Elsa Ann “Elsie” (13 Jul 1854-5 Apr 1934) — m. Samuel Umphrey on 29 Mar 1870
Joseph E. (1859-3 Nov 1887) — m. Carrie J. Kent on 9 Mar 1885
Zachariah was born in 1827 in Markham Township, York County, Ontario near present-day Toronto, the fifth of a large family. His parents were Moses Wismer from Bucks County, Pennsylvania and Eunice Noble from Herkimer, New York.
Catherine was the youngest of seven children born to Joseph Pipher and Catherine Kleisser, who were both from Pennsylvania but were brought to Markham Township, York County, Ontario as children. “Pipher” is a variant of the better-known German name “Pfeiffer”. Her mother died when Catherine was a baby; her father remarried, and had eight more children with his second wife, Leah Kaiser.
Zachariah and Catherine married on 30 Aug 1852 in Mariposa Township, Victoria County, Ontario. That’s about 60 miles northeast of Toronto.
Like many other farm families from southern Ontario, the Wismers moved to Michigan in the 1850s. The 1860 census for Delaware Township, Sanilac County, Michigan listed them: Zachariah (30) and Catherine (22) Wismer, with children Elsie (6) and Joseph (1).
The 1861 census for Markham Township also listed Catherine (26), Elsa Ann (8), and Joseph (2), but noted that they were residing in Michigan. Catherine’s father Joseph Pipher (60) was still living in Markham in 1861, with wife Leah (36) and children Abram (12), Isaac (10), Mary (8), William (5), and Malinda (2). Catherine’s older brother Jacob Pipher (~1830-9 Jun 186x), who married Mary Ann Raymon and had several children, died either later that same year or in 1864 (can’t read the number) and was buried in the Dickson Hill Cemetery in Markham.
Zachariah served as a private in Company K, 1st Michigan Volunteer Infantry from Sep 1861 to Sep 1864. Men of the 1st Michigan fought in some of the most famous battles of the war, including Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg. Zachariah also served in the 128th and 130th Companies, 2nd Battalion of the Michigan Volunteer Reserve Corps.
The 1870 census for Sanilac County, taken after daughter Elsie had married and moved in with her new husband’s family, showed just Zacharia (42), Catherine A. (35), and Joseph (11). It’s very unusual for the place and time that the Wismers had only two children. As if to make up for it, two other Wismer families were living next door.
The 1880 census listed Zachariah (52) and Catherine (53) still in Delaware Township, still with son Joseph (21), and also a hired hand named Anton Wahla (21), from Bohemia, which is now part of the Czech Republic. This census reported Zachariah’s and Catherine’s parents as all being from Pennsylvania.
An 1890 census of Civil War Soldiers in Michigan named Zachariah’s military unit and period of service. He was still living in Delaware Township, Sanilac County in eastern Michigan.
Zachariah died on 10 Sep 1900, and is buried in the Grand Rapids Veterans Home Cemetery as "Zacharia Wisner". Catherine filed as a widow for Zachariah’s military pension a week later.
The 1910 census showed Katherine Wismer (77) living alone in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It said her father was from Indiana, the only record I have of such a claim. It’s unlikely. When her father was born, Indiana was a nameless part of the Northwest Territory and had very few settlers.
The 1920 census listed Katherine Wismer (89) as a resident of the Michigan Soldiers’ Home in Grand Rapids. This time, it said both her parents were from Canada.
The last update to her widow’s pension was in March 1923, when a probate court named as guardian one Alice J. Blake (16 Dec 1888-Feb 1981), the daughter and business associate of Grand Rapids attorney Frank Blake.
Catherine died in Grand Rapids on 24 Apr 1927. The death record said she was born on 3 Apr 1833, but there’s reason to doubt this. Her older brother Joseph was reported born in September 1833, and census records for Catherine’s age were inconsistent. I think she was born in 1834 or 1835.
Catherine is buried in the same cemetery as Zachariah, as “Catherina Wisner”. Whoever ordered the gravestone didn’t know her date of birth either, because that part is blank. At the alleged age of 94, she had likely outlived everyone who knew her except daughter Elsie, who was living in Florida by then.
Elsie has her own entry in the family tree.
Joseph, unlike the rest of the family, was born in Michigan. The 1881 Canada census listed a Joseph Wismer (24) born in the US working for the Honsberger family in Lincoln County, Ontario, but I don’t know whether that was him. Joseph (25) married Carrie J. Kent (23) of Marion Township, Sanilac County, Michigan in 1885, with a William H. Kent as witness. I think this was Caroline J. Kent (~1860-2 Mar 1889), Ontario-born daughter of James and Eliza Kent, who in the 1880 census had been living in Sanilac County.
I don’t think Joseph and Carrie had children. They certainly had little time to do so – Joseph died in 1887 in Delaware Township, Sanilac County. Carrie died in 1889 in “Walport, Canada”, which I can’t find, but her death was reported for Kent County, Michigan. No burial record found for either of them.
http://boards.ancestry.com/surnames.wismer/22.29.33.35.64/mb.ashx -- The Wismers
http://data2.collectionscanada.gc.ca/e/e095/e002374280.jpg -- 1851 census, Zachariah and family
http://data2.collectionscanada.gc.ca/e/e095/e002374292.jpg -- 1851 census, Catherine and family
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2C1-LYS9 -- 1852 wedding
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2C1-GM7W -- 1854 wedding of Catherine’s brother Jacob
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MW6M-6PW -- 1860 census
http://data2.collectionscanada.gc.ca/1861/jpg/4108435_00368.jpg -- 1861 census, Catherine and children
http://data2.collectionscanada.gc.ca/1861/jpg/4108435_00307.jpg -- 1861 census, Joseph Pipher
http://data2.collectionscanada.gc.ca/1861/jpg/4391955_00077.jpg -- 1861 census, Catherine’s brother Jacob Pifer (at bottom)
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=40520395 -- Grave of Catherine’s parents; links, data!
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=40516385 -- 1864 grave of Catherine’s brother Jacob
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MHCN-PP1 -- 1870 census
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MW36-YY8 -- 1880 census
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MW3X-CL5 -- 1880 census, Caroline J. Kent (19) in Sanilac County
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FMNB-MZ5 -- 1881 wedding of Zach’s brother Austin
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VN21-M1L -- 1885 wedding of Joseph
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NQ35-QL9 -- Ditto
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N3XB-8Z7 -- 1887 death of Joseph
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N3FN-G5D -- 1889 death of Caroline Wismer, 29, probably Joseph’s wife Carrie
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K8SG-G7S -- 1890 record of Zachariah’s military service
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=16899841 -- 1900 grave of Zachariah
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QJD5-ZCYG -- 1900 record of pension filing
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:ML5G-NF2 -- 1910 census, Catherine
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JF93-VPP -- 1912 death of Zach’s sister Hannah
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JK7N-7ZG -- 1916 death of Catherine’s brother Joseph; gives mother’s name as “Catherin Keiler”
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MZQ9-QN3 -- 1920 census, Catherine
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QJD3-J9VC -- Zachariah’s pension, up to 1923
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KF3K-7H1 -- 1927, Catherine’s death
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=16151665 -- 1927 grave of Catherine
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KF37-SL4 -- 1928 death of Zach’s brother Aaron
The town of Wismer, Pennsylvania takes its name from the Wismer family, whose ancestor, Hans Michael Wismer, arrived at Philadelphia in the ship Priscilla, Captain William Wilson, from Rotterdam and Cowes, on 12 Sep 1750. The history of the family shows that many members took part in the Mennonite migration to the Niagara peninsula, Ontario, Canada. “Among them was Isaac Wismer, who married Anna High and Catherine Wismer, who married John High. They were brother and sister of my great grandfather, Henry Wismer, who was a farmer, drover, and clock and watchmaker, whose farm in Plumstead Township was located on both sides of Durham Road between North Branch of Neshaminy Creek and Hinkletown. It was his custom to visit his brother and sister in the Niagara peninsula and to bring back with him to Bucks County droves of horses. While on such a journey in 1828, he died from typhoid fever at the residence of his brother Isaac along the shore of Lake Ontario, on a farm now owned and occupied by Isaac’s grandson, William Andrew Wismer.” [ms. of Henry W. Scarborough]
