Wise Family collection

The Wise family were settlers of German and Swiss descent who came to Rockingham County, Virginia in the eighteenth century. Originally spelled as Weiss, the name has had several different spellings, including Weis, Wiss, and Wise. Adam Wise I, 1761-1839, moved from his parent’s home in Moorefield, Virginia (what is now West Virginia) to near the current town of Bridgewater, Virginia around 1782 and is documented as owning land in Staunton and Harrisonburg, Virginia during his lifetime. In the late 1790s he built a limestone farmhouse that still stands today. The area around the home was and is still known as Wise Hollow. The Wise family home in pictured in this collection was built around the time of the Civil War by Samuel Wise and Catherine Evers Wise in the Wise Hollow area. Generations of Wise family lived in the home and worked on the farm, raising cattle, hogs, and horses. St. Michael’s Church, located across the dirt lane from the family home, was originally a German Reformed Church, and existed as early as the 1790s. The church was at one point known as Wise’s Meeting House, and one acre of land for the church and cemetery was officially deeded by Adam Wise I in 1828.

See genealogical materials in this collection for additional information on the family home and individual members of the Wise family.