His dislike for the drudgery of farm chores and the merciless Southern heat motivated him to plan a career in education.
While he barely remembered him, Wiley spent several summers as a boy with his widow, who often held him spellbound with her recollections of the period.
Wiley's family frequently hosted both a Confederate and a Union soldier, who would entertain them with their accounts of what they experienced when each had opposed the other in battle.
"[4] Wiley earned a BA at Asbury College in 1928 and a Ph.D. from Yale University in 1933, where he worked under Ulrich B. Phillips.
In 1934 Wiley became a professor of history at State Teachers College (now the University of Southern Mississippi).