1873-1904

Dr. Alexander Wise was born at the President's house, of William and Mary College, December 20, 1873, and died, unmarried, at St. Luke's Hospital, Richmond, Va., May 5, 1904. He was a worthy son of his father in every way, and about his brief life is a note of pathos which still lingers with all who knew him.
  As a child he was a marker in the "Wise Light Infantry," a military company which his father organized and commanded, and accompanied the command to the Yorktown Celebration of 1881. He became lame from the long marches, and hip joint disease set in which caused the shortening of the injured limb. But even with this affliction, he was a most active man. Six feet or more tall, full of nervous energy, there were few that could travel without fatigue beside his long, tireless, swinging pace, and few who could stand the hardships of river, field, and forest with more ease and zest than this renowned sportsman, who was the idol of his family and associates, and who was known to his intimates as "Cripple Dick" Wise-- a name that distinguished him among his many cousins from the innumerable other Henry Wise of his generation. Physically he was a powerful man, through not robust in health.
  In him there were traits of the Indian upon whose soil he was reared. His physical courage, his cunning in woodcraft, his dexterity with paddle, sail, and gun, his unerring and intuitive knowledge of the woods, and swamps, and streams of the historic peninsula lying between the James and York rivers, where the Chickahominy and the Pamunkey offered him opportunities to indulge his bent--all these were characteristics notable in this man, who moral courage and stamina were as great as his physical powers.
  The best evidence of his true character may be found in the devotion of a host of cousins who invariably regarded him as their special favorite, and who when separated from him, longed for the delights of his companionship. How well they all recall the visits to Williamsburg as occasions on which they might indulge to the fullest an inherited love of sport in all its forms in company with "Uncle dick" and Henry. the writer can see now the lame young doctor, harnessing his fleet-footed horse to the physician's "buggy," and slipping the well-worn medical valise and shotgun case beneath the seat, while innumerable setters and pointers bound about the yard, ready for a professional call upon some distant patient !
  Many a twenty-mile drive brought no other fee than string of birds, a turkey, or a deer, that fell to the unerring instrument which this doctor was wont to carry in his kit! Or perhaps the fee was paid in oysters, clams, terrapin, or James River shad--perhaps in sora or big-mouthed bass. Money was not the lust of Henry Wise's life, and so he died poor as the world figures wealth, but rich--a veritable prince of wealth--in love and memory of those who knew him.
  His was a love of nature that knew no bounds. At dawn as he crouched in the misty woods and called to the wily gobbler, at eventide as he crept through the swamps upon the browsing deer, or paddled swiftly and noiselessly along some mysterious stream, his soul communed with nature; his associates from tenderest youth were those ancient denizens who threaded his beloved haunts when Powhatan and Pocahontas claimed them as their own. His keen blue eyes and sun-tanned cheeks seemed to add to the unusual character, which every feature of his face portrayed--a face strong, manly, familiar to his kin, though not handsome.
  It was perhaps his long and joyous association with nature that so highly developed in him his most striking characteristic--utter contempt for the sham and superficialities of life, a trait inherited from his rugged forebears. As a boy and as a young man, he was noted for a temper, often violent, but beneath his heated words was still warmer heart, and a soul as pure and unfeigned as that of a baby. As staunch as the boldest of his race, a scion as rugged as the storm-tossed oaks from which he was sprung, he swayed to the gentlest zephyrs of emotion, and loved with an uncommon love the sunshine of a life in which there was so much of shade for him.
  Henry Wise, as we have seen, chose medicine as his profession, and well he did so, for to him fell the burden that had rested upon his father's shoulders--the burden of ministering to the poorer classes and desolate homes of the countryside from Jamestown to Yorktown. He was graduated with distinction from the Virginia Medical college in Richmond, and while a student there numbered among his warmest friends the now celebrated Dr. Stuart McGuire, of Richmond.
  During his father's political activities from 1895 to the time of the latter's death, the son looked after their joint practice, and soon established a high reputation as a practitioner and surgeon independent of that of his father. Together with his sister he lived until his death in the home which his father had purchased the year before he died. A lucrative practice was rewarding his ceaseless labors when suddenly and almost without warning he passed away in his thirty-first year, beloved by a community which held him as one of its most cherished sons, and which loved him for himself, without regard to the reverence in which it held the memory of his grandfather and father.
  Dr. Henry Alexander Wise took little interest in politics, and in his life there was none of the bitter turmoil of factional struggle. Known widely throughout the State, his friends were legion, and he had already occupied positions in his profession of dignity and trust, all of which, as well as the great responsibilities inherited from his father, he bore with credit, patience, and ability. His was a natural leadership among a people accustomed and devoted to the name he bore, and as said by one of his distinguished contemporaries: "No man ever more completely measured up to inherited and self-acquired responsibilities--no man ever more nobly fulfilled the expectations of a community."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The following brief obituary sketch was written by Dr. Stuart McGuire, of Richmond, the intimate friend of Dr. Henry A. Wise:
                                    "HENRY A. WISE, M.D.
                                            "1873-1904

  Dr. Henry A. Wise was born in Williamsburg, Va., December 20, 1873. He was the son of a physician and soon determined to follow in his father's professional footsteps.
  His early education was obtained under difficulties, as for several years he was rendered an invalid by hip trouble. His active mind, however, rapidly made up for lost opportunities, and he completed his academic studies at William and Mary college. He matriculated in the University College of medicine the first year that institution opened its doors to students, and received his medical degree at the completion of the required term in the spring of 1896.
  Dr. Wise, while in Richmond, made many friends and was beloved by his classmates and respected by his teachers. Despite the demands of an active practice he was regular in the attendance at the annual Commencement exercises of his Alma Mater, and no meeting was considered complete without his presence. He was at one time President of the Alumni Association and the humor, pathos, and good sense of the address he delivered on that occasion still live in the memory of those who heard it.
  After graduation Dr. Wise located in Williamsburg and was for some years associated with his father in the practice of his profession. He soon built up a large practice and won the confidence and esteem if the entire community.
  Although a man of positive convictions and fearless expression of opinion Dr. Wise was not a partisan, and avoided entanglements in the many social, political, and theological dissensions that characterize the time and place in which he lived. His simplicity of manner, his unquestioned sincerity, his sympathetic disposition, his open-handed generosity, and last, but not least, his keen wit and unfailing sense of humor made him the friend of every person in his county without regard to age, sex or color.
While loved for his personal qualities Dr. Wise was equally valued for his professional attainments. No man of his age in the State ever more thoroughly impressed a community with confidence in his ability and the belief that he would use his best efforts in every case entrusted to his hands. it is said that a prophet is not without honor save in his own country, reputation abroad than at home. That a man of thirty could be able so thoroughly to impress a country community, as Henry Wise undoubtedly did, proves he was not only talented, but that he had some of the attributes of genius.
  A year or more before his death Dr. wise learned the existence of the disease that would inevitably terminate fatally. He bound his physician over to secrecy and kept his family and friends in ignorance of his condition until his malady could no longer be concealed. He died at St. Luke's Hospital, Richmond, Va., on the 6th of May, after a painful and distressing illness, nursed by his sister and faithful friend, and attended by physicians that knew and loved him.