A close up view of the new military marker for Revolutionary War Patriot Caleb Wiseman who died in 1835. There will be a Patriot Grave Marking Service on Sunday, April 21 at 2:30 p.m. at the Ott Family Cemetery on Garfield Road in Wirt County

WIRT COUNTY – Wirt County Pioneer and Revolutionary War Patriot Caleb Wiseman will be honored by the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution (WVSSAR and NSDAR) with a Patriot Grave Marking Service on Sunday Afternoon, April 21 at 2:30 p.m. at the Ott Family Cemetery on Garfield Road in Wirt County.

The Dedication Ceremony will include a musket salute, readings on the Ott Cemetery history and Caleb Wiseman’s bio, flag certificates to the local community, grave markers unveiling, and wreath laying by local organizations.

The Ott Cemetery is located on private property at 2821 Garfield Road, Palestine, W.Va. The public is welcome to attend. Four-wheel drive vehicles are recommended to the graveyard. Hayrides to and from the residence to the graveyard will be available. Parking is limited at the residence and a caravan/carpool will leave Pisgah U.M. Church at 5131 Garfield Road at 2:00 p.m. and a caravan/carpool will leave Mineral Wells Elementary School at 1:30 p.m. The residence driveway is located 2.2 miles east of the church and 2.7 miles west of Route 14.

Private Caleb Wiseman from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania enlisted in the Battalion of Musketry just two days after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. He served for two years with the Pennsylvania Line from 1776 to 1778 taking part in campaigns in Philadelphia and Long Island.

He married Katherine Ott after his discharge, and they settled in Wirt County around 1815. He died in Wirt County in 1835 and is buried in his wife’s family graveyard, the Ott Cemetery. His grave was originally marked only by a stone with his initials C. W. carved into it. Ruth (Wiseman) Hawkins, a member from the Blennerhassett Chapter NSDAR, is believed to be the oldest living descendant of Wiseman at 98 years old.

She remembers visiting the graveyard and seeing the rock that marked Wiseman’s grave as a young teenager in the early 1940s just before World War II. The graveyard became overgrown over the years and during a cleanup in the 1970s, the rock marking Wiseman’s was found missing.

Last year Hawkins recruited her cousins Gloria Batten (Old Hickory Chapter NSDAR) and Brent Sams (Capt. James Neal Chapter WVSSAR) in attaining a new permanent headstone from the Veterans’ Affairs Office. The Batten family received the bronze grave marker from the V.A. Office this past December and has marked Wiseman’s grave with it under Hawkins’ supervision of his cemetery plot location.

Some of the surnames of Caleb and Katherine (Ott) Wiseman’s descendants include: Allen, Bishop, Bonnett, Cale, Canary, Cheuvront, Clegg, Cline, Coartney, Daugherty, Eaton, Edmondson, Emrick, Guinn, Huffman, Kessel, Lott, Lowers, Meed, Merrill, Messersmith, Morehead, Mowery, Newbanks, Penzin, Phillips, Poling, Province, Rader, Rusher, Scott, Seaman, Shelhamer, Sheppard, Small, Smith, Somerville, Spencer, Stewart, Vernon, Webber, White, Wigal, and Woodyard.

The Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution are genealogical societies that promote history, education, and patriotism. All members of the SAR and DAR can trace their American Heritage to Patriots of the Revolutionary War.