Adam Weise was born December 23, 1751, in New Goshenhoppen Township, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvnaia, to John George Weise and Eva Weise. When he was twenty three years old, he moved to Hagerstown, Maryland, just in time to be enrolled in the Maryland Militia. Two years later, in November 1776, he was drafted into Daniel Bell’s Company and served in the Battalion of Col. John Stull, Lt. Col. Andrew Rauge, and Maj. George Nuttz. In the beginning of December the whole group started for Philadelphia where they were lined up before the War Department and enrolled. Then they were marched to the Arsenal where they all received their ammunition. From there they were marched into Jersey, which took five days. According to Weise, “the weather was very bad, and very cold, and the ground was partly covered with snow.”
They camped at Long Ridge in New Jersey, two miles from Lord Sterling, and twelve miles from Morristown. This was the headquarters, and Gen. George Washington was at the same place. Weise later told of the event:
“On the first day of April 1777, we got our discharge, and after two days march in a direct route we arrived at Philadelphia, and from thence marched for Hagerstown, where we arrived on the tenth of April. There was an alteration made in the Company about the middle of April, and I was drafted and attached to the company of Capt. Michael Fackler for a period of six months service. Capt. Fackler made me a Corporal and when he was succeeded by Capt. Adam Ott, I was made a First Sergeant in the drafter company for two months service from which I was exempted by Col. Henry Sheyock for my service in apprehending and delivering a deser4ter from the Flying Camp. In 1780 I was an Ensign in the Company of Capt. Adam Ott, First Battalion of the militia of Washington County, Maryland.
“In 1781, the orders came to Hagerstown that the prisoners there, of whom there were considerable number, should be sent to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. At that time there was no officer in the whole battalion at home except me, and a Captain who resided about eight miles from Hagerstown. With great difficulty they collected enough men to guard the prisoners to Lancaster. At that time the men of the company termed Flying Camp were discharged as their term of service expired. With the men who had been attached to the Flying Camp, and some poor people whom they engaged, they were preparing to start for Lancaster when a complaint was made to Col. H. Shryock that there were no Corporal or Sergeant. Col. Shyyock ordered them to make three Corporals and three Sergeants on the first night they would stop, and those orders were carried out. I was between two and three weeks guarding the prisoners in Lancaster. Some of the prisoners were lame, and others were women and children.
“When I returned to Hagerstown, I was ordered to visit the stories and deserters who were in Hagerstown jail at least twice a week and unloosen their hobbles. After an hour or two release from their hobble, to have them again hobbled.”
Adam Weise served a total of seven months in the service of the Revolutionary cause.
In May 1783 he moved from Hagerstown to Upper Paxton Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, bringing his first wife, Margaret Wingert with him. After her death in 1818, he married Mary [Bitterman] Keely, a widow. She died in 1820 and he married Catherine [Neiman] Patton, a widow.
When he first came to Upper Paxton Township, Adam Weise lived on the bank of the Wiconisco Creek between Elizabethville and Berrysburg. He had a blacksmith shop, and made his own charcoal in a woods about one hundred yards from the shop. He was also appointed Justice of the Peace in or about 1799.
Several years later, in 1802, Adam Weise and his family moved to Millersburg, erecting the third house in that village. The house was located on the southwest corner of Union and Race Streets, where he also built a blacksmith sho and continued in that business. He died October 5, 1833, and is buried in St. David’s Cemetery. He had these children: Catherine Weise, born in 1772, married George Gundrum; Ann Elizabeth Weise, born 1774, married Philip Shaffer; John Weise, born 1776, married Elizabeth Bordner; Anna Mary Weise, born 1780, married Michael Shadle; John Adam Weise, married Eve Bordner and Elizabeth Lebo; John George Weise, born in 1786, married Charlotte Moore; Anna Margaret Weise, was born 1789, married Michael Hoop; Anna Maria Wiese, born 1789, married Michael Shoop; Anna Maria Weise, was born 1791, married Abraham Jury; Abel Weise, born 1821; Hannah Weise, born 1823; Frederick N. Weise, born 1825.
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