COMPENDIUMOF BIOGRAPHY Of Henry County, Indiana B.F.Bowen 1920 Page 343, 344, Surnames in this biography are: Wise, Bouch, Cooper, Dykes, Mills, Wisehart, Diefenbach,                                                   HENRY C. WISE                       Henry C. Wise, ex-educator andpractical farmer and mechanic of Fall Creek  Township, Henry County, Indiana, was born near Lewisvilleon Flat Rock creek, this  County,June 3, 1855, and is a son of Peter and Matilda (Bouch) Wise, natives of     Pennsylvania. They came to Indiana in 1853, first located near Cadiz, in Harrison       Township, Henry County, but five years later went to Montgomery County, Indiana, and resided near Crawfordsville during the Civil War. In 1866 the family returned to W. D Cooper's farm.  Peter Wise was a farmer and for five years resided near Cadiz where his deathoccurred when he was seventy-five years old; he was survived by his widow aboutnine years, her death taking place at the present home of her son, Henry .C.,when she was about eighty.  These parents had a family of eight children, but two of whom live in Henry County,Henry C. and Peter, the latter residing at Lewisville.  Henry C. Wise received a good common schoole ducation at New Castle and was also graduated from the Northern Indiana Normal College at Valparaiso. When twenty years old he began to teach during the winter seasons at Cadiz and followed the profession there and elsewhere four years until he was made principal of the Middletown school, which position he filled six years.  In .the meantime Mr.Wise had remained on the homestead and had learned the carpenter's trade, which he has followed in all about fourteen years. He began contracting at Cadiz and later became a partner with James P. Dykes of Middletown. October 13, 1881, Mr. Wise married Miss Fannie Mills, a daughter of Luther Mills, of Delaware County, his home being located two and a half miles north west of Middletown, but who in the spring of 1882 came to town to reside permanently. Mr. Wise continued contracting until 1890, but in 1888 had purchased eighty acres of farmland for four thousand dollars, forty acres of whichhad been placed under cultivation, but upon which there were no buildings. Mr.Wise settled on the old place in 1889 and at once began making the necessary improvements to make the farm a  profitable and comfortable one to live upon, clearing up the unimproved part, laying about two hundred rods of tiling and erecting modem and substantial buildings, his barn being 36x87 feet, with basement. He feeds stock chiefly and ships two to three carloads of cattle of his own feeding and about one hundred hogs peryear. He also handles stock in company with Willis Wisehart, and employs two men during the busy season. Besides stock raising he grows corn and wheat andhas in constant use three teams.  In politics Mr. Wise is aRepublican, but not a very active one. Fraternally, he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Lodge No. 97, and encampment, having of course passed all the chairs in the former, and having represented it in the grand lodge. Mr. Wise is also a member of Montezuma Tribe No. 126, I. 0. R. M., at Middletown, Indiana,and is collector of straws of the Haymakers, Montezuma Hay Loft No. 126 1-2.  Mrs. Wise is a member of the Rebekahs, asalso is the daughter Effie. Mr. Wise is general superintendent of the Henry,Madison and Delaware Counties Fair Agricultural Society, appointed in 1902.This organization is one of the best agricultural bodies of central Indiana,and has been a signal success financially. In 1885 Mrs. Fannie (Mills) Wise was called away by death and January 5,1888, Mr. Wise chose for his second helpmate Miss Susie Diefenbach, of Ohio,but who bad been a saleslady in Middletown for two years. By the first marriagethere was born one child, Effie, now seventeen years old.  She was a high school student in MiddleTown, Indiana. To the second marriage have been born children as follows:Homer, who died in infancy, and Helen, now eleven years old, who is in theeighth grade having made two grades in one year, and a little daughter,Caroline Elizabeth.  Mr. and Mrs. Wise are members of the  Christian church and socially they rank with the best and most popular residents ofFall Creek Township and town of Middletown.