DARKE COUNTY OHIO - BIOS: WILEY, WILLIAM A. (A.W. Bowen & Co., 1894)
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A PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF DELAWARE AND RANDOLPH COUNTIES, IND.
A.W. Bowen & Co., 1894  - Page 1486, 1487, 1488

        WILLIAM A. WILEY, of Union City, Ind., is a son of Ezekiel and Jane
(Moore) Wiley, and was born August 6, 1834, just over the Randolph county
(Ind.) line, in Darke county, Ohio. When he was but three months old his
parents removed to Illinois; in a year they returned eastward, settling in
White county, Ind., among the Indians. After nine years they moved into
Howard county, Ind., where his father died in 1844, at the age of
twenty-eight, being the first white person buried in Kokomo. Howard county
was still an Indian reservation. He left a widow with two sons and three
daughters, William A. being the eldest. William A's father built the old
log court house at Kokomo. William A. Wiley was then ten years old, and was
put immediately to work and from that time onward earned his own support.
The first boots he ever had were bought with money thus earned when a small
lad. He had very little schooling in youth, learning to read at twelve, and
having not above five months' schooling till of age. At twenty-two years
old he went with a party of emigrants, comprising thirteen families,
traveling in wagons and bound for the Blue Earth country, Minn., young
Wiley helping drive their cattle to pay his board as he went. His intention
was to buy land. On reaching the Mississippi, taking a steamboat he passed
up the river, after which, with a single comrade, he "tramped" over
portions of Minnesota, Nebraska and Iowa. They traveled on foot, sleeping
often under a clear sky on the ground. His adventures were many, being much
among the Indians, who were hostile in feeling. One time, between Fairbruit
and Canon City in Minnesota, he met a rough and savage Sioux Indian, with
painted face and warrior costume. He says: "I saw him coming; terribly
scared, I walked on nevertheless, till, as he came near, he looked so
hideous that I stopped. He came up, and, as he passed, I 'shied' off and
gave him the road. He turned toward me and I gave a fearful spring. The
savage fellow gave a loud laugh, and went on, and I went on, too. He had a
rifle, and I had nothing, but he was not so hostile as I had feared. I was
in the Spirit Lake country, just after the massacre in that region, and the
Indians were hostile, and great fear was on the people. After seven months
I returned to Indiana, attended school, became myself a successful
instructor, teaching at Bethel, Wayne county, Union City, Randolph county,
and elsewhere." His teaching life was from 1859 to 1862. Since 1862 Mr.
Wiley has been a farmer, a merchant and a grain dealer. He is an active and
influential member of the Disciple church at Union City, having been
chorister for twenty-five years, and superintendent of the Sunday school
for fourteen years. He is also an efficient friend and supporter of
education. For eight years he was a member of the city school board of
Union City, and in 1881 he was elected for three years longer. He has also
been city clerk.
        His first mercantile experience was at Holllansburg, Darke county,
Ohio, in 1862. He returned to Union City in 1869, engaged in merchandising
until 1871, and after those years was in the grain commission and milling
business. In 1883 he was burned out, but continued in the grain trade until
1884. In 1885 he purchased the Junction mill, at Ridgeville; he and others
were incorporated for running this mill in 1892, as a joint stock company,
with a capital of $5,000, with Nathan Cadwallader as president, and Mr.
Wiley as secretary. The mill has a capacity of sixty barrels per day, has
the most modern machinery, and is situated at the juncture of the Pan
Handle and Grand Rapids & Indiana railroads, in a fine wheat growing region.
        Mr. Wiley was married in 1860, to Miss Sarah Elizabeth Wiggs,
daughter of Felix G. Wiggs, an old pioneer of Union city. To this union
have been born two children -one living, Harry E. Wiley, of the Central
Grain & Stock exchange, Chicago. Mr. Wiley's brother, Martin V., was a
member of the Forty-Sixth I.V.I., under Gen Buell, and died in 1862; one
sister, Mrs. Mustard, of Anderson, and the venerable mother are still
living -the latter at Burnettsville, Ind., at the age of seventy-six.
        William A. Wiley's training was democratic, and his first vote was
for James Buchanan, but, ever since, republicanism has been his faith. Mr.
Wiley is an influential citizen, energetic in every matter of public
welfare, and greatly esteemed by his fellow townsmen. His uncle, Thomas
Wiley, was an early pioneer and preacher of Jackson township, whose fame as
a missionary is in all the region. The standing of William A. Wiley, both
socially and as a business man, is most enviable, and Union City is justly
proud to have him enumerated among her residents.


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