Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Wytheville Wiseley's part 2 -Lynching and The Daniel Line

                                                         
 In a previous blog I promised to tell you the story of the Wisely who was nearly lynched for murder.
I came across this oddity when I was researching Wisely's in Wytheville in 2003. I read another account of this story that placed the scene at a card game and involved a stabbing. But here is the Library transcripted note for that 1886 event.
     Who was Mike or more probably Micheal Wisely? I don't know, yet. A quick scan of my family trees does not list him. But this story has all the makings of a good book.  "Murder on Cripple Creek" or maybe "The Mystery of Cripple Creek"  There is enough information in this little news account to let me find out more when I return to Wytheville.  I am sorry that there are so many odd people in your line.
      Now on to more about Daniel Wisely, or rather the Daniel Wisely's that keep popping up in family trees.
To review, the oldest Wisely I have located to date in this line is Peter Wisely (died 1782).  One of his boys was named Frederick. (b. 1773 d. 1855). And one of Fredericks boys was named Daniel. Daniel then named one of his boys Daniel Jr. (b Oct 1796  d. July 1868 in Howard County, MO)  Then another son of Frederick,  Daniels older brother, Michael, had a boy and named him Daniel. If you live in Texas or Oklahoma this Daniel may be of interest to you because he died in Lamar Co. TX.
     Daniel, son of Frederick, must have been quite a guy.  Not only did Daniels brother Michael name one of his kids Daniel, but two of Daniels own children named a boy Daniel. So now there is Daniel, his son Daniel Jr, a nephew and two grandchildren all named Daniel.  Genealogists are confronted with this problem often. Several people with the same name and they have to try to sort out who is who. Too often the desire to locate a person overcomes the need for accuracy and common sense.  Usually the error is so obvious you wonder how the researcher missed it. For instance in my line, credit is given to a John Wiseley for 4 children in my line who were all born about 1750 and on. The wedding date for John is 30 years before any kids were born?    Some one searching for the father of these children found a record of a Wiseley marriage and decided that John must be the dad.  That error has been copied so many times it now is accepted as true, but it is not.
    OK lets look at Daniel and see what we can learn.  IN the 1810 Census we find Daniel Wisely listed.  Then in a Virginia index to the 1820 census we find Both Senior and junior Daniels,  Note the difference in the spelling of the last names.  The Wyt stand for Wytheville. I do not know the purpose of the numbers.


And here we learn that even during frontier kind of living there were laws and courts and matters of everyday living much like today. Notice near the bottom a reference to "Wiseley's shop".  What kind of a shop?  Where? There are numerous mentions of Daniel Wisely. And the spelling generally is Wisely, but Wiseley and Wisley are also common.  His shop was most likely a blacksmith shop and he was only a little west on the Stage Road from the center of Wytheville, or Evansham as he would call it. 
      In doing this research I have had a new appreciation for the life of these very early pioneers. Land was the big draw here. That was why families would leave the comfort of established homes in far away cities and choose to live in rough hewn cabins with few possessions. 
      But the myth of the wilderness was that these people had to do without for years. Actually the frontier was often where "boom" times thrived and every manner of goods was available. That is the case with Evensham.  In our 3rd Wytheville blog we we study more about Daniel and his family.  There are some very interesting facts recorded. What actually caused the death of Edward Murphy who was covered with bruises. Was it Sarah Smith who ran a local tavern and was charged with his death, but acquitted.
      Daniel didn't stand for no hanky panky. He and a friend John turned in Alexander and Tabitha for cohabitating and fornicating.  Other Wisely's stepped up and claimed illigitimate children and paid their mother support.  And we can't overlook Daniel's Slave who was convicted of arson.  That and more in our next Wytheville #3 blog.  Thank you for reading. send questions or comments to davidwiseley@gmail.com

Friday, February 18, 2011

Wytheville, VA Wiseley's Part 1

Wythville, VA is located in the far southwestern arm of Virginia. Named after George Wythe, a signer of the Declaration of Independance, and county seat for Wythe county.When I spent several days there a couple years ago I quickly learned that Wytheville sounds like Withville, not the way I was saying it that sounded like Wiveville.  Some famous people came from here as well, like what's her name, president Wilson's wife.
     For those who are doing genealogy, you should know the name of the town was Evansham  (Evans-ham) until 1839, when most of the old town burnned down. When they rebuilt they renamed it, Wytheville.
     This is not the line of Wiseley's that I came from. Most Wytheville Wisely's spelled their name without the second e. Wisely. And they came from Germany. That is the reason that some Wiseley's claim to be German I guess. You can find this spelling in several places, especially around Coulterville, IL and Lamar county Texas where descendents of this line moved. It also explains why they were early members of the Zion Lutheran Church, which is about 10 miles south west of Wytheville and a few miles off the main road.
 Listed below are the Wiseley's that were baptized in that Luthern Church. The dates are birth and death dates. Life for many was brief.
 
Wilson, Mary Crockett          Mar 6 1828       June 18 1907
Wiseley, Alice W.                June 25 1873     Dec 10 1880
Wiseley, Elkanah                 Aug 15 1836      Sept 9 1855
Wiseley, Freeling                 Mar 31 1823      Feb 14 1875
Wiseley, Laura E.                 Feb 8 1861       May 21 1869
Wiseley, Mary                          NDL              Mar 26 1871      
         (age about 75 yrs)
Wiseley, Michael Jr.(CSA)       1837             ????
Wiseley, Michael, Sr.              1801             July 6 1881
Wiseley, Peter                       1800             Sept 29 1867
Wohiford, Julia Mae Johnson  Sept 13 1910     July 2 1933
 
One of two trees that were here in 1791.
From 1791 until 1794 the
services were held outside 
under a make shift pulpit 
between two trees until 
a log church was built 
in 1794. The trees are 
still standing today, 
although one of the trees 
had severe damage after 
hurricane Hugo in 1989.

Imagine that,  two trees that were around before the revelutionary war still standing today. When I visted in April 2003 there was just one tree. And it was massive. It's 44 inches around my belly, so imagine the circumfrance ot that tree. Wouldn't you love to ask that tree what it has seen over the years?
    I have several family trees of this line and looking through them I find the earliest Wisely to be (1) Frederick who died (1782) in what was Mongomery county, but is now Wythe county He married Elizabeth Kaler and had 4 kids. Peter (b 1773 d. 1855) Daniel (b 1763, d.1844), Michael  and John. We will come back to learn more about Daniel.
     Following this line further we have found three of the four boys married and had kids.
(2) PETER
      Peter married Magdalena Phillippi (from Lancaster County, PA) their kids are 
      Michael - who is buried at the Zion church
      Frederick - Died in Monroe County, IN.
      Elizabeth
      Mary
      Peter - married in Monroe County, IN  (about 45 Miles southwest of Indianapolis)
      Rosina - Married in Monroe County, IN and buried in Center Point IA.
      Barbara
      Magdalena
      Anna Marie

As you can see from just this second generation the family is spreading out. Part of the reason was land was opened up in the "northwest territories" OH, IN, MI, IL, WI. And there was a national road from Baltimore to Vandalia, IL that became the expressway of the day. Building started in 1811 and ended in 1838 when funds dried up. It actually was a pretty good road with no grade steeper than 5% and built of stone that had to meet the government specs. So many inches of big stone that had to be larger than one brass ring and smaller than the next larger ring. Etc down to stones the size of gravel.  Reports of people who lived along it were that the creaking of wagon wheels could be heard all night long on that road.  Just like major roads today it had numerous blacksmiths, wagon repair shops, dry goods, livery stables, and places to stay and eat. 

DANIEL
     Continuing the family lines with Daniel, he married Elizabeth Davis and had 10 kids.
      Elizabeth
      Barbara
      John Jacob
      Mary
      Daniel Jr.  Died in Howard Co. MO. (half way between Kansas City and St. Louis.)
      William
      Joel Frederick
      Ann - Married William Gray
      Susan - Married Joseph Cassell 1825
      Sarah Sabilla - Married Leaonard Phelps 1821.

MICHAEL
     Michael Married Margaret, another lady from PA.   There was a lot of traffic along the road between Virginia and Pennsylvania. Even though PA was 250 miles from Wytheville, there was a well established road along the blue ridge mountains and since it followed the valley there were no difficult mountains to cross.
Their four kids are as follows.
        Elizabeth
        Peter Jr.
        Daniel - who would travel and eventually die in Lamar county, Texas ( Paris, Texas)
        Margaret

JOHN
     So far I have little information on Frederick's son John.

Obviously it is too tedious and boring to list every kid of every family ad infinitum.  We have completed the second Generation. The Family tree I have goes to generation 4 which is people who were born in the 1880's and died in the 1950's in general.  Perhaps you could be connected with one of these families if you think you may have come from this line of Wisely's. For more information on this line you can email me at davidwiseley@gmail.com or go to facebook and leave me a message.
     Next time we will look at more about this line and the Wisely who was nearly lynched for murder.  Sure glad this isn't my line, all my relatives were saints!   

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Odd Tidbits Of News About Wiseleys -1

Today we will look at some odd stories of people named Wiseley who must be from your line...as i won't claim them in mine. One of the oddest was stumbled upon in an archived copy of an Iowa newspaper named New Era from a town named Humeston. I checked and yes there is actually a town with that name in Iowa. It is about 50 miles south of Des Moines and is small enough to need only 5 or 6 streets for the whole village.
    I was unable to find any date but articles that appeared on the archived page seem to place it after 1880  ..."Worst storm since 1880..."  and around 1896 "...unpaid taxes for 1896..."  which is consistant with the stories it contains about people being kicked by horses.
    The first story is about Q.H. Wiseley, a name I have yet to identify with any family. Here is the clipping from the New Era paper. 




 This short clipping raises all kinds of questions.  Why would he have gotten married and then killed himself?  Was the bride pregnant and he was overcome with shame? Who was the prominant farmer? It just seems odd.
    Papers from around that time period often just reproduced news items that had appeared in other papers. They needed to find items that would interst their readers and sell papers. So they just gathered some oddities from wherever they could and published them.
      Here is another clipping from the same page. This one made me stop and ask another question.
      How did this Mr Webber shoot himself in the head seven times?  This sounds almost like some of the super market tabloids that contain unimaginable fiction that is reported as factual events.  Was the New Era paper a precursor to the modern day tabloid? Strange things happen, but is this fact or fiction?  Maybe someone else put 7 bullets into Mr Webber's head and the local sheriff came along and declared "Worst case of suicide i ever saw!"  Which leaves me with the question of Who was Q H Wiseley, and are there any more like him in your family?
     Then, from Placerville, California, there is the Aug 27th, 1859 account in The Mountain Democrat of a Elder Wiseley, pastor of a local church who was away from home, leaving his youthful and attractive wife home alone. Some one sent a letter to one of the Deacons of Wiseley's church telling of Mrs Wiseley and some suspected infidelity. The article explains that Deacon Brown was an old gentleman who was a stern man. He saw moral depravity everywhere and would speak out against it fearlessly. Even if it meant confronting the pastors wife about her infidelity.  The copy may be hard to read but I think you will be able to figure out what the facts are in this, another Wiseley oddity.  



   Sorry to do that to you but i found it an interesting oddity of the time period.  More oddities to come in future blogs.  



Sunday, February 13, 2011

The Lancaster Wiseley line part 3

Part 2 covered my line of descent from "old John" down to the John that came to Ohio. "Ohio John" had several children In part 2 we looked at one line that descended from his Son Edward. This time lets look at an important line through his son William.
Ohio John - York County,PA 1790 Census

     This line was pretty well documented by Clayton Wiseley in his 65 page "Wiseley Peters Story". It contains several first hand accounts of his talking with family members nearly 50 years ago, so it is a valuable resource.  If you want a copy of this booklet it is available at several libraries, including the Findlay library, in Findlay, OH and the Allen county Library in Ft. Wayne. IN. I could also make a copy but you would need to cover copy and mailing fees.
      The photo at right shows "Ohio John" in the first US Census 1790. He then still lived in Chanceford Township, York County, PA The census shows John as the only male over 16, 3 males under 16, and two females (wife & daughter) It also shows there were no other free persons living in the house. Also there were no slaves (few in south eastern PA owned slaves). They either could not afford slaves or were opposed to slavery. We know the Quakers of the area spoke against slavery even at that early time in our nations history.
      Ohio John's eldest son was named William P., probably after his uncle William. According to Clayton, William P. was born in Pennsylvania about 1780 and in 1803 married Sarah Cole and took up farming in the Lancaster, OH area.  His 58 acre farm was located in Greenfield township, just to the east of Carroll.
     William had several children, one of whom was Allen Wiseley.

From the History of Hancock County, Chicago: Warner, Beers and Co. 1886
Ch XX  Marion Township

 Allen Wiseley was born in Fairfield County, Ohio, February 20, 1809, there
grew to manhood, and in October, 1830. left his father's home, and in a few days drew up his horse at the cabin of Major Bright, in the forest of Marion
Township. He had known the Brights in Fairfield County, and the friendship begun there between young Wiseley and Amelia Bright, soon ripened into a warmer affection, and on the 2d of November. 1830, they were married by Aquilla Gilbert, then a justice of Jackson Township. He at once settled north of the Blanchard, in the southeast quarter of Section 14. It is a coincidence worthy of mention that Mrs. Wiseley was born in Fairfield County, on the same date as her husband. She reared a family of seven children, five of whom are living, and all settled in the county. After a happy married life of more than forty-eight years. Mrs. Wiseley passed away, her death occurring December 9. 1868. She was a member of the United Brethren Church from early womanhood, to which Mr. Wiseley has also adhered since the same period. In April, 1831, Mr. Wiseley assisted in organizing Marion Township, and has served five terms as justice of the peace.
During his official life he was very popular, and made scores of young couples
happy by tying the marriage knot. On the 18th of July, 1882, he married Mrs.
Mary Clinchie, nee Cahill, who has borne him one daughter. Mr. Wiseley operated a tannery in Findlay in 1831-32, and has been very successful in the
accumulation of real estate. He has given each of his children a good farm,
reserving the old homestead for his own residence during his declining years.

Next time more on Allen and the family trees that branched from William down through Allen.

Monday, February 07, 2011

The Lancaster Wiseley Line part 2

My heritage is from the Lancaster Line of the Wiseley's. I have not yet completed all the work that needs to be done on this line. Thanks in part to my 3G grandfather Edward and the 15 kids he had, plus all his brothers and sisters and their large families.  Here then is my direct linage.

John, who came to Ohio circa 1803, had 5 children and all were born in York county PA. William circa 1780. James circa 1782, Edward Sept 1782, George circa 1784, and Ann circa 1788.
My 4G Grandfather Johns Will
They settled just north of what is now Lancaster, OH in a lovely valley area near Carroll, OH which is 8 miles north west of Lancaster.  I have not been able to identify where John was burried. But I have learned much about him. Here is a picture of me in the Fairfield county courthouse in Lancaster, OH, holding Johns actual will. It was interesting to note that John signed his will but his son Edward and Edwards wife Leah both just made their mark above their name.
Speaking of which, when people made their mark, usually a scrawled X it was usually located between and just above their first and last names. I smile everytime i run across some "researchers" list of Peter X. Wiseley. It seems likely to me that Peter Wiseley just put his mark between his first and last names. It seems less likely that his parents named him "xylephone".
Coffman Cemetery West of Carroll
    Moving on my 3G grandfather Edward married Leah Tomlinson on Oct 21, 1806 and they had several children. William, Jesse, Rachel, Mary, Amos, Phoebe, Henry, Sarah, Elizabeth, Malinda, Leah, Rhoda, Harriet. Naomi, Isaac.  I think they ran out of names and stopped having kids. These children were born at a time when land was plentiful and cheap. So they mostly all moved away to seek their fortune.  That is one area of intense research for me now. Where did they all go and what happened to them. 
    About 1840 Henry headed into the Indiana territory and acquired land north of what is now Logansport, IN. Within a few months Amos got married and immediately joined his brother Henry. Sarah must have also moved there about the same time because I found a Federal land record in Cass County, IN (Logansport)  was signed by Sarah Wiseley. And that was in the early 1840's. I am not sure what status women had then, but Sarah bought land from the government. 


Front of My 3G Uncle Amos stone

      Henry would eventually lay out the original plats for the city of Royal Center about ten miles north west of Logansport. Both Amos and Henry are buried in a nice well cared for cemetery just south and east of the town of Royal Center.  It is interesting that Amos has a tombstone with Wiseley on one side and Wisley on the other. That was the day I stopped being so particular about having 2 E's in Wiseley.   



Amos's son on back of Amos stone
     Henry had several children; Thomas, Naomi, William,Charles, Edward, Mary, James, and Emily. Needless to say i have not identified every one of Henry's children.

     G-Grandfather Thomas stayed in Royal Center and had 5 children. Joseph Henry (my grandfather), Neoma, Mary Jane, William, and Thomas. 




GGrandpa Thomas, GGramma Jane and their five children, with my Grandfather
Joseph in the middle. I don't know which name goes to which sibling.
 
   My Grandfather Joseph married Jessie Button in the Royal Center area and later moved north to Durand, MI. I have yet to discover why they moved from Royal Center and to Durand. Joseph and Jessie also had several children, one of which was my father Clarence Wiseley. Here is the only known group photo of my aunts and uncles.    



1. Susanna 2. Thomas Herald 3. Opal 4. Eva 5. Henry? 6. Ruth 7. Gramma Jessie
8. George 9. Grampa Joseph 10. Clarence 11. Marjorie 12. Doral and 13. Charles



That ends the line with me and my brothers and sisters.  Clara, Clarence (Ike), Mary, Robert, Mac (don't call him Almus)  and David (me!)

      Most of us stayed in the area around Durand. I left in 1972 to take my first teaching job in the Upper peninsula of Michigan. In 1979 I made a job related move to Gaylord and have lived south of there in a small village named Waters for the last 30+ years.  Next time we will continue a different, but significant line of the Lancaster Wiseley's. It is the line that went to Findlay. OH where several Wiseley's were born and some still remain in the area.  



Sunday, February 06, 2011

LANCASTER, PA LINE

The earliest record i can find on this line is John Wiseley
"John Wiseley married Mary Bond, widow, October 20, 1721" - from Maryland and Deleware 1600-1800's Church Records. Pg 8 - in the section of St John's and St. George's Parish Registers 1696-1851
St Johns was located in Baltimore and Hartford Co. Maryland.

This John is usually listed as the father of the John who moved to Ohio circa 1800. But that presents a problem. The son John was born in 1750 and died in 1822 in OH. Why did the older John wait 30 years to start a family. It does not seem plausable.  Also if they had a Scotish background the traditional names of children followed a set order. First son was named after paternal grandfather, 2nd son after maternal grandfather, etc. That would indicate there may be a "missing" generation between the older John and the younger John. Pure speculation on my part but I have some doubts of the accuracy of showing the John married in 1721 as being the father of the 1750 John.
      But whoever the father and mother were we do have good records on the 4 children. Francis became a quaker. William moved a little west to York Springs (North of Gettysburg) and did not mention either spouse or children in his will. Perhaps he was a bachelor. Or if he married she may have died before he drew up a will. But there is no mention of a wife in any records so I will assume he was a bachelor until shown proof he was not.
       His sister Mary was married and John also married and heaed for Ohio. Actually a whole group (church-community??) left the Lancaster, PA area around 1800 and settled near Lancaster, OH.
       They would most likely have traveled on the road that George Washington had cleared for General Braddocks troops from Lancaster, PA to near Wheeling, Virginia (Now WV).  From there many travelers would have traveled by boat down the Ohio. But it is more likely that John and his family would have followed the recently completed Zane's Trace which crossed major rivers at Zanesville and what would be Lancaster, OH.  Zane's crew had built the road through very heavy mature forests and continual hills. The trace was filled with stumps that wagon and carts had to travel around or try to drive over them. That is mostly likely where the old expression came from. "I'm Stumped"  When a wagon axle got hung up on top of a stump then all forward progress was halted. Just as when we face a problem that "stumps" us.
More to come.