John Sergeant Wise

John Sergeant Wise (* December 27, 1846 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, † May 12, 1913 in Princess Anne, Maryland ) was an American politician. Between 1883 and 1885 he represented the state of Virginia in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Career

John Wise was a son of Governor Henry A. Wise (1806-1876) and a grandson of Congressman John Sergeant (1779-1852) as well as a brother of Richard Alsop Wise (1843-1900), who was also a congressman as the cousin George D. Wise ( 1831-1898 ). Wise was born in Brazil, when his father was an American ambassador there. Later, he attended public schools in Virginia. In 1862 he graduated from the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington. After that he took as a lieutenant in the army of the Confederacy part in the civil war. After a subsequent law studies at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville and his 1867 was admitted as a lawyer, he started working in Richmond in this profession. At the same time he proposed a political career. In 1880, he ran unsuccessfully for Congress yet. In the years 1882 and 1883 he was United States Attorney for the eastern part of Virginia.

In the congressional elections of 1882 Wise was short-lived as the candidate of Readjuster Party in the tenth electoral district of Virginia in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington DC chosen, where he became the successor of William Gay Brown on March 4, 1883. Since he resigned in 1884 to run again, he was able to complete only one term in Congress until March 3, 1885. During this time he joined the Republican Party.

In 1885, Wise ran unsuccessfully for the governorship of Virginia. Later he moved to New York City, where he practiced as a lawyer. He died on May 12, 1913 near Princess Anne, Maryland.