John Adam Riser (1777 SC-1827), one of nine children of Johan Georg (John George) Riser and Francesca F. Counts who emigrated from Heidelberg, Germany, to Newberry County, SC, came to Mississippi Territory with his brother Jacob and their families. They were both in the 1813 census in Lawrence County, and both fought in the War of 1812 as part of the Mississippi Militia in the Battle of New Orleans.

Adam married Ann Margaret Preacher in SC, and they had seven children: Elizabeth (b. 1800, m. James B. Satterfield), Kathryn (b. 1802, m. George Stigler), Isaac (b. 1805, m. Mary Ann Hollingsworth), Sallie (b. 1807, m. William Dunnigan), David Preacher (b. 1810, m. Nancy Hollingsworth), Reuben (1813-1835, never married), and George (b. 1816, m. Martha Harvey, then Eliza Jane Wise). Sallie Dunigan, David, and Reuben Riser moved to Newton County when Isaac Hollingsworth and family moved there from Hinds.

John Adam Riser had moved from Lawrence to Hinds County, acquired land grants, then died in 1827. His widow Ann Margaret Preacher Riser received land grants in her own name in 1828, then married widower Thomas Futch. The Riser family were early members of Palestine Baptist Church, and son Isaac Riser donated the land for Bethesda Baptist Church. The Riser home survived the Civil War because one of the daughters, Kathryn Ann, was ill with fever and the Yankees would not get her out so they could burn the house down. Six of eleven members of Isaac Riser’s household died during the Civil War. The Riser Family Cemetery is located across the road from the old home site on Owens Road in south central Hinds County, and although almost all gravestones were destroyed by loggers, it is marked and maintained, and contains 25 members of John Adam Riser’s family. Son George Riser’s descendants continue to live on Owens Road, and own the Riser Family Bible. In Newton County, the Risers were members of Macedonia Primitive Baptist Church.

Isaac Riser (1805-1863) and his wife Mary Ann Hollingsworth (1806-1860) had four sons and five daughters: Dr. John Adam (b. 1834, m. Margaret Clower); Katheryn Ann (1836-1863, m. Frank Martin); Elizabeth (b. 1835 m. Thomas A. Graves); Sarah G. (b. 1838, m. Richard Palmer Underwood); Pernecia Annette (b. 1840, m. John Hampton Collins Jr.); Lafayette Marion (1839-1863, never married); William Washington Riser (1841-1863, never married); Mary Ann (b. 1843, m. George Washington Clower); and Isaac Jr. (1848-1863, never married).

Younger brother George Riser (1816-1897) first married Martha Harvey (1821-1854), daughter of Thomas and Rebecca Harvey), and they had ten children before her death. He married second Eliza Jane Wise (1827-1903), daughter of Abijah Wise and granddaughter of John Wise and Judith Lacy of Utica, and they had six children. By Martha Harvey, the children were Thomas Adam (b. 1840, never married); William George (1841-1864, never married); Margaret Pracilla (b. 1843, m. John Wesley Lewis, then J. H. Hutson); Mary Elizabeth (b&d 1844); John Edward (1845-1849); Harvey Griffin (b. 1846, m. Stella Roberson); Martha Amelia (b. 1848, m. William Fortner); Cornelia Antinet (b. 1849, m. W. E. Jones); Sarah Ann (m. 1850, m. S. G. Griffin); and David Preacher (b. 1852, m. Elizabeth Hutson, then May Pennebaker). By Eliza Jane Wise, the children were Julia (1855-1857); Fannie (1857-1861); Henry Wise (1859-1865); Joseph Sherwood (b. 1862, m. Annie Vernon Puryear, then Mary Amelia Granberry, then Maggie Luella Hendrick); Isaac Thompson (b. 1864, m. Mary Jacob, then Mary Harrison); and Annie Lou (b. 1867, m. J. R. Brent).

First Family descendant member:
 Mary Collins Landin