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Abel Wise – Surviving Son of Revolutionary War Soldier, 1891
Posted By Norman Gasbarro on March 14, 2018
Abel Wise, who was born in Millersburg on 3 October 1821, the son of Adam Wise (1751-1833) and Catherine Neiman Patton Wise (1785-1863). At the time of the Civil War, he served in the 192nd Pennsylvania Infantry, Company H, as a Sergeant, from 25 February 1865 through his honorable discharge on 24 August 1865. He married Sarah Ann Weaver (1824-1898), and together they had at least seven known children. During his lifetime, Abel Wise lived in Millersburg, where he was raised and educated; Jackson Township, Dauphin County, where he was a merchant; and later in Mifflin Township, Dauphin County, and Wiconisco Township, Lykens Borough, and Berrysburg, where he worked as a carpenter and cabinet maker. He died in Berrysburg on 25 August 1897, and is buried there at the Old Methodist Cemetery.
A little known story about Abel Wise was conveyed to a Millersburg newspaper in 1891 – and republished in a Harrisburg newspaper at about the same time. From the Harrisburg Telegraph, 7 November 1891, as reprinted from the Millersburg Sentinel.
Millersburg and the Revolution
Our friend, Abel Wise, of Lykens, wrote us some days ago that he and Joseph Ditty of this place, were the oldest persons born in Millersburg. Mr. Ditty has made diligent inquiry in this matter and surrenders the honor, and says that George J. Campbell, Jacob L. Meck, Mrs. Annie Etzweiler, widow of John Etzweiler, Mrs. George W. Bowes, and Mrs. George Feezer were all born and reside in Millersburg and are all older than Mr. Wise or Mr. Ditty. Mr. Wise also asserts that his father, Adam Wise, erected the third house in Millersburg, on the site now occupied by Levi Bowman‘s tin and stove store. Mr. Ditty thinks he is right in this. It was a 1 1/2 story building and well finished for that day and occupied as a dwelling by Mr. Wise. Mr. Wise served in the Revolutionary War, being drafted at Hagerstown, Maryland, in the latter part of 1776. He was born in December 1751, and moved to Millersburg in 1802. He was a Justice of the Peace for 34 years, being appointed by Governor Mifflin in 1779. He was father of eleven children and only two are living, Abe Wise and F. N. Wise, living in Lykens. What town or community can boast of two living sons of a Revolutionary soldier?
For his Civil War service, Abel Wise is recognized on the Lykens G.A.R. Monument:
His name appears in the category of Sergeants who joined the Heilner G.A.R. Post there after its organization.
However, since Abel Wise was a native son of Millersburg, he is another person who should be added to the long list of Civil War veterans with a relationship to that community who have been ignored by that community by not having their name placed on the plaque of the Millersburg Soldier Monument.
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News clipping from Newspapers.com.
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