He Was Only 50

My Great-Grandfather Amiel Wiser died in Devers, Texas on a Saturday night, October 26, 1895. He was 50 years old. What illness he suffered is no longer remembered. 

His pregnant widow Sylvina was left to raise eight children--the eldest at 15. The youngest was born seven months later. 

I've found no obituary or death certificate. But I have this brief death notice from The Galveston Daily News on Wednesday, October 30, 1895 for "Mr. Weiser." 


"One of the oldest settlers here" in Liberty County, Texas. A generous remark. But I think there were many alive then who had lived long in Devers. His daughter Nora recalls him saying he had moved from Germany when he was but six years old. (about 1851).

However, Amiel's older brother Louis told a 1867 voting registrar that he had lived in Texas for 13 years. (Arriving about 1854). The tax record indicates he was naturalized in 1859. 

A certificate from April 1853 filed in Galveston County shows their mother Hannah's marriage to Sam Leeper, an early Liberty, Texas resident. It is my earliest record of Amiel's mother. 

Both Amiel (known as "Lemuel"), age 15, and Louis, age 16, appear in the 1860 Federal Census with their mother Hannah Leeper, 36, living near Wallisville in Chambers County, Texas. 

I hope to find more records of my German immigrant ancestor.




Galveston Weekly News - May 29, 1855

          Texas has a wonderful free database for newspapers from 150+ years ago. I hope you check out The Portal To Texas History at URL:  https://texashistory.unt.edu/  A big fan of archives, I'm very grateful for this database. 

           My family once lived near Trinity Bay, Turtle Bayou and Double Bayou in southeast Texas. My 2xGreat-Grandmother received "bounty land" from her second husband's military service in the Battles of Bexar and San Jacinto. Several decades of Texas papers have brief mentions of Leaper or Leeper land transfers as the bounty land was sold off. Hannah and Sam Leeper were married but two years before he died in April of 1855. I have yet to find an obituary or a death notice for this veteran of Texas' early battles, but I've instead learned a bit about my ancestors' time. Please see a few peculiar examples below. Remember to click once to enlarge an image. Click once more to return to this page. 

1. HERE'S THE MATTER WITH K-STATE:  Kansas was in need of missionaries called "Divines."



2.  Wife-swapping was a thing. You will recall that until recently wives were legally considered their husband's chattel. Oh good grief, was there no law to protect women from this bartering! My state of Oklahoma only nixed their barbaric chattel law in the late 1980s. I Kid You Not. I recall the week the legislature rescinded it, and the wailing from a certain Mr. Daniel against this perceived miscarriage of justice.

 ( Ahem. If I may, see my prior post on women as chattel:  http://treepig.posthaven.com/when-women-were-chattel )


3. LOCK UP YOUR DAUGHTERS: Jews were referred to as "Israelites" in some articles. Respectable chattel--I mean, married females were called ladies, while citizens of ill repute were just "women." The evangelical movement of Mormonism was a popular topic. Non-Mormons were called Gentiles by Mormons. Some rural communities became ghost towns as people packed up and moved to Utah with like-minded brethren. Local ("Gentile") papers contained articles warning people against Mormons. This is one salacious piece. Creative license, much?



4.  JOHN BROWN, ANYONE? Kansas was a hotbed in the 1850s as anti-abolitionists did real battle with those activists who took a stand against slavery. I found Gov. Reeder's statement chilling about the need for "domestic slavery" to help with Kansas' economy. 


5.  TO THE PEOPLE WHO BROUGHT US GUINNESS, WE SALUTE YOU:  Back when America hated Irish immigrants, I find articles of their famed potato famine littered with anti-Catholic sentiment. My own paternal grandmother would speak disparagingly of her "papist" mother-in-law's French heritage. Apaches, papists, Mormons, Know-Nothings, abolitionists--there was much to fear in our nation according to early mainstream media. This article I call Brexit's Loss; America's Gain. 



6. When time-traveling to Galveston, may I recommend a cozy B&B? 



7. Interested in cotton futures?