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OCONTO COUNTY
Wisconsin
FAMILIES and BIOGRAPHIES
.WISE - WEISS.
of Lena
 |
 Charles Theodore and Augusta
Dalluge Weise/Wise
|
 |
This story is contained in the book "Trial and Trumph on a Western Frontier - thrilling stories of Adventist Pioneering" by Adriel D. Chilson. Story starts on page 166:
"In the community of Couillardville, southwest of Oconto, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wise were tenant laborers on the Ritter Ranch. When Elders Bourdeau and Loughborough held a series of meetings in Oconto, the Wise family attended. Although his wife accepted, Charles was not fully decided. One night soon after retiring, Mrs. Wise had a firightening dream from which she soon awakened and told her husband. "I dreamed we were out working in the field. The sky became dark, and a strange funnel-shaped cloud appeared. Then, an angel spoke to me, 'take your family and go to a rise of ground yonder, and there you will be safe. Flee with just your family and the clothes you have on.' We did as directed and the storm became so black we could not see anything. I heard a very loud crash, then awakened, happy to find myself in my own bed." Charles told her to forget the dream and stop worrying, but it had made a deep impression, and she related it again at the breakfast table. Mr. Ritter was not a bit understanding, and remarked to Charles, "Her new religion, and now this dream. I think your wife needs to be put away." July 7, 1877 was a hot, humid Saturday. An afternoon thunderstorm was approaching from the southwest, but work went on as usual. Then, a second storm came from a more northerly angle, traveling on a collision course with the first one. Darkness signaled the cows from the pasture, so Charles began the evening chores. Mrs. Wise explained to her husband that this was the storm of her dream. He just smiled and told her to find shelter if she wished but he would continue with the milking. Her older son, William stayed behind to help. Taking with her Etta, Herman, and the baby Theodore, Mother Wise hurried to the place of refuge. She thought of a package of bright-colored cloth she had just purchased to make a dress. But no, she would not return to the house. She remembered the instructions - "flee with just your family and the clothes you have on." She looked toward the barn in time to see William picked up by the wind and carried a hundred feet in her direction. Her husband was running toward him. Soon, all reached the spot to which she had been directed in the dream, an uprooted stump surrounded by alder brush. Here they huddled and prayed. The fury of the storm snatched some of the clothing from their backs. When it passed, they returned to where the farm buildings had stood. They were totally demolished. The cow Mr. Wise had been milking was blown against the pump and killed. Mr. Ritter was found in a creek bed a mile away suffering a broken hip from which he never recovered. Mrs. Wise could not locate the package of material for her new dress, but among the possessions scattered over the yard was an earthern butter jar she had brought from Germany, now prized by her granddaughter, Hazel Niquette. "Truly your dream was sent by the Lord, and we are spared," her husband observed. Charles soon joined her in the Adventist faith and became a colporteur-evangelist. The storm from which they were saved is known in history as the Pensaukee Tornado because of the near total destruction it caused in this bayshore community."
Charles and Augusta Weiss (later Wise) were born, grew up and married in Prussia, now part of Germany. They started their family and immigrated first to Canada, with the year as yet unknown. However, their eldest daughter Etta was born in Germany in 1867, son William was born in Canada in 1872, son Herman was born in Oconto County, Wisconsin, in 1874. Later John, born 1876 and Charles F., born 1878, were added to the family. By 1900 Augusta Weiss (Wise) had given birth to 8 infants, with 5 living. It appears that the infants who had not survived were born in Germany and/or Canada.
At first farm laborers, by 1880 the family were farming in town of Little River and were using the Wise spelling of their surname. An interesting notation on the 1880 census reports that Augusta had a "Cold occasioned by high waters." In order to save money to purchase their own land, Charles worked extra jobs in nearby counties and townships while oldest sons William and Herman tended the rented farm with their mother Augusta.
Charles had a brother named Sigmund Weiss, living in the city of Oconto in 1895, but not found before or after. He was not found on census or cemetery searches. The newspaper reported:
Oconto County Reporter
26 July 1895
Charles Weiss, from Shiocton, visited his brother Sig in this city (Oconto) during the past week. (Shiocton on WI Highway 54, west of Green Bay)
And further information on Sigmund Weiss:
Oconto County Citizenship Papers
1895 Weiss, Sigmund
Sigund is not found after that year.
By 1900 the family was settled on their own land in Lena. William and Herman remained on the family farm. Etta married Charles Feak in 1884 and lived in Lena where the couple raised 9 children. They are buried in Lena Cemetery. Youngest son, Charles, lived in Detroit, Michigan, with his wife Cereda, who was a court stenographer, and there was no report of children.
 Wise Family
of Lena, Oconto County, Wisconsin
c: 1920 Augusta Dalluge Wise is seated front left and her husband Charles Theodore Wise is seated front right. Second row seated left to right: Charles F. Wise, Cereda Little Wise (Charles F.), Mary Rydell Wise (John). Third row standing left to right: Henrietta Wise Feak, William Wise, Emma Fenske Wise (William) Herman Wise, John Wise, Louisa Kottke Wise (Herman) |
Wise / Weiss Family Tree
1. Charles Theodore Wise / Weiss
b: Feb. 12, 1845 Germany
Immigrations: 1873 from Canada
occupation: Farmer
d: May 12, 1925 Lena, Oconto Co, WI
burial: Lena Township Cemetery
(notes on Charles Wise: He and wife, Augusta lived with son Herman and his family in 1900s, had a brother, sigmund Weiss, who immigrated from Canada, lived in Oconto County in 1885 and applied for citizenship, but was not found after that)
+ Augusta Dalluge - wife of Charles Wise
b: June 4, 1845 Germany
marriage: 1866 in Prussia (now Germany)
Immigrations: 1873 from Canada
d: Sept. 6, 1925 Lena, Oconto Co, WI
burial: Lena Township Cemetery
Children of Augusta and Charles Wise : 8 births, 5 living in 1900
1. HenrIetta (Ettie and Etta) Wise
b: July 10, 1867 in Prussia, (now Germany)
d: April 23, 1956. in Menominie, Wisconsin
(notes on Henrietta Wise: Lived in town of Lena with husband and children)
+ Carl Henry (Charles) Feak - husband of HenrIetta Wise
b: Dec. 25, 1857
marriage: Nov. 11, 1884
occupation: Farmer
d: Apr. 23, 1943
(notes on Charles Feak: Feak family marker is in the Lena Township Cemetery but Etta and Charles are buried elsewhere)
Children of Henrietta and Charles: 11 infants born, 10 survive in 1910
1. Richard Raymond Feak - Aug 1885
2. William Feak - Mar 1888
3. Leonard Feak - Oct 1889
4. Alice Feak - 1891
5. Ruth E Feak - Aug 1894
6. Henrietta A (Etta) Feak- Aug 1896
7. Charles H Feak - Apr 1897
8. Chester O Feak - 1902
9. Charlotte Agusta Feak 1904
10. Violet Feak 1907
2. William Frederick Wise
b: Oct 2, 1872 in Canada
occupation: Farmer
d: 1944 Lena, Oconto Co, WI
burial: Lena Township Cemetery
+ Emma Fenske - wife of William Wise
b: Sep. 20, 1863 in Germany
marriage: #1 Mr. Fenske in Germany, 10 infant births, 5 living in 1910
marriage: #2 William Wise on June 30, 1908; no children
d: Feb. 22, 1929
burial: unknown, not in Lena Township Cemetery or Oconto County Cemeteries
(notes on Emma Fenske: confusion about her marriages/children, 1920 census states that she immigrated from Germany in 1880 but Fenske sons were born in Germany and immigrated in 1902, husband Fenske died before 1908 but is not buried in Oconto County)
3. Herman Robert Wise
b: Sept. 9, 1874 in Oconto County, Wisconsin
occupation: Farmer
d: 1936 in Lena, WI
burial: Lena Township Cemetery
+ Louisa H. Kottke - wife of Herman Wise
b: Jan. 09, 1877
marriage: May 24, 1900
d: Jan. 12, 1956
burial: Lena Township Cemetery
children of Herman and Louisa:
1. Gladys M Wise - 1901 in Oconto County, Wisconsin
2. Hazel M Wise - 1906 in Oconto County, Wisconsin
3. Rachael Wise - 1911 in Oconto County, Wisconsin
4. Charles Wise - 1914 in Oconto County, Wisconsin
5. Earl Wise - 1918 in Oconto County, Wisconsin
4. John Theodore Wise (married , lived in Lena)
b: Sept. 22, 1876 in Oconto County, Wisconsin
occupation: Farmer in town of Lake, Marinette County, Wisconsin
d: 1943
burial: Lena Township Cemetery
+ Mary Christine Rydell - wife of John Wise
b: 1876 in Sweden
immigration: 1892
occupation: Nurse
marriage: 1901 at age 25
d: 1947
burial: Lena Township Cemetery
(notes on Mary Rydell: According to family, Mary Rydell came to America from Moheda, Sweden, at age 16 as she had brothers already living here. She attended nursing school in Battle Creek, MI. (Seventh-Day Adventist). There she met her husband-to-be, John Theodore Wise. She died at age 71 of cancer of the uterus, according to her death certificate. She is buried in the Lena Cemetery).
Children of John and Mary:
1. Ethel C Wise - 1913 in Wisconsin
2. Hazel J Wise - 1917 in Wisconsin
3. Muriel M Wise - 1822 in Wisconsin
5. Charles (Charley) F. Wise
b: Oct 23, 1878, Lena, Oconto Co, WI
occupation: Lubricating Engineer
d: died after 1930 in Wayne County, Michigan
burial: unknown
+ Cereda Elizabeth Little
b: Apr 19, 1882 in Lambton, Ontario, Canada
immigration: 1894; lived in Battle Creek, Michigan
marriage: 1908 at age 25
occupation: court stenographer in Detroit, Michigan
d: died after 1930 in Wayne County, Michigan
burial: unknown
no children
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