Christian H. Isely was born in Switzerland in 1828 to Christian and Barbara Otzenberger Isely, immigrating to America with his family, which included siblings Jacob, Henry, Elizabeth, and Barabara, at an early age. They settled in Holmes County, Ohio in 1831.

In 1849 Christian Isely began working his way west, teaching and working as a carpenter in St. Joseph, Missouri and exploring the Kansas-Nebraska territories after they opened for Euro-American settlement in 1854. In 1861 he married Elise Dubach (1842-1936), also a Swiss immigrant.

Christian and Elise remained in St. Joseph until 1872 when they moved to Fairview, Brown County, to farm with Christian's brothers Henry and Fred. Christian and Elise had 11 children, 8 of whom survived to adulthood: Adolph, William Henry, Mary Alice, John Calhoun, Lydia Jeanette, Olivia Grace, Frederick Benjamin, Charles Christian, James Walter, Bliss, and Dwight.

Christian H. Isely died in Wichita in 1919.

Henry Isely was born near Winesburg, Ohio in 1841. He grew up and married Sophia Hochsttetler there, enlisting at the age of 21 with the 67th Ohio Volunteer Infantry in 1862. He remained in the army until the end of the war.

Following the Civil War, Isely moved to St. Joseph, Missouri and taught school. By 1867 he was settled in Brown County, Kansas with several acres of farmland. He was involved in local Brown County politics, elected clerk of Walnut Township in 1872 and clerk of Brown County in 1873. He also served as representative for the county in the State Legislature from 1881-1883. By 1903 Isely had become President of the Fairview State Bank.

He and Sophia had one child, William F. Isely. Heny Isely died in 1904.