See also
| Husband: | Nathaniel Wheelwright (1721-1765) | |
| Wife: | Ann Apthorp (1736-1764) | |
| Children: | Charles Apthorp Wheelwright (c. 1758-1812) | |
| Marriage | 9 Oct 1755 | |
| Name: | Nathaniel Wheelwright | |
| Sex: | Male | |
| Father: | - | |
| Mother: | - | |
| Birth | 25 Oct 1721 | |
| Death | 6 Sep 1765 (age 43) | Guadaloupe |
| Name: | Ann Apthorp | |
| Sex: | Female | |
| Father: | Charles Apthorp (1698-1758) | |
| Mother: | Grizzel Eastwick (1709-1796) | |
| Birth | 18 Jan 1735/36 | Boston, Massachusetts |
| Death | 18 Apr 1764 (age 28) | |
| Name: | Charles Apthorp Wheelwright | |
| Sex: | Male | |
| Spouse: | Catherine Apthorp ( -1842) | |
| Birth | c. 1758 | |
| Occupation | 24 Jul 1787 (age 28-29) | Merchant, Newington Green, Stoke Newington |
| Death | 1812 (age 53-54) | |
Nathaniel Wheelwright was one of Boston’s leading businessmen in the early 1760s: a merchant, wharf owner, supplier of specie to the British army, and backer of financial notes for people of all classes. He had married into the wealthy Apthorp family, and was the father of three young sons.
Then, in January 1765, Wheelwright suddenly stopped honoring his debts. There is no clue about what exactly prompted this decision, but its consequences were staggering. Governor Francis Bernard reported to London: "This was like an earthquake to the town; numbers of people were creditors, some for their all. Every one dreaded the consequences; lesser merchants began to fail; a stop to all credit was expected and a general bankruptcy was apprehended for a time."
Eventually this financial crisis caught up several men who might be familiar to Boston readers: William Molineux, John Scollay, John Rowe, and especially Dr. Joseph Warren, whom Thomas Hutchinson as probate judge assigned to administer Wheelwright’s tangled estate. It is argued that the repercussions of that crisis helped to increase Bostonians’ anxieties about the Stamp Act later in 1765.
http://boston1775.blogspot.com/search/label/Nathaniel%20Wheelwright (extracted 25.8.2009)