Typed by: Jan Shelfer
FISER, WILLIS A.
Surnames: FISER, HAYES, RIDGEWAY, LEWIS, MCCULLOUGH, BOWMAN, JONES,
BRATTON
Willis A. Fiser, b. February 11, 1811 in Robertson County, Tennessee, died
August 12, 1895 at Mooreville, Falls County, Texas. He was a son of Henry Fiser
of North Carolina and Anna Marie (Hayes) Fiser. Willis A. married ca 1840 to
Offa Ridgeway, b. July 15, 1820 in Rutherford County, Tennessee-a daughter of
James and Anna (Lewis) Ridgeway of Virginia.
Willis A. and Offa (Ridgeway) Fiser had six children: Eliza A., b. ca 1841, was
the second wife of Edward McCullough; Leander W., b. May 28, 1843, married Emma
Bowman; Mary Jane, b. October 14, 1844, married Hardy Richardson Jones; Benjamin
F., b. ca 1846, died young; Andrew Mack, b. September 10, 1850, married first to
Lenora Bowman and second to Ophelia Bratton; and Catherine V., b. ca 1852,
married George W. Bowman. All of these children were born in either Henry or
Weakley Counties, Tennessee. In 1855, Willis A. Fiser moved his family to
Cherokee County, Kansas, where they resided during the Civil War. At the end of
the Civil War, marauding former soldiers were looting and burning every protected only by women and children. Willis A. Fiser and his eldest son,
Leander W., were away from and Offa feared for her young family's safety.
She packed up one night and began moving to Texas. Before out-of-sight of her
old home, she could see it was burning. On the first night in a camp, Offa saw
her husband and oldest son ride in, and after explaining she had packed to take
their children to Texas, Willis A. Fiser agreed with her plans, and they arrived
at Mooreville in Falls County, in late 1865. They settled here, and became
prominent citizens of the community. Their children were involved in the
founding of the Mooreville Methodist Church, in the development of the
Mooreville School into one of the finest in the county, and were active in all
civic affairs.
Willis A. and Offa (Ridgeway) Fiser were buried in Mooreville Cemetery, and some
of their descendants continue to reside in that area of Falls County.
Copyright Permission granted to Theresa Carhart for printing these bio of these
Falls County Families to this Web page.
"Families of Falls County," compiled and edited by the Falls County Historical
Commission, page 156, column 2.
Member of Falls County Historical Commission