Beeks line: Jacob Wise 1767-1829

 I've had to work pretty hard to dig out information on Jacob Wise, partly because his birth name was Johan Jacob Weiss, and there are various combinations of the names that show up on various records.  By the time he arrived in Shelby County, Ohio, he was known as Jacob Wise so that is how we will refer to him in this post.

Jacob was born April 18, 1767 in Hamilton Township, Northampton County (now in Monroe County), Pennsylvania, the son of Felix and Anna Maria VanBuskirk Weiss.  He was one of at least five children born to the couple.  His brother, also Felix, is buried in the Christ Hamilton Lutheran Cemetery, and it is possible that this was the church that Jacob attended as a youngster.  There was a log cabin church built there in 1775. His father, Felix, died in 1779 so at the age of 12 Jacob may well have been apprenticed or hired out as a laborer to support himself.  He would have known both the German language, used at church and probably at home, and English, because his records in Shelby County, Ohio are not in German nor is there a note that they have been translated.  We don't know how proficient he was but he did speak it well enough to "get by" anyway, and to serve on committees and at least one jury.

Jacob married Charlotte Raub, daughter of Andreas and Maria Charlotta Weber Raub, about 1791 and it appears that the family stayed in Hamilton Township for some years.  Charlotta died in 1806, after giving birth to at least four children.  There is a record for a Jacob Weiss who was a private in the 1st Regiment, (Kennedy's) Pennsylvania Militia.  This may have been our Jacob (neighbors names, including Raub's, are on the same list) although he would have been 45 years old at the time, or it may be his son Jacob, who would have been 18.  I'd love to know more so we could determine whether Jacob had a military service record. It appears that Peter and Samuel Weiss, who were also sons of Jacob, served in the same unit.  

We don't know why, but Jacob sold land in 1813 to Jacob Schnyder.  It's possible that he was even then getting ready to move to Ohio, but the earliest records we can find for him are in January of 1818, in Montgomery County, Ohio, when he was sued by Samuel Finley for debt.  The case was dropped as "Jacob Wise lives in Miami County near Loramie" and was "not found".  At the time, Miami County included Shelby County (Shelby was formed in 1819) and so this would be our Jacob, as he settled near Loramie.  We can deduce that he may have been there for a year or more by January of 1818, in order to have accumulated debt that he couldn't pay at the time.  

This was to be a pattern for Jacob, having little cash to pay taxes.  He was late with his payments in 1821 and paid them several years later, in 1825,  Yet, he was clearly a good man and respected, because he was on a committee to lay out the school section in T 9 and appraise it.  He was allowed 50 cents for his service as an appraiser for Cynthian Township in 1823.  He served on a jury in Sidney, Ohio (county seat) in 1820.  His land included 55 acres at R5 T10 Sec 23 NW E.  

Jacob's son Jacob died in 1817 and our Jacob was appointed guardian of the three children of Elizabeth (Harshbarger Phillips) Wise in 1819, when he had to post a $100 bond as surety.  He didn't necessarily take the children into his home, but he was legally responsible to see that they were raised properly, got an education, and were able to learn a trade, work (or, for the girls, marry) until they reached adulthood. I've not found any indication that Jacob remarried after the death of Charlotte, so this was a pretty big responsibility.  

Jacob died in January of 1829 in Shelby County, likely at his homestead.  I am not sure whether the estate papers I've found are for his estate, or for his son Jacob's estate, or whether (I suspect this is the explanation) they are intermingled.  The estate that appears to be his son's wasn't settled until 1842, when the son had died in 1817.  Both estates showed modest valuations.  

There is the possibility that there are two lines of descent from Jacob Wise:

Jacob Wise-Charlotte Raub

Andrew Wise-Mary Serfass

David Wise-Matilda Martin

Elizabeth Wise-John Beeks

Wilbur Beeks-Cleo Aldridge

Mary Beeks-Cleveland Harshbarger

Their descendants

The second line is dependent on whether or not Mary who married William Beeks is a Wise.  She may have been adopted.  But if she's a Wise, that line would be:

Jacob Wise-Charlotte Raub

Jacob Wise-Elizabeth Harshbarger Phillips

Jackson Wise-Charity Botkin

Mary Wise-William Beeks

John Beeks-Elizabeth Wise

per above