Elder Joshua Bradley (1773-1855), a 1799 graduate of Brown University, had been active in Baptist ministry and education in western Virginia since the early 1830s.
He agreed to fund a new college and seminary at Williamsport (officially called Pruntytown after 1845) in collaboration with the local congregation at Beulah Baptist Church.
First, in the summer and autumn of 1850, a typhoid fever epidemic swept through the Pruntytown area and significantly disrupted classes.
Second, during the same seasons, Wheeler's health began to decline dramatically, not from typhoid, but probably due to tuberculosis; he died on July 11, 1851.
Finally, on March 25, 1855, a disastrous fire destroyed the college's buildings including its large library and a museum.