JOSEPH WISE

• Birth Notes
  •    b: April 01, 1620 England

• Death Notes
  • September 12, 1684 Roxbury, Suffolk, Massechusetts    

• General Notes
  • JOSEPH WISE, who appeared in Roxbury, Massachusetts in 1636.
    An Excerpt Of
    The Ancient Origins of the WISE Family
    
    The Wises were Saxons who lived in southwest England before the Norman
    conquest of 1066. The Saxon people, led by General/Commanders Hengist and
    Horsa, settled in England about the year 400 A.D. They came from
    northern Germany, as far south and west as the Rhine Valley, and settled
    first in Kent on the southeast coast of England. During the next 400
    years they moved north and westward forcing the ancient Britons into
    Wales and Cornwall and won lands as far north as Lancashire and Yorkshire
    forcing the Britons into Cumbria and southern Scotland. Alfred the Great
    became the Saxon King who repelled the Danes in the ninth century.(1)
    
    Geoffrey of Monmouth(2) in his book "This History of the Kings of
    Britain" which was written in the mid-twelfth century, described a tribe
    of GEWISSEI in the time of Constantine, the Roman ruler of Britain in the
    fifth century. Georffrey Ash(3) in the book, "The Quest for Arthur's
    Britain", states that the west Saxons were referred to as 'Gewissi' or
    'Gewissae'. The name is derived from the German verb "to know", from the
    nouns "knowledge" and "wisdom" and the adjective "wise". In England the
    name became GEWIS or GWISS, in Germany WEIS or WEISS, in France GUISSE
    and GUISE, and in Denmark it became WIS.(4)
    
    The founder of the WISE family was OLIVER GEWIS or GWISS(1) who lived
    prior to 1066 in Greston in Cornwall near the Devonshire/Cornwall border
    in England. He took the surname WYSE. The family name WISE emerged as a
    notable English family name in Devonshire. The son of OLIVER, WILLIAM
    WYSE, held 16 Librates of land in Cornwall. The same WILLIAM WYSE was
    succeeded by his son SERLONIUS WYSE (living circa 1090) who in turn had
    three sons, OLIVER WYSE, Sir JOHN WYSE and HENRY WYSE, all of Greston.
    
    HENRY WYSE of Greston had a son named Sir WILLIAM WYSE (living 1220-1225)
    who married ELA de VIPONT. Their son SERLONIUS WYSE inherited
    Thrushelton from the de VIPONT family. SERLONIUS married and had a son
    Sir THOMAS WYSE who married ALFREDA TREVAGE, heiress to the manor of
    Sydenham which came to the WYSE family.
    
    There followed the owners of the manor of Sydenham:
    JOHN WYSE who acquired Sydenham in the time of Henry IV (1399-1413),
    THOMAS WYSE was next.
    Followed by JOHN WYSE,
    OLIVER WYSE,
    JOHN WYSE,
    and JAMES WYSE. This JAMES had four sons, GEORGE WYSE, JOHN WYSE of
    Sydenham, Sir WILLIAM WYSE, and Sir RICHARD WYSE (the founder of the
    Cuddleston Branch of the WISE family).
    
    JOHN WISE of Sydenham had eleven children. One of his sons, JOHN WISE,
    founded the family at Totnes, Devon, where the name of WISE appears in
    records over a longer period of time than any other family. There were
    five WISEs serving as Mayor for ten terms between 1574 and 1694. The
    Guild Hall of Totnes still uses the Totnes town council chambers where
    the WISEs presided. There wall plaques list the name of every mayor and
    year of service since the first mayor of 1359. Portraits of these WISEs
    can be seen in the Totnes museum, and the Parish and Priory Church of St.
    Mary has WISE monuments.(5)
    
    The WISE family coat of arms, crest and motto were granted JOHN WISE of
    Sydenham, during the reign of James I (1603-1625) and recorded by Sir
    Henry St. George in his visitation of Devonshire, 1620.
    The arms are: sable, three chevronells ermine.
    The crest: a demi-lion rampant gules, guttee argent, holding in his paws
    a regal mace.
    The motto: "Sapere aude" (Dare to be wise).
    Three chevonelles on the shield represented the three great families of
    WISE who rose into prominence in Devonshire.(6)
    
    There were four major settlers to immigrate to America and establish WISE
    families:
    
    JOHN WISE (1617-1695) of England who arrived in Virginia in 1634. He
    arrived aboard the transport Bonaventure, which departed from Gravesdend,
    England, on July 4, 1635, to settle one Chesconnessex Creek near Onancock
    on the eastern shore of Virginia. He and his wife HANNAH SCARBOROUGH WISE
    fonded a prominent family, one descendant being Governor HENRY A. WISE of
    Virginia. This family is believed to be of the Devonshire WISE, but the
    parents of the immigrant are currenty unknown.
    
    JOSEPH WISE, who appeared in Roxbury, Massachusetts in 1636.
    
    Sir ANDREW WISE of Ireland and a descendant of the Cornwall/Devonshire
    WYSE who came to Virginia with Lord Baltimore. He was one of the gentry
    from "Knt" (sic), a younger son of the WYSE family of Greston and
    subsequently of Sydenham. His parents are currently unknown but he landed
    at Bannow, Wexford, Ireland, in May 1169. Since he was knighted he may
    have been a son of Sir JOHN WYSE of Greston. He accompanied RICHARD le
    CLARE, the Norman-Welch Earl of Pembroke, Wales, known as "Strongbow",
    who led the invasion of southeastern Ireland at the invitation of
    DIARMOND MacMURROUGH, King of Leinster. King DIARMOND had eloped with
    DERVORGILLA, wife of TIGHERNAN O'ROURKE and been forced from Ireland by
    O'Rourke with the aid of the High King RODERICK O'CONNOR. "Strongbow"
    assisted MacMurrough in regaining his kingdom and married Sir ANDREW
    WISEs daughter, AOIFE WYSE with large possessions of lands in
    Ballynacourty near Dungarvin, Waterford County, Ireland, where Wyse's
    Point of Dungarvin Bay is now the site of the Gold Coast Golf Club.(7)(8)
    
    FREDERICK WISE of Holland who immigrated to Pennsylvania and moved to
    North Carolina and South Carolina.
    
    I appears probable that our JOSEPH WISE is a descendant of either the
    English or the Irish branch, both having origins in the WYSE/WISE
    families of Greston, Cornwall/Devonshire, England.(7)
    
    
    References:
    (1) The Ancient History of the Distinguished Surname Wise, from the
    Library of Hall of Names, Ltd., 205 St. Johns Hill, Battersea, London
    SW11 1TH, England, 1989.
    (2) Geoffrey of Monmouth, The History of The Kings of Britain, p. 327.
    Penguin Books, 40 West 23rd Street, New York, NY 10010.
    (3) Geoffrey Ashe, The Quest for Arthur's Britain, pp.158, 188, Granada
    Publishing Ltd., London and New York, 1971, reprinted 1982.
    (4) Wise, Jennings Cropper. Col. John Wise of England and Virginia
    (1617-1695). His Ancestors and Descendants. Virginia Historical Society,
    The Bell Book and Stationary, Inc., Richmond, VA, 1918.
    (5) Research of Robert Irby Wise, M.D., at Marystow, Devon, October 1993,
    after personal communicatoin from Anne Wise of Totnes, Devon.
    (6) Sutton, E. Thompson, Wise Arms and Pedigree, Jerome A. Ringrose,
    pub., London, N.W., 1913. (Virginia Historical Society, Richmond,
    Virginia USA).
    (7) John Franklin Rockette, Rockette and Allied Families.
    (8) Research of Robert Irby Wise, M.D., at Dungarvin, Waterford County,
    Ireland, September 1994.