Sarah Logan Fisher Wister, 1806 - 1891

Silhouette of Sarah Logan
Fisher Wister

Sarah Logan Fisher Wister was a notable nineteenth century woman. Private memoirs and reminisces depict that She was most remembered by close friends and family for her altruism, good nature, religiosity, and happiness. She was born in 1806 to parents William Logan Fisher and Mary Rodman, but not much is known of her early life. In 1826, she married William Wister, a non-Quaker and was subsequently disowned by her parents and the Quaker community. Despite her religiously "scandalous" behavior, including marrying Wister, granting her sons permission to become soldiers in the Civil War, and housing a piano in the Belfield parlor, Sarah Logan Fisher Wister was a devoutly religious woman in dress, social practice, and selfless charity. She was involved in several Philadelphia groups and organizations, including Woman's committee of Germantown Hospital, and played an active role in the lives of her children and eleven grandchildren. During the eighty-five years of her life, Sarah Logan Fisher Wister established herself not as a woman of history and fame, but instead as a woman of family, virtue, and kindness.