Henry WISELEY (1837-1918) and Lurany WISELEY WISELEY (1838-1919) Pleasant Township, Hancock, Ohio

Henry and Lurany are second cousins, sharing John WISELEY and Mary Ann BOND as their great-grandparents.

Henry is the son of Jesse WISELEYand Keziah GILMORE.  (If you click on Keziah's name, it will take you to my post about her.)
     b. 1 Aug 1837  Hancock county, Ohio
     m. 19 Mar 1863 Pleasant Township, Hancock, Ohio
     d. 29 Sep 1918 Pleasant Township, Hancock, Ohio

Lurany is the daughter of Allen WISELEY and Amelia BRIGHT.
     b.26 Jul 1838 Hancock county, Ohio
     d. 4 Oct 1919 Findlay, Hancock, Ohio

They are the parents of five children:
1-Almeda Elvira WISELEY (2 Aug 1864-31 Oct 1930) m. John Henry RIDDLEBAUGH (later divorced)--my ancestors
2-Reverend Milton Clarence WISELEY (10 Jul 1867-14 Feb 1955) m. Ora SPONSLOR (separated right after marriage)
3-Amelia Florence (Millie) WISELEY (11 Sep 1869-Jan 1939) m. Benjamin B. PICKENS
4-Eldon Scott WISELEY (16 Oct 1872-May 1955) m. Barbara Etta BARGER
5-David Melvin WISELEY (10 Aug 1875-Oct 1950) unmarried

There is some confusion between Scott and David as their ages were incorrectly written on a census making it look like Scott was the youngest.

 Lurany and her daughters Elvira and Millie (Amelia).

Henry and his sons: Scott and David are in the back and Milton is seated next to his father.

David, Scott, Henry, Lurany, Elvira, Millie, and Milton Wiseley

I do not have the obituaries, but here is a photo of their grave in the McComb Union Cemetery, McComb, Hancock, Ohio:

A four generation photo: Elvira WISELEY RIDDLEBAUGH, Ethel RIDDLEBAUGH SHUCK with daughter Pauline SHUCK BARNHART on her lap, and Lurany WISELEY WISELEY.

The following is from an article that was printed in the Findlay, Ohio "Courier" - April 18, 1910
It was written by Lurany Wisely when she was 71.

Interesting Story of Early Pioneer Days
Mrs. Henry Wisely, of Pleasant Township Tells Courier Readers of Many Incidents Which are Only a Memory to Present Generation            
PLENTY OF HARD WORK, ALL WERE HAPPY  To Work in the Fields
She was Not a Stranger and Well Remembers the Day when Cradle and Scythe Were Used in Harvest Field

The following interesting sketch was written for the Courier by Mrs. Henry Wisely, of Pleasant Township.

Mr. and Mrs. Wisely reside west of Deweyville and are among Hancock county's most highly respected pioneer citizens. Both have passed their three score and ten years. They formerly resided east of Findlay.

Mrs. Wisely's name did not change at marriage, she being the daughter of Allen Wisely, a sterling citizen known to all the early settlers of Hancock county.

~

My parents were Allen and Amelia Wisely. They lived in a log house close by what we called the "Little Run," west of the old homestead. The house is still standing. I remember the day they moved there. The east part
was hewed logs. Years later the frame part to the west was built, and the old part was weather boarded, and plastered as it stands today.

Early in the morning of the day we moved there, a bee stung me. I guess they had as much trouble with it as they did moving for a bee sting made me very sick. My parents worked hard and as us children grew larger we had to work. They would have hands at work clearing the land.

They had no stove and the cooking was done on a fireplace. There was a crane in the fire place to hang the kettles. The baking was done in large skillets and kettles with an iron cover. My mother and older sister baked that way until my father had a bake oven built some years afterward. Later on they bought a cookstove.

I used to follow the corn plow, hoe corn and pull weeds. When I was larger, during harvest I followed the cradle and raked, but I never bound the grain as some girls did. When the grass was cut my sister, Sarah, and I raked it in winrows. I often was on the wagon and loaded while my father pitched the hay up. Many a time I helped to load the wheat and oats.  Sometimes I wouldn't get it on right, and part of the load would slip off. Then father would have to pitch it on once more. The hardest part would be to go into the mow and take back the grain and hay. I was the youngest girl and would rather work in the field.

There was plenty of cooking to do and my mother was not strong, so my sister would have to go ahead with the cooking. I remember the summer of 1854 or 1855. We had two wheels to spin wool. We took it turn about doing the kitchen work and spinning. Nearly always we would spin our sixteen cuts a day. Mother done the weaving for the family. Later on I wove a piece of carpet. We did our spinning on the porch.

Beards and Belvilles who lived across the river, had the cholera. Mrs. Beard's two children and Mrs. Bellville and three children and their hired hand died and were buried in the high bank graveyard. The neighbors put bread and other food where they could get it.  Some of the people went away for fear of it, but nobody took the disease.

My brothers, George, Edward and Daniel, were nearly grownup, and did not need help from the girls for my oldest sister got married, and there was enough to do in the house. The summer before she was married we had besides the spinning eleven cows to milk, while the girls nowadays don't like to milk even one! There were married women in the neighborhood that not only milked but could harness the horses and didn't hesitate to feed the hogs and help in the field if necessary. I know one who has drove the horses to the loader and can harness them. She is not very old either. This is the exception, not the rule. We have had a good many  different girls and some very good ones, and until the last ten or twelve years they always helped milk and seemed to enjoy it. Today the most of them have good homes of their own and enjoy life and still work.

My father had a hand all the time, and during harvest several. My brother, William, worked until he was twenty-one, then he got married and moved onto the place my parents gave him.

We always had a fine time making sugar. The camp was on the tract next to the river. Sometimes it would get pretty cold and often we stirred it off at the house. It was fun hauling the sugar water in barrels. I do not doubt but what we enjoyed our lives as well as the people do now. We had quiltings and always had a big dinner. We also had spelling schools which everyone enjoyed. After recess when time come to spell down, of
course everyone would be anxious to see who would be the winner.

On March 14, 1867, I was married to Henry Wisely, and we moved on the farm my parents gave me, called the "Outlet farm," just west of the Lester Bright farm. We lived there nine years. Henry had a farm in Biglick Township, and he wanted to get the land together. Ross Moore, now dead, wanted him to take his place. They bargained and made an article but no deed. We moved the third of April, 1873. Moore bought in
Wood county, lived there a few weeks and became dissatisfied. They came back and wanted their old place back again. I was willing, but my husband wanted to keep it. Finally he was willing to give it up for a
consideration, and we moved where we live the 17th of March, 1874. We made a great mistake in coming here and paying the price. We run in debt for it, but by managing to live within our means we got along. The
children, five of them, three boys and two girls, did not have much finery, nor no one hundred dollar buggies, nor no two hundred dollar horses to drive. One year the wheat crop was an entire failure for us.

The children are all gone and we live alone. The oldest boy [Milton] is preaching at Green Camp; one girl, Mrs. Elmira [sic] Riddlebaugh lives in Marion Township and the other girl, Amelia Pickens, lives west three-quarters of a mile and Scott lives north one-half mile. The youngest, David, is in Boston doing business for himself.

I have learned it is not wise to cause another to give up a home they love, and neighbors that they like. My parents are dead, three of my brothers have gone to the spirit land and the old home is in the hands of strangers.  It is not a pleasant thought for in the fifties we were a happy family. We were all well and work didn't hurt us. My oldest sister [America Glick] is seventy-five years old.

I had forgotten about school. I think the first school I went to was a little southwest of the township house in Marion Township, taught by Adam Robinson. We had school in the old hewed log-house which we had
moved from. Then the men in the district got together and hauled logs and hewed them and put up a school house west of the one that is there. It was on my father's land in district number four. There were six of us
children who went at one time. I think we were just as happy as if the house was brick.

Pictures of The Home Place then and in 1984