Surnames: Wiggins, Bunting, Risler
Joseph Harrison Wiggins, one of the foremost citizens of Wharton township, was born near Brownsville, Fayette county, Penna, August 30, 1812, and is a son of Colonel Cuthbert Wiggins and Margaret Bunting Wiggins.Colonel Cuthbert Wiggins was a native of Bucks county, Penna, where he married Miss Margaret Bunting, daughter of Emanuel and Septema Bunting, "on the 13th day of the third month," 1799, according to the Quaker marriage certificate in possession of Joseph Harrison Wiggins. Colonel
Wiggins came to Fayette county, Penna, in about 1809 and served underGeneral George Mason in the War of 1812 in which he commanded a militia regiment and helped launch Commodore Perry's immortal fleet on Lake Erie.Entering the army he relinquished the Quaker faith and afterwards united with the Cumberland Presbyterian church. Leaving the army, he removed to Uniontown, kept a hotel for four years, and thence to Wharton township and erected the Fayette Springs Hotel.
His family consisted of three sons and five daughters, of whom three are living: Hannah Wiggins, widow of William McMullen; Anna Wiggins and Joseph Harrison Wiggins.
Colonel Wiggins was a great admirer of Henry Clay and General William Henry Harrison. He was a gentleman of the "old school" and a man of commanding personal appearance. His father was a native of Philadelphia.
Joseph Harrison Wiggins was reared at Uniontown until 1821 when he removed to Wharton township where he received his education in an old log school house. He worked for some time on the National Road, and spent one year, 1839, in Iowa. In 1840 he returned to Wharton township and one mile east of "Chalk Hill" he opened the present popular summer resort now conducted by his son, Henry H Wiggins.
Joseph Harrison Wiggins owns 450 acres of improved land and devotes some time to the chase of which he is very fond. His sporting friends have named his location the "fox hunters paradise."
In 1834 he married Miss Sarah J Risler, daughter of John Risler and Harriet Madden Risler. Mr and Mrs Wiggins have had eight children, born and named as follows: Kate R Wiggins, born November 26, 1843, died December 29, 1872; Hannah M Wiggins, born February 20, 1837, died December 26, 1861; John R Wiggins, born January 16, 1839, died February 26, 1873; Henry H Wiggins, born April 4, 1841; Anna E Wiggins, born January 16, 1844, died April 23, 1846; Maggie B Wiggins, born March 24, 1846, died February 8, 1865; Sarah T Wiggins, born February 28, 1852,
died May 17, 1860; Mary E Wiggins, born April 27, 1854, died June 21, 1867. Mrs Wiggins, an estimable and highly respected woman, died November 18, 1888.Henry H Wiggins was educated in the common schools and enlisted in the One Hundred and Twelfth Regiment Volunteers in August, 1862, and served in the Army of the Potomac until the close of the war. October 19, 1865, he married Miss Huldah Morris, daughter of Harvey Morris, a prominent man of Stewart township. Henry H Wiggins was census enumerator, and since then has held various township offices. Since 1870 he has rented and conducted successfully his father's summer resort and his son is book keeper with H C Frick & Co. Joseph Harrison Wiggins has retired from active life and lives in Wharton township