WISEMAN, English.

Isaac Wiseman leads the record of the "Wiseman Family in America," published by Dr. B.W.S. Wiseman of Indiana in 1910. According to this record Isaac Wiseman came from Pennsylvania to Rockingham County, Virginia soon after the Revolution, then to Monroe County. He and his wife, Elizabeth, were buried in Rehoboth Churchyard near Union. His son, John, was ordained a Methodist minister by Bishop Asbury and was in the Continental Army with Washington at Valley Forge. William, a son of Isaac, seems to have remained in Monroe. He married Mary Ramsey.

Isaac Ward Wiseman, son of William, was raised in the family of Bartholomew Ramsey. He was a soldier in the company of his cousin, J. Riley Ramsey, in the Civil War. He married and lived in Nicholas County near Mt. Nebo for several years, but died at the home of his daughter, Rebecca Hawkins, in Fayette County. His son, William Wiseman, married Barbara Odell, daughter of Jacob Odell. He had two children: Nicholas Wiseman and Rebecca Ann Bailes. Nicholas Wiseman married Nancy Elizabeth McCutcheon. His two sons, William Johnson Wiseman and Perry N. Wiseman, are well known as citizens of the County. Wm. Johnson Wiseman served a term as Assessor of the County. Perry N. Wiseman was a successful teacher, Clerk of the County Court, and State Senator from his district.

Samuel Wiseman, grandson of pioneer Isaac, was born in Monroe County, came to Nicholas County and commissioned a justice in 1822. Two of his sons, Alexander and John N., were born in Monroe County but came to Nicholas County and were well known citizens. A daughter of Samuel, Isabel Jane, married Matthew Hughes; another daughter, Margaret, married Perry Odell.

The Wiseman family is related to many of the early families of the County.


From The History of Nicholas County, West Virginia, by William Griffee Brown, 1954
Submitted by Nancy Norman Hopkins