Commemorative Biographical Record of Rock, Green,
Grant, Iowa & Lafayette 
Counties, Wisconsin. Chicago: Beers, 1901, p 117

John E. WISE, of Beetown, Grant County, Wisconsin,
became a member of Company 
I, 20th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry on August 14,
1862, enlisting at 
Beetown, and was identified with the history of that
famous regiment 
throughout the War.  He was at Prairie Grove, where
Capt. McDERMOTT fell, and 
the regiment lost heavily, more than half its number
being left on the field 
of battle.  He served throughout the war as a brave
and loyal soldier, and 
was discharged from the United States service at
Galveston [Galveston 
County], Texas, on 14 July 1865.  His health was badly
shattered by the long 
and terrible experiences through which he had passed,
and he suffers today 
from the ill effects of his life as a soldier.

Mr. [John E. WISE] was born in February 1837 in
Canada, son of Joseph and 
Madeline WISE.  He left his parents when twenty-one
years of age, went to 
Beetown, Grant County, Wisconsin, where the father
[Joseph WISE] died, and 
the mother lived to pass the century mark.  She
[Madeline WISE] died 30 
September 1899 at the home of her son, John E., at the
age of one hundred 
years, three months, and ten days.  She was the mother
of seven children.  
Daniel, one of the sons, served the Union and died in
the hospital at age 
twenty-five. 

John E. WISE has been twice married.  His first wife,
Caroline POLKENHORN [a 
maiden name?], died after his return from the war
[after 14 July 1865].  The 
present wife of John E. WISE was Julia McDANIEL [a
maiden or former married 
name?].  No children were born to the first marriage
[to John E. and Caroline 
WISE], but of the second union [John E. and Julia
WISE], fourteen children 
have been born, of whom seven are now [1901] living.

Submitted by Cathy Kubly
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