Henry Wisner, Sr. was born around 1720 in Florida, New York, the eldest son of Hendrick Wisner, who came to America with his father, Johannes in 1714, from Switzerland, and his wife, Mary Shaw of New England. Like his father, Henry engaged in farming in Goshen, which always remained his home.
Although Wisner, Sr. received but little formal schooling.
He early rose to leadership in his local community and from 1759 to 1769 represented Orange County in the New York Colonial Assembly. In 1774 he was chosen to represent it in the First Continental Congress, where he signed the non-importation agreement. He was a member of the New York Provincial Congress (1775 - 1777), and in April 1775 was selected by that body one of the colony's delegates to the Second Continental Congress, of which he was a member from May 1775 to May 1777. He strongly favored the Declaration of Independence and was present when it was adopted, but together with the other members of the New York delegation he was under instructions not to vote. He was one of the committee of the New York Provincial Congress which drafted the first constitution for the state, and after its adoption he sat in the first five sessions of the Senate, from 1777 to 1782. Early in the Revolutionary War on the urgent request of Washington and the Continental Congress, New York took measures to encourage through the promise of loans and bounties the manufacture of powder and firearms for the Continental Army. Wisner, Sr. was then operating in Ulster County one of the two powdermills in the colony. With the zeal that marked all his undertakings he immediately increased its output and erected two more mills in Orange County, meanwhile conducting experiments to improve the quality of the powder and teaching others his methods. He served on committees to determine means for securing saltpeter, sulphur lead, and gunflints; to keep open and in repair the roads leading through the Highland passes to the Hudson so that supplies might reach the army; and to establish military post offices for the conveyance of intelligence between Albany and headquarters at Fishkill. He often advanced money of his own to purchase needed supplies. He enjoyed the confidence of Gen. George Clinton, and though he sometimes acted contrary to orders, he not only was upheld by the officers and by the Provincial Congress, but was commended for his foresight, good judgment, and quick action. Wisner, Sr. rendered valuable service in 1776 in expediting the laying of the first chain designed to obstruct the passage of the British up the Hudson River. After the taking of Forts Montgomery, Clinton, and Constitution by Sir Henry Clinton in October 1777, new defenses had to be planned, and in January 1778 Wisner, Sr. was appointed by the New York Provincial Convention one of a committee of eight to confer with General Putnam, with the result that a second chain was thrown across the Hudson, this time at West Point, and new fortifications were erected which proved effectual. At the close of the war, Wisner, Sr. probably returned to his farm, but in 1788 he was a member of the New York convention called to act on the federal Constitution. He cast his vote against it because he feared the delegation of so much power to the central government. Henry Wisner, Sr. died on March 4, 1790, at home in Goshen, New York. He was buried in the Old Wallkill Cemetery in Wallkill, New York.
In 1739, Henry Wisner, Sr. married Sarah Norton. In April 1769, he married Sarah Waters.
Henry Wisner, Sr. had five children.
