Nathan Barnes Wharton was born on May 18, 1844 in Noble County, Ohio. He enlisted in the Union Army at the age of 16 and eventually attained the rank of colonel. On April 27, 1865 he married Amelia Ann Johns (1847-1913). Wharton was a practicing attorney in Ohio and Indiana and later specialized in land law. The Whartons moved to St. Cloud, Minnesota in 1885 and to Ashland, Wisconsin in 1890, where Wharton served as a special agent to the United States Land Office. He died on November 28, 1916.
Nathan and Amelia Wharton had ten children, many of whom had distinguished careers. The papers of the two youngest children, Cara Wharton and N. Earl Wharton constitute the major portion of the collection. Cara (1883-1972) was a musician and music teacher in Ashland, Minneapolis, and River Falls. She was a member of the music faculty at River Falls State College from 1925 until 1953 where she taught piano and organ. After her retirement, Miss Wharton remained active in music organizations and the Methodist Church of River Falls. N. Earl Wharton was born in St. Cloud in 1886 and graduated from Ashland High School in 1905. He was educated at the University of Minnesota, Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in engineering. In 1917 Wharton, commissioned as a Lieutenant in the United States Navy, was sent to London to supervise the U.S. Navy wireless station. After the armistice ending World War I, he was a member of the American Commission to Negotiate Peace, and he served as a personal aide to President Woodrow Wilson until 1919. Wharton later lived in San Marino, California, where he worked as an investment banker and was an active member and officer of the Kiwanis Club. He died sometime between 1955 and 1957.
The remaining children were: James A. (1886-1941), who practiced law in Duluth, Minnesota for 30 years before taking the post of U. S. district attorney in St. Paul. In 1929 he became special assistant to the U. S. attorney general. Alice (b. 1868) taught in the Ashland Public School where she was in charge of the department of music and art. T. Finley (b. 1870) was Ashland city clerk, 1896-1902. He worked for the St. Louis office of Haskin and Sells, an accounting firm, until 1911 when he took the position of comptroller of Deere and Company. He later served as treasurer and assistant to the president of that firm. E. Laure (MacComber) (b. 1872) and Clara (Huotte) (1874-1941), both left Ashland after marriage and resided in Minneapolis. William Irwin (1877-1939) was in business in Ashland until 1910 when he moved east to take a position with Haskin and Sells. He became an associate of a Long Island auto agency before his death. F. Inez (Coggswell) (b. 1879) resided in Massachusetts with her husband, John F. Coggswell (1885-1942), feature writer for the Boston Sunday Post and author of several books about the Dionne quintuplets. Marion (b. 1882) was an accountant in Minneapolis.
