Wheelock Thayer Batcheller

The man in the above photograph is Wheelock Thayer Batcheller (1840-1910). He was born in Winsted, CT, to William Gray Batcheller (1811-1844) and Julia Ann Thayer (1817-1900). Wheelock was named for his maternal grandfather, Wheelock Sumner Thayer (1790-1857), who made his fortune manufacturing scythes and hay knives. Wheelock had a big brother named William Henry Batcheller (1837-1907). They’re all buried in Winsted Old Buring Ground.

Wheelock went to work making scythes and hay knives after completing his education in 1855. When war broke out, he enlisted for three months in the 2nd Connecticut Infantry Regiment and served as a company commander under Alfred H. Terry at the First Battle of Bull Run. After that enlistment, he helped organize the 28th Connecticut Infantry Regiement and served until the end of the war having achieved the rank of lieutenent colonel. For the rest of his life he was addressed and refered to as “colonel.”

After the war he became the manager of Thayer Scythe Company and was associated with other businesses until retirement in 1889. A Republican, he was elected to the state legislature in 1879 and chaired the military committee. In 1880 he was elected state comproller on a ticket with Governor H. B. Bigelow. In 1885 he was elected to the state senate.

Wheelock never married and lived with Julia  and William, who also never married, on Main Street in Winsted until at least 1900. Wheelock, the last one left, was living in the Hotel Winchester when he died.

Wheelock, like his mother and his brother, was known for his philanthropy, particularly for the benefit of the Litchfield County Hospital. Julia gave the “large and beautiful site” and $2,500 for the hospital which was being built when she died. Among the tens of thousands William Henry gave, he established the Wheelock Thayer Fund of $25,000 for care of the hospitals grounds. Wheelock gave thousands of dollars to the hospital and served as vice-president, director, and chairman of the trustees.

Wheelock’s estate was valued at $532,699.05, a little over $8,000,000 in 2026 dollars, but no will was ever found. In a letter to the editor of the Hartford Courant, titled, “Make Your Will,” published in July, 1911, Joseph Herman Vaill (1837-1915), who was well-acquainted with Wheelock, noted that most of the estate would have surely gone to the hospital but, with no will, would instead go to relatives who were not heirs and “so distant that the Colonel rarely if ever saw them.” In October 1912 it was announced that “the heirs of Col. W. T. Batcheller” had donated $10,000 to the hospital to establish the William H. Batcheller Nurses Home Fund.

Below is an image of the Litchfield County Hospital from a postcard (Yale Library).