Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Wheatley, Sarah

WHEATLEY, Sarah, actress, b. in St. John, New Brunswick, in 1790; d. in New York city in July, 1854. Her father, whose name was Ross, died when she was two years of age. She made her first appearance in New York at the Park theatre on 12 Nov., 1805, and in 1806 married Frederick Wheatley, an actor, and retired from the stage; but on his failure in business she resumed her profession for the support of her family and achieved success. Mrs. Wheatley was noted for her artistic representation of old women. — Her son, William, actor, b. in New York city, 5 Dec., 1816; d. there, 3 Nov., 1876, made his first appearance on the stage at the Park theatre, New York, in 1826 as Albert in “William Tell,” during the engagement of Macready, with whom he travelled through the United States. In 1842 he was engaged at the Walnut street theatre in Philadelphia, and in 1843 he retired and visited Nicaragua, where he raised the first American flag in Virgin bay. He returned to the United States, and in 1853 leased, with John Drew, the Arch street theatre in Philadelphia, of which he was sole manager in 1855-'8. Afterward he controlled the Continental theatre in Philadelphia, and leased Niblo's Garden, New York, of which he was manager from 1865 till he retired in 1868. During this period the “Black Crook” was first produced. Mr. Wheatley's best characters were Doricourt in “The Belle's Stratagem,” Rover in “Wild Oats,” Captain Absolute in “The Rivals,” and Claude Melnotte in “The Lady of Lyons.”