Robert Wiseman

Descendants

Biography

Robert Wiseman was a Maryland colonist.

'A Relation of Maryland', published in London in 1635, lists a 'Henry Wiseman, son of Sir Thomas Wiseman, Knt.' as one of the 'gentleman adventurers' who accompanied the Calverts on the Ark and Dove. Harry Wright Newman, in his 'Flowering of the Maryland Palatinate', identifies this Henry Wiseman with Robert Wiseman, d. 1650; Edward C. Papenfuse, in 'A Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland Legislature', refutes this identification, noting that Henry Wiseman returned to England prior to 1640. However, records of land tenancy at Wiseman's Point show Robert succeeding Henry, so some relationship, possibly that of cousins, almost certainly exists.

Robert Wiseman was literate, and was either styled 'gentleman' or accorded the title of 'Mr' in records, both indicators of his social status; he was, very probably, a member of one of the Catholic recusant Wiseman families of Essex (but probably not a son of Sir Thomas Wiseman; had his father been a knight he would have been styled esquire).

Sources

See also:

• Archives of Maryland, Vol. 10; Judiciary and Testamentary Business of the Provincial Court, 1649/50-1657. Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore, 1891 (p. 10)