Riser Family

Annals of Newberry, Part Two by John A. Chapman, page 651-52


The Risers came to this country from Germany before the Revolutionary war. The name was originally Roiser: They
settled in the lower section of this county, and the place where Mr. James A. Riser now lives (1892) is part of the
old homestead. The father, who came from the old country, and his oldest son were both soldiers in the Revolution. He
had five sons and three daughters. The sons were Adam, Martin, John, George and Jacob. They all left Newberry except Martin, from whom has descended a large progeny. Of the three daughters, one married a Sease and one a Copeland. They all moved to Barnwell County, and so did John. Adam and Jacob moved to Mississippi.
Martin Hiser, who remained in Newberry County, was married three times, first to a Miss Sease. Their children were
John, Martin, Christina, Eve and Lizzie. His second wife was a Miss. Rikard, and to them were born Adam, George, Jacob, Mary, Harriet, Sallie and Susie. His third wife was a Mrs. Summer. All his children grew up and married and reared
large families.
Martin Riser, Jr., married, first, Mahala Cannon, and then Hannah Suber, and there were several children. Christina
married a Dickert. Of her descendants I know nothing. Eve married, first, a Werts, and they had several children; one of
whom, Susan, married Solomon P. Kinard, and one, Sallie, married Michael Fellers (whose first wife was Sallie Riser, an
aunt), and one, - Wm. M. Werts, is now (1892) a successful farmer of this county. At the death of Mr. Werts, Eve
married Rev. Herman Aull, and to them were born two children, Mrs. Louisa C. Hunter, now living in Newberry,
and Jacob Luther Aull, now living in Edgefield County. Lizzie married a Rhinehart. Adam moved to Louisiana,. and
in 1892 was living, hale and hearty, in his eighty-third year, for he says, in a letter written to his nephew, Judge Jacob B. Fellers, April 23, 1892, "I work my garden and Irish potatoes and keep my orchard in trim and grape vines." He writes with a steady hand, the letters showing no tremulousness whatever. George went to Alabama. Jacob also went to the West. Mary married Thomas Cannon, and, at his death, Henry Koon. By the last union were born several children - Mrs. Thos. V. Wicker, who is still living, and two sons who were killed in the war. Harriet married Anderson Leitzsey. Sallie married Michael Fellers, the father of Jacob B. Fellers, now Probate Judge of Newberry, Mrs. G. F. Long, Mrs. J. D. Bowles, S. H. Fellers, and possibly others. Susie married Samuel Cannon.
John Riser, the son of Martin Riser, Sr., married Barbara Ann Zeigler, and to them were born ten children: William, John, Hartwell, George, Adam, James A., Walter, Elizabeth, Anne and Lavinia. Of these, William married Elizabeth Berly and was the father of eleven children, six of whom are now (1892) living: Luther P. W. (in Newberry), John F. (Green­ville), William Wallace, for eight years Sheriff of Newberry County and elected for a third term - the only man who was ever chosen Sheriff in Newberry for three successive terms - ­George C. (Laurens), Thomas B., and Cornelia, wife of the Hon. Jno. W. Scott; Mary J. married Jno. L. Blackburn, both now dead - two children living; and Sallie, the first wife of Wallace C. Cromer, now Auditor of Newberry County; she is also dead. John married Elizabeth Rikard, and to them were born nine children, all of whom are living except Rev. Sidney T. Riser, who died in Staunton, Va., in the prime and vigor of young manhood. He was a minister of the Lutheran Church and a young man of great promise. Hartwell married a Miss Kinard and moved to Edgefield County and is still living, and only a short time ago celebrated his Golden Wed­ding. George married a Miss Peaster and was killed in the last battle of the war in North Carolina; he has two children still living. Adam is living in Columbia. James A. married a Miss Busby and lives in this county, near Pomaria, on the old homestead. Walter died young. Elizabeth married Adam Berly and is now dead. Anne is the wife of Alfred W. Bun­drick and is living in Newberry County. Lavinia married Belton Kibler, who was killed in the war. She still lives in this county.


NOTE TO PAGE 622 - In sketch of Riser family, Mary, who married Thomas Cannon, had one child by the union with Cannon, and that child is ow the wife of Col. J. C. S. Brown. Mrs. Wicker was not Mrs. Cannon's child as stated. Her children after her marriage with Koon were Mrs. Thomas M. Lake, Mrs. J. Benson Suber and John O. Koon.