Wiley Genealogy

(Photo courtesy of Russell D. Jones from the collection
of his grandfather Upshaw Griffin Jones)

JOHN WILEY, son of THOMAS WILEY and TABITHA NOEL, was born 03 August 1809 in Roane County, Tennessee [1], and died 02 January, 1886 in Chulafinnee, Cleburne County, Alabama. [11] He married SUSANNAH FARRIS in 1831 or 1832. [9,11] She was born 20 August 1812 in Edgefield District, South Carolina and died 27 October 1875 in Alabama. Her parents were REBECCA HOLLY and THOMAS FARRIS, who died in South Carolina in 1818 from wounds received in the Revolutionary War. [9] After her husband's death, Rebecca moved to Georgia with her children, where she lived until her death in Forsyth County in 1841. [9, 11]

As their parents had done before them, John's parents left the relatively settled area where they had grown up and headed for the plentiful lands of the frontier. They left Roane County, Tennessee and moved to Gwinnett County, Georgia in 1823 when John was 14 years old. [11,13] The Thomas Wiley family is found on the 1830 Gwinnett County census on page 115. His household consists of one male and one female aged 50-60, three males 20-30, one male and one female 15-20, and two females 10-15. [2] John's brother Alexander and Alex's wife, Hollinda Farris, are in a nearby household. [3] Once the Cherokee territory opened for settlement, the Wileys moved across the Chattahoochee River to the "new purchase" and settled near Roswell, Georgia. [9,11]

John and his brother, Alexander, married two sisters, daughters of the widow Rebecca Farris, who was known for her beautiful garden, her talent for making quilts, and the festive wedding parties held in her spacious home. The Farrises were Irish and loved entertainment, fun, and laughter, especially a wedding. John T. Wiley, son of John and Susanna, reminisced about the stories he had been told of his parents' wedding. [11]

"All the relatives and friends for miles came in all sorts of vehicles, and on horseback. Some came days before, fearing bad weather might slow them up. The women came often on the same horse their husbands rode, sitting behind on a pillow . . . standard equipment for ladies riding behind their escorts on horseback. In their saddlebags were the ladies' dresses for the occasions, and a husband's change of shirts. Some guests walked having no other method of transportation, and some people came which none of them had ever seen, but who wished to be with a 'gathering' again. All were made welcome. There was a long gallery that ran the entire 'L' at the back of the Farris house, and this was lined with tables and great quantities of food, prepared by the slaves in the kitchen detached from the house. My father said it was quite the prettiest wedding many of them had ever seen. Many just married quietly when a minister was available, but not the Irish Farrises. The women in the family, and the women who arrived ahead of time, made a great to-do. The tall candles that light the rooms and the tables were made in candle molds at home, but the candlesticks of pewter, silver and polished wood came from Ireland as did the silver and the great linen table cloths and cups and saucers, plates and glassware. The wedding was talked of for many years. The second day dinner was a great gathering at my Grandfather's [Thomas Wiley's] house." [11]

After their marriage, John rented a small place near his father, but the newlyweds stayed a there only a year, soon moving to a small plantation offered for sale by a widow whose husband had been killed by a falling tree and who wanted to return to her home state of South Carolina. Susanna Wiley later recalled this home as a pleasant place to live, but her husband and his brother itched to moved west, as their father and grandfather had done, and soon set their sights on Alabama. [11]

In 1838, John and his brother, Alexander, moved their families to Alabama, initially to St. Clair County, where they settled temporarily while looking for land to buy. [9, 11, 18] John Wiley found work as a plantation manager for a man named Kelly, who was both a plantation owner and a preacher, but preferred preaching to farming. Both John's and Alexander's families were stricken with fever [11], probably yellow fever. Alexander's family was especially hard hit and he was not able to work for some time after the move. [11] John appears in the census of 1840 in St. Clair County, Alabama on page 239 next to his brother, Alexander. Listed are: John Wiley, 1 male 20-30, 3 females under 5, 2 females 5-10, 1 female 20-30. [4]

After recovering from the fever, the two families moved to the southern part of Talladega County, Alabama, near Bluff Springs, in the Enitachopco Valley. [9,11] This is the area where their Wiley and Noel uncles had fought in the Creek War of 1814 and brought home stories of the richness and beauty of the land. They settled on land situated at the foot of a ledge of hills, the flat valley land all being taken. Some of this was fine fertile land, but much of it had to be cleared for planting, which proved to be a Herculean task. John recognized that there were a great many advantages to this property that the valley properties did not have. The mountains lay behind it and provided fine pastures, with open ranges for stock, cattle, and sheep, so that none of the arable acres had to be used for grazing. [11]

A log cabin was built with large rooms and an open central hallway, called a dog trot. [Example of typical 19th century Alabama dog trot house.] People throughout the valley joined in with the "hewing and felling" to build the new house as they had for each of the newcomers who joined their settlement. Two fireplaces with great stone chimneys were carefully constructed so they would draw properly and not smoke. The stones were taken from the surrounding land and chosen to withstand the heat. The kitchen and dining room were built separately at some distance from the house to protect it from fire, always a great danger. Gradually, the land around the house was cleared, the flower and kitchen gardens put in, a stone fence erected to keep the sheep out, and the house whitewashed a bright white. Two pear trees were planted, one on either side of the gate. John's son, John Thomas Wiley, recalled that "when they bloomed in spring they were wonderful to look at, for beyond them lay the blue hills and low mountain ranges that lay far across the valley. This house was on a small hilltop, and the view of the flashing water - the clouds, the storms, the snow in the winter, the chestnut trees blooming in the spring, the dogwood and the redbud, are something plainsmen do not know and the heart never forgets. Here the lightening flashed, the storms roared and raged, and the rains came, but the house we knew that our father had built, was strong." [11]

John appears in the census of 1850 in Talladega County, Alabama on page 405, next to his brother, Alex. Listed are: John Wiley, M, 41, b. TN; Susannah, F, 38, b. SC; Mary, F, 17, b. GA; Catharine, F, 16, b. GA; Cynthia, F, 14, b. GA; Elizabeth, F, 13, b. GA; Eliza, F, 11, b. AL; Nancy, F, 10, b. AL; Susanna, F, 6, b. AL; Robert, M, 4, b. AL; Joseph, M, 1, b. AL. [5]

He also appears in the census of 1860 in Bluff Springs, Talladega County, Alabama on page 933. [6] His brother, Alexander, is on page 930. [7] Listed are: John Wiley, M, 50, farmer, value of real estate $600, value of personal property $400, b. TN: Susannah, F, 48, b. SC; Nancy, F, 19, b. AL; Susannah, F, 16, b. AL; Robert, M, 14, b. AL; Joseph, M, 11, b. AL; John, M, 8, b. AL; and George, M, 5, b. AL.

Here John and Susanna raised their family; eleven children were eventually born to them, all of whom lived to adulthood. They worked hard and the family prospered. They farmed and ran a cooperage business as well. John became Justice of the Peace and served in that capacity for 15 years. Susannah became as famous for her garden as her mother had been before her. Both were active members of the Mt. Moriah Methodist Church [18] and John taught Sunday School. "There were quilting bees and carding bees. Neighbors came and went. The young girls and boys would gather together after the proper amount of work was done, wherever they gathered, sang and played games of many kinds." By the time the Civil War began, six of the daughters were married and beginning families of their own in the area. [11, 18]

With the coming of the War, all that changed. Times were hard and there was much suffering. With six sons-in-law off at war, it fell to John and Susan and the younger children to keep up not only their own plantation but those of their daughters as well. As John T. Wiley recalled, "all the girls married good substantial men, who were well on their way to prosperity and wealth when the Civil War tore the Southern economic system to pieces, for the South was an agricultural country - a country of small plantations and great plantations, of men who knew more of agriculture than they did of war, or commercial life and industries." Two of these men, the husbands of daughters Nancy and Elizabeth were killed, several of the others were wounded or imprisoned. "The loneliness would become too great for my sisters, and there was never a time, from the beginning of the war to the end, when some of them or their children were not with us." [11]

John felt a strong responsibility to the women and children of the men at war. "He listened sympathetically to their troubles, real or imagined, and it was difficult to imagine anything as bad as most of their troubles. He settled their disputes, for all the people felt him just. He mended shoes, and tubs, and buckets, and curing tubs that had been allowed to 'fall down.' He wrote letters and begged food for them, and wrangled what he could from the government. The tasks for he and my mother were endless. Many a weary heart besides our own family found comfort weeping in my mother's arms." [11]

After the Civil War, John's brother, Alexander, moved to Texas, fleeing the devastation and poverty of the post-Civil War years and the chaos of the Reconstruction period. Many others in the Wiley family and families throughout the South did the same. [10, 11] Firmly rooted in Alabama, with his children and their families surrounding him, John chose to stay and rebuild the family's shattered lives. It took three years to get the land back in shape, the fields and orchards cleared, the cotton lands into cultivation. By 1869, a measure of order came back into the family's lives and food was more plentiful. The younger boys were able to return to school for at least part of the year, taking turns to ensure that the work at home was done, for education was still a priority even in these difficult times. [11]

John can be found in the 1870 census of Clay County, Alabama (Clay County was created from Talladega in 1866) on page 245. Listed are John Wiley, M, 60, farmer value of real estate $500, value of personal property $800, b. TN; Susan, F, 57, Keeps House, b. SC; Joseph, M, 21, works farm, b. AL; Susan, F, 24, works house, b. AL. Nearby are the households of his children: John, George, Robert, Sarah Lackey, and Nancy Calloway. [8]

Susanna passed away October 17, 1875 and was buried at Sardis Cemetery near her home in Clay County. John died on January 2, 1886 at Chulafinnee, Alabama. [13] According to family lore, John had agreed to teach at the school there and died during the flood of 1886. Due to swollen creeks and rivers, his body could not be returned for burial beside Susannah at Sardis Cemetery. John was buried in a church cemetery at Chulafinnee, in Cleburne County.[18]

Children of JOHN WILEY and SUSANNAH FARRIS are:

i. SYNTHIA EVELINE WILEY, b. Abt. 1836, Georgia, m. JAMES M. JONES, 20 June 1858. [14]

ii. MARY ANN HOLLINDA WILEY, b. 04 April 1833, Forsyth County, Georgia; m. DAVID GLENN 17 December 1850, d. 15 May 1915, in Lamesa, Moore County, Texas. [12]

iii. REBECCA CATHERINE WILEY, b. Abt. 1834, Georgia; m. WILIAM BOYCE CALLOWAY, 04 August 1853, Talladega County, Alabama. [13]

iv. SARAH ELIZABETH WILEY, b. Abt. 1835, Georgia; m. (1) JAMES M. LACKEY , 12 July 1855, Talladega County, Alabama [15]; m. (2) JUDGE H. M. EVANS, Aft. 1856. [9]

v. ELEANOR ELIZA WILEY, b. 21 September 1839, Alabama, m. A. J. ASHCRAFT, 9 November 1858. [16]

vi. NANCY RICHMOND WILEY, b. Abt. 1841, Alabama, m. CYRUS W. CALLOWAY 29 August 1861. [17]

vii. SUSANNAH LAVISA WILEY, b. Abt. 1844, Alabama; m. JAMES BAKER, Texas. [9, 11]

viii. ROBERT MCALPINE WILEY, b. Abt. 1846, Alabama; m. SARAH WHATLEY. [9, 11]

ix. JOSEPH STILES WILEY, b. Abt. 1849, Alabama; m. NANCY WALKER. [9, 11]

x. JOHN THOMAS WILEY, b. 29 July 1852, Talladega County, Alabama [11]; m. MARTHA JANE MANNING, 14 October 1878, Ashland, Clay County, Alabama. [9, 11]

xi. GEORGE CICERO WILEY, b. Abt. 1855, Alabama35; m. STELLA MALOY. [9, 11]

* The compiler wishes to express a special debt of gratitude to Edward Wiley of Austin, Texas, for sharing the manuscript of his great grandfather, John Thomas Wiley, that adds so much of the personal detail to this narrative and makes the history come alive.