Who Are We? Where Are We From?

 

Who Are We? Where Do We Come From?

Perhaps it was crossing the Pacific and making my home in Australia that caused me to identify with my ancestors who crossed the Atlantic to make their home in Niagara County. Thanks to my brother-in-law, John Brinckerhoff, we were able to travel by freighter. The trip from New York to Sydney lasted five weeks. We sat at the captain’s table, and were served delicious food. We had a cozy cabin with two portholes and a private bathroom. My great grandparents trip across the Atlantic took about seven weeks in sailing vessel designed to carry cargo, not passengers. Steerage passengers were crowded into a dark, damp hold where there was no privacy and toilet facilities consisted of a bucket. Accommodation was rough and passengers had to bring their own food.

Mother’s grandparents all came from England, with the exception of her paternal grandmother, who was born in Ireland.

The Wisemans

            In August of 1823 Mother’s paternal grandfather, John Wiseman, was born to James Wiseman and Sarah Hausless Wiseman in Upwell, a village on the Nene River located six or seven miles southeast of Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, England. Wisbech is 100 miles north and slightly east of London. Wisbech, Upwell, and Outwell are ancient villages that have existed since Celtic times and predate the arrival of the Romans, the Anglo Saxons, and the Normans. In the early days, people from this region were recognized for basket making and for their windmills. All around is rich farming land, much like Niagara County. When the surrounding meadows, or fens, freeze over in winter, they provide an excellent place for ice-skating. When John Wiseman was a boy, Fens skaters were famous and raced in competitions against skaters from Holland and  France.

            On May 25, 1852 John Wiseman married Harriet Heim in St. Peter’s Church in Upwell. The marriage certificate shows that James Wiseman, a carpenter; Harriet’s father, William Hiam, a laborer; and Phoebe Wyman were witnesses to the wedding. Harriet, William, and Phoebe each signed the document with an “X” indicating they were illiterate.

            Harriet was born in April 1822 to William H. Hiam and Sarah Massey Hiam of Upwell. It is most likely that she and John Wiseman knew one another their entire lives. Harriet’s brother Joseph Hiam was christened on March 26, 1826. Another brother, Robert Hiam was born on April 16, 1842. There were other siblings, Hannah, John, Failes, and William.

            A son, Massey, was born to Harriet in August 1850. His birth is registered as Massey Hiam in the Wisbeach (Wisbech) District. 

 

            In June of 1852 John, Harriet and Massey Wiseman set sail from Liverpool in a vessel with 3 masts, named the Empire State. They arrived in New York on July 9, 1852. The family first went to Fairfield, Herkimer County, New York, presumably to visit John’s brother James. They then stayed in Lockport for a short time before buying a farm on Saunders Settlement Road in Pekin. They must have brought money with them from England. The family grew as more children were born: Charles Eugene in 1854, John James in 1857, Emma Jane “Minnie” in 1859, Josephine in 1861. John was my mother’s father.

            Some time after 1852, Harriet’s parents, William and Sarah Hiam, and their children arrived in the United States and settled in Niagara County. There were many cousins. Sarah eventually returned to England where she died on January 7, 1863 in Attleborough.

             On August 14th, 1863, John Wiseman, age 40, volunteered to serve in the Civil War. He enlisted on August 14, 1863. Thirteen days later, on August 27^th, he was naturalized a citizen of the United States. For three years he was a medic in the 14th Regiment, Company B, of the New York Heavy Artillery. Harriet’s two brothers, Robert and Joseph also enlisted. It is puzzling why these Englishman volunteered to fight in the Civil War. Perhaps it was an economic necessity. Or, perhaps it was a belief in the abolition of slavery. They came from Wisbech, a center of the abolitionist movement, which brought an end to the slave trade and to slavery in England in 1833. Key figures in that movement, Thomas Clarkson, and his younger brother John, were born in Wisbech and educated at Wisbech Grammar School. The Clarkson Memorial stands in the center of town.

John Wiseman went off to war and did not see his family for another two years. On December 28, 1864 in front of Fort Stedman in Petersburg, Virginia, he received a shell wound in the left posterior, leaving him disabled for the rest of his life. He was honorably discharged in Washington, DC on August 26, 1865. The Civil War records say that he was five foot seven inches tall, weighed 132 pounds, and had blue eyes and brown hair.

After the war, John Wiseman worked as a day laborer and resided with his family in Lewiston. In 1875 he was elected tax collector. By 1880, he returned to farming in Cambria. He, along with two other Civil War comrades, would visit schools and tell of US history and army life. He was Chaplain of the Alexander Mabon G.A.R. Post #125.

(Veterans of the Civil War.) At the age of 74 he died at home on October 3, 1897 and was buried in Mount View Cemetery on Upper Mountain Road in Cambria.

Harriet later lived in Lockport with her daughter Josephine and then in Newfane with her daughter Minnie. Harriet died at home in Cambria on March 29, 1915, at the age of 92.

            William Hiam, Harriet’s father lived in Cambria with his son Joseph. On December 20, 1882, and the age of 92, he was committed to the Niagara County Poor House. He lived to be 99 and died on April 4, 1888. He is listed in the records as having been buried at Pekin Pioneer Cemetery. There is no gravestone.   

            The Deans

 to be continued........

I began with no knowledge of these people.… not even their names. I feel now that we know enough about Mother’s side of the family. I can begin the search for information about the Johnsons and the Shermans. Much that I have learned about our ancestors was acquired by searching through old census records. They, and a wealth of other information, are available on line. I hope that some of my younger relatives will become interested in joining the search for our heritage. Our ancestors deserve to be remembered.