Jefferson County Chapter

Wilbur Blackburn Meiser

Wilbur was born in Goshen Twp., Mahoning County near Salem, Oh on Oct 29, 1913. He is the son of Wilbur Ross Meiser and Mary Alice Blackburn. His father married Mary Alice on the 3rd of April 1912. She was born in Fairfield Twp., in Columbiana county, Ohio on the 29th of October in 1882. Mary died on the 3rd of January 1933 in Fairfield Twp. All of their children were born on the farm, north of Salem, which is now a golf course. They had four children as follows:

1. Wilbur Blackburn married to Dorothy Bonnijean Middleton. They were married in Adena, Smithfield Twp., Oh on June 3, 1941.
2. William Eugene married Janet Burt.
3. Mary Ellen was born 29 Apr 1921. She died 15 Jan 1973. Mary married John Wilms. She resided in Columbiana.
4. Robert Howard was born Feb. 19, 1925 in Fairfield Twp, Columbiana. He married Joan Easton.

Mizer Cemetery

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Category: Ohio physical, cultural and historic features; Feature Name: Mizer Cemetery, Type: Cultural, Class: Cemetery, County: Jefferson, FID: 1960354, Coordinates: Latitude 40.4320098 and Longitude -80.9245343.

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Adena Methodist Parsonage H W Middleton 1940 to 1944	Donald Dorothy Parents - Gertrude Wirt Middleton	George's Run Methodist Church H W Middleon 1931-36
Irondale Methodist Church H W Middleton 1928-1931	Mt Zion United Methodist Church W B Meiser pastor May 1942 to November 1945 (2)	Mt Zion United Methodist Church W B Meiser pastor May 1942 to November 1945
New Alexander Methodist Church H W Middleton 1930 to 1936	New Somerset interior United Methodist Church W B Meiser May 1942 to Nov 1945	New Somerset United Methodist Church W B Meiser pastor May 1942 to Nov 1945
Rev H W Middleton 1945	Rev H W Middleton Donald Dorothy 1919	Rev Wilbur Dorothy Meiser Wedding 1941
Rev Wilbur Meiser Dorothy son Keith Washington DC 1956	Richmond Methodist Church upstairs W B Meiser pastor May 1942 to Nov 1945	Richmond Methodist Church W B Meiser Pastor May 1942 to Nov 1945
Wedding	Wilbur Dorothy Meiser 1941 Wedding photo	Wilbur Dorothy Meiser 50 yrs in the ministry celebration June 1989 Galion First Methodist Church
Wilbur Dorothy Meiser 50th annver Jun 31991 1st Methodist Church Galion	Wilbur Dorothy Meiser July 7 1996 (2)	Wintersville Methodist Church Dec 181 1955 Rev Meiser
Wintersville Methodist Parsonage Last family to live in home Wilbur Meiser closed in 1960

Focus on Wilbur Blackburn Meiser

Wilbur lived in the Salem and Middleton (Columbiana County) areas until he entered the United Methodist Church Ministry in Fairfield Twp. Upon Wilbur’s graduation from High School he attended, Asbury College, and Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilnore Kentucky, Western Reserve University, and Kent State University.

Wilbur served the United Methodist Churches in Sherrodsville, Richmond, Cleveland, Wintersville, Tiffin, Mansfield and Norwalk. After retiring in 1977 he served as a Visitation Minister at the First U.M. Church in Galion for 18 years. He now resides at Copeland Oaks, Sebring, Mahoning Co., Oh. with his wife. They have one son, Keith who was born in Richmond, Oh in the Methodist Parsonage.

Variant surname spellings found for Meiser, Mysor
Meisser, Miser, Mizar, Mizer, Myser, Myzer
Paternal Ancestry Chart for Wilbur B. Meiser

1. Wilbur Blackburn Meiser born 29 Oct., 1913.
2. Wilbur Ross Meiser (Miser) born 19 May, 1885 Springfield Twp, Jefferson Co., Ohio. Died 6 Nov 1970 in Salem hospital, Columbiana County, Ohio.
3. Cyrus M. Meiser (Miser) born 20 May 1855, Springfield Twp. He died 28 Jan 1942 in Salem. He married Janet Leah Smith, near Amsterdam.
4. George Miser born 5 Jan 1807 in Salem Twp., Jefferson Co., Oh. He died 21 Nov 1893 in Springfield Twp., Jefferson Co., Oh. He married Maria Leas of Salem Twp., Jefferson Co., Oh.
5. Henry Miser was born 6 Nov 1786 in Lancaster Co., PA. He died 22 Feb 1861 in Annapolis, Salem Twp., Jefferson Co., Oh. He married Margaret Druckenmiller.
6. Henry Meiser born 1728 in Lancaster, PA. He died in 1801 in Northamberland Co., PA. He married Anna Marie---.
7. Johann Michael Meiser was born in Germany in 1703 and died in 1745. He came to Lancaster, PA in 1723. He married Anna E. Zeht.
8. Johann Jurg Meiser came from Germany to New York in 1709.

While glancing at Wilbur’s vast pedigree charts, I see several familiar Jefferson and Carroll County surnames.

Wilbur Meiser, 802 S. 15th St., Sebring, OH 44672. To contact the Meisser Genealogy Assc. 144 Tuscora Ave., N.W. New Philadelphia, OH 44663. You can inquire about the Meisser Newsletter.

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The following records were given to Flora L. VerStraten, on loan from Rev. Meiser. They have since been returned to him. The chapter would like to thank Rev. Meiser for his willingness and interest in preserving the records of his church service while serving in the Jefferson County Circuit. These records will prove to be a great source for those seeking their ancestors, well into the future. The chapter would also like to thank chapter member, Kitty Kutchmark, for all the time she put into extracting and typing up all the spreadsheets and records belonging to Rev. Meiser to make them available on the chapter website.

Rev. Meiser Marriages Digital Book
Rev. Meiser Members Received Digital Book
Rev. Meiser Baptism Records Digital Book
Rev. Meiser Death-Funeral Records Digital Book

The following obituaries were provided by Flora L. VerStraten. Flora also received a Christmas card with a letter from from Rev. Meiser and his wife.

Obituary for Rev. Wilbur Blackburn Meiser

Steubenville Herald Star Newspaper – Wednesday, December 10, 2008, pg. 8A

MEISER, Rev. Wilbur Blackburn, 95, of Sebring, died Monday evening, December 8, 2008, in Alliance Community Hospital.

One October 20, 1913, he was born in Goshen Township, Mahoning County (two miles north of Salem) to W. Ross and Mary Alice (Blackburn) Meiser.

He served United Methodist Churches in Sherrodsville, New Cumberland, Leesville, Perrysville, Richmond, Cleveland, Wintersville, Tiffin, Mansfield and Norwalk. After retiring in 1977, he served as visitation Minister at First United Methodist Church in Galion for 18 years. He also taught school in Unity Township at Chain and Shady Hill schools, Fairfield Centralized and Winona, Ohio. He also taught at Cleveland Bible College, now Malone while living in Cleveland.

Survivors include his wife, Dorothy; a son and daughter-in-law, Keith and Lee Meiser of Bowling Greek; one brother, Robert H. Meiser of Yuma, Ariz.; and over 28 nieces and nephews.

Friends may call from 9:30a.m. until time of the services at 11 a.m. Saturday, December 13, 2008 at Sebring United Methodist Church…

Graveside services will be held at 2:30 p.m. Monday, December 15, 2008, at Mansfield Memorial Park officiated by the Rev. Douglas Lewis…

Funeral arrangements are in the care of Richardson-Davis Funeral Home, Galion.

An online obituary and guest registry are available at www.richardson-davis.com

OBITUARY

(The following obituary was sent to Flora L. VerStraten from Rev. Meiser’s wife. There is no mention of the name of the newspaper. It shows that it was posted December 10, 2008
SEBRING - …He was predeceased by his parents; his step-mother; one sister; Mary Ellen Wilms; and one brother, W. Eugene Meiser of Cabool, Mo…

Upon graduating from Fairfield Township Centralized High School, Columbiana County (1931), he attended Asbury College (1931 to 1932) and taught school in Unity Township…

He and Dorothy attended the Kennedy School of Mission in Hartford, Conn., and were under appointment to serve as Methodist Missionaries to India when World War II intervened. Wilbur then served Richmond Charge United Methodist Churches, Jefferson County, from 1942 to 1945 (Richmond, New Somerset, and Mt. Zion churches)…

Flora L. VerStraten received a Christmas card from Rev. Meiser and his wife, Dorothy, post marked December 29, 2008. Inside the card was a letter from Rev. Meiser and his wife, dated November 22, 2008.

His last known address was: 802 South 15th St. Villa 1866, Sebring, OH 44672. The letter begins:

Dear family and friends,

Twelve years ago we moved into our villa here at Copeland Oaks. This year we quietly celebrated out 90 and 95 birthdays.

The last month of 2007 Wilbur spent in Crandall (our nursing home area) seeking help for an attack of Sciatica. They kept him there for four weeks (yes, over both Christmas and New Years!) which made for a rather queer holiday season for us. After 4 weeks of therapy they let him come home with “at home therapy” which he continues on his own.

Dorothy became the prime caregiver, taking on household tasks Wilbur usually did, and doing the car driving when grocery shopping and Dr.’s appt., etc…

One bright spot was the stray, female kitten that came to her one day when she went after the mail. It was half grown, very friendly and hungry, to much for Dorothy to ignore. With some misgiving, she took the cat home with her, but our resident cat Susie, would have none of it and hissed and growled her disapproval. After a couple of days, and several good meals and some loving lap nap, then kitten was taken to a new pet store in town in search of a new home.

Our son Keith retired from his photography business but continues to do free lance work. His wife, Lee continues to do technical writing work at home. We don’t see them often, for they still live near Bowling Green, Ohio, but we have good telephone visits…

We appreciate hearing from you on our birthdays, holidays and any time during the year. Dorothy appreciated the 115 birthday cards she received on her 90th…

We look forward to hearing from you. In spite of health problems, God has been good to us. May you have a blessed Christmas and a good New Year.

Sincerely

Wilbur and Dorothy Meiser