Sunday, June 03, 2012

THE WISELEY CEMETERY

Visiting Relatives I never got to meet

A tranquel setting for a small cemetery in Ohio

       Allan and Mary Wiseley owned a farm not too far from where this picture was taken.  They spent most of their lives working that farm, but for the last 131 years his address has been Wiseley Cemetery, Kohler Rd, Wapakoneta, Ohio.  He died Jan 1881 and a few years later (Aug 89) Mary joined him.  


Here are the twin headstones of Mary (left) and Allen. 
The arch that once joined the two stones is on the ground at the base of the headstones.        





Technically the cemetery is named "The Kuntz-Wiseley" cemetery, but I could not locate anyone named Kuntz that was buried here and of the 19 names listed 15 are Wiseleys. So the official cemetery name assigning people can call it what they want, I will think of it as the Wiseley cemetery. So did the ladies who read all the tombstones in 1985.
       This pleasant rural setting is just a couple miles west of Wapakoneta. (Wapa'-ka-net-a - not Wapa-ka-neeeta...or just call it Wapa like the locals do)  It is easy to find. Go west of Wapa until on the outskirts you see Greenlawn cemetery.  A couple hundred yards beyond that is a bridge over 33 (an expressway)  where you can find Kohler road just to the southwest of the bridge.  A couple miles south on Kohler will bring you to two small 1/2 acre cemeteries. The one on the left is the Wiseley cemetery. The other one has headstones written in German.
        Who is buried here? A list was compiled in 1985.



      
And now some pictures of headstones.  The full text that could still be read is recorded above. You may want to come back here as you try to read some of the stones.


View of Wiseley cemetery taken from the other (German) cemetery. 

            A closer view of the Wiseley cemetery looking south-east.



 Looking north. My car is parked in front of the other cemetery. 


Looking south at the same row of tombstones.  Above is the 2nd row . Look at the right side of the picture by the base of a tree and you will see a squarish block of stone. That is almost all that is left of the 1st row. If you look closely you can see a single stone in the 3rd row. It shows up better in the next picture. Notice to the left of this row is an empty slope of grass.


Looking at Mary and Allen's headstones with the nearly empty grass area behind them.  You can see the remains of the 3rd row in the background. 


Here is about all that is left of the third row. As I walked this cemetery thoughts of how many unknown Wiseleys were buried here filled my mind. They had families, joys and trials and as early pioneers here would have had such wonderful stories.  Feelings of nostalga makes me wish I had been able to talk with them and find out more about who they were, what they did and what their life was all about.




 A better view of the "empty" grass area behind the row of stones pictured earlier.  As I walked this ground I discovered it is not empty. Pieces of stone were partially visible through the grass, as shown below.


     There was no way to read anything on the exposed parts of this stone. Who knows how many other stones or fragments are buried a few inches below the grass.  A big thank you to the Washington Township people and the who take care of this nearly forgotten cemetery. Also thanks to the ladies and organizations that record the text found on these old stones. 



Some stones were partially buried, like this one. If you look closely you can see the large depression where this stone was half buried before I pulled it out.  Looking at the list of names recorded it appears to be the stone of one of Mary and Allens children "Jenny" Look closely at the photo below and you can almost make out that name in the curved area above where it says she was the dau of A & M Wiseley.







 And we finish our visit to the Wiseley cemetery with some stones that we can still read.


Here is Mary and Allen.



Here is Amos and Emma's daughter Pearl

8 months - 2 days

 





Here is Florence. An earlier daughter of Amos and Emma.  There were lots of Wiseley men named Amos, so which one is this? He was one of the obituaries in the post "12 Obituaries".  And if you read that one, he is the Amos that shot himself. There is much more to that story but it will have to wait for a future post. 
Oh, I nearly forgot, Florence was
2 years, 6 months, 10 days






   
You will need to go back to the listing for this stone. The name is Leroy Leslie.  Brother to Albert.
1 Month -12 days


Here is Albert, son of Henry and Anne Wiseley.
He was only 12.

The next picture is also Albert's headstone. It seems like a good place for us to end our visit to the Wiseley cemetery.
We can only imagine the heart ache of burying children here.  Add to that the loss of close relatives and spouses. This is a place where there have been tears and sorrow, loss and grief.  It is almost beyond our comprehension! 
        I think it is time to scroll down to the next picture and stop and just look at the serenity of this last photo.






Albert - Rest in Peace!


Thank you again for reading my blog. Your comments, questions, and suggestions are always most welcome. Please take a moment to drop me an Email I hope these posts on my blog are of some interest to you.

I will not sell your email address or use it in any other way than respond to you.










Saturday, May 26, 2012

Potato Famine and Scotch-Irish immigration

Phytophthora infestans
(Late Blight or Potato Blight)



        The first Scots-Irish had been in the colonies for 123 years before the Irish potato famine started. (1845-1849)    When  genealogy was a new interest to me several years ago I "assumed" the Irish potato famine was the "push" that drove people from Ireland to our shores. Wrong!  My rush to judgement was similar to many inexperienced people who start in genealogy. Probably you have seen the same type of inexperienced mistakes. For example most of you have probably encountered a Peter X. Wiseley and smiled that someone had mistaken his "mark" for his middle initial.
     Understanding  history unlocks information not contained in family trees. Understanding the times and events that were the daily life of ancestors can guide us to where we can find answers. So did the Wiseleys arrive here in 1717 or 1845? The definitive answer is yes!  To explain such a contradictory answer we need to look at a little history, geography, economics, and most importantly, agriculture.  (Reminds me of high school where I slept through such classes. But I still have fond memories of the 6 years I spent getting through the 9th-12th grades)  
      If you have not done so Google "Scotch-Irish" and spend 10 minutes reading some of the many sites that will pop up.  I have covered some of this material in previous blogs. So for now I will just give a brief sketch of who the Scotch-Irish are. First of all they are not Irish. 
       "Nay laddy, we are no Eerish" was a commen response to the question of nationality, in the vernacular of the day.      
     So how did Scotsmen wind up in Ireland? 
     Briefly, King James I managed to confiscate large portions of northern Ireland and drive the Irish out. Ireland was mainly Catholic, much to the chagrin of the British King and Parliament. The solution to the Catholic "problem" was to repopulate the land with Protestants.  The Scottish Presbyterians were as Protestant as you could get, especially a group known as the Covenanters. 
      King James set up a plantation system in Northern Ireland which essentially meant he would lease large portions of land to men who would then rent out the land at low rates to Protestant farmers from Scotland and England. The work was too hard for the city dwelling English who soon returned from their adventure. But the Scots had come from harsh conditions, poor soil, few opportunities and a hard scrabble way of living. Ulster (Northern Ireland) had better soil, more opportunites, low rents, and improved living conditions.  For the next hundred years Scots crossed the 5 or 6 miles of ocean that seperated  Scotland from Northern Ireland. There was little mixing with the Catholic Irish so the Scots of Northern Ireland were a seperate culture, living in Ireland but through and through Scots. Thus the name Scotch-Irish, or Ulster-Scots.
      The Ulster plantations were very profitable. They exported agricultural products as well as goods they produced. But all good things eventually come to an end. The London Merchants saw Ireland as a nation seperate from the British Isles, and as such a competitor for world trade.  Parliament started to pass laws to help their London merchants.  Nothing could be exported except to England.(The Staple Act 1663) Next nothing could be imported except from England. (1671) By 1680 the manufacture of woolen and linen cloth had made Ulster a prosperous place. The men tended the sheep and flax while the women made cloth in their homes.  Every cottage was a little industry, until the merchants of London could not stand the competition and added even more restrictions on woolen goods. (1699 Woollen Act) 
       Farming was tied to the woolen and linen production. The collapse of these markets hurt every Ulster cottage. 
In addition there was the increased rents. Originally rent was very low. There was plenty of land and low rent was used to induce people to come to Ulster.  And they came, transforming a near wilderness into productive farms with houses, buildings, fields and a working community. The land was leased for a period of 31 years during which rent remained the same low rate.  Now the land was much more valuable. Economic conditions had change during the previous 31 years and landlords often raised rents beyond the tenants ability to pay. 
     In addition the year 1714 saw the first of 5 years of severe drought.  Then in 1716 a disease known as "the rot" destroyed sheep herds. With severe frosts over northern Europe and years of drought destroying crops, the price of food soared.  People were being thrown out of their homes due to high rents, and a form of Smallpox began to spread in Ireland. 
      The year 1717 saw the first 5000 Scotch-Irish head for the colonies. When they sent word back that the colonies were wonderful others left to join them.  Later more problems would send other waves of immigrants from Ulster to America.  The years 1717, 1725, 1740, 1754, and 1771 were all years that were the start of a few years of mass migration from Ulster to America.  The reasons are many and complex, but were not related to a potato famine.  These are the years when about 250,000 Scotch-Irish came to this country.
      The potato famine was the cause of the Irish, not Scotch-Irish, to come to America.  Go here to read more on the famine. 
     In short the famine reduced the Irish population by about 30%. One million died of starvation or related diseases and one million fled to other nations, with most coming to America. (1845-51)
     There were distinct differences between the Scotch-Irish immigation and the Irish (potato famine) immigration.  The Scotch Irish were described as hard working people who moved to the wilderness, built Presbyterian (or Protestant)churches and schools and in general were prosperous people. 
     The Irish on the other hand preferred to stay in large cities, (Boston, New York, Philadelphia), were Catholic, took whatever jobs they could find, and  due to their large numbers were less prosperous.
      But to answwer the question I asked at the start of this post, Yes, there were Wiseleys who came during the potato famine. But the vast majority of Wiseleys were Scotch-Irish and came during the 1700's. Some Wiseley's were lowland Scots (see sidebar) and sailed from Scotland to America.
But there were also Wiseleys that arrived along with the Famine victims.
      Here is a list I compiled from a wonderful set of books named "The famine Immigrants" which lists people by name, the ships, and the dates of arrival.  If you cannot trace your Wiseley family back farther than about 1850 perhaps this will give you some new clues.

John Wisely 16                  Arrived in New York Dec 16, 1847  on board the Queen of the West from Liverpool
 Margaret Wisely 15
Mary Wiseley 50               Servant                Arrived NY 17 September 1847 aboard Cambridge from liverpool
Mary                     20           Servant
John                      17           Laborer
Samuel                 15           Laborer
Isaac                      10           Laborer                                                               
James Wisely     18           Laborer                                Arrived NY Jul 10  1848       aboard the Roscius from Liverpool
Maryarett Wisely 12       Spinster      (skilled in spinning)           Arrived NY 30 September 1848
Lawrence Wiseley  30     Laborer              Arrived in New York  first of march from Liverpool
Mary Wiseley    19           Domestic           Arrived NY 29 jan from Liverpool aboard  Virginia
James Wiseley  16           Laborer              Arrived NY  6 May rom Liverpool aboard the Reliance.
Esther Wiseley  20           Spinster
James Wiseley  59           N/A
Esther Wiseley  59
Mary Wiseley    3
John Wiseley     54           Laborer           Arrived NY 4 December 1849   from Liverpool on Marmion
Rose Wisley        30           None              Arrived NY  20 Sept 1851 from liverpool on the  Isaac-Webb
Lawrence Wisley  3

Sorry I didn't have more pictures and ran a little long on this post. Thanks again for reading my blog.

David Wiseley

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Francis Wiseley - documented at last.

     If you read a previous blog about Francis Wiseley you may recall at the end I promised to tell you how I knew he was related to the other Wiseleys, namely John, (Head of the Lancaster, OH clan) William and Mary.  I knew I had some documentation but at the time could not find it among the nearly 15,000 photo's I have of genealogical data.  Well a couple nights ago I was working on some old files  researching William and "Bingo" there it was. 


    
       This is a photo of data found in :"Fairfield County Will and Estate Abstracts" compiled by Jean Collier for the Fairfield county Chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society.  Pg 41.  I found this volume in the genealogical collection of the Lancaster, OH Public Library.
       It  refers to case number 882.  The estate is that of William P. Wiseley of Greenfield township Filing date is 1835 and it was administered by Gideon Martin.  The widow is listed as Mary.  OH OH.  Mary???    Which William P Wiseley is this?  The text above shows that some names mentioned include "Sarah and Patterson Wiseley." (Ignore the spelling)
       The next time I am in Lancaster, Ohio I will have to find William P Wiseley's will and see if it really says Mary.  I cannot find any trace of a Mary married to William P. Wisely (of any spelling).  But that is not the subject of this rather brief entry.  I wanted to post this data for those of you who may not have any evidence that Francis ever existed and if he did he was a member of the family.  The Abstract above does not say he was a member of the family, but it seems likely that there was enough of a connection that William P would have loaned Francis some money.  Perhaps the actual will states the relationship. 
      Shortly after Francis died the property was sold to the Wilcox family.  They stopped all production of the slitting mill, the sawmill and the gristmill. Instead they built up a paper mill and produced paper.  Interestingly, the paper they produced at what they called Glen Mills  was so good that the US used their special paper to print money for the next nearly 50 years.  Not only The United States but several foreign nations used the same paper for their currency, including Spain, Italy and a few others.  
    If anyone reading this blog is near Lancaster, Ohio or has access to documentation that links Francis to the Wiseleys of Lancaster, Ohio I would appreciate whatever you may be able to find. Thanking you in advance.
  

Saturday, May 19, 2012

A Dozen Obituaries from Fort Wayne, IN

In May I spent a few days at the delightful Allen County Public library in Fort Wayne, Indiana. If you are interested in genealogy and have never been to this library you should make every effort to spend a few days there.  Their genealogy collection is unbelievable. Beyond what I can describe here.  Their huge Microfilm collection had obituaries from the local papers and contained a dozen obituaries shown below.   
     I have no tale to tell with today's posting. Just the raw data from the obituaries. If you are researching the Wiseley family, especially the "George line" this may be of interest to you.


 (The George line is a branch from the John Wiseley that came from Lancaster PA to Lancaster OH about 1800. He had 4 sons and a daughter William, Edward, James, George and Mary.)


Hopefully some of the information in the obits will be useful to someone. Please remember that the date of the obituary is probably not the same as the date of their death.


At first I had planned to organize the following obituaries according to who was related to whom. But when I discovered so many links, and connecting relatives I decided it would be more fun for you, gentle reader, to discover these connections for yourself.  As usually happens new data raises as many questions as it answers.  I still don't know if Kathryn listed here was the wife of either person who had a wife named Kathryn. 
         In the next blog I will comment on what can be learned from these 12 obits and what family connections they might contain.  


Pg 7-June 16, 1955  Fort Wayne Journal Gazette (FWJG)





Pg 3L-  Jan 26, 2007 - Fort Wayne News Sentinel  (FWNS) 


Pg 33 - Dec07, 1955  FWJG





Pg 4a - June 17, 1991 FWNS



Pg 4c - June 17, 1983  FWJG




pg 12 - June 1, 1937 (FWJG) 


Pg 2A -June 12, 1968 - FWJG





Pg 12  Jan 25, 1926  FWNS





Pg 2 - Dec 08, 1934 FWJG




Pg 8 -September 4, 1939  FWJG



Pg 14 -July 19, 1919  FWJG


Pg 2- Oct 22, 1960 FWJG
      Well, did your head get as confused as mine did when I first read  these and found several connections between several that were listed?  Some times genealogy is a mixture of  mystery, logic, common sense and plain hard work. That is why it is so much fun. 
    Once again thank you for taking time to read my blog. I hope it is informative for you. I would love any feedback or questions regarding Wiseley (and all variations).  Also if you are working on a family tree please share a copy with me. I will not publish any material unless I ask you first. 
     A big thank you to all who have shared so much with me already. Your generous help has provided me with resources unavailable to me otherwise.  I send all of you a heartfelt "Thanks"! 
David  
Waters, MI
davidwiseley@gmail.com  
      

Monday, January 02, 2012

The Wiseley - Wiseley wedding.

BUT SHE IS YOUR COUSIN...!!
Bright Cemetery east of Findlay, Ohio where some of the pioneer Wiseleys are buried
(Corrections made Jan 20, 2012)
    "I'm my own grandpa" was a popular country song several years ago (1947)  and tells of a guy who marries  a widow woman and..oh never mind. It is just too confusing.  If you really want to know how that worked out just do a web search for it and you will find the lyrics and maybe listen to Ray Stevens sing it for you.  If you never heard of it, by all means go find the lyrics. It will give you a good chuckle.  I think I understand it, but everytime I try to explain it, I get confused and have to give up. 
    People who are trying to trace their family origins can become almost as confused when they are confronted with marriages between people who have the same last name. It gets even more interesting when they are also cousins.
    Such is the case with the March 19th, 1863 Wiseley- Wiseley wedding. That was when Henry H Wiseley married the lovely Lorraine Lurany Wiseley. Were they related?  Yes, some kind of cousins, as they each shared the same set of great grandparents. 
     This line of Wiseleys are from what I call the "Lancaster" line. The earliest person we have definitive information about is John Wiseley who came to Lancaster, OH from Lancaster, PA between 1797 and 1800.
      His descendants have spread across the United States like dust in the wind.  But let us concentrate on how two of them found each other in a place that was over a hundred miles from their southern Ohio origins.
     First we should learn where their origins were. That part is easy because all the "Lancaster" Wiseleys roots are from Lancaster, Fairfield County, Ohio. 

William's headstone in Coffman Cemetery
 just west of Carroll, Ohio
Many of the earliest Wiseleys from Ohio lived near the small village of Carroll, about 8 miles northwest of Lancaster.  John moved his five children (William P, Edward, James, George and Anne) to this wilderness area sometime around 1800 or a little earlier. They most likely traveled the Zanes Trace which was not completed until 1797.  
      John's son William married Rachel Tomlinson while in the Carroll area in 1801.  They would have two daughters, Elizabeth and Mary before Rachel died of Milk Sickness in 1806.   
         After Rachel's death William married Sarah Cole on Dec 3, 1807. They would have several children;  Allen, Jesse, Harriet, George, Ruth, Nancy, Emily, Rachel, and Sarah.  
         Allen would marry Amelia Bright, who was born on the same day that he was.  Allen moved north about 100 miles in a near wilderness area which is today Findlay, Ohio.  Soon other Wiseleys and Brights would live in the same area. Many of them are buried in Bright cemetery a few miles east of Findlay.

Allen and Amelia Wiseley headstone
in Bright cemetery east of Findlay, OH.
See enlarged picture below

      Allen was a very successful farmer who acquired 3000 acres of rich Ohio Farm land and was involved in several businesses as well as being justice of the peace for several years.
      They (Allen and Amelia)  also had several children; William Patterson (named after Allen's father William P,) America, Sarah, Lorrainne, George, Edward Bright, (named after Allen's Uncle George and Uncle Edward) and Daniel Small. 
     Their daughter Lorainne Wiseley is the lady who married Henry H. Wiseley.

        Her great Grandfather was the John who had moved from Pennsylvania to Lancaster, Ohio.  The same John was also Great Grandfather to Henry H. In addition to Lorraine's grandfather William, John and his wife had 4 other children,  James,  Edward,  George and Ann.  
    Edward (John's son)  and Leah would have several children  Jesse was one of them.  Jesse married Keziah (a popular name at that time)  and they would have Henry H. who married his 3rd cousin Lorainne.  ( My writing is about as confusing as the Song "I'm My Own Grandpa")
       Let me make it easier for you. Here is their ancestry.
       Lorainne's ancestors  - Allen (dad) -  William (Grandpa) and John (the shared G Grandpa).
       Henry H.'s  ancestors  - Jesse (Dad) - Edward (Grandpa) - and John (the shared G Grandpa) 
.




A remarkable find. Edward's headstone in Coffman Cemetery.  You can make out enough of his name to know it is Leah's husband, Edward, my GGG Grandfather.


      Edward married  Leah Tomlinson (Rachel Tomlinson's sister?).  They had 15 children.  One of their children was named Jesse.    








Leah Wiseley's headstone with her
great, great, great, Grandson.  (Me)
(Cute little guy, isn't he)
Jessie and Keziah (Gilmore) were married and moved to the
Findlay area and had 7 children,
one them being Henry  H.
Wiseley groom to Lorainne Wiseley.
The 1880 Census lists Henry, his wife Lorainne and 5 children.  Elvira (listed as Almeda on the 1870 census)  Milton C., Amelia S. , Eldon Scott, and David M.
     Henry and Lorainne would stay in the area and farm. Henry would pass away on September 29th, 1918. His wife Lorainne would follow him a little over a year later on October 4th, 1919.

The 3 pictures below are different sides of Jesse and Keziah's headstone in Bright cemetery.


  
      It gets difficult to keep people straight, partly because they named so many children after other kinfolk.  I hope this effort to explain how two Wiseleys that were married to each other were related.  If you are confused just read it over a time or two and as you become familiar with the names it will become clearer. 
     I have spent  hours trying to determine if  two identical names are the same person or two or more different people.   In the case of Allen, the rich farmer, his name was so well thought of that I have a family tree that has an Allen Wiseley in every generation from the mid 1800's right down to the present.  Even the middle initial is the same!  Working on that line of Wiseley's is enough to make me throw up my hands and go for a walk some days.  


infant children of Jesse and Keziah.
  

    Thank you for taking time to follow my blog. The time I invest in research is well worth the effort. First because I enjoy it and secondly because over 60 people  have contacted me to explain how they are related to the Wiseley family name.  Several have sent me copies of their family tree.  Today's blog is the result of one of those contacts. Don, from Ft Wayne, Indiana, sent me a copy of his family tree and this unusual marriage was noted.  Henry and Lorainne were his Great Grandparents on his mothers side. It has been an interesting study to trace the people involved. 
      If you are interested in the Wiseley Surname please drop me an Email with any questions or additional family information.  Your comments on the Wiseley family are always welcome as are any suggestions for future blogs.  I respond to every Email I receive. 
      davidwiseley@gmail.com