Descendants
of
ALEXANDER, GEORGE, DAVID, JOHN, and WILLIAM WISE [WYSE]
of
Kincardineshire, Scotland
(Last Updated: Tuesday April 28, 2009)
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Family Motto: "Sapit Qui Deo Sapit" (He is wise who is wise of God)
Scottish Anglo-Saxon Arms of Wysse
ARMS: Sable (black), one chevron Argent (silver), with three Estoile charges (bursting and pulsating stars) with eight waving rays,astride d'chevronel Argent. Crest of single fortification (fort, castle, or tower) with three battlement tower merlons on the Helm Argent.
Our "Scottish" Arms
The above Arms were recorded for WYSMAN and WYSEMAN in Angus and Moray, Scotland in 1232 A.D. and 1385 A.D.; for WYSE in Moray, Scotland 1381 A.D.; in Caithness, Scotland 1382 A.D.; and in and surrounding Edinbrough, Scotland 1385 A.D. The Arms were displayed on a common sable escutcheons (shields) of the Norman style borne by horse & foot Anglo-Saxons surnamed WYSSE, WYSE, WISE, and WYSEMAN clans of lower SE Scotland and The Borders of England & Scotland. These Arms were also displayed circa 800 A.D. on the targes (round shields) of the now obsolete Scottish WYS clan and septs of Argyleshire, Lanarkshire, Stirlingshire, Fifeshire, and the Royal Burgh of Edinbrough. Last known claims to these Arms are by the descendants of the Wise House of Conveth (now Laurencekirk), Kincardineshire (now part of Aberdeen), Dundee, Angus, and Edinrough Scotland.
The original grantee of the above Arms, along with his Clan & Septs, apparently served Anglo-Saxon and Norman Nobles, and most likely were among the East Anglo-Saxon warriors (mercenaries) who fought as free-feudal knights that participated in the pre-medieval and medieval northern wars of Essex and York in England and border wars along the eastern England-Scotland borders -- at least three centuries before and after the 1066 A.D. Norman Conquest of England. These Scottish Arms are an obvious variant of the Wise Arms of York (former Kingdom of Northumbria) (see below) most likely promulgated up through medieval times from prominent eastern Anglo-Saxon chieftains & warriors from their Saxon Kingdoms of pre-1066 A.D. England, and/or from Saxons who fled and settled in the ancient Essex, Middlesex, and Sussex areas of what are now present-day England. The Wysse ancestors in England, Scotland, and Ireland (i.e., Saxons, Jutes, and/or Angles) are descendants of Saxons who sailed the North Sea from Scandinavia (ancient Saxony, Jutland, and Anglia), starting about the mid-400s A.D., and by circa 500 A.D. were among the Saxons who migrated and populated the major Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms and sub-Kingdoms of Kent and Gewissae in eastern Britannia (England).
The Earlier "English" Arms
The common and significant finding is that the WYSSE/WYSE and WYSEMAN Anglo-Saxons of Scotland used the same family motto "He is wise who is wise of God" and near identical Arms emblazoned with charges in numbers of three, throughout the eastern English and Scottish border, Mid-Lothian Scotland (lower S.E. Scotland), and Greston, York (Northumbria) and Essex, England.
Below is an earlier and similar variant of the English WYSSE, WYSE, and WYSEMAN Arms -- as recorded in York (former Saxon Kingdom of Northumbria) and Essex, England. The below Arms slightly differ from the later Scottish Arms with its charges of three mounted knight's Pheons (lance point covers) in lieu of Estoiles (bursting and pulsating stars). It is apparent that the below English (York and Essex) Arms pre-date the Arms borne by the Scottish feudal WYSE and WYSEMAN knights and their clans, and may very well be the original family Arms granted to the feudal knight of Greston, who displayed his Arms on a black escutcheon (shield), with a single white chevron, a crest with three merlons on a singe fortification battlement, and identical WYSSE/WYSE family motto found in Scotland:
Anglo-Saxon Wysse and Wyseman Arms of Essex & York, Kingdom of Northumberland (England)
Should there be an earlier variants of the WYSSE or WYSEMAN Arms than those found below for the pre-500 A.D. eastern Anglo-Saxon (Jute) Kingdoms and tribes of Gewissae, Hwicce, Isle of Thane, Kent, and Sussex, England, they have not yet been found -- and a record most likely does not prevail today. Speculation at this writing is that all WYSE-WYSSE-WYSEMAN (WISE/WISEMAN) progeny found in eastern and southern England and Scotland are connected to the Scottish and English Arms shown above. Later variations of the above Arms were granted in southern England after 1100 A.D. to families who can trace their descent to the WYSE/WISE families found in Devonshire, England (mentioned below).
Bearers of our family's Scottish version of these Arms were sanctioned in Scotland by descendants of the Saxon warrior OLIVER WYS [WYSMAN, GEWISS, GWISS] the Senior, originally found in Essex (Kingdom of the eastern Anglo-Saxons), whose three prominent descendant Houses of WYSSE/WYSE/WISE prevailed and later became distinct (circa 1100 A.D.) in the Sydenham, Totness, and Cuddleston parishes of Devonshire, Wessex (Kingdom of the western Anglo-Saxons), England. An example of the family's migration throughout England is that all the descendants of the famous High Sheriff of Devon, Sir Thomas Wise, KB, MP (d.1629), of Mount Wise, Plymouth, England link to the WYSE HouseS of Sydenham, of Devonshire, Wessex, England. Another example is that of the prominent WISE/WYSE families of Waterford, Ireland and France, are descendants of the warrior knight Sir Andrew Wyse (b. circa 1140), of York and Devonshire, England. Sir Andrew Wyse was born in Greston, York, Kingdom of Northumbria (England), was of the WYSE family branch that established the Wysse House of Greston in Devonshire, England. Andrew and two of his brothers participated in the infamous 1171 A.D. invasion of Ireland by the Earl of Pembroke Richard de Clare (Strongbow), and was granted lands in County Waterford, Ireland for wartime services. Also, and because of the use of the single chevron in their Arms, there appears to be WYSSE family connections, loyalties, and military services to the noble English-Scottish THORNTON families of east Newton, north Yorkshire, England, and Berkshire and The Mains of Thornton, at Coventh (now Laurencekirk), in old Kincardineshire, Scotland.
[A new and re-drawn English/Devonshire WYSE/WYSE blazons to be inserted here.]
[PLEASE NOTE: When the new and additional drawings are completed, the additional and near-identical Arms of the three prominent Houses of WYSE/WISE of Devonshire, England will be inserted here. These new and additional shield blazons are near-identical to those shown above, except they have three chevrons, ermine (instead of one chevron, argent), have differences in charges, ( i.e., the helms and crests are different, and use the family motto: "Sapere Aude" (Dare to be Wise). Almost all descendants in southern England, Ireland, and France, including the English Accomacke County, Virginia WISEs are linked to one of the three Devonshire, England Houses of WYSE/WISE. I could insert what I now have on file for these families, but in my opinion every drawing I have (so far) on these additional Devonshire WYSE/WISE blazons are incomplete and/or incorrectly drawn.]
The ancient English and Scottish WYSEMAN and WYSSE surname, and its variants, originated from the ancient Saxon names and surnames of Gewiss, Gwiss, Guisse, Gviss, Vis, Viss, Vice, Weis, Weisa, Weiss, Wis, Wiss, Wys, Wysman, Wyt, Wythe, Wyz, and Wyza. From all that's known at this writing the surname in England, Scotland, and Ireland originated in the ancient Scandinavian and pagan Kingdoms of Saxony, Jutland, Anglia, and Sweden. Moreover, over the centuries those bearing this name and its variants propagated throughout Scandinavia, Northern Netherlands, Germany, northern Europe, England, Scotland, and Ireland. Also interesting is that Scandinavian mythology and legend avows that medieval descendants bearing the name WYSEMAN and its shortened variant WYSSE and WYSE trace back to the ancient Jute Kings Gewiss (aka: Guise), Wyt (aka: Wyth, Wythe), and Woden (aka: Wodan, Oden, Odin) -- who according to Scandinavian mythology, legend, and genealogy descend from vanquished Trojan warriors who fled, fought, and migrated across to northern Europe after the Trojan Wars circa 1300-1200 B.C., i.e., from the destroyed Kingdom of Troy, to the Kingdom of Thrace (European Turkey and northern Bulgaria), across northern Germania (N. Europe), and populated the Teutonic tribal Kingdoms and sub-Kingdoms of ancient Saxony, Jutland, Anglia, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, etc., with minor Saxon tribes inhabiting in what we now know as Belgium, Bavaria, Luxemburg, Austria, and Germany.
NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE
I'm sorry, but the descendant list previously published on this page since 1998 has become hopelessly outdated, almost tripled in size, and is now too large to re-publish on this site. For those who desire more detailed and comprehensive information on our Scottish bloodline, I highly recommend procuring a copy of my published book, which contains over 10,000 entries on our ancestors, their children, their descendants, and allied families. I originally had 150 high quality books printed, recently received 50 more copies, and as of this writing have 65 copies to meet the demands. This is a quality book that I've spent over 28 years compiling for the information of our families. I am selling these books on a non-profit basis, i.e., my actual cost plus mailing charges. If you are interested, a more detailed description of our family book is contained in the following announcement:
Announcing the publication and limited availability of the new book “Seeds of a Saxon, William Wise (1744-1816) of Bulloch County, Georgia, Ancestors, Descendants, and Allied Family Members,” Family Heritage Publishers, SLC, 585 pages, 2005, as compiled, edited and privately published by John F. Wise, et al.
This book is a comprehensive family research tool, and it identifies 13 generations of nearly 10,000 related individuals of the South Carolina “Scottish” Wyse/Wise family -- whose descendant William Wise (1744-1816) settled and populated “Buelahland” Georgia since the end of the American Revolutionary War. In addition to a short surname and ancient Saxon history, an image and description of our Wysse “Scottish” Arms (i.e., Coat of Arms) and family motto, the book identifies our family’s oldest known “Wysse” ancestors found in medieval records of old Conveth (now named Laurencekirk), Arbuthnott and Maryculter, Kincardineshire, Scotland (all are now part of southern Aberdeen).
Our Scottish ascendants immigrated to the Pee Dee River “Scot” settlement area above the Charleston District, English Province of North Carolina (location is now part of Marion County, South Carolina). Soon afterward the family migrated southward to the colonial Newberry/Edgefield and Barnwell Districts of “lower” South Carolina ... and after the Revolutionary War our William Wise (1744-1816) and his family settled in Bulloch County, Georgia.
Focus of my book is on our ancestor William Wise (1744-1816), his children, and their descendants & allied families who are located in locations near and in Statesboro, Bulloch County and Eden (Clyde), Bryan County, Georgia. The body of the text is designed for WISE descendant researchers, has a quality hard cover, is large sized, i.e., 8.5 x 11 x 1-5/8 inches, has 585 pages, is indexed, and weighs 4.1 pounds. I am proud to feel and say that this book will make a great addition to every descendant's and allied family's library.
The actual non-profit book cost from me is $50.00 USD, plus $10.00 USD for packaging & UPS shipping/handling. A complete home postal address (no P.O. Box numbers please) is required for delivery by UPS. Please mail your order and payment (check) to:
John F. Wise
116 W. Vanderbilt Loop
Montgomery, Alabama 36109-3234
Telephone: (334) 271-5115