The Iowa Connection
     My name is Mitchell Wise. I live and have spent most of my life in Ohio,
particularly Tuscarawas County, in the Village of Newcomerstown. I am 40 years
old, having been born in 1958.
     I knew growing up as a kid that I had some close relatives living in Oklahoma,
but not until my recent research into my family's genealogy did I discover I had an
"Iowa  Connection".
     My great-great grandfather, William T. Wise was a private in the 32nd Ohio
Volunteer Infantry Division. William T. had a difficult military career. He was
taken prisoner of war in 1862, had his gun explode in his face in 1863, and was shot
in the left leg just above the left knee at the seige of Atlanta in 1864.
     After returning from the war in 1865, William T.'s trouble may have only just
begun.While working for the railroad in 1875, a small sliver of iron from a rail he
was cutting lodged in his left eye. This eye would be removed within the next few
years leaving him with only the sight of his right eye which was affected by the gun
exploding in 1863.
     William T. , the father of five children, still worked for the railroad though his
eyesight made it very difficult.He was drawing a pension of $6.00 per month from
the army for the gun shot wound, but needing more he tried (without success) to get
addition pension money for his right eye.
     A special examiner was sent to the area to obtain depositions from family, friends,
neighbors, employers, and doctors as to the condition of William T. before he went
into the Army and his condition upon returning. From these handwritten depositions
we have learned a tremendous amount about William T.'s life before, during, and
after the Civil War.
     William T. gave his deposition February 16th,1892. In it he states:

"After my discharge, I was at home for two months but did no work. In September '65
I went to Eddyville, Wapello County, Iowa and drove team for Phillip Dotts (or Dutts),
a coal dealer and farmer to the march of 1867. I boarded with Dotts (Dutts). I knew
Hiram (Shoben?), farmer, Ira Brown, laborer, Samuel (Crow?), laborer, and others
which names I cannot give. I had the (billions?) fever soon after I went there and a
doctor from Eddyville treated me for it, I can't give his name, I was at Dotts' at the
time. I came home in the spring of 1867 and ...."

     Annie M. Wise, William T.'s older sister also added this information in her
deposition:

"I think he (William T.) stopped at Eddyville, Iowa with our uncle George Wise, now
dead. Don't know how long he was there, nor can I tell whether he was at work
then.Thomas Dotts (Dutts), our uncle lives at Eddyville."

     The special investigator taking the deposition spelled "Dutts" as you see here but
the handwriting on William T.s deposition makes it unclear and a I am unsure of the
correct spelling.
     William T.'s brother, Samuel I. Wise also fought in the Civil War and after he
returned home in 1865 to Ohio, he married Sarah Norris and began his family.
Samuel died in 1928 in Missouri and his obituary contained this Iowa connection:

" moved his family of five children and his first wife, Sarah Norris (from Ohio) to a
farm near Ottumwa, Iowa in 1881"

     Samuel and his family left Iowa five years later and moved to Caldwell County,
Missouri and later he was living in Cameron when he died. Samuel and Sarah were
married in 1872 so when they left Iowa in 1886 their oldest child was probably not
yet thirteen years old so I suspect all of his children left Iowa with him.
     Checking the road atlas, I discovered Ottumwa and Eddyville are only separated
by 20 miles of Iowa farm land.
     Another twist to this story is a man named Elias Kendall, William T. and
Samuel's Mother's brother, their uncle.The 1860 Ohio census for Tuscarawas
County, Jefferson Township, has a 41 year old laborer named Elias Kendall
boarding on a farm owned by Thomas Dotts. Mr. Dotts, age 56, also has an 18 year
old son named Thomas B. Dotts.
     We know William T.  returned to Ohio and Samuel went on to Missouri. The
George Wise mentioned may have returned to Ohio with William T. or he may have
been living there before William arrived and stayed there when he left.
     There is a George Wise buried in Bethel Cemetery, Salem Township, Tuscarawas
County, Ohio along side three of William T. and Samuel's siblings, but he died in
1875 at the age of 84. If this is the same George Wise that was in Iowa, he would
have been in his late 70's while doing this traveling.
     My best guess is the George Wise that was in Iowa is William T.'s father's
brother, his uncle and the George Wise buried in Ohio is William T.'s grandfather.
     The Dotts family on the other hand could be related to William T.'s mother's side
of the family. At this point that is unclear. But is is very clear that the Wise family in
Ohio has an "Iowa Connection".
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The Wise Family Research Center Surnames The Mitchell L. Wise Family mitchlwise@tusco.net
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