WANDERING WYERS  (James D. Wyers)  

      My Great Grandfather, William Wyers, was born 16 November,1816 (the year of birth differs on various documents, ranging from 1816 to 1820) in Lincolnshire, England. William Wyers married Sarah Jane Foster, born circa 1825 in England. We have been unable to determine where they married or when they arrived in Canada.

      John Wyers (born 1847) was the first-born of William and Sarah, followed by Robert (born 1850); Frederick (1851); Harriett (1853); Sarah Ann (1855); James William (1858); Albert (1859); George (1861) and Thomas (1863). According to census records all offspring were born in Canada.  By 1871, William Wyers was owner-operator of Mount Forest Brick Yard in Mount Forest, Ontario. William Wyers' occupation was brick mason, a trade that most of his sons followed.

      My Grandfather James William Wyers(1858-1929) married Mary Jane Conn (1860-1935)in Mount Forest in 1860. Mary Jane was born in Canada to Irish immigrants. The first five children born to James and Mary were born in Mount Forest: Thomas (1881); George (1882); James (1885); Olive (1887) and Ruth (1890).

      The family migrated to Michigan in 1892. Michigan born siblings were Russell (1898); my Father Delbert (1900) and Sarah (1904). The two eldest sons of James William migrated to Michigan in the 1870s. By the late 1890s William Wyers and all of his sons and their families had migrated to Western Michigan. Only George Wyers (1861-1937), the youngest son of William, later returned to Mount Forest where he remained for the rest of his life.

      My Father, Delbert Wesley Wyers, did not follow the family occupation of brick mason.  Delbert was attracted to the Great Lakes, where he made his living in various maritime-related activities. His "workplace" ranged from Thunder Bay, Ontario to Buffalo. Delbert's first wife died in an auto accident. There were no children from this union.

      By early 1934 Delbert Wyers was communicating with Mildred Inez Fuller, who lived in Fort Payne, Alabama. In true soap opera fashion, Delbert proposed marriage via U.S. mail before ever seeing his prospective bride. The couple were married in Fort Payne in 1934 and took up residence there. I was born 16 September 1935 and Baby Sister Mary came into being on 21 June 1937.

      Delbert did not adapt well to the South and he was unable to convert Mother to a Northern lifestyle after brief visits to Michigan. By late 1938 the couple agreed to disagree.  Father returned to Michigan while Mother, Mary and I remained in Alabama. Ironically the only communication between Father and Mother in the remaining years of their lives was via the U.S. mail. Delbert never remarried and the couple finally had a non-contested divorce in 1954.

      My wife Dixie and our two oldest daughters, Pam and Brenda, visited Delbert in Detroit in 1965. After the Detroit riots, Delbert moved to Holland, Michigan, where he lived with older Sister Ruth Wyers Meyer for remainder of his days. We conversed several times via telephone during his days in Holland but we were unable to attend the funeral because of a snow storm at the time of his funeral.

      Since my three offspring are daughters and my only sibling is Mary, the chapter on Delbert Wesley Wyers and James Delbert Wyers will soon conclude.   Other chapters on other descendants of William Wyers continue to be written in Michigan, Texas, California, Florida and numerous other states and Canadian provinces. Perhaps chapters of the Wyers family history in Lincolnshire, England shall one day be added to the saga of the Wandering Wyers.