Free Web Counter Wisely, Wiseley, Wisley, Weisley and variants. Could also be Wesley, but see separate Wesley Surname Project. Wisely and Wesley group administrators will be aware of redundancies and overlaps between these two projects. ==================================== March 31, 2006 Wiselys (and variant spellings), historical and current around the world. Wiselys, Wiselys everywhere, but how to link them? 10 locations, 4 overseas, 6 in the United states 29 identified groups and subgroups. 9 correspondents IT’S TIME FOR WISELYS (WISELEYS AND OTHER VARIANTS) TO BAND TOGETHER AND SORT THINGS OUT. TWO STEPS: 1 - Read through the material below and help fill out, expand, and link the different subgroups, or add new ones. 2- Get at least one, preferably two direct Wisely descendant males in each line or subgroup to do the DNA test now available. (If two males in the same line - get two that are as distant cousins as possible.) See the “join” function on this web site for the practical aspects of signing up, OR contact, Don Dickason Dickason31@aol.com This summary was prepared March 31, 2006 by Donald G. Dickason, husband of Janet Wisely, descendant of TD2-8.2 and BU-1, and Group Administrator, Wisely Surname (and DNA) Project. Wisely and variants apparently have Scot, Irish, English and/or German heritage although the largest numbers seem to be Irish and English. Wisely is not a native Irish name, but appears in Ireland as early as the 17th century. Wisley is often found in England, and Weissle-Weissley-Weissly and variants are found in Germany. These name affiliations are NOT necessarily exclusive to the country named below. Note: Dictionary of American Family Names (Oxford University Press) provides this: Wisely, Scottish (Aberdeen): unexplained; most probably a habitational name from a lost or unidentified place. Wiseley, Variant spelling, found mostly in Ireland of Scottish Wisely Wisley, Variant of Scottish Wisely. Merrigan (see later below) indicated that the earliest Old English Wisely name was probably spelled “Weisley.” The Scots Wisely name was always “Wisely.” However, note that in the "List of Pollable Persons in the Shire of Aberdeen 1696," the spelling is Wiselie and Wyslie Current understanding suggests the following geographical and religious breakdowns of Wisely families. These groups are identified to begin the understanding of the distribution of Wiselys and variants world wide. Undoubtedly some of these lines will “merge” when more is known. It is equally likely that other separate lines will emerge. The known Wisely connections have been broken down into two groupings: The Top Down Groups, including 1-England, 2-Ireland, 3-Scotland and 4-Germany. The Bottom Up Groups, at this time, primarily within the United States. It is obvious that most of the Bottom Up Groups came from some of the Top Down Groups, but they are laid out separately here in order to begin the process of identifying where the connections are. The Top Down Groups, includes England, Ireland, Scotland and Germany. TD-1 ENGLAND The Wiselys here are mostly Church of England/Anglican and Roman Catholic. There may be some of other protestant denominations. TD-1a - There are many Wisely and variant sightings in the north of England, e.g., Yorkshire, Lancashire and to a lesser degree Northumberland and Warwickshire. TD-1b -There is a village of Wisley just southwest of London in Surrey, as well as a Wisely Royal Botanical Garden there. Some American lines think they come from this Surrey area near and around Wisley. Remember that Merrigan indicated that the earliest Old English Wisely name was probably spelled “Weisley.” TD-2 - IRELAND There are about 10 groups and lines of Wiselys here. We have considerable knowledge of and great interest in the Irish Wiselys, and in particular the protestant Wiselys in Ulster, especially County Londonderry and Donegal. Note: Researchers of Irish lineages need to be aware that reference to “Protestant” with a capital “P” in Ireland 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. In March 2000, I and my wife, the Wisely in our family, met with Michael Merrigan of Ireland. He is a single name family historian and a Wisely descendant. His grandmother was Angela (Short) Wisely, and her father was Edward (Gallagher) Wisely. Much of the following iteration of Irish Wisely lines is credited to Merrigan. The known 8 groups and lines of Wiselys in Ireland are. TD2-1 - 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. TD2-2 - County Kildare and County Laois (around Port Laois). They supported the losing Irish rebellion in 1798 and lost their land. TD2-3 - Co. Wicklow. In 1798, 8 families; in 1840s, 2 families, in 1880 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, 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 names, daughters’ husbands. TD2-4a - North County Dublin Parishes of St. Margaret's and Finglas. (Roman Catholic). TD2-4b - Dublin had a few Protestant Wiselys. Their fortunes went down and down, ended up as fishmongers. TD2-5 - Counties Longford and West Meath, an enigma. Roman Catholic. The Peter forename 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. TD2-6 - Rosenallis and Nutgrove. The name Sean Wisely is in this area. Also a grave of a Garrett Wisely. Roman Catholic. Contact, John Gordon, Belfast via Don Dickason TD2-7 - A branch in Drogheda (RC) No further information on this branch. ------------------------------------------ Broadly, of the Irish Wiselys, Mick 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: There is, as previously noted, the village of Wisley in Surrey. I have not been able to locate a Wisely/Wisley sounding village in Cheshire or Lancashire. Perhaps Merrigan was thinking of the Surrey Wisley village. There conceivably could be a connection between Wisely and the old name Waldron, which was corrupted to MacWaldron, and became MacValerian (see earlier reference to Valerian Wisely in II-1!) So it is a possibility that Waldron> MacWaldron> MacValerian> Valerian Wisely. TD2-8 - Co. Donegal (eastern portion), Stranorlar, and County Londonderry, in particular the TD2-8.1 Dunboe area and TD2-8.2 Limavady area. These were Scots Protestants. 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 Co. Donegal (which is in the Republic.). Surnames found in Donegal include Wiselys (19th century), Lindsay (definitely Lowland Scots), Sloan(e), McKelvey. Rev. McKelvey supposedly brought Presbyterianism to the U. S. from Ireland. N.B., James Calvin McKelvey married Anna Kennedy Wisely, daughter of Peter and Sarah Lindsay Wisely. TD2-9 - Bangor, County Down, Ireland. Archibald Wisely of the Bangor Estate, in Bangor, County Down, is buried in the Bangor Abbey cemetery with a marker dated 17xx and his age as xx making his birth year in 16xx (There is a photo of the tombstone with the information on it. Sharyn Wisely Anderson will dig it out). "Widow Wisely" is also on the Bangor Estate Rent Roll. TD2-10 - County Longford, Ireland, citations found but no sense of the family line here. TD-3 SCOTLAND TD3-1 Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Of all the citations and sightings of Wisely in Scotland the vast majority are in Aberdeenshire. TD3-2 We have no information on the Protestant Wiselys cited by Merrigan who were land owners or workers and came from the “Scottish lowlands.” Aberdeenshire is not in what is considered the “lowlands” so Aberdeenshire as the source contrasts with Merrigan's hypothesis of the origin of the Scot Wiselys. TD IV - GERMAN No current information on Weissel/Weissely from Germany. ==================================================== The Bottom Up Groups: BU-1- Randolph Co. IL. Earliest is Peter Wisely, b. 1808 Ireland, near/in Belfast, Ulster, To America 1828 or 1830, settled first near Carlisle, PA then most significantly in Randolph County, Illinois, in and around Coulterville. Living descendants participating. Contact, Don Dickason, husband of Janet Wisely, Charlene Deutsch BU-2- Owen County, Indiana, Earliest is Samuel Wisely, b. 1797, Ireland, to America 1819. Significantly settled in Owen Co. and then various westward migrations. Living descendants participating. Contact, Sharyn Wisely Anderson BU-3 - Lehigh and Carbon Counties, PA., Two Josephs. BU-3-1 Joseph b. about 1825? Ireland, County Londonderry, probably from Dunboe area, to Catasauqua, Lehigh County, PA. Some of the line later to Owen County, Indiana. Contact: Dan Wilson BU-3-2 Joseph, b. about 1815 in Mauch Chunck, Carbon County, PA. BU-4 Wytheville, Wythe Co., VA. Two “stories.” One has these Wiselys coming from BU-4a- Frederick (Germany) and Peter (“X”) Wisely, North Carolina, then Wytheville, Wythe Co., Va. Living descendants believe from Germany. (Note the “X” indicates Peter Wisely’s mark, and is NOT his middle initial as erroneously reported in many sources.) David Wiseley has worked resources in that area and found good records on Peter Wisely, in the Zion Lutheran Church, which supports the out-of-Germany hypothesis. There is an additional, very interesting facet to this. David describes how Ulster Wiselys may well have gotten to Palatinate Germany. (David, correct this description if I don’t have it right.) King James (which one?) had a daughter to married a Palatine German. He fancied himself a warrior, but wasn’t a very good one. So his father-in-law, King James kept sending him troops to bail him out. At about the same time (David, please put some dates on all this) Ulster Irishmen were out of work, so many of them joined the “Royal Forces.” Some were sent to Germany with King James troops sent to help his son-in-law. Some of them married and stayed. This could be the origin of part or all of the German Wiselys (names adjusted to Weissly, and other German spellings.) Contact, Barbara Flynn, Dave Wiseley BU-4b- From Ireland BU-5 Southern Indiana (obviously some overlap with earlier above information but also presented here). Three different original sources per contacts. BU-5-1 - from Ireland, to Catasauqua, Pa, to Freedom, Owen Co., IN. see BU-2 above Contact, Sharyn Wisely Anderson, BU-5-2 - from Germany to Wythe County or Wytheville, VA to Owen County. Contact: David Wiseley BU-5-3 - from England to Wythe County or Wytheville, VA to Owen County. Descendants think originally from England (perhaps in/near Wisley, Surrey England). Contact, Melissa Wisely Stewart BU-5-4 from Texas I have a phone contact of a person who stated this. Note: One southern Indiana telephone contact whose line was from Wytheville, VA, said that there had been three different Wisely families around there (in Southern Indiana). BU-6- John Joseph Wisely, a resident of St. Joseph’s Home for Boys in Philadelphia. Born around 1900 + or -. Contact, Grandson still lives in suburban Philadelphia. BU-X- Other Wiselys in locations which I have not been tied in to other groups: +IL, Randolph County - There are Wiselys there other than in BU-1. - Contact Don Dickason. I know who some of the non BU-1 Wiselys are, but don’t know where they came from. + MO, SW of St. Louis - out of the Germany->Wytheville->Southern Indiana Group Contact: David Wiseley. +California - probably from BU-2 above. Contact Sharyn Wisely Anderson, More information in due time. +Nebraska - probably also from BU-2 above Draft March 31, 2006 by Donald G. Dickason, husband of Janet Wisely, descendant of TD2-8.2 and BU-1, and Group Administrator, Wisely Surname (and DNA) Project.