About us
The Wisley-Wisely-Wiseley Surname Project was established on 21 November 2019 by Lucy Nelson and Charles Wiseley. The project’s original goal was to identify direct male descendants of John Wisely born circa 1750 using Y-DNA. Due to courthouse fires in Licking County, Ohio, and Cumberland County, Illinois, many of John’s descendants have no paper trail and cannot connect through traditional research. The project reached a milestone in May 2021 by having Y-DNA results on descendants from all of John Wisely’s sons. Research and Y-DNA testing on John's descendants is ongoing.
Our Y-DNA testers report ancestry from Scotland, Ireland, Germany, and England. The project uses Y-DNA to identify men who share a patrilineal ancestor as Y-DNA passes virtually unchanged from father to son throughout the generations. The project’s scope was expanded to include all Wisley surname descendants on 29 July 2020 when 8 members of an abandoned Wisely/Wiseley project were merged into the this project. On 10 June 2022, 25 members from an abandoned Wesley surname project were merged into this project.
The following information comes from the old Wisely/Wiseley project that was started 1 Mar 2006 by Donald G. Dickason:
England - Most Wisely and variants are in the north of England, e.g., Yorkshire, Lancashire and to a lesser degree Northumberland and Warwickshire. The "Wisley" variant is often found in England.
Ireland- There are around 8 groups and lines of Wiselys in Ireland. Researchers of Irish lineages need to be aware that reference to “Protestant” with a capital “P” typically refers to Church of Ireland/Anglican. Other protestant denominations (lower case “p”) are sometimes called Dissenters, and include Presbyterians, Methodist, Baptists, Quakers, etc. They are called “Dissenters” because they did not pledge loyalty to the crown as head of the church, thus there are Protestants, Dissenters/protestants, and Roman Catholics. Wisely is not a native Irish name but appears in Ireland as early as the 17thcentury.
Germany- Variants include Weissle, Weissley, and Weissly.
Scotland, Aberdeenshire - The vast majority of citations and sightings of Wisely are in Aberdeenshire. Variants Wiselie and Wyslie were found in the "List of Pollable Persons in the Shire of Aberdeen 1696."
The information below is from a meeting with Michael Merrigan of Ireland, a single name family historian and a Wisely descendant:
The earliest Wisely in Ireland was Valerian Wisely of Dangean/Dangan in the south of County Meath. Roman Catholic. Forenames included Christopher, William, James, repeatedly.
County Kildare and County Laois (around Port Laois) - The Wiselys supported the losing Irish rebellion in 1798 and lost their land.
County Wicklow - In 1798, there were 8 families; in 1840s there were 2 families; in 1880 there was only 1 family. They lost their land, too. Roman Catholic. Note: The pass-the-land-to-eldest-son policy was in full sway. The Wiselys seemed to have many daughters and few sons. Many of the sons there did not live beyond their early 30s. Were they getting killed off in the many rebellions in which they fought? With the absence of male heirs, the land could be passed off to other surnames like daughters’ husbands.
Dublin - There were a few Protestant Wiselys. Their fortunes went down and down, and they ended up as fishmongers. North County Dublin Parishes of St. Margaret's and Finglas (Roman Catholic).
Counties Longford and West Meath - An enigma. Roman Catholic. The Peter forename was from this area, but Michael Merrigan can not now remember where or what the source. May have been a side sighting, i.e. a secondary reference, a signer to another persons document.
Rosenallis and Nutgrove - The name Sean Wisely was in this area. There's also a grave for Garrett Wisely. Roman Catholic
Broadly speaking of the Irish Wiselys, Merrigan feels that the Roman Catholic Wiselys are “Old English Catholics.” Merrigan indicated that they may have come from a small village named “Wisely” in either northern Cheshire or in Lancashire, England. These Wiselys supposedly were in Ireland before the Reformation; they didn’t change their religion but sided with the Catholic Irish against the English allied Kings. Note: The village of "Wisley" in is Surrey.
Drogheda, County Louth - Roman Catholic. No further information on this branch.
Bangor, County Down - Archibald Wisely of the Bangor Estate is buried in the Bangor Abbey cemetery with a marker dated 17xx and his age as xx making his birth year in 16xx. "Widow Wisely" was on the Bangor Estate Rent Roll.
County Donegal (eastern portion), Stranorlar, and County Londonderry - forenames include Alexander (Scottish Presbyterian name), George, William, James and Margaret.
The Protestant Wiselys were land owners or workers (most likely from the Scottish lowlands per Merrigan) who came to Northern Ireland and went to the farming areas that were particularly fertile. All of current Northern Ireland except Counties Antrim and Down had some of these settlers. Analyzing the fertile farming areas and eliminating the mountains, bog lands etc., these Scot farmers populated the land in an arc from Bushmills, down through the Roe River Valley (Limavady, etc.) and into eastern County Donegal (which is in the Republic). Surnames found in Donegal include Wisely (19thcentury), Lindsay (definitely Lowland Scots), Sloan(e), McKelvey. Rev. McKelvey supposedly brought Presbyterianism to the U. S. from Ireland. James Calvin McKelvey married Anna Kennedy Wisely, daughter of Peter and Sarah Lindsay Wisely.