Welcome

Welcome to "www.dwiseley.com"

Please select which of my blogs you want from the menu bar above

 

•   Wiseley Family Research - This genealogy blog is research based and traces one of the Wiseley families that started in Lancaster, PA and spread across the country.  From my GGGG grandfather John to my grand father Joseph and his dozen children (pictured below) here are the stories of who they were, how they lived and their joys and heartaches.  This is a work in progress, so excuse the mess as I continue to improve and expand what is here.  Please leave comments, especially if you are a descendant of this line.  
• 
  
•  
• Library - Pictures and stories of libraries I have visited.  If you like libraries time spent here will be well worth it.  You will find presidential libraries, small unique libraries and  large city libraries  I have visited  from Scotland to Alaska, from Boston to Austin, and many points in between.  This is still an ongoing effort with only about 1/2 the libraries listed that I have photographed.  
• 
  
•  
• Wisdom -Encouraging Bible truths for today

• Village Idiot - When  the "experts" said the world was flat,  the few people who knew it was spherical  were called "Idiots".  So today society accepts as true many things which are illogical, misinformed or just plain wrong.  I am an Idiot, so I am qualified to be your guide in examining these unchallenged views of modern society.  Be prepared to look at things differently, or disagree with me.  After all I may actually be an idiot!   Maybe we all live in a "Catch 22" world.      
•             

THIS SITE IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION

                      BUT YOU CAN STILL SELECT BLOGS 

                    FROM THE DROP DOWN MENU ABOVE.  

                       YOU CAN ALSO REACH THIS BLOG WITH "WWW.DWISELEY.COM"  

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.

Here a William - There a William - Everywhere etc.

One William Too Many

Dr Frank McCleod Wiseley must have been a little confused as a child.  His dad’s name was William Patterson Wiseley.  His grandfather was also named William Patterson Wiseley.  And his great great Grandfather was named William P. Wiseley.   I know I was confused for a while as I have 16 William Wiseley names in my family tree.  Let’s go back to the beginning before I get you as confused as I was.

William P. Wiseley headstone in Coffman Cemetery West of Carroll, OH.

The Picture above is the headstone of William P. Wiseley. He was the son of John Wiseley. John and his family moved from Pennsylvania to southern Ohio (Fairfield County) north of Lancaster, OH about 1800.  One of John's brothers was named William and stayed in Pennsylvania. John's son William was most likely named after his Uncle William who lived and died in York Springs, PA.  William of York Springs, PA,  would leave his brother John $400 in his will, and John would save the money to give to his children William P., James, Edward, George and Mary.


Just to keep it straight let me simplify. John and William were brothers. John had a son and named him William P.  (the one who's headstone is pictured above.)

A year or so ago a man from Indianapolis sent me an Email listing his ancestors.  He mentioned Frank McCleod Wiseley was his grandfather.  So I did a little research to find out if we are connected. The short answer is yes.  His ancestors are part of the “Lancaster” (John) Wiseley line mentioned above. 

For the long answer we need to start with the "Lancaster" Wiseleys.  John Wiseley, the oldest confirmed ancestor I can find came to Ohio with his wife  in about 1800. His four boys and a daughter were named William P, James, Edward, George and Mary.  William P Wiseley (I have no idea what the P stood for) married Rachel Tomlinson. (4 Jan 1801. )  I have seen Tomlinson recorded as Tumbleson, but I think Tomlinson is the correct spelling. In Coffman cemetery there is a very nice stone that clearly spells Tomlinson. 

Coffman Cemetery, west of Carroll, Ohio.

Don't let the word consort confuse you. they were married.

 

The tiny cemetery only has a few graves and I have established a marriage or friend’s link between most people there. Perhaps the Joseph Tomlinson in Coffman is a relative of Leah and/or Rachel?  You may remember from earlier blogs that Leah was the wife of Edward, brother of William P. Rachel was the wife of William P.  I think I recall seeing Leah and Rachel listed as sisters, but I can’t remember the source and am unable to confirm that.  (Please don’t trust my memory, it is so bad the doctor gave me pills to improve my memory but I can’t remember to take them!) 

Tragically, Rachel died in 1806 (only 5 years after marrying William P Wiseley). She died of Milk sickness.   It was an unknown ailment in the Atlantic coastal states.  But in states along the Ohio River it was common and killed thousands of early pioneers.  By  1830  a weed (White Snake Root) was identified as the culprit. The plant grew in wooded areas and would be eaten by hungry cattle.  Cows were unaffected by this toxic plant but the people who drank the milk or ate the meat would become very sick and often died.   Abraham Lincoln’s mother, Nancy Hanks, died from milk sickness. 

About a year after Rachel’s death William married Sarah Cole on the 3^rd of Dec 1807.  They would have 9 children;  Allen, and 8 others (Jessie, Harriet, George, Ruth, Nancy, Emily, Rachel, and Sarah.)  Allen, became a rich farmer in the Findlay, Ohio area.  (In the 1870 census his neighbors farms were worth an average of $4200, his was worth $12,780)

Allen was born 20 Feb 1809 and died 25 April 1888. I need to do an entire blog on just Allen. He married Amelia Bright  on 2 November 1830.  They both came from the Lancaster, OH area and are buried in Bright Cemetery a few miles east of Findlay, OH.

<><></>

A joined headstone of Allen and Amelia - close ups of each side shown below.

 

 

 But for now we are most concerned with Allen and Amelia's  first son,  William Patterson Wiseley (and Grandson of William P.) He was born 25 June 1831, in the Findlay, Ohio area.   (Allen’s other children were America, Sarah, Lorraine, George, Edward, Daniel and by his second wife (Mary Cahill) a girl named Jessie)  By the time he was 40 William Patterson Wiseley owned a large farm next to his father, Allen. His farm was worth $18,480 and his father's farm (Allen) was worth about $12,000.  Sounds like Allen and William Patterson Wiseley (father and son) were doing pretty well for themselves. 

      William Patterson Wiseley was born on June 25th, 1831. About a month before his 21st birthday he married Sarah Gilmore on 20 May 1852. She had just turned 17. (She was born 8 Mar 1835) They would spend the next 14 years farming until she died on 17 Mar 1866, about a week after her 31st birthday.
      Six months later William married Elizabeth Bolton. She was 24 and he was 31. The wedding date took some digging to find, but I found the actual license which was applied for on Sept 11 and they were married Sept 18, 1866.  Their first son, Aaron, was born a Year later (27 Oct 1867) Tragically he died about a month before his 6th birthday (Oct 1, 1873)

Bright Cemetery a few miles east of Findlay, OH

      On the far left is a tall thin white stone. It is where Sarah is buried.  It says she was the wife of WP Wiseley, daughter of Rev J. Gilmore and lived 31 years 9 days. My wife (the prettiest lady in the picture) is touching William Patterson's stone. Elizabeth's name is on one side and Aaron is also on this large stone. The tiny white stone just to the left says Elisabeth on it??
      William P and Elizabeth had at least 4 children; Aaron, Charles F, Martin L. and William Patterson who was born on 3 Sept 1873.  The proud parents would have precious little time to enjoy this latest child. Elizabeth's husband, William Patterson, would die on 30 September 1873, just 27 days after his son William was born. About 2 1/2 years later Elizabeth died as well (Feb 24, 1876) She was just 34.  When she died all the children were young; Charles was almost 7, Martin was 3 and William was just 2.
Life was hard in those days. I don't know who raised the kids.
     Martin L went to near Jackson, MI and lived with his grandma Bolton for the next 12 years. At 16 years old Martin returned to Findlay OH, but that is another story I will tell later.
     The others may have stayed with Grandpa Allen? In 1870 uncle George, uncle Edward, uncle Dan and Grampa Allen all lived nearby. Or perhaps one of the Bolton or Gilmore families may have raised them all?  Questions like this keep me digging for information.  Genealogy is so much more than just finding when people are born, married, have kids, and die.




To the left of the oak tree is an evergreen clump with a bright white gravestone on the right edge.
That is the headstone of William Patterson Wiseley.

       What became of the second William Patterson Wiseley? In 1896 (June 4th) he married Bessie Belle McLeod In Hancock County, Ohio and on May 21, 1897 became the father of Frank McLeod Wiseley. In addition to Frank they would have three more children; Helen E (1900), Joseph R, (1902) and Mary C (1914). 
     Then in 1901 He joined his brother Martin L and started the Peoples Ice and Coal company. It must have been successful because 8 years later (1909) they joined other businessmen and created the Buckeye Ice and Coal Company. William would become manager. Martin was elected as Secretary.  
      William Patterson and wife Bessie lived the rest of their lives in Findlay. We know a few more facts from directories and census records. A city directory for Findlay, OH 1918 lists their address as 311 Fraser. He is still a manager for Buckeye Ice and Coal Company which consolidated with the Findlay Dairy Company in Feb 22 of that year.
     The 1920 Census lists William as 46, Bessie as 44 and they now had four children; Frank 22, Helen 19, Joseph 18, and Mary at 4 1/2.
     The 1930 Census adds their home value of $5500. (Must have been a nice place) They had a radio, could all read and write and did not live on a farm.  We also learn that Bessie was born in Missouri, but both her parents were from Ohio. Helen, now 29, lived at home and worked as a teacher in the Public School. The boys had left to seek their fortune, leaving only Helen and 14 year old Mary C. at home. 
      Their son Frank had not been Idle. He had served in WWI as a 2nd Lt in Artillery from May 1817 - Dec 1818. By 1922 he was studying to be a Dr at the College of Medicine in West Virginia. He was a member of Phi Sigma Nu fraternity. Frank's middle name (McLeod) was from his mothers side of the family. His Grandpa McLeod was a Dr which may have influenced Frank's choice of careers.
      He was married 30 October 1926 to Mary Charlotte Shafer, who at 27, was 2 years younger than Frank. They had three children, and yes they named one William! William Clement (1928), Mary Frances (1930) and Richard Joseph (1935). Richard would become a Dr like his dad and Grandpa McLeod.
       This has been an interesting and absorbing study. While not my direct line they are all cousins and part of my extended tree. Hope this has been useful and/or at least interesting. If you are connected in any way to this "line" (or maybe I should say "Branch") please contact me with comments, corrections or additions at davidwiseley@gmail.com.
    

     At first I wished the picture below didn't have this big plowed field, but then I realized that the Wiseleys buried here were all farmers and a plowed field was very appropriate. They would have liked that!

    Take a moment as you look at this last picture  and think about their hard working spirit that helped transform a wooded wilderness into the country we enjoy today. May what they worked so hard to secure for us continue.



     








            

A LONG TIME MYSTERY - SOLVED.

   

 

 

 

 

 

The mystery starts with this old picture. I know where it was taken, when it was taken and who all the people are . The picture was taken at my Great Grandfathers house near Royal Center, Indiana.  When was it taken?  Well, the tall man in the middle standing, is my Grandfather Henry Joseph. He was born in 1881 and the youngest girl was born in 1890, so I am guessing it had to be circa 1910-ish.

    Thank you for looking at my blog. the mystery is still being worked on...although I had thought it was solved.  Please be sure to click on the years in the upper left hand corner to see all the other blogs on the Wiseley family in general. I will hopefully get back to this one soon.

     You might want to start with "Where the Wiseley's came from" or anything else that interests you. If you have any input on any Wiseley, Wisely, Wisley, or even Wyslee  name please contact me at davidwiseley@gmail.com.  (And yes I have seen all those spellings and more.) Enjoy.



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.

davidwiseley@gmail.com

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

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. 

 http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/famine/index.html   

     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

davidwiseley@gmail.com