The Wright Families of Randolph County, Indiana

" My grandfather, James Wright, was a Carolinian Quaker, who fled to the wilds of the Holston, in Tennessee, to escape conscription into the army, in the war of 1776. My father, John Wright, was puny at first, and was rocked in an old trunk-cover lined with the skin of a sea animal, the hair on which is said to rise and fall with the times. As he grew up, he gained strength and vigor. He married Margaret Reece, in Carolina. About 1804, the Wrights emigrated to Ohio, to military lands. In 1814, or thereabouts, the twelve-mile strip came into market, and some fourteen or fifteen families, who lost their lands on the military tract through a flaw in the title, came, soon afterward, to Randolph County. They had fine improvements in Ohio, but they lost the whole. James and Abram Wright moved first of this company. My father came out and selected some land, but did not move then. James and Abram Wright settled on Eight-mile creek. William Haworth came with them. William Diggs and

Armsbee Diggs came from Carolina about the same time. William Way, Sr., and his sons, William, Paul and Henry, all grown and married, came also. I think these came in the fall of 1815. James and Abram Wright moved soon afterward from Clinton County, Ohio.

" March 10, 1816, my brother Isaac (one of the triplets), and myself started, with one horse for us both, from Clinton County, Ohio, to go to the woods of Randolph. With a few things in a sack slung across the horse (among them, seven or eight apples, the last of the season), we set off in high glee, I being fourteen years old, taking turns in riding, or, as it is called, " riding an(l thing, " a very common practice then. Our route was Waynesville, Springboro, Eaton, New Paris, Williamsburg, Ind., and so on to Randolph. We got to brother James' glad enough. Isaac said, " I had to walk nearly all the way. Solomon was so chicklegged he could hardly go at all." We went to work on father's place to clear and build. One day I had laid off" my coat and vest on the leaves, when the fire ran and caught them, and burnt leaves, coat, vest and all. As I held up the smoking shreds. Uncle Haworth cried, "Save the buttons!" "There are no buttons to save," was the curt reply. There was I, a poor lad fourteen years old, one hundred and twenty miles from home, with no clothes but shirt and pants. I had to wear an old overcoat of brother James', a world too large and long, which made me the laughingstock at all the log-rolling. In warm weather, I gladly shed the old coat and took to shirt and pants.

" I stayed through the summer, and were turned home: and in about a year father and I came through with a load of provisions. A year after that, father moved to his land. Cabin Creek was so named on a trip we made to David Connor's, below Wheeling. Seeing a group of Indian cabins on the bank of the creek, some one cried, " Let us call the stream ' Cabin Creek,' and Cabin Creek it is to this day. Muncie was so named from Muncie [Montzie], an old Indian. The Indians complained of Connor's whisky. " Too much ' Sinewa,' " they said. I saw the first lot sold in Winchester.

"Once in school, near Dunkirk, on the last day, the girls got behind the chimney and pushed the fire-place and back wall over into the house, and scattered the clay all over the floor, grand fun. they thought.

" My oldest boy, George Washington, killed a bear. He was quite young, and people would ask, " Is that the boy who killed the bear ?" He skinned the bear and brought it [the skin] home.

" One day some white men and Indians were jumping near the mill pond. One white man jumped with stones in his hands. The Indians were angry. One of them threw the stones into the pond, exclaiming, " No fair !"

"Nathan Thornburg came one day and said, " We are starving for meat." We went hunting, but found nothing. Just as we were going home, a deer started up. I shot the deer and cried to Thornburg, " There is your meat; go get it," which he did.

"One evening a man came and said, " There is a bear over the hill yonder." We went, and, sure enough, the dogs had tried a bear. Thornburg snapped and I snapped. He stuck in a new flint and shot the bear outright. One man said, not very long ago, " The telegraph cannot come here; there is no watercourse." Once, as we were traveling near Smitbfield, we came upon a gang of Indians, lying on the ground under the oak trees. The dog marked, and they jumped up and hastily wrapped themselves up in some way. One Indian asked me for " big ax, to cut bee tree." I told him, "No; got none." He brought me some denison, as black as black cloth, and gave me a piece. I took it. The young man with me took none. The Indian was displeased, and said, " No good white man.".

" In 1833, my wife noticed the "stars falling." She went to the door and cried, " 0, come and look, quick, or the stars will all be down !" While we were moving from Ohio, aa we stopped one evening, a young man sat on a stone and sang:

" 0, when shall I see Jesus, and reign with Him hove?"

The occasion was affecting. We felt lonely and sad, and wept freely.

"Between Williamsburg and White River, an old ewe " gave out," and we laid her on a tree-root " in the wilderness." Seven weeks afterward we found her there, feeding about, and took her home. A great many Indians were here then. I used to hop with them and shoot at a mark. We lived in harmony till two young white men went down below Stony Creek and stole two Indian ponies and escaped to Ohio. Shortly, the Indians went after them. They said, " No good white man; steal Indian ponies." I always noticed that, in the Indian difficulties, the whites were mostly to blame, and that the trouble generally arose from stealing their horses or from selling them liquor.

" A while after we came to Randolph, father sent me to mill, on the Stillwater below Greenville. I followed the Indian trail through the forest, seeing not a living soul, except that I met me carry some Indians, who, upon my asking them " how far to Greenville ?" held up six fingers, to mean, as I supposed, six miles. When I got to Greenville, the old fort was there in decay and partial ruin, and not much of a town. Passing on, I found the mill on Stillwater, some miles below, got my " grinding," and returned safely home. This was probably before 1820.

Solomon Wright is probably mistaken, by at least one year, in his idea of the time when he came to Randolph. It seems well settled that William Diggs and the Ways came in the fall of 1816, and that the Wrights, etc., none of them till at least the spring, or, more probably, the fall, of 1817. They did, some of them, certainly arrive that fall, and that was probably the time, December, 1817, when William Wright went to White River, as told by John Fisher, he thinking that wagon the first to White River.

The following reminiscences of Solomon Wright were written and furnished by Miss Lillie A. Garrett:

" About the time grandpa settled on this farm, he saw a young fawn floating down White River, rescued it from the water and put it into a hollow sycamore; and when he came back from hunting, took it home. He kept it several years. Grandpa says, ' I put a bell on it, and it would go off into the woods, and wild deer would follow it; and when I would hear the bell I would look out for the deer and kill them.'

" He became awful cross, and when anybody came, he would turn his hair back, bow up his neck, meet them at the gate, and they had to stand back or be " floored." One day, two boys were going to meeting, and " Buck" made them "climb" to get out of his way; and he kept them up their saplings till it was too late for meeting. At last he " bunted" over one of the children, and grandpa shot him.

" Jacob Wright and Sarah Wright ( were the names on the first marriage license issued at Winchester.

" Abram Wright and Isom Garrett were pioneer teachers. One taught at Dunkirk and one on Green's Fork, and the schools used to meet to " spell" against each other. Those " spelling matches" were gay times, and were useful, to boot.

" To persons inquiring the way to Winchester, Charles Conway used to reply, " Just go on as far as you can get among the logs and brush, and you are in Winchester." Paul W. Way surveyed the town plat, and Abram Wright carried the chain for him. David Wright " cried" the lots at the first sale. He said to David Wysong, "That young man is good-looking, and he would look still better it he would bid just a little higher." Hiram Mendenhall and others, between 1830 and 1840, joined their possessions and formed a " Community" at Unionsport. The town still stands, but the " Community" was dissolved long, long ago.

"In time of the " Millerism" excitement, a deep snow fell, which the frightened devotees predicted would turn to brimstone.

The first teacher at Cabin Creek was Mary Ann Ring. Grandpa sent the tv.o oldest children. The little '' hits" hid their f'r 'er, tied up in a rag, under the floor before they entered the schoolroom on the first day.

The Diggs', Littleberry, Marshall and Franklin taught the school in after times, and the " Wright children" grew fond of learning, eight attending at one time. And future years found them at Winchester, Williamsburg, Liber, etc., and then as teachers through the region. Great interest was taken by them in temperance, anti-slavery, etc. Fanny, the youngest, now the wife of Judge R. S. Taylor, of Fort Wayne, used to stand on a chair and recite:

In the " Separation," most of the Cabin Creek Friends left the "Body." Amos Bond, J. H. Bond, Solomon Wright, etc., were noted Anti-slavery Friends. Gre; enthusiasm prevailed, and lectures, papers, pamphlets, etc., were the order of the day. The underground railroad track passed this way, and " Cabin Creek" was one of the chief stations.

When " Birney's vote" was found to be about 7,000, Hiram Mendenhall, who presented the " petition" to Henry Clay, at Richmond, Ind., said, " Thank God, there are left yet 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal, nor kissed his image " — referring to the rumor that so many kissed Henry Clay. Grandpa kept an inn for many years, as this road was a great Western thoroughfare.

The Van Amburg show passed here once, and the men, some of them, stayed overnight, and the elephant stood in the yard, tied to a young walnut tree.

Some Mormon converts once camped at the creek ford, and their preacher declared they were going to Nauvoo, protected by the same power that guarded Daniel in the "lions' den." They seemed sincere and hearty in their faith. Abram Wright attended a meeting of Mormons, at which the people wept profusely under the words of a speaker who said he had prayed all night to be delivered from the devil, whose chains he could hear rattling down the stairs.

" Samuel Peters, a highly respected young colored man, used to board with us. He went South, after the war, was cashier of the Freedmen's Bank, at Shreveport, La., and had been elected to Congress there, when he died in the fall of 1873 by yellow fever, which struck that city so fatally at that time. First burial in Friends' Burying-Ground at Cabin Creek was a child of Mordecai Bond's, and the next was Jethro Hiatt's wife.

First mill in Stony Creek Township was built at Windsor, by John Thornburg, 1827. The first cooking-stove was owuti by Solomon Wright, bought at Newport.

A criminal with his legs fastened round the horse, once stopped for dinner. Two men held the clanking chains upon his ankles as he walked into the house. " Look at that and be honest, boys," said grandpa to his sons, who were standing by and gazing at the poor fellow.

"Eminent Quaker preachers of the older time, in Randolph County, were Isora Puckett, Benjamin Cox and others. In later years. Martha Wooton, Daniel Puckett, Charles Osborn, etc., labored here to some extent, though not residents within the limits of the county.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

EDWARD WRIGHT, subject of this biography was one of Randolph Count ti Highland County, Ohio, August 18, 1810. He was the son of Judge John and Nancy (Brown) Wright, and was the oldest of a family of three children, all of whom are deceased. He came with his parents to this county February 2, 1817. His father entered lf,0 acres of land three-fourths of a mile northwest of Winchester, and lived on it for about seven years. He then sold out, and bought 100 acres of unimproved land, one mile west of Winchester, and lived on it for twenty-five years. He then sold out to Isaac Ray, and moved to Whitley County, this Stale, where he remained until his death, which occurred in 1847, and his wife died in the same county, June 5, 1873. Edward lived with his parents, following the occupation of farming most of the time until he was of age. He received a liberal education from the common schools, the best offered at that time. He was Deputy County Cleric for a time under Charles Conway, and Deputy Sheriff under James Beaman. He was married to Mary Ann Ileaston, December 21, 1837. After marriage, ho and his excellent wife settlcil on her father's farm, and remained for one year. They then bought ICO acres of land one-half mile south of Winchester, where they lived for one year, when they sold out to Christian Heaston, and moved back to Mrs. Wright's either, and remained about four years. They then bought 160 acres where his widow now resides, and moved upon it March 14, 1844. Mr. Wright subseiiueiitly added to this farm, by purchase, until it consisted of 268 iicros, with 183 acres under a high state of cultivation, lie and his wife accumulated property very rapidly, and prior to Mr. Wriglit's death they came into possession of 1,090 acres of land in this county. This land has all been deeded to their children, with the exci'tion of 444 acres, which is owned and controlled by Mrs. Wright. Mr. Wright died August 23, IS80. About eleven years previous to his death he bad the misfortune of breaking a limb caused by a fall, which was soon followed by a stroke of piiralysis from which he never fully recovered, and caused him nich suffering. Up to the time of tlio accident he had been a man of strong constitution, and did a great amount of hard physical:aber. He vina noted for his industry, frugality and generosity. In politics, he was a st.auch Democrat. His genial and affable manner, in connection with his hospitality, won for him a large circle of devoted and admiring friends. He was a kind and devoted husliaml, an affectionate father and honored citizen. Of the direct descendants of the Wright family none live to perpetuate the name.

Maev Ann (Heaston) Wriqht, widow of Edward Wright, was born in Montgomery County, Ohio, April 13, 1819. She is the.laughter of David and Catharine Ileaston, and is the oldest of a family of four children, three of whom are living. She came to this State and county with her parents when out doors, windows or chimney, and one row of puncheons for a floor. She bad t.' endure all of the trials and hardships of a pioneer life, being deprived of educational advantages and many other necessaries of life. Yet the.se deprivations gave her a discipline which was of great value to her in after years. She remained with her parents until her marriage, which was at the age of eighteen years and eight months. She and her husband were neighbors' children, and had known each other all of their lives. Mrs. Wright is the mother of four living children (one having died in infancy), as follows, Catharine Monks, born February 20, 1839; Eliza Lykins, September 18, 1841; Nancy Curry, May 11, 1844; Man- A. Romizer, June 1, 1848. Mrs. Wright is the grandmother of ten children, six boys and four girls. Since the death of her husband she has retained the homestead farm of 268 acres, and other land to the amount of 176 acres, in her own possession, and takes entire management thereof, assisted by her son in-law, John Romizer. The homestead farm is well improved, being supplied with excellent and commodious buildings, a sketch of which is given in this work. Mrs. Wright is a woman of rare executive ability and forethought, is well preserved for one of her age, and possesses a great amount of energy and perseverance., She is a most genial and intelligent lady, and is honored and beloved by all who know her.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

ISAAC WRIGHT. The subject of this sketch, a native of Virginia, born March 18, 1808. His parents were Francis and Agnes Wright, who came with their family to this county in 18.S6. The land was covered with a heavy growth of timber, and the Wrights, like others, were necessarily exposed to hard labor. They cut wheat with sickles for many years, and thrashed it with fails. Mr. Wright first married Miss Miranda Butts, who bore him one child, Sarah, who afterward died. He again married Miss Sarah Grady, by whom he had seven children, viz., Margaret, Frank, Patrick, Jacob, James, John and Isaac. Mr. Wright is again left a widower. He owns 160 acres of valuable land near Winchester, on the bottoms of White River.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

ISRAEL WRIGHT, farmer, P. 0. Winchester, was born in Warren County, Ohio, October 23, 1812, and is a son of Samuel and Sarah Wright, deceased. He was reared on a farm, and educated in a subscription school. He came to this county with his parents in 1830, and assisted in clearing the farm. He was married, November 21, 1834, to Miss Elizabeth Hufi'man, by whom he had eight children, six living, viz., Zimri, Marion, Austin, Elias, Stephen and Sarah C. One son, Uriah, lost his life while fighting for his country in the late war, and was buried on Island No, 27; Austin and Elias were also in the war. Mrs. Wright died August 20, 1880, loved and respected by all. She was an affectionate vrige and a tender mother. Mr.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

JOHN D. WRIGHT, farmer, P. O. Farmland, was born March 0, 1837, in this county. His father, Solomon R., was originally from Tennessee, where he was born in 1801; from thence settled in this State about the year 1818. Mr. Wright was united in marriage to Miss Lydia A. Jackson, who was born September 28, 1847. Five children blessed this union, of whom four are living: Eva M., born October 15, 1860; Everett E., October 19, 18U9; Maud E., February 27, 1873, and Lydia A., January 20, 1875. He was educated in the common schools of the State, attending Liber College one term. He is of Quaker descent and a member of that church. Mr. Wright has followed farming and stock-raising from boyhood, and owns a fertile farm of 179 acres. Republican in politics, and an honest, industrious citizen.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

CURTIS K. WRIGHT.

By a life consistent in motive and action and because of his many fine personal qualities, Curtis K. Wright of Union City, Randolph county, has earned the confidence and respect of the people of this locality, and in his home, which is the center of a large social circle, there is always in evidence a spirit of generosity. He was in his earlier years engaged in various pursuits, but the latter years have found him one of the leading undertakers of this section of the state. He has been content to maintain his home here most of his life, where he has not only attained a high degree of success in his business ventures but also established a reputation for uprightness in all the relations of life.

Mr. Wright was born in Wayne township, Randolph county, December 4, 1850. He is a son of William Wright, a contractor, and during the last year of his business life he was engaged in the furniture business in Union City. His death occurred in 1909 at the age of seventy-seven years. He married Margaret Jane Kerlinger, who was born in Maryland, and her death occurred in March, 1905, at the age of seventy-six years. These parents were members of the Disciple church and were loyal to its teachings. John Wright, the paternal grandfather, was a native of Pennsylvania. In early life he followed farming, later conducting a hotel. His death occurred in Wayne county, Indiana, in 1874, at the age of seventy-six years. His wife was Elizabeth Stewart. She was a Disciple and she died in the early eighties. The material great-grandfather was James Stewart, who was born in northern Ireland, from which country he came to America when a young man and settled in Pennsylvania. The mother of our subject was known in her maidenhood as Margaret Jane Kerlinger, and was of German ancestry; she was but three years old when her parents both died, and she was brought up in the home of an uncle who lived in Baltimore, Maryland. When she was about eighteen years old she came to Wayne county, Indiana, where she met William Wright and they were afterwards married.

Curtis K. Wright was educated in the common and. high schools, graduating from the latter at Union City in 1868. When a boy he learned the carpenter's trade, at which he worked until he went into the grocery business as a clerk with B. F. Stewart, continuing in the same ten years, enjoying a good trade and then returned to carpentering. In 1883 he went to Muncie, Indiana, and engaged in the furniture and undertaking business, which he continued there with very gratifying results for a period of nine years, then sold out and removed to Union City and again followed the grocery business for two years, then formed a company, under the firm name of Wright & Snell, in the undertaking business, which they conducted four years, then our subject resumed carpentering for eighteen months, then bought out the undertaking firm of J. M. Campbell, changing the name to C. K. Wright & Worth, and for a period of sixteen years they continued doing a large business in Union City, Mr. Worth selling his interest in 1911 to Gerald S. Van Dyke, and the firm is now Wright & Van Dyke. They are modernly equipped in every respect for their work and have well-kept parlors, and high grade and prompt service is their aim. This is one of the most popular and best firms of its kind in this section of the state.

Politically, Mr. Wright is a Republican. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Improved Order of Red Men and Rebekahs.

Mr. Wright was married March 23, 1871, to Sarah M. Polly, who was born in South Salem, Indiana, January 9, 1849. She is a daughter of David Polly, who died several years ago. His wife, Anna Spencer, is also deceased. Mr. Wright has one brother, John T. Wright, a merchant in Kansas City, Kansas, and a sister, Mrs. Katherine O. Headington, died in Toledo, Ohio, in

[This passage is too damaged in the scanned book to reproduce. See the original book.]

To Curtis K. Wright and wife one child has been born: Harry H., born January 26, 1873, in Union City and was educated in the schools of Muncie, finishing in the high school in Union City; he married Emily Grooms, who was born in Flint, Michigan, in 1881, and was graduated from the high school there; three sons have been born to them, namely, Curtis G., was born in, Pontiac, Michigan, July 5, 1903; Frederick, born in Flint, Michigan, April 5, 1906; William J., born April 5, 191 1, at Orellia, Ontario, Canada. Harry H. Wright had full charge of the painting department of the Standard Vehicle Company, of Pontiac, Michigan, from 1902 to 1906, and in 1907 he had charge of the body department there, where automobiles are finished, and one hundred men under his direction. From 1907 to 1909 he had charge of the Buick painting department, and from 1909 to 191 3 he had full charge of the painting department for the Tudhope Carriage and Automobile factory at Orellia, Ontario, Canada. He is regarded as being one of the best in his line of business and is known in every important factory of automobiles and vehicles in the Union and Canada and his services are in great demand. He has a method of preparing paints which is superior to any yet devised and it is known only to himself and many factories are offering him handsome sums for it, but he prefers to keep the same under his own control.

As printed in the source². Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

CYRUS CLYDE WRIGHT, D. D. S.

An able young exponent of the science of dentistry as we know it in this progressive twentieth century is found in the person of Dr. Cyrus Clyde Wright, of Lynn, Randolph county. He seems to have all the natural attributes of head and heart for the successful performing of his chosen vocation, and the pronounced success he has already attained would bear out ' this statement, and to him the future years hold much of promise. He had the tact to see when but a boy that his true bent was in this direction, but he did not depend on Xature to do it all for him, but set about diligently to advance himself in the science and he has been a close student of the same and proposes to keep fully abreast of the profession in all its future changes and improvements.

Dr. Wright was born in Steuben county, Indiana, May 2, 1882. He is a son of ilonroe F. and Caroline (Parr) Wright. The father was born October 2, 1858, and is a son of Elbridge and Martha (Cochran) Wright. Elbridge Wright was a native of Vermont, of a sterling old Xew England family. He came to Indiana in an early day and entered a farm in Randolph county, which is still in possession of the family. Here he spent the rest of his life, dying in 1879. He was a successful farmer and became owner of about three hundred acres of valuable land. Martha Cochran was a native of the state of Xew York. Her death occurred in 1892.

Monroe F. Wright, mentioned above, grew up on the old homestead and there he worked when a boy attending the rural schools in the winter months.

He has devoted his entire life to farming and has met with success all along the line. Politically he is a Republican, and in religious matters is a member of the Christian church. He and Caroline Parr were married in 1878. She was born near New Philadelphia, Ohio, May 12, 1856, and she came with her parents to Steuben county, Indiana in 1862.

Dr. Wright grew up on the home farm and made himself generally useful about the place when a boy. He received a common school education. He began life for himself by working in a cement factory which he continued for five years. He was economical and at the end of that time had enough money to take up his more serious life work. The above named factory was at Stroh, Indiana. After severing his connection* with the same he entered the Indiana Dental College at Indianapolis, where he made an excellent record and from which he was graduated in 1907. He located at Ft. Wayne for the practice of his profession, but remained there only five months, when he moved to Angola, Indiana and was.there a year, then came to Lynn, where he has continued successfully to the present time, and now enjoys a large and ever-growing patronage.

Politically, Mr. Wright is a Republican, and fraternally he belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Masonic Order, and is now worshipful master of the local lodge of the latter. He is a member of the Royal Arch Masons of Winchester. Religiously, he belongs to the Christian church.

Dr. Wright was married November 16, 1910 to Maud Skelley, who was born at Stroh, Indiana and there grew to womanhood and was educated. The date of her birth is December 19, 1882. To this union one child has been born, Caroline L. Wright.

As printed in the source². Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

FRANK E. WRIGHT.

One of the enterprising young publicists of northeastern Indiana who is deserving of commendation for what he is accomplishing in his special sphere of endeavor is Frank E. Wright, of The Lynn Herald. He has made good in the field of journalism because he has worked hard and persistently and because he has not permitted the usual obstacles that best the lives of all who enter on the thorny path of the "wieder of the quill" to down him.

Mr. Wright was born in Lynn, Indiana, November 19, 1877. He is a son of H. T. and Mary E. Wright, the father born in Bethel, Indiana, in 1853,, and the mother born in Arba, Indiana, in 1854. He was reared on the old home farm and was graduated from the Lynn common schools, leading his class, at the age of fourteen years. He subsequently attended Lynn high school and then took a two years' Normal course, expecting to teach, but after securing his license changed his plans and attended the Cincinnati Mohler Barber College and after graduating opened up a barber shop in his home town, enjoying an extensive trade for four years. Not seeing an advancement and a chance for intellectual growth in the business he sold out in the spring of 1902 and purchased a one-half interest in The Lynn Heraid, which had been started in 1898 by S. H. Light & Son. In the short time of ten months Mr. Wright mastered the business sufficiently to warrant his purchasing the entire business, becoming sole proprietor, publisher and editor, on March 1, 1903.

The paper which had had a hard struggle to live underwent decided changes, becoming a strong factor in the 'community and county. The subscription list soon quadrupled itself, and the plant became a lucrative business, enabling the proprietor to bring to Lynn the first slug type casting machine ever brought into Randolph county, the first cylinder press ever run in Lynn, and also to purchase a substantial business home for the plant and one of the best residences on South Garfield street of his home town.

fi;ank k. wkkjiit.

Mr. Wright was married January 14, 1903, to Lillian L. Fudge, who passed away in the year 19 10, leaving two little sons, one of which was less than a week old at the time of his mother's death.

Mr. Wright was again married on May 16, 19 12, his last wife being known in her maidenhood as Mabel R. Riddlebarger, an accomplished musician and talented school teacher of Ridgeville, Indiana. She has done much to aid in the success of the newspaper work of her husband, besides becoming a mother to the two little sons, J. Harold and Donald Lee.

Mr. Wright is a prominent member of the Friends church, and politically, is a loyal Republican, which party has honored him on various occasions as a delegate to Congressional conventions and a place on local tickets.

Mr. Wright has done considerable work on the lecture platform, receiving especially high press comment on his lecture, "Anchored to a Dead-head." As a speaker he is forceful, earnest and at times truly eloquent and never fails to both instruct and entertain his audience.

As printed in the source². Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.