William Wise (1820)

Born 1820 in Ireland

Descendants

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Biography

William Wise came to America, landed in New Orleans in about1837. He came to the Rapides Parish area where he settled. He married Louise Ventioner, daughter of Isaac Ventioner and Matilda Sweat, but marriage record has not been found. He brought the first Crepe Myrtles to Vernon Parish (was Rapides Parish at that time). He planted them all around his property, and tended them with a great deal of care. He was a roamer, possibly a drinker and carouser, and stayed away from home quite a bit. One day, Louise Ventioner Wise got mad at him because he'd been gone for a while, and she cut all the bushes down. When he came home and saw the destruction, he got mad, went into the house, put on his hat, and walked out the door - never to return. Don't know if this was before Louise had the baby William Wise or after. But at any rate, relatives always said that William Wise, son of William Wise and Louise Ventioner, never saw his father.

This older William Wise went into Rapides Parish and settled in the Simmerman/Sandhill area. He later met and married a DeRouen woman and they had 3 daughters. Don't know if William ever divorced Louise or not, don't know if he married the DeRouen woman or not. Cannot find the records where he did either. But can't find his record of marriage to Louise either. Probably in burned Rapides records. William Wise supposedly died during a Yellow Fever Epidemic in 1856 or 1858. His burial is unknown.

William Wise (the son) was extremely important to the young mothers in the Vernon Parish area, and he would be called on quite frequently whenever their young children came down with the thrush. It seems that this "thrush" which affects a babies mouth and would eventually kill them. An old belief was that if a man who had never seen his father would breath in a baby's mouth who had the thrush. his breath would get rid of the thrush. Don't know what magic powers he had, but he rid a lot of babies of the thrush, so this belief was perpetuated for a long, long time in that area.

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