Editing William A. Wheeler (section)

== Post-vice presidency (1881–1887) ==
[[1881 United States Senate election in New York|In January 1881]], Wheeler received 10 votes in the [[New York State Legislature]]'s Republican caucus to determine a nominee for the U.S. Senate seat held by Democrat [[Francis Kernan]].<ref name="Almanac">{{cite magazine |date=1882 |editor1-last=McPherson |editor1-first=Edward |title=Election of United States Senators: New York |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7e4WAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA4-PA34 |magazine=The Tribune Almanac and Political Register |location=New York, NY |publisher=The Tribune Association |page=34 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> The Republican nomination went to [[Thomas C. Platt]], who received 54 caucus votes.<ref name="Almanac" /> The Republicans controlled the legislature, and Platt defeated Kernan 104 votes to 50.<ref name="Almanac" />

Wheeler retired to Malone following the end of his vice presidential term on March 4, 1881.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Johnson |editor1-first=Rossiter |editor2-last=Brown |editor2-first=John Howard |date=1904 |title=The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans |volume=X |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uG9mAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA25-PA11 |location=Boston, MA |publisher=The Biographical Society |page=Wheeler-Wheelock |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> In May 1881, Platt and [[Roscoe Conkling]] resigned their U.S. Senate seats in a dispute with President [[James A. Garfield]] over control of patronage in New York, [[United States Senate special elections in New York, 1881|triggering two special elections]].<ref name="InterOcean">{{cite magazine |editor1-last=Porter |editor1-first=Robert Percival |editor2-last=MacMillan |editor2-first=Thomas C. |editor3-last=Jones |editor3-first=William P. |date=1887 |title=New York Senatorial Election of 1881 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4n5PAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA167 |magazine=The Inter Ocean Curiosity Shop |edition=First |location=Chicago, IL |publisher=The Inter Ocean Publishing Company |page=167 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> In the [[United States Senate special elections in New York, 1881#Result.2C Class 1|legislative election for Platt's seat]], it took six weeks of balloting to elect a candidate.<ref name="InterOcean"/> Wheeler's name was in consideration, and he received as many as 23 votes before [[Warner Miller]] was elected with 76 votes on the 46th ballot.<ref name="InterOcean"/>

Wheeler was also a candidate for Conkling's seat.<ref name="InterOcean"/> [[United States Senate special elections in New York, 1881#Result.2C Class 3|The voting went on for several weeks]] and Wheeler received as many as 50 votes on some ballots before [[Elbridge G. Lapham]] won with 92 votes on the 56th ballot.<ref name="InterOcean"/>

{{anchor|Death}}
Wheeler suffered from several illnesses throughout his life and was in increasingly poor health during his later years.<ref name="MillerCenter"/> He died at his home at 10:10&nbsp;a.m. on Saturday, June 4, 1887.<ref name=obit>{{cite news |title=William A. Wheeler Dead |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1887/06/05/100916473.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1887/06/05/100916473.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=June 5, 1887}}</ref> The funeral was held at the Congregational church in Malone.<ref>{{cite news |date=June 8, 1887 |title=William A. Wheeler: Funeral Services Over the Remains of the Deceased Vice-President |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/78557024/wheeler-funeral/ |work=[[Democrat and Chronicle]] |location=Rochester, NY |page=1 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> He was interred next to his wife in Malone's Morningside Cemetery on June 7, 1887.<ref>{{cite news |title=At Rest With His Kindred. Ex-vice-president Wheeler's Funeral At Malone, N.Y. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1887/06/08/100917245.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1887/06/08/100917245.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=June 8, 1887 }}</ref>