORIAL TO JOHN PENDLETON KING, FIRST LIEUTENANT OF INFANTRY, 26TH DIVISION, FOR THE USE AND BENEFIT OF HIS WOUNDED OR DISABLED COMRADES IN THE WORLD WAR AND THEIR DESCENDANTS FOREVER.
Ellis had been honorably discharged from the US Army in 1917 due to a physical disability. He and Mae moved to the house at 1700 Johns Road Extension in 1934 or 1935. After Ellis died in 1944, Mae continued to live in the house on Johns Road Ext. until at least 1957, maybe longer.
1937: Portrait of Mae’s Extended Family at the Wheeler home on Johns Road Extension
Back row: Bennie Brennan (Mae’s sister), Ellis, Mae, Patsy Wheeler standing in front of Mae, Miles O’Connor, Dot O’Connor, Talu Brennan O’Connor (Mae’s sister), Pat Brennan (Mae’s brother), Anne O’Connor, Lucy “Mew” Fuller Brennan. Front row: Tom Wheeler, Billy Wheeler, Lula Swindler Brennan aka Granny Brennan (Mae’s mother), Carol O’Connor, Griggs Wheeler, Helen Brennan (Mae’s sister), and Jimmy Brennan, Mae’s brother.
This portrait has always been an enigma to the subjects portrayed. It has furnished us with many laughs. Old man Feely, a respected Augusta photographer, chose the back of the house on John’s Roas [sic] as the setting and dictated the pose. 17 subjects without a smile. This is the way we’ll go into perpetuity and I have titled it as “Mr. Feely’s revenge”.
——Thomas E. Wheeler in A Wheeler Family in the Dutchfork and Part II: The Augusta Irish and the Saluda Connection (1998).
1940 US Census
In the 1940 census, Ellis L. Wheeler, 43, head of household, was living with his wife Mae, 35, and children Thomas, 14, Patricia, 12, William B. and Charles G., both 9, at Pendleton Camp in Augusta. Ellis was still working as a meter foreman at the City Waterworks Department. According to the census, the family had lived at the same address on April 1, 1935.
Christmas 1940
This photo of Mae and Ellis and their four children was taken in the living room in their house on Johns Road Ext. Left to right: Billy, Mae, Tom (in back) Ellis, Patsy (in back), and Griggs. This is a scan of a photocopy.
1943
Tom was the valedictorian of the 1943 senior class at Boys Catholic High School in Augusta. He joined the US Navy in the summer, six months before his 18th birthday.
1944
In November 1944, the family was devastated when Ellis suffered a ruptured appendix and died of a post-operative infection.
1946 or after
This photo of Mae and her children was shot in the living room of their house in Pendleton Camp on Johns Road Ext. It was taken after Tom returned to Augusta after WWII.
Following the war, Tom attended Mt. St. Mary’s College in Emmitsburg, Maryland on the GI Bill. He graduated with a degree in chemistry and returned to Augusta.
1950 US Census
In the 1950 census, enumerated on April 6, 1950, Mary B. Wheeler, head of household, 45, was living on Johns Road Ext. in Augusta with her sons Thomas E., 24, and William B., 19. Tom was working as a chemist at a cotton mill. No occupation was recorded for his mother and brother.
April 10, 1950
Tom married Mary Van Sant at Sacred Heart Catholic Church on Greene Street in Augusta.