My Genealogy Hound

JOHN P. WISE, one of the much respected citizens and substantial farmers of West Pennsboro township, was born in Cumberland county, a son of John Wise.

Jacob Wise, grandfather of John P. Wise, was born in Virginia, and came to Cumberland county in young manhood. After a residence of ten years he went to Ohio, and died in the city of Dayton. His children were: Mollie died in Dickinson township, Cumberland county; Annie died in Illinois; John; and Joseph, Rebecca, Hannah, Susan and Hettie, all of whom died in Ohio.

John Wise, son of Jacob, was born in Cumberland county, and followed an agricultural life in Dickinson township, and later in Pennsboro township. He married Rebecca Goodhart, and they had a family of three children, viz.: Harriet A., born in Penn township, married Peter Hess, of Cumberland county, who died in Ohio, and she has since resided with our subject in West Pennsboro township; Jacob, born in 1832, died in West Pennsboro township, at the age of nineteen years; and our subject, the youngest of the family.

John P. Wise received his education in Penn and West Pennsboro townships. At the age of twenty years he embarked in a mercantile business in Penn township, and three years later he was drafted into the army for service in the Civil war. He entered Company F, 158th Regiment, under Capt. Diehl, as a private, and was promoted to be sergeant. After being stationed six months at Newbern. N. C., the regiment was ordered to Washington. During the battle of Gettysburg, Mr. Wise was on guard duty along the river. In 1863 he was mustered out of the service at Chambersburg, and returned to Cumberland county. He accepted a clerkship in a store at Newville, where he continued twelve years, when he bought the old Heffleboro farm, consisting of 100 acres of good land. Here he has engaged in farming ever since his widowed sister came to live with him. He never married. He and sister reared a girl named Katie Steel, who grew to amiable young womanhood with them and married John Trego, and they now have one son, Melvin Wise, and reside in West Pennsboro township. Mr. Wise is a Republican and has taken a very lively interest in political matters in his section. He served on the jury commission of Cumberland county for three years, has been school director, and has been offered all, and served in, a number of other local offices.

Both Mr. Wise and sister are members of the United Presbyterian Church of Newville, in which he has been a trustee for fifteen years. He is also superintendent of the Sunday-school. A life of integrity and devotion to duty has made him a most highly considered citizen of this community and he numbers his friends by the number of his acquaintances.