William Wise was born in Center [sic] county, Pa., a son of Conrad Wise. The family moved to Pike township, Clearfield county, in his early manhood and he remained with his parents until his marriage to Jane Caldwell, a daughter of Matthew Caldwell, a prominent farmer of this section.

After marriage, William Wise and his wife settled in Ferguson township, where he acquired a farm of 150 acres, a great part of which he cleared by his own industry. This farm now belongs to the estate of the late Curtis Bell. William Wise also engaged in lumbering, and spent all of his life after marriage, in Ferguson township, where his death occurred in December, 1876, at the age of sixty-five years.

He was a consistent member of the Lutheran church. In politics he was a Democrat but never entered into any contest for office. His widow lived to be eighty-four years of age and their remains rest side by side at New Millport.