Obed Sisco, my 3rd great grandfather, was apparently a colorful character, as you will see from the letters and newspaper advertisements describing him. At 5’ 7”, Obed was a blue-eyed with a fair complexion and dark hair. He married three times and had at least 9 known children.
Little is known of his early years, but his birth is learned from an 1887 entry in the autograph book of his granddaughter, Rosalia Sisco. He wrote:[1]
[Newburg, Iowa], February 14th 1887
Malrosa you wanted that I should right sum thing in this book and so I will. I will give you a full histrey of my trvel from first to last. in the first place I was born in the toun of farfield franklin co and state of Vermont. I always remand there I was born on the 14th day of November 1805 until 1843 then I came to moira franklin co state of new York. I stade thare until 1862 then I enlisted and went to the war and after I got threw with that in 1875 I went [to] Wisconsen and the next July I come hear in 1876. And I am hear yet now I ges that is all that you want to no.
Old gran pa
The abbreviated account Obed provides of “travels” is consistent with living in northern Vermont for most of his early adult years. Specifically, he is in the Vermont counties of Orleans and Franklin, while meandering slightly north across the Canadian border to Sutton, where his eldest daughter, Achsa, was born 25 October 1827.[2]
Our first document found of Obed’s life was his February 1827 marriage to Mina Wilson, the daughter of Asa Wilson and Mariam Hadlock.[3] The couple was joined in the bonds of holy matrimony in Westfield, Orleans County, Vermont by George Flint, Justice of the Peace. By 1830, Obed and Mina were residing 20 miles northwest in the town of Richford, Franklin County, Vermont, when the census taker enumerated the growing family.[4]
Unfortunately, Mina’s life was cut short, but not before the births of four children:
- Achsa R Sisco
- Oliver Sisco
- George Sisco
- Sara Elizabeth Sisco
For his second wife, Obed married Mrs. Emeline Lincoln, who brought with her a young son, Henry, born about 1839 in New York. The 1850 census fills in some gaps in the Sisco family. Listed with Obed in Moira, Franklin County, New York were:[5]
- Emeline Sisco, age 33
- George Sisco, age 16
- Elizabeth Sisco, age 11
- Emily P Sisco, age 9
- William L Sisco, age 3
- Maria Sisco, age 5/12
- Henry Lincoln, age 11
The entire family was noted with births in Vermont with the exception of William, Maria and Henry.
Henry’s presence on the 1850 census with Obed and Emeline, along with the couple’s daughter, Emily, makes it likely that Obed and Emeline wed about 1840. We get a little more history from Emily’s obituary, which states:[6]
Mrs. Patterson was born Jan. 8, 1841, in the town of Jay, Orleans county, Vt., a daughter of Obed and Emma Wilson Sisco.
When she was five years old her parents moved to Moira…
Not only does Emily’s obituary identify her mother as Emeline, the second wife of Obed, we now know she was a Wilson, quite possibly a sister of Mina.
By 1860 it seems that Maria and William have passed away, or they were residing with other family members. Only Obed, Emeline and Henry Lincoln are together in the town of Moira,[7] along with an unidentified girl named Henrietta Labins, age 12, who was born in New York.
Civil War
Frederick Phisterer gives a narrative of Obed’s unit in New York in the War of the Rebellion:
This was a St. Lawrence county regiment, organized at Ogdensburg, and there mustered into the U. S. service for three years Aug. 27, 1862. It left the state the following day and during its long period of service established a reputation for itself which entitles it to rank among the three hundred fighting regiments of the war. It took part in the following battles: Fairmount and Martinsburg, W. Va.; Culpeper, Mine Run, Wilderness, Spottsylvania, North Anna river, Totopotomoy, Cold Harbor first assault on Petersburg, and the Weldon railroad, Va.; Monocacy, Md., Charlestown, W. Va., Opequan, Fisher’s hill, Cedar Creek, Va.; fall of Petersburg, Sailor’s creek, and was present at Wapping heights, siege of Petersburg, Hatcher’s run and Appomattox. After leaving the state it served first in the railroad division, 8th corps, Middle Department, and was then ordered to New creek, W. Va. The following is quoted from Col. Fox’s account of the regiment: ‘Companies D and F were captured, April 29, 1863, at Fairmount, W. Va., where they defended a railroad bridge for several hours against a large force of Confederates. The captured men were immediately released on parole. The regiment left North mountain, June 13, 1863, and, with the other troops in that vicinity, retired before the advance of Lee’s army. It joined the Army of the Potomac, July 10, 1863, while near Frederick, Md., and with other new material was organized as the 3d division (Carr’s) of the 3d corps.’
As with most regiments, sickness was the number one killer of men. It’s unknown if Obed was fighting one of the infectious ailments that tore through many units, but his pension file informs us that approaching December 1863 Obed could no longer march. He was so infirm that he was ordered with other “invalids” into an ammunition wagon. Riding along with others, something upset the cart, causing it to topple over and seriously injure Obed. He was noted by his physicians to have suffered a fractured clavicle, a dislocated shoulder, and injuries to his hip resulting in a three-inch disparity between his right and left legs. He was taken to the convalescent camp in Virginia where he was discharged 31 December 1863. In addition to his physical disabilities described above, Obed’s certificate of discharge also cites “old age (58 years) and infirmities of age” as contributing causes for his early release.
After his discharge Obed fancied life in the West, seeking to join other family that had migrated to the territory of Wisconsin and later, Iowa. On 10 February 1867 Rev. Marvin Sisco, Obed’s brother and prominent minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church, wrote of him:
Obed was calculating to go west last fall but when he got some work and was about to go he went off on Friday morning with over $80 dollars in his pocket and spent it in [two] days time. That is the reason he did not go west. This is true but keep it to yourselves. Don’t bring me out. He feels bad about it but it’s not godly sorrow. It does not work. Repentance. He drinks every chance he gets
The black sheep of the family, Obed’s struggles did not end with his love of liquor. On 8 January 1876 the Democrat and Weekly Sentinel of Burlington, Vermont published a list of “dead beats.” They lamented, “Of all the skunks that pollute this fair earth a newspaper thief is the dirtiest and meanest. They take advantage of the nature of the business, get their shameful names put upon the subscription list by paying, perhaps, three months in advance, and then stick and stick, paying never a cent…” Obed Cisco was noted to owe the publication $3.00.
Apparently, however, this was not the first time Obed pulled this stunt. On the front page of an 1872 issue of the Woodstock, Vermont Spirit of the Age it was published “We clip the above from a ‘black list’ in the Swanton Journal – Obed Cisco is ‘another.’ He used to live in Moira. He is named after a fish or the fish was named after him; at any rate he has spoiled a good name for he has beaten the printer. We shall never eat ciscoes again without thinking of a mean man. Good bye, O,bad Cisco.”
As Obed indicated in Rosalia’s autograph book, he did eventually make his way west, specifically to Iowa, near his son, Oliver Sisco, and daughter Achsa (Sisco) Simpson. However, Obed apparently left his wife, Emeline, back in New York. This bit of history is provided courtesy of the Malone Palladium which reported Emeline’s death a few days after she was struck by lightning during a thunderstorm in the summer of 1881.[11] The article furnished the following details:
The house of Henry Lincoln, near the Slater butter factory, in the north-west part of Moira, was struck by lightning last week Wednesday evening. The current entered at the pantry window, and, running along the lower shelf, knocked the bottom out of three plates and just nicked three bowls which were turned bottom up on it. The current then pierced a hole in the partition very much as a firfle ball would have done, and passed to the next room. Mrs. Siscoe, an elderly lady and mother of Mrs. Lincoln [we know she was actually the mother of Mr. Lincoln], was sitting in this room with her back to the wall, just where the electric fluid came through. Her clothes were set on fire by it,and she was shockingly burned about the back, side and chest. Her recovery is doubtful…
An addendum clarifies that Emeline’s injuries proved fatal, with her death occurring five painful days later.
Three years after Emeline’s passing, 79-year-old Obed wed for the third time, taking for his bride the 60-year-old widow of Amasa Nutting, Mrs. Loryette (Hubbard) Nutting. The couple wed at the residence of Obed’s grandson, George M. Simpson on 14 June 1884. George Simpson happened to be the husband of Loryette’s daughter, Sophia Nutting. Talk about a family affair!
Obed died 1 March 1898, and he is buried in the Chester Cemetery in Grinnell, Poweshiek County, Iowa.
While he was most certainly the black sheep of the family, Obed is a genealogist’s dream to research, providing opportunities to find tidbits of his life here and there. I look forward to meeting him one day when I join those who have gone before me (hopefully not too soon!) and begin a perpetual communion with my ancestors.
Sources:
- [1] Winifred Neal Sisco, The Sisco Book, 1805-1992, self-published manuscript, p. 8. Winifred did not specify who held the autograph book at the time she compiled the Sisco family history.
- [2] “A Ripe Age,” obituary, Northfield (Minnesota) News, 21 January 1905, Achsa Simpson, p. 7. Also, entry in family Bible, transcribed by Gerald A. Simpson, Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and furnished to this author 27 October 1994.
- [3] “Vermont, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1732-2005,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org : 22 May 2014), citing Westfield, Orleans County, Vermont town records 1:112.
- [4] 1830 U.S. Census, Franklin County, Vermont, population schedule, Richford, p. 157, Obed Sisco; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 25 September 2011); citing NARA microfilm publication M19, roll 183.
- [5] 1850 U.S. Census, Franklin County, New York, population schedule, Moira, p. 202 (hand-written), dwelling 175, family 177; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 7 July 2024); citing NARA microfilm publication M432, roll 505.
- [6] “Well Known Resident of Gouverneur Dies in Ilion” Watertown Daily Times, 2 February 1916, Emily J. (Sisco) Patterson, obituary, p. 2.
- [7] 1860 U.S. Census, Franklin County, New York, population schedule, Moira, p. 78 (hand-written) 372 (stamped), dwelling 556, family 559; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 7 July 2024); citing NARA microfilm publication M653, roll 754.
- [8] Obed Sisco (Pvt., Co. H, 106th NY Inf., Civil War), pension no. 189,023, Case Files of Approved Pension Applications…, 1861-1934; Civil War and Later Pension File; Department of Veterans Affairs, Record Group 15. National Archives, Washington, D.C.
- [9] New York State Military Museum and Veterans Research Center (https://museum.dmna.ny.gov/unit-history/infantry-1/106th-infantry-regiment : accessed 8 July 2024); citing Phisterer, Frederick. New York in the War of the Rebellion, 3rd ed. Albany: J.B. Lyon Co., 1912.
- [10] Sisco, Marvin (Malone, New York) to “Respected Friends” [Susan (Simpson) Barlow]. Letter. 10 February 1867. Privately held by Patty (Anderson) Strope. 1990.
- [11] “Struck By Lightning,” Malone (New York) Palladium, 28 July 1881, Emiline Sisco, p. 5, c.1; online images, NYS Historic Newspapers (http://nyshistoricnewspapers.org : accessed 15 October 2011).
- [12] “Iowa, U.S., Marriage Records, 1880-1947,” Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 7 July 2024); citing Return of Marriages in the County of Jasper, Iowa. State Historical Society of Iowa, Des Moines, Iowa.