Wednesday, February 18, 2015

The Orange Boys of Hancock County


The Orange Boys of Hancock County

What on Earth is This?
This big ugly green thing was a mystery to me. There were several of them on the road under a tree that looked too small for this kind of "fruit?".  A man in a pickup stopped to see if we needed help, so I asked him what the green thing was.  He seemed surprised that I didn't know what it was and responded "It's an Osage Orange", The expression on his face added the unspoken "Duh!" . I had heard the term before but never had seen one. It was growing across the road from a small cemetery I had been checking for any Wiseleys that might have been buried there. 

  


The gold colored tree in the upper left of the picture is the Osage Orange tree.  That left me wondering if there was any connection between Osage Oranges and the boys of Hancock county who were named Orange Wiseley. That was their actual name and not a nickname. Their first name really was Orange. The obvious question is "Why would anyone name their son Orange"? 
      
       Recently while reading the history of Hancock county, Ohio, I found a section that dealt with the formation and naming of townships.  There are 6 townships in Ohio named Orange. One is in the southwest corner of Hancock county.  I doubt that had anything to do with the choice of names.
        Another possibility for choosing to name children "Orange" may have been connected with their recent history. If they were Scotch-Irish, as I think they were, the color orange would have been significant. In the British Isles and especially in Ireland, the color Green identified Catholics and  Orange represented Protestants. That distinction is still carried on today. Catholic priests often wear green during mass. St Patricks day has become a national holiday symbolized by "the wearing of the green". It started as a Catholic feast day honoring St Patrick who died on March 17.  I don't wear green on St Patrick's day. I wear the protestant color - Orange. There is a wonderful Irish song that illustrates the colors. 
     "Oh twas the greatest mix up,
      that you have ever seen.
      Me father he was Orange and 
      me mother she was green."
     The song explains how the son had to go to the Catholic Church for one thing and the Baptist Church for something else. 

   Back to the Orange Boys of Hancock county. Who were they, where and when did they live.  The where is pretty well answered by the title. they were in Hancock county just east of Findlay, OH.  So far I have only found two boys named Orange and they were 1st cousins and lived on the same road.
One was born in 1874. The other in 1878. 
      To answer who were they I need to go back to their GG Grandfather John.  

Our starting point is John Wiseley, who came to Ohio in the early 1800's. One of his sons was William P Wiseley  (b. 1780 d. 1834)             


The chart only lists the direct ancestors of Orange Wiseley. There are lots of siblings not listed here. For instance Edward Bright Wiseley (father of Orange) had a brother named Daniel Small Wiseley.  And for whatever reason Daniel named his son Orange. That is odd enough but he made it even worse by giving poor Orange a middle name of Lemon. 

     Notice that neither boy named Orange lived very long.  Edwards B's son died when he was 6 years, 3 months and 3 days old. (b Mar 3, 1874 d. June 6, 1881)   He was buried in McComb Union cemetery a little northwest of Findlay, OH.
     Daniels son died when he was only 2 years, 2 months and 17 days old.  (b. Aug 25, 1878 d. Nov 12, 1880) and is buried in the Bright Cemetery east of Findlay near his Grandfather Allen's farm.
      When I travel through cemeteries or research in libraries I sometimes notice that a lot of people died about the same time. These two boys died less than seven months apart. Several other people died around the 1880-1881 time period in the Findlay, Ohio area. Was there a disease or some disaster that accounts for above average death rates in a short span of time?
      Cholera might have killed them. When it first appeared in epidemic proportions it was mostly in port cities, or along canal routes. The city of Chicago was especially hard hit with outbreaks in 1849, 1854, and 1866. The disease spread inland as transportation improved. The primary cause was digging wells too close to outhouses.  The Findlay area did have an outbreak of Cholera during the end of the 1870's.
      Pneumonia may have been the problem for many people, especially young children. The year 1880 had an especially severe winter. Blizzards started early and continued during the rest of the winter. It was an historically bad winter.
       So why did Daniel and Edward pick out such an unusual name for their boys? Who knows?  We all have heard the story of the Pigg family that named their daughter Ima.  My wife taught school and had kids from a family where they named the boy Jack Daniels and his sister Tequila Sunrise. Why do parents do such things?  I probably shouldn't offer my opinion here!
       There really wasn't much information on these boys of Hancock County. They were born, died too soon, and were buried. But they were Wiseley's and that makes them interesting to me. So as we leave the Orange boys of Hancock County to rest in peace we may have uncovered the reason their Grandfather Allen's picture looks so stern.
       
      


He was a hard working, very successful farmer. He might have been smiling if he had not had sons who named their kids Orange! 
     



















   



 




The cholera experience is often considered as separate epidemics-1832, 1849, 1866, and the late 1870s. In reality, the boundaries were not so sharp. Further, nothing had been learned about the disease, its prevention or its treatment between the 1832 and 1849 episodes. The only real differences were that by 1849 the populations were larger and transportation was more rapid and less dependent upon water routes. Thus, cholera was moved with greater ease to more people.