Fisher Family History, 1st Generation

The surname “Fisher” is derived from the Old English “fiscere” - “to fish.” It since became the Middle English “FISCHER” and also has Low German variants of “Fisser,” “Visser,” and “Wisser.”

Our branch of the Fisher family begins with David Fisher, Sr.¹ (born c. 1795, PA) and his wife, Sophia Weeks¹ (or Meeks) (born 1796, PA). They started a family in Clinton County, Ohio, by 1819 and later passed through Vernon Township, Hancock County, Indiana (1833); Madison County, Illinois (c. 1843); and settled in Washington Township (Ashland, between present day Eldon and Agency), Wapello County, Iowa in 1850. From here the family branches out to Nebraska and Kansas: King David² and his family moved to Hebron, Thayer County, Nebraska and later Sherman County, Nebraska; Sylvester and his family moved to Marshal County, Kansas and Whiterock, Republic County, Kansas (1866).

Following King David's death in 1871, his son John Jackson moved to Sherman County in central Nebraska, but in the late 1880's or more likely early 1890's headed west to California and resettled in Sonoma County, the center for some 600 descendants.

David Fisher¹ (~1794-1868)

1. David Fisher¹ was born in 1794 or 1795 in Pennsylvania. He married Sarah Weeks (or possibly Meeks), a native of Pennsylvania, and began their family of at least nine children there. After Sarah passed away in 1857, David remarried to the widow Nancy (Bowles) Rickey on September 11, 1858, and fathered three more children:

David and Sarah were married about 1814 in Pennsylvania and started their family there with two children. By 1819, the family moved west to Clark Township, in the general vicinty of Martinsville, Clinton County, Ohio, where the next five children were born.

In 1833 the Fisher family continued westward into Indiana and on November 20, 1833, purchased 60 acres in the N½ of NE¼ of Section 10, Range 6 East of Vernon Township, Hancock County, Indiana, which is estimated to lie to the northeast of Fortville along modern-day East Broadway (Route 67). His family may have remained behind temporarily as David's fourth son Sylvester was born back in Clinton County, Ohio, that December.

Come the new year, David purchased another 80 acres on April 11, 1834, in the E½ of SE¼ of the same section, which is estimated to lie to the south of modern-day 1050N and north of W1000N. This second estate he sold on March 1, 1837, for $200.

In 1836, David's second son, King David Fisher, bought the 40 acres of the SW¼ of NE¼ of the same Section 10.

Son Samuel Martin and daughter Catherine both started their families in Vernon and gave David and Sarah their first grandchildren there. Catherine possibly stayed behind in Indiana when the Fisher family moved to Illinois before 1843.

On April 2, 1850, David sold both his Indiana estate and his son's estate on for $1,100 and moved west to Ashland, Washington Township, Wapello County, Iowa.

On May 10, 1850, David Fisher paid $900 to Joseph Finarty of Wapello County for the NW¼ of SW¼ and 60 acres of the west side of west half of the NW¼ of Section 14, also the NE¼ of SE¼ of Section 22, all in Township 71 (Washington Township) N of range 12 West containing 140 acres. The 100 acres on the west side of Section 14 was to be the family home for the rest of David's and Sarah's lives. This farm was very near the town of Ashland which does not exist anymore. It was between Eldon and Agency, Iowa. The home was a 3-room house made of soft white pine, sided vertically with 12" boards. Batting was placed over the siding edges. There was a lean-to on one side of the house. This house is still used as a shop on the farmstead across the road from where it was built.

By the census of August 1850, David's family and his son Samuel Martin's family were both resettled in District #13 in Wapello County, Iowa.

Sarah (Weeks) Fisher passed away, reportedly on May 21, 1857, in Ashland, and was buried at the Ashland Cemetery in Wapello County.

David remarried to Mrs. Nancy (Bowles) Rickey, the 48-year-old widow of the murdered Dr. Foster Rickey. Nancy and her two youngest sons, John and Curtis Howard Rickey, were enumerated with David in 1860^{[Cen 1860]} however they were said to be married on December 6, 1863. They had three more children.

David Fisher passed away on July 27, 1868, at the age of about 73. David is also buried at the Ashland Cemetery in Wapello County.

At David's death there was a court division of David's land and it was sold at public auction. The following is a list of heirs of his estate:

After David's death, Nancy and her children stayed on with Martin Fisher, a close family relative, and his family in Wapello County. She continued on in Washington Township through at least the 1885 Iowa state census, in which she and sons Isaac and Wilbur were enumerated in Township 71 North, Range 12 West, Section 22, Southwest-Southeast, along with the widow Mrs. Elizabeth Ellen (Chapman) Priest, whose elder sister, Harriet J. Chapman⁶ had married David's grandson, John Jackson Fisher³.^{[Cen 1870,1880, 1885]}