Where did the Wiseleys come from

Part 1 – Which is it? Wiseley, Wisely, Wisley, or Wisly

Are the Wiseleys Irish?  A lot of Wiseleys came here from Ireland. It would make it a lot simpler if we were named O’Wiseley or McWiseley. It might be nice if people who spell Wiseley one way are from one place and a different spelling are from somewhere else. But that is not the case. 

      This might be a good place to discuss how Wisly –Wisley – Wisely – Wiseley  is spelled  I often run across a story of two brothers who got mad at each other and changed how they spelled their last names, and that is the reason for different spellings.  If you like that story don’t let me spoil things for you. Go on believing it. It won’t hurt anyone. It may even be true although I have no documentation to support that idea.  The primary reason for different spellings is not country of origin, feuding brothers, or even different family lines. 

        Census takers did the best they could, as did lawyers, clerks and anyone else who wrote someone’s name. But a person who could not read or write had no idea how to spell their name. Even if they did they had little control over how their name was spelled by those who wrote their name in records. Even first names were sometimes altered. If you recall from the last blog Clive was a nickname for Clyde. That is understandable. But I saw numerous references for Olive C Wiseley. It took a little for me to realize that was actually Clive and not Popeye’s girlfriend. Even worse is poor Electious. (see Oakwood blogs)   

        Most of us have also heard stories about immigrants coming to this country with difficult names and processing through Ellis island. 

     “OK Next. What’s your name?”

     “My name is Olfandorfer Von Higenbackelsteinsen”

      The immigration officer would look up puzzled and then start writing and tell poor Olfandorfer “No, your name is Peter Johnson.”   And it was! 

        Fortunately Wisely is pretty easy to say and easy to spell….if you aren’t particular what letters get used.  Some times the different spellings are so obvious you start to wonder if any one was paying attention.  For instance the Pennsylvania Archives are a great source for people from Pennsylvania before 1800. 

    Here we find John Wiseley and William Wiseley, brothers from the Lancaster, PA area. (John is my 4G grandfather). Near the bottom of the list we find two more brothers, Francis and William Wisely.  Francis and William are my uncles, and both are brothers to John Wiseley above. Yep, William Wiseley is William Wisely, and on the same index page. This index lists Militia members, Tax rolls, freemen, and other "official" lists. 

  

    What about other lines of Wiselys?  If we look at the Wytheville line of Wiselys we note that many of them spelled their name with just the first E.  That is how Daniel's last name appears here in a listing of property exchange.  Daniel Wisely, just as you would expect from this line of Wiselys.  



    



A Wytheville, Viginia Wisely

Here again we see the same person mentioned with their last name spelled different ways. And yes these two Daniels are the same person.

The John listed earlier had a son named Edward who married Leah Thomlinson (Not Tumbleson as is often listed) Here is her headstone from the Coffman cemetery about 5 miles north west of Lancaster, OH. Her name is plainly spelled Wiseley.  But at the lancaster court house i found "official" documents that listed it differently. 

 Here in a land transfer document we find her as "Leah Wisely"  And in another land transfer document we find her name is spelled "Wisley". These documents came from the same court house and were dated within a few years of each other. The two documents must have been written by a different clerk.  We know that her Father-in-Law John was literate enough to sign his name on his will. But neither his son Edward  nor  Leah were able to sign their names.  I have seen the original documents where they both made their mark.   

As long as we are talking about "marks" there is one early Wytheville Wisely that could only make his mark. His name is Peter Wisely and he signed his name with an X. When  that is done the clerk or secretary writes the name and they "make their mark". Usually the "mark" is an X and is made just above the space between their names, but sometimes on the same line as the written name. I cannot count how many times i have found someone posting information about Peter X. Wiseley.  Did his folks really name him Xexavier, or perhaps xylophone??                                

Then there is one of Leah's sons. My 3 G Uncle Amos. His Tombstone is in the Kistler cemetery just east of Royal Center, IN 

I have posted this picture in previously blogs but it is such a good example it is worth reposting here.  His name is spelled "WISLEY" on the front of the tombstone and "WISELEY" on the back. Based on all his family names the front spelling is a mistake. Or maybe that was how he spelled his

  name???  I think one or the other is wrong and i think

(for obvious reasons) that Wiseley is correct.



William was one of Amos's children. Now if Amos's mother was named Wiseley and his son was named Wiseley I think he was named Wiseley. 

Nearby Amos's magnificant headstone is my GG Grandather Henry's headstone. If you look closely you can see that my 2GGrampa  spelled his name Wiseley.   (Remember you can click on a picture to inlarge it.)

I used to be really fussy how my last name was spelled and assumed that anyone who spelled their name with only one E was not the same "kind" of Wiseley I was. And anyone named "Wisley" might as well have been named Smith. But now I am aware that all these spellings are probably referring to people from the same family lines. But i still spell my name Wiseley, Thank you!

     In the next blog we will explore the reason why so many Wiseley's came from Ireland.  I will also explain why, even though they came from Ireland, I don't believe they were Irish!   

My apologies for the "ragged" formatting. The blog editor did not want to cooperate with me tonight.