Hugh Wise, of Troy, is the manager of the Haynes Distillery, which is known throughout the country on account of the excellence of its product, which is sold only by mail orders to private consumers. Mr. Wise was born November 16, 1833, in Clark county, Ohio, fourteen miles east of Troy. His father, Joseph Wise, was a distiller and removed from Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, to the Buckeye state. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Margaret Heller, was also a native of Lancaster county. The subject of this review obtained his education in the common schools, and at the age of fourteen years entered upon his business career as an employe in the distillery, within a mile of Troy. Thirty-four years ago he aided in building the Haynes Distillery, of this city, and has been connected with the enterprise since that time. At first only fifty bushels of grain were consumed per day in the manufacture of whisky, but now four hundred bushels are daily used and the output is eighteen hundred gallons. During all these years Mr. Wise has commenced work at half past three o'clock in the morning and has been most unremitting in his attention to his work. The success of the enterprise is undoubtedly due in very large measure to his capable management and his thorough understanding of the business. He is the discoverer of a yeast process which enables him to make a half-gallon more whisky from each bushel of grain than is usually produced in other distilleries. He is carefully training his son, Walter, for the business, and the young man will undoubtedly become an able successor of his father.

Mr. Hugh was married to Miss Sarah Carmen, a daughter of John Carmen, of Springfield, Ohio, one of the pioneer settlers of the Buckeye state, who came to the west from Maryland. Mr. and Mrs. Wise have two sons, Joseph Elvin, an employe of the Troy Buggy Works Company, and Walter, who is his father's assistant. There is also one daughter, Mrs. Sims Parks, of Memphis, Tennessee. Mr. and Mrs. Wise are now enjoying the comforts of life in a beautiful home on East Main street in Troy, which has been secured to them through the enterprising and continuous labor of our subject. His wife is a member of the Christian church. In his political views Mr. Wise is a Republican, and for four years was a trustee of the Troy water works, occupying that position at the time the plant was established and the system inaugurated. His services in that regard were highly appreciated by the citizens of Troy, who have always found in him an able champion of the movements and measures which contribute to the public good.