I continue to seek information on Joe (Josiah in the 1880 Butts Co census, Joel in the 1870 Jasper Co census), married to Martha Edwards Wise ca 1850, who's son James Henry Wise (1870-1957 [all dates are subject to the vageries of memory]) is my great grandfather. Joe's obituary appeared in the March 1905 (or it could be 03) Argus for Jackson, GA. If the dates for the census are any where correct, he would have been born about 1830. According to the federal mortality census of 1880, Martha died of consumption, and apparantly shortly after, Joe moved the family to Butts, just down the road from Augustus Wise, then in his seventies or early eighties. I surmise that Augustus is either Joe's father or his uncle (since Joe and Martha also named a son Augustus (who prefered for some reason to be called Gus) now buried at the Liberty Baptist cemetary on the road to High Falls). According to the 1850 or 40 Jasper census, Joe is living with an elderly couple named Burge (this same Burge was a witness to Joel Wise's will, posted on the net as part of the Butts Gen web site or some related site [again the absence of my notes when writing this letter, for which I apologize]). I'm curious about the nativity and life of Joe, the relationship of the Burges, the interplay between the Jasper and Butts Wise families, and the manner of life of Augustus and Joe (apparantly wounded at Chickamagua(sp) and having signed an amnesty oath ca 1865). The Wise's seem to have entered the Butts/Jasper area from VA around the Chesapeake, migrating to the Augusta area before the Revolution and to have prized education (if Joel's will is any indication, his providing for the education of his youngest sons at a local academy), but a story I hear about my great grandfather Jim was his antagonism towards education, perhaps an indication of his espousal of Landmark Baptist views, which were popular during the last part of the 19th century. Thanks for any help you can provide on this question. Fred Wise