My Genealogy Hound

John Randolph Wisdom, the son of Brinsley B. and Bethaney (Herne) Wisdom, was born March 22, 1848, in Randolph County, Mo. His father’s (Brinsley) birth occurred in Cumberland County, Ky., November 16, 1805, and there he resided until eighteen years of age, when he came to Missouri and engaged in farming. He served in the Federal army, and died December 3, 1888. Bethaney (Herne) Wisdom was born in Boone County, Mo., in June, 1807, and died in 1852. John R. spent his boyhood days in Randolph, Audrain and Boone Counties, Mo., being educated in the country schools of various localities. In 1863 he enlisted in Company D, Thirty-ninth Missouri Regulars, serving until August, 1864, when he was honorably discharged. He then began contracting for lumber and in that and the livery stable business continued for thirteen years. From 1881, to February 6, 1886, he was engaged in steam boating and towing lumber on the Mississippi River, between Quincy and Louisiana, Mo. At the latter date he came to Gifford Township, Hot Spring County, Ark., and took charge of the large saw and planing-mill at Wyandotte, owned by F. P. Herne, Sr., W. H. Miller, John R. Wisdom and A. G. Hamlin (a cousin to the venerable Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine). The mill employs 100 hands and turns out about 10,000,000 feet of lumber yearly, making shipments to all parts of the United States. Some 3,000 acres of timber land are owned by the company in Gifford Township. John R. Wisdom was married March 10, 1870, to Jennie V. Van Horn, daughter of Robert and Malinda Van Horn. Charles R., the only child born to them, is attending college at Fayetteville, Ark. In 1880 Mr. Wisdom was elected to the Missouri legislature, from Marion County, serving two years. He was the only Republican elected in that county for a period of twenty years. He is a member of the Orders of Knights of Pythias and Maccabees, and an energetic citizen, thoroughly advocating needed reforms and improvements.