Wisner is another of those terribly complicated families and one of the oldest names in America. There are twelve or more known variations of the name in use today. It is thought that every Wisner in America today is related to Johannes Weezner, born in the early 1500's in Switzerland.

Whether or not they are all related is open to discussion because there are admittedly one or more missing branches in the Johannes Weezner tree. Johannes came to North America in the mid 1600's where the first name change to Wisner occurred. A young man called Benoni is mentioned as a cousin. The spelling is right, the age is about right, and the the area is correct. We even find Johannes' son Peter visiting in Northumberland during the right time period- but there still isn't anything to positively tie our Benoni to Johannes Weezner. The topic is still under investigation.

The introduction of the Littles into this family is first observed with the marriage of John Wisner and Margaret Little, daughter of John Little(4) and Ann Jackson. The marriage is quickly followed by the 1815 marriage of John's sister, Sarah Wisner, to Benjamin Jackson Little, the brother of Margaret. Their sister Agnes Nancy Wisner continues the legacy a few years later when she marries Benjamin Holmes, the son of Mary Knott and John Garrison Holmes. See more about this relationship at the link on the Holmes Family Charts. Mary Knott is a first cousin of John Little(4).

It should be noted that despite the wealth of available information, the ancestry of the parents, Benoni Wisner and Agnes Hooper, remains a mystery. We know they had eleven children and they died in the 1830's. They appeared in the 1790 Northumberland Township, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania census, and every Federal Census in Pennsylvania thereafter, except 1800, until their deaths. In the 1820 Census, their neighbors were sons David Wisner and John Wisner. (Benjamin and Sarah also appear in this same census) We know they had two children prior to 1790 and therefore estimate their birth to be circa 1765-68, although it could be earlier. Thus, for purely practical reasons, the 1765 date is used here as a starting point.

We know that at least two generations of Wisner children were born in Lycoming County, PA. The first generation of 11 births began as early as 1788, with the birth of Benoni's son John, and ended with the birth of Aaron in 1810. The second generation of 53 children, began with the birth of John's son, Thomas Little Wisner, in 1815 and ended in 1834 with the birth of Aaron's son John Wisner. It wasn't until after the parents died that this family began to splinter and migrate westward to Ohio and Indiana. By the end of the 19th century there were nearly 200 known descendents of this family.

Benoni Weisner b:ca 1765 d:1831
.+Agnes Hooper b:ca 1765 d:1837
...1-John Wisner b:ca 1788 PA
......+Margaret Little[1] b:ca 1796 d:1830
........2-Thomas Little Wisner b:1816 PA m:1841 IN
...........+Mary M. Sharp
.............3-Helen Wisner d:24 mos
.............3-Albert Howard Wisner d:14 mos
.............3-Ella Wisner d: 8 yrs
.............3-James Sharp Wisner b:1841 d:1870
.............3-Arline Wisner b:1847
................+Jacob Henry Clay Smith b:1842
..................4-Willis S. Smith
..................4-Merle W. Smith
..................4-Lutie T. Smith b:1866 d:1867
..................4-Jennie Smith
..................4-Harry Smith
.............3-Horace L. Wisner b:1853
................+Maggie A. Kams
..................4-Aletha Wisner
..................4-Louise Wisner b:1877
....................+H. H. Buckner
..................4-Sharpe K. Wisner b:1880
....................+Edna Hunt
..................4-Craig K. Wisner b:1882
........2-John L. Wisner
..........+Eliza Jane Campbell
........2-Mary Ann Wisner
..........+Robert Marshall
........2-William Wisner b:1828 d:1901
..........+Catherine Keck b:1826 d:1915
............3-Sarah Wisner
............3-Richard Wisner
............3-John Wesley Wisner b:1853 d:1907
............3-Jane Wisner
............3-Nancy Wisner
............3-Silas Wisner
.....+Mary Hanicker[2] b:1804 d:1877
........2-? Hanicker Wisner b:1827
........2-Elmyra Wisner b:1831
........2-Matilda Rebecca Wisner< b:1835
........2-Jane Wisner b:1841
...........+ ? Thompson
........2-Hiram Wisner b:1843 d:1863
........2-Hester Ann Wisner b:1846 d:1920
........2-William b:1848
...1-Jane Wisner b:ca 1789 PA
......+Adam Shaner
...1-Sarah Wisner b:1791 PA d:1875 OH [Family Records]
......+Benjamin Little b:1791 NJ d:1876 IL
........2-Maria Little b:1816 PA d:OH
...........+John Enyort b:OH
.............3-Lorenzo Enyort
.............3-James Enyort
.............3-Mary Enyort
........2-Samuel Little b:1818 PA d:1876/7
...........+ Matilda ?
.............3-John A. Little
.............3-Sarah A. Little
................+? Doddsworth
.............3-Jacob R. Little
........2-Tobias Polhemus Little b:1820 OH d:1909
...........+Elizabeth Horn[1] b:1820 m:1840 OH d:1865 IL
...........+Catherine Horn[2] m:1868
..........+Mrs. Martha Clark[3] m:1889
...........+Mrs. Nancy Coons Lance[4] m:1893
........2-John Wisner Little b:1824 OH d:1910 IL
...........+Charlotte Coon b: OH
........2-Charlotte Little b:1831 OH d:young
...1-David Wisner b:1793 [Birth dates based on 1850 IN Census]
......+Unknown[1]
........2-Henry Wisner b:1824
........2-Elizabeth Wisner b:1826
..........+David Bender
........2-Thomas Wisner b:1829
........2-Sarah A. Wisner b:1830
..........+Henry Galbreath
......+Lydia Allen[2] m:1840
........2-William Wisner b:1841
..........+Adeline Booth
........2-Margaret J. Wisner b:1845
..........+George Cheney
........2-Priscilla Wisner b:1846
..........+Leonard W. Johnson
........2-David F. Wisner b:1848
........2-Aaron W. Wisner b:1850
...........+Margaret Ellen Cole[1] b:1858 m:1879 d:1883
.............3-Ester Viola Wisner
.............3-Earnest Leroy Wisner b:1881 d:1883
.............3-Lester Leo Wisner b:1883 d:1949
...............+Jossie Jeannie Hesher b:1887
.................4-? Wisner
...........+Mary Hamrick[2]
........2-James Wisner b:1855
...1-Samuel Wisner
...1-Thomas Wisner
...1-Agnes Nancy
......+Benjamin Holmes
...1-Elizabeth Wisner b:1800
......+David Morris, Jr.
........2-Armina Morris b:1835
..........+George Busler b:1834
............3-William S. Busler b:1858
...1-Benjamin Wisner b:1805 PA [Family Records]
......+Margaret Morris
........2-William Wisner b:1829 PA
........2-Charles Wesley Wisner b:1832 PA d:1862 IA
...........+Sarah Kunkel/Kunkle m:1853 Knox County, OH
.............3-Mary Wisner b:ca 1856
.............3-Oscar Francis Wisner b:25 Sep 1858 IA d:1947 CA
................+Sophie Preston m:1889 Canton, China
..................4-Margaret Byrne Wisner b:1891 China
.....................+Edgar David Brown b:7 Aug 1887 d:2 Feb 1967
.......................5-Barbara Francis Brown, a Spinster, b:12 Dec 1926 CA
.......................5-David Preston Brown b:16 May 1928 CA
..........................+Doris Jean Todd b:22 Mar 1928 in Peking,China Divorced: 1973
(See note at end of the chart).
............................6-Private
..................4-Carl Chauncey Wisner b:1892 d:1951
..................4-Francis Preston Wisner b.20 Feb 1898 Santa Monica, CA
.....................+Dorothy Louise Crane m:1923
.......................5-Private
.............3-Jessie/Jescelia Wisner b:10 Mar 1863
................+Joseph Leonard Cook m: 1901 CA
..................4-Joseph Leonard Cook b:1902 [twin]
..................4-Francis Shelton Cook b:1902 [twin]
........2-Mary Wisner b:1833 PA
........2-John Wisner b:1835 PA
...........+Sophia Kunkle m:1867 IN
........2-Edith Wisner b:1836 PA
...........+Scylurus W. Alexander m:1866 IN
........2-Margaret Ann Wisner b:1838 PA
...........+ ? Henry
........2-Isabella Russell Wisner b:1842 PA
...........+ ? Rittenhouse
........2-Oscar F. Wisner b:29 Jan 1844 d:1925
...........+Elizabeth King
........2-Albert Cline Wisner b:1852 OH
...1-William Wisner
.....+Mary Plummer
.......2-Richard Wisner b:1834 d:1905
.......2-John Wisner b:1843 d:1920
.........+Mary J. Peppard
...........3-Matilda Wisner
.......2-Sarah Wisner
..........+Henry Galbreath m:1851 IN
.......2-Mary Jane Wisner
..........+James D. Mock[2] m:1878 IN
.......2-Nancy A. Wisner
.......2-Silas Wisner b:1854 d:1931
.........+Jennie M. Masterson m:1890 IN
...........3-Alfred Wisner b:1891 d:1964
.............+Zola Stewart
...............4-Louise Wisner
...1-Aaron Wisner b:1810 PA d:1883 IN
......+Sarah ? b:1810 d:1870
........2-John Wisner b:1834 PA
...........+Sophie Kunkle
.............3-Marion Wisner b:1867
.............3-Adie Wisner b:1871
.............3-Frank Wisner b:1873
.............3-Dorah Wisner b:1874
...............+George C. Blere
........2-Samuel Wisner b:1836 OH
........2-Harriett Wisner b:1839 OH m:1859 d:1875IN
...........+John S. Clark[1] b:1835 d:1863 Co B. 101st Indiana Volunteers
.............3-Maranda Ellen Clark b:1860
...............+Charles Bruce Niblick b:1856 d:1945
.................4-Ross Franklin Niblick b:1890
...................+Armenta Grace Milholland b
...........+Addison C. Randall[2] b:IN
.............3-Sarah E. Randall d:2-mos.
........2-Aaron Wisner b:1846 PA
...........+Caroline Garton b:1850

Source: Court and Cemetery Records, and Federal Census unless otherwise noted.
Submitters: J.Weisner, C.Jarvis, P.Little, B.Husler and J.Phillips.

The following source notes are donated by descendants:
The family moved to Ohio some time between 1844 and 1850. They are listed in the 1850 Ohio census.

Charles Wesley Wisner married Sarah Kunkel/Kunkle) in Knox Co., OH in 1853. They moved from OH to Cedar or Muscatine Co. IA (family notes by Oscar Wisner say Muscatine, but they show up on Cedar Co. census and nowhere in Muscatine so far) and had 3 children.

Oscar Francis Wisner was raised by his uncle John in Wooster, OH after his father died. He was a professor, author, and missionary traveling to China where he helped establish a university. While there, he met and married Sophie Preston.

This information comes from family notes written by Oscar Francis Wisner and Francis Preston Wisner who informally recorded family history as well as Federal Census and court records.

The birth dates of the children born to Benjamin and Margaret Wisner were deduced from OH census records of 1850 and 1870.

The marriage records of Charles Wesley and Sarah Kunkle are available in Knox County, OH records 1808-1875.