Western Pennsylvania Genealogy
Compiled by Douglas H. Lusher


Family Group Record



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Joshua Martin Wiestling, M.D. and Catharine Youse




Husband Joshua Martin Wiestling, M.D. 1




           Born: 28 Feb 1797 - Susquehanna Twp, Dauphin Co, PA 1
     Christened:  - Shoop's Church, Paxtang Twp, Dauphin Co, PA
           Died: 15 Jan 1854 - Harrisburg, Dauphin Co, PA 2
         Buried: 


         Father: Samuel Christopher Wiestling (1760-1823) 3 4
         Mother: Anna Maria Bucher (      -      ) 1


       Marriage: 22 Jan 1824 2



Wife Catharine Youse 2

           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 1854 2
         Buried: 


         Father: George Youse (      -      ) 2
         Mother: 




Children
1 F Mary Ellen Wiestling 2

           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 
         Spouse: T. T. Worth, Esq. (      -      ) 2


2 M Dr. Jacob G. Wiestling 2

           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 
         Spouse: Susanna Herr (      -      ) 5


3 F Catharine Wiestling 2

           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 
         Spouse: James D. Bartholomew (      -      ) 2
         Spouse: S. G. Lewis (      -Bef 1883) 2


4 F Annie E. Wiestling 2

           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 



5 M Joshua Martin Wiestling 2

           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 
         Spouse: Georgianna Hoover (      -      ) 2


6 F Julia A. Wiestling 2

           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 
         Spouse: C. Penrose Sherk (      -      ) 2



General Notes: Husband - Joshua Martin Wiestling, M.D.


He was born on his father's farm, at the foot of the Kittochtinny or Blue Mountains, about five miles from Harrisburg, in Susquehanna township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. He was baptized at Shoop's Church, in Paxtang township, Dauphin County, by the Rev. Christian H. Kurtz. In the year 1811, being then of the age of fourteen years, he moved with his parents into the town of Harrisburg, where he continued to reside until his death. Although afforded but limited facilities of acquiring an education by attending the schools of that period, yet, having the advantage of the instructions of his father, who was a man of thorough education and culture, and being himself an indefatigable student, reading and studying whenever and however the opportunity presented. He grew to manhood with his natural mental endowments admirably cultivated, and liberally developed. Of studious habits and love of knowledge, these characteristics adhered to him throughout his life. A man of original thinking powers, and possessed of mental capacity of a high order, he gave, notwithstanding an extensive and laborious medical practice, diligent investigation to all the leading questions of the day, and careful study in the wide and diversified field of general knowledge. He was consequently upon all the leading subjects of information a natural scholar, and throughout his whole life was recognized by his fellow-townsmen as in the front rank of general knowledge and a man of very general powers. His special field of usefulness, however, was that of medicine. In his preparation for his profession, his preceptors were his father, Dr. Samuel C. Wiestling, Sr., and an elder brother, Dr. Samuel C. Wiestling, Jr., both thoroughly educated physicians of skill and wide experience. He attended the course of medical lectures of the University of Pennsylvania. His father becoming disabled to continue in active practice, by reason of a paralytic stroke in the year 1817, he succeeded him in his profession, first in partnership with his brother, Dr. Samuel C. Wiestling, Jr., which continued for a few years, and subsequently alone. This was about the year 1821 or 1822. Acquiring a large and extensive practice, both in town and country, he prosecuted the duties of his profession with a degree of faithful devotion and judicious skill, which won for him the admiration and high regard of the medical fraternity and the unlimited confidence of the whole community.
In his religious convictions Dr. Wiestling was well grounded and faithful. While yet a young man he was confirmed into full membership of the Salem Reformed Church, of Chestnut Street, Harrisburg, and in the study and interpretation of Holy Writ relied implicitly upon the teaching and doctrine of the Heidelberg Catechism, the symbol and standard of Reformed faith, and in it he unwaveringly lived and confidently died, cherishing its principles and truths with tenacious fidelity.
In politics Dr. Joshua Wiestling was, as parties were then divided, an ardent Whig, being a great admirer of Henry Clay, and a firm advocate of a protective tariff for the fostering of our diversified resources and industries. In political contests he took a lively interest, and was active and efficient during campaigns, and for a year or more he was the chairman of the Dauphin County Whig Committee, and issued a published address to the voters of the county, in which he discussed the views of the day with logical force and statesmanlike ability.
In stature he was about six feet in height, broad-shouldered, of large head, erect in carriage, full-chested, rather stout in figure and person, and dignified in appearance. He was of a cheerful disposition, affable in his manners, generous in his impulses, of sympathetic and benevolent habits, unselfish and forbearing, and, as a consequence, he was popular throughout his life.
As a practicing physician he had among his students of medicine his younger brother, Dr. Benjamin J. Wiestling (who settled in Middletown), Dr. Theodore Hale, and Dr. Jacob G. Wiestling. While engaged in the active duties of his practice, and apparently in the midst of excellent health, Dr. Wiestling died suddenly of apoplexy at his home in Harrisburg, on Sunday, the 15th day of January, A.D. 1854, in the fifty-seventh year of his age. His contemporaries in the practice of medicine in Harrisburg, in their action upon his death, paid this grateful tribute to his memory and worth:
"That in the sudden removal of our worthy brother from his enlarged sphere of usefulness, the profession of medicine loses one of its most zealous votaries, the community at large one of its most able physicians, and the borough of Harrisburg one of its most esteemed and respected citizens. That his moral worth and social qualities in the walks of private life were such as to elicit the esteem and commend the admiration of all whose privilege it was to know him."

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Sources


1 William Henry Egle, History of the County of Dauphin in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: Everts & Peck, 1883), Pg 549.

2 William Henry Egle, History of the County of Dauphin in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: Everts & Peck, 1883), Pg 550.

3 William Henry Egle, History of the County of Dauphin in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: Everts & Peck, 1883), Pg 547.

4 —, History of Franklin County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Warner, Beers & Co., 1887), Pg 895.

5 William Henry Egle, History of the County of Dauphin in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: Everts & Peck, 1883), Pg 505, 550.


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