My Genealogy Hound

W. H. Wise is a farmer and merchant, being a partner in the firm of Kimbrough & Wise, of Weldon, Ark. His parents were William H. and Mary E. (Brown) Wise, natives of Maryland and Alabama, respectively, who moved to Mississippi at an early day, where the subject of this sketch was born, in De Soto County, April 1, 1849. His father, a farmer and mechanic, was a relative of Gov. Wise, of Virginia. He settled a large farm in Mississippi, also the town of Hernando, and became a large land owner. He was a Democrat, and held the office of magistrate a great many years. W. H. Wise was raised on a farm, where his opportunities for education were limited, having attended only the common schools of Mississippi. At the age of twenty, in 1870, he came to Arkansas, engaged in farming, and in 1873 bought eighty acres of land in the woods, on the present site of Weldon. He cleared fifty acres of this land and continued farming till 1885, when the Batesville & Brinkley Railroad reached Tupelo. At that time he sold forty acres of his land to D. A. Kimbrough for a half interest in the latter’s store, and the same year the firm of Kimbrough & Wise began business in Weldon, where they have since continued. They carry a general stock of goods and do a large business. Mr. Wise and his partner own a large part of Weldon property, twenty-two lots and two blocks having been sold. In 1873 he married Miss Maggie Godby, of Mississippi. They had five children: Ida, Willie, Estelina, Maggie Jefferson, Edward Hubbard, aged fifteen, thirteen, eleven, nine and six years, respectively. His wife died December 27, 1883, and in October, 1885, he married Miss Fannie Moore, daughter of S. J. and Sarah Moore, of North Carolina and Alabama, who came to Arkansas in 1870, where he has since engaged in farming. They live at Bowen’s Ridge. Mr. Wise is a Democrat, though not an active politician. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, of which he is steward and trustee. He is active in the interest of schools and churches in his community, and has done his share in the development of the country.v