Wiley Bennington Fisk
He went by Wiley and W. B., which most records have W. B. Fisk
Wiley B. was born 24 October 1819 in Montgomery County Kentucky. His parents are
Henry A. Fisk and Susanna Wiley. Wiley married Julia Ann Spratt daughter of Andrew
and Mary Spratt sometime before 1837. Julia would die April 1, 1855 and sometime that
same year he would marry Malinda Lasswell. Wiley died October 1, 1896 in Caldwell,
Sumner County, Kansas
Wiley B. and Julia had the following children:
1.
Mary E. Fisk was born 6 August, 1836 and in the 1850 census she is the only
child to have place of birth as Illinois. Parents and all other children were born in
Kentucky. She married 1 August, 1853 Woodford Burton in Jassamine County
Kentucky.
2.
John Robert Fisk was born 15 September 1839 in Montgomery county Kentucky.
He would marry Emily Walters in 1859 and lived in Macoupin County, Illinois for
five years then moved to Carroll County, Missouri. Emily died in 1868 due to an
infection to her gum, they had three children. He married his second wife Julia
Colliver in 1869, and they had nine children. He died 20 March 1923 in Arkansas
City, Cowley County, Kansas but he is buried in Spring Creek Cemetery in Grant
County, Oklahoma
3.
Wiley R. Fisk was born 28 September 1842 in Jessamine county Kentucky and in
their youth he and his brother James Fisk rode with Quantrill’s raiders along the
Kansas/Missouri border. James was killed by Northern troops near
Independence, Missouri. Two women, one a Miss Nancy Burous buried James
Fisk near the river in an unmarked grave. Wiley R. married Nancy 9 January,
1865 and they lived in St. Joseph, Missouri. Wiley R. and Nancy had three
children but she died a few weeks after giving birth to their son James. Emily
Johnson had been working for Wiley R and Nancy in their home and the
following year they married. In 1887 Wiley was converted to the Quakers and
began preaching the gospel. It was said he was a dynamic minister bringing
many converts into the church. Wiley R. framed raised horses and mules. Wiley
R. Fisk died 12 March, 1926 and is buried in the Haviland Cemetery, in Haviland,
Kiowa County, Kansas. I received most of this information from his grandson in
1982, Irwin W. Fisk. He was the president of the Fisk Family Association they still
exist and have their own website. Just put Fisk Family Association in your
browser.
4.
James Fisk was born 1846/47 in Kentucky. The story above supplied from Irwin
Fisk had both of these brothers participating in the guerilla border wars with
Quantrill. Years ago I went up to the courthouse in Independence, Missouri to
view the Quantrill raider’s reunion lists. Yes one of his men lived on Main Street
in Independence and would have a yearly reunion of everyone who fought in
Quantrill’s company years after the war until he died. I did not find any Fisk in
those records but then again were talking about over 100 men. James would
have had to been a teenager. In 1860 census he was listed as 13 and Wiley R.
as 16. If Wiley R. married Nancy in 1865 he would have been 21 by his age in
the 1860 census but by his birth date supplied by the family he would have been
22 not turning 23 until September. This would have made James 18 or 19 years
old depending on his birthdate which by the 1860 census would have been
around 1846/47. In the 1850 census James is listed as 3 years old.
5.
Julia F. Fisk was born in 1848, Kentucky – she is listed as 2 years old in the 1850
census.
6.
Martha C. Fisk was born in 1850, Jessamine County, Kentucky – she is listed as
2 months old in the 1850 census so we can determine that the census was taken
in August of 1850 she would have been born in June of 1850.
7.
Henry A. Fisk was born 17 December 1852 in Jessamine County, Kentucky.
There was a record of his birth reported to the county courthouse.
8.
Lavinia Jane Fisk, born March 20, 1854 – see her biography that details the
analysis and report on how this was determined making her the last child of
Wiley B. and Julia Fisk. She married Lafayette Warner in Cass County, Missouri
1879 and died 13 August 1925 in Coffeyville, Montgomery County, Kansas.
Wiley B. and Malinda had the following children:
9.
Frances Marion Fisk born 1856 in Kentucky and married 13 January 1878 in
Cass County, Missouri Sarah E. Clark. He died sometime between 1895 and
1900. He appears in the 1895 Kansas state census but Sarah is listed as a
widow in the 1900 federal Kansas census. Frances went by Marion and in 1895
they lived next to Lavinia and Lafayette Warner in Coffeyville, Kansas. Lavinia
must have been very close to that brother perhaps due to the closeness in age.
10.
George Fisk was born in 1858 in Kentucky as stated in the 1860 census he is
listed as 2 years old and born in Kentucky but in the 1870 census he is born in
Missouri.
11.
Ben Franklin Fisk was born in 1863 either in Iowa as the 1870 census says or
Missouri as the 1880 census suggests.
12.
Nancy Elizabeth Fisk was born in 1865 in either Illinois as stated in the 1870
census or Missouri as stated in the 1880 census.
13.
Charles Fisk was born in 1867 in Missouri
14.
Lilly Fisk was born in 1870 in Missouri. She married S.G. Spiker on November
15, 1890 in Sumner County, Kansas
15.
Oscar Fisk was born in 1874 in Missouri
Caldwell Weekly Advance, 15 October 1896
W.B. Fisk known all over the country as a biblical scholar and linguist, died at the home
of his son in Caldwell last Friday in his 80th year, and we buried on /Saturday, Rev. J.
Holmes preaching his funeral. Mr. Fisk was a man of note in his day, having been
associated with Cassius M. Clay in stumping the South before the war in the interest of
abolition of slavery. He was commissioned by President Lincoln and the breaking out of
the war to organize the 24th Missouri Volunteers. He was associated with Campbell and
Stone in the religious reformation of this century, and was a scholar of high standing,
having been connected with several educational institutions of the country. But after all
this, it is said he was buried at the expense of the county, which fact is no reflection
upon the dead man, but emphasis one of the prominent teachings of the Bible, that
success in this life, as measured from the divine injunction “lay up treasures in Heaven”,
and he has been called to that higher life where he will be permitted to enjoy those
treasures, the accumulation of years of unappreciated toil and sacrifice. And after all he
took just as much of this world’s good with him as does the man who makes riches his
God, ---South Haven New Era.
Caldwell Weekly Advance, 15 October 1896
Obituary - - Rev W. B. Fisk, born in Mt. Sterling, KY., October 24 181? and died
at Caldwell, Kansas, October 1, 1896. Entered Lexington College at the age of 14 and
graduated from same college with honors. He entered the ministry of the Methodist
church at an early stage in life, afterwards united with the First-day Advents. He was a
great debater and loved controversy on doctrinal points.
At the beginning of the late war he took the stump with Casheous M. Clay in
behalf of the freedom of the colored race. He was a cousin of Gen. B. Fisk, candidate
for president on the Prohibition ticket four years ago.
The funeral was conducted by Rev. J.A. Holmes of the M.E. church of this city.
There is a story I read about W.B. Fisk in the History of Sumner County, Kansas,
Volume 1 by the Caldwell Messenger 1987. This is put in my own words so if you want
a more detailed version check out the book.
W.B. was an abolitionist and part of the underground railway. He was caught by some
southerners and they were going to hang him until he gave the distress sign of a
mason. Since some of the Southerners in the group were masons they let him go.
If you go to the website “Find A Grave” a great place to find dead people and with so
many contributors sometimes you not only get a photo of their grave but someone will
post a photo or even their obituary. W.B and his son Wiley R. have their photos posted
on their entry. There is a photo of the tombstone of W.B. Fisk which has the mason
sign on it. Be aware the photo – says in ca 1900 – well ca means around 1900 and this
is the same photo I saw in the Sumner County History so since the man died in 1897
this was probably taken earlier.
Author of this biography
Rhonda (Warner) Wilhite
July 2013
Bibliography
Many thanks to the Fisk(e) Family Association and Irwin W. Fisk for the packet of information on our ancestor W. B. Fisk., that he
shared with me back in 1982 when I first started on this passion of discovering my ancestors.
1850, 1860, 1870, 1880 Census.
Kentucky birth and death and marriage records online at ancestry.com
History of Sumner County, Kansas Volume 1, by the Caldwell Messenger, 1987
Caldwell Weekly Advance Newspaper
Fiske and Fisk Family – Descendants of Symond Fiske Lord of the Manor of Stadbaugh Suffolk County England from the time of
Henry IV to date, including all the American members of the family by Frederick Clifton Pierce in 1896. There have been many
errors in this book as reported by the Fisk(e) Family Association and compared to actual public records of birth, death and census
records. But some of it is reliable to just have to find the document of proof.