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Note: m) Isabel Blanton Wiseman. b: 1775 d: 1854 Birth date taken from "The Wisemans", 2nd Ed 1992, by B. W. Venable The following information is taken from “The Wisemans” 2nd Edition, 1992. Compiled by Boyd W Venable of 2312 Branner Avenue, Jefferson City, Tennessee, 3760, a Wiseman descendant. Isabell Blanton Wiseman, Abner's wife, belonged to one of the early families in Monroe County, Virginia. They were there before the Wisemans arrived. William Blanton was Constable in 1773, two years before the start of the American Revolution, and only ten years after the last Indian massacre on the Greenbrier. John Blanton, Isabells brother, married Abner’s sister Elizabeth in Monroe County, so Abner and lsabell's children were double cousins to those of John and Elizabeth Blanton. John and Elizabeth came to Kentucky about 1812 and joined Abner and Isabell in Estill County until about 1830, when they moved on to Morgan and Hendricks Counties, Indiana. In later years other Blantons moved to Kentucky also. Isabell Wiseman, Abner Wiseman's widow, was 48 years old when Abner died in 1823. After he died, Isabell was left all alone to raise all the girls (ages 5 to 13) and the three youngest boys, ages 2, 5 and 12. James NcCreery was named guardian of the seven youngest children on Sept 17, 1827. These were: Betsy (E1izabeth), who was already a mother at age 17, Jacob, Jane, Deannah, Joseph, Henry and Ebby (Isabell Jr) Wiseman, but the guardianship was probably for looking after the childrens interest in Abner Sr’s estate, since they were all living at home with Isabell. Elizabeth’s baby boy grew up to be our ancestor, my great- grandfather, cattle rancher and State Assemblyman Hon Isaac Wiseman(5) of Nevada. In addition to her own children, Isabell also helped raise her daughter Elizabeth's two boys, Isaac(5), born in 1827, and Abner(5), born in 1830. These two boys were the two oldest sons of Elizabeth, born before she married Samuel McDowell. Isabell also helped her son Isaac Wiseman(4) raise his three sons, John, Robert and Isaac M, after his wife Frances was gone. In 1840, when Isabell was 65 years old, her grown sons William and Isaac(4) were back in the household to run the farm, along with Elizabeth's two older boys Isaac(5), 13 years old, and Abner(5), age10, Isaac(4)'s sons John and Robert, ages 10 and 8, and one other young boy 5-10 years old who must have been William’s son Abner, age 6. After Abner died, the widow Isabell must have had her hands full looking after Abner’s business and property, raising seven of her own children plus five grandchildren, with no husband to help out. With little or no formal education her situation would have been precarious. At the time of Abner’s death, two of her children were already teenagers and the youngest one, Henry B, was only two years old. Any parent knows she had her hands full. She had to have been a strong woman to cope. She seems to have busied herself in court. Her name begins to appear on the public record beginning in 1825. For instance, she had a dispute with Sally Sparks which ended up in court. That charge (fornication) was dropped in 1826 when Sally King refused to return to Kentucky to testify for the complainant. There is probably an interesting story there, but I have no way of knowing the details without rummaging old records stored in boxes in the Kentucky Archives. Isabell would have been 50 years old in 1825; Abner had been dead two years. She transferred all her dower right to her four grown sons Thomas, William, Abner and Isaac in 1826. Isabell was unable to read and write, so I suppose she felt her literate sons would be better able to defend against encroachers and creditors. In 1832 she asked the County Commissioners to “lay off her Dowers Right” (Whatever that means). In 1840 she sued Margaret King for $500 for taking logs off her property, and Susan Stephens charged Isabell and her son William with “Assault and battery with sticks, quilting frames, knives and hoes, beat and bruised her”. It must have been quite a battle. From 1841 on, Isabell was embroiled in Dower Right litigation with Littleberry Abney, Ben Norton, Moses Price, Joel White, and Absolom Henry, all of whom had deeds from Abner for various tracts of land, probably as security for debt. By the year 1850 I find no more record of Isabell. She died in 1854, according to Ellen Rogers. Isabell Blanton Wiseman was born and married in the wild Greenbrier Valley of Virginia, crossed the Appalachian mountains on a pack trail and raised 11 children (plus five or more grandchildren) in Kentucky. She died in Estill County, Kentucky in 1854 at the age of 79 and is buried in Cool Springs cemetery.
Note: BURIAL: Cool Springs Cemetery, Estill County, Kentucky (Find A Grave.co
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