In the books' own words, not ours, with obvious scanning errors fixed. The later printing (1901) is folded below the first. Families often supplied these stories to the publisher, so check key dates.
Born 1840, Randolph County
From The history of Holt and Atchison counties, Missouri : containing a history of these counties, their cities, towns, etc., etc. : biographical sketches of their citizens, general and local statistics, p (1882), A biographical history of Nodaway and Atchison counties, Missouri; (1901)
WILLIAM H. WRIGHT, section 31, was born in Randolph County, Indiana, August 16, 1840. His father, Empson Wright, was a Virginian by birth, while his mother, whose maiden name was Rachel Ruble, was a native of North Carolina. The youth of William H. was spent on a farm in his native county and in learning the carpenters' trade, he having commenced the study of that occupation in 1859, or when nineteen years of age. This he continued for two years. In 1861 he enlisted in the Third Indiana Cavalry and served for three years, taking part in numerous engagement, among which were the battles of Corinth, Stone River, Chickamauga, Mission Ridge, and several encounters about Atlanta. He was discharged in the fall of 1864, when he returned to Randolph County, Indiana, there being occupied at his trade for about five years. In the fall of 1869 he moved to Holt County, Missouri, engaged in farming for one year, and then came to Atchison County, Missouri, settling on his present place in Dale Township in the fall of 1870. Mr. Wright has a good farm of 228 acres of improved land, a good house, and an orchard containing 104 apple, 300 each and cherry trees. He has some thoroughbred Short Horn cattle and Poland-China hogs, of a high grade. Mr. Wright was married January 31, 1865, in Randolph County, Indiana, to Miss Letetia Mercer, daughter of John Mercer. She is a native of Preble County, Ohio, and was born January 1, 1845. Mr. and Mrs. Wright have five children: Laura Edna, born June 15, 1868; Mary Emma, born May 12, 1870; Bertha Florence, born October 6, 1875; Thomas Clyde, born August 13, 1880, and Hester Olive, born February 10, 1882. Mr. W. is Republican in politics.
BOUNDARIES-TOPOGRAPHY-TIMBER-BRIDGES— EARLY SETTLERS— CHURCHES —WEST. BORO-BUSINESS DIRECTORY— SECKET ORDERS— CHURCHES-SCHOOLS-POPULA-
At the regular November term, held November 22, 1871, it was " ordered that Tarkio Township in Atchison, County, Missouri, be divided into two parts, and the territory thus stricken off, be called Lincoln Township, and bounded as follows, to wit: Commencing on the southeast corner of section 33, township 66, range 38, at the eastern boundary of Atchison County, aforesaid, thence west on the south line of said township to the southwest corner of section 34, in township 66, range 40; thence north to the state line, thence east along said state line to the northeast corner of section 33, township 67 range 38, thence south along the east line of said county to the place of beginning.
The township of Lincoln is thus bounded on the north by the State of Iowa; on the east by Nodaway County, Missouri; on the south by Tarkio Township, and on the west by Polk Township. Its form is that of a rectangular parallelogram, measuring twelve miles east and west by seven miles north and south, and including eighty-four square miles.
Though a prairie district, properly, Lincoln Township is not without its groves of valuable timber. These, which are generally interspersed throughout the limits of the same, are, however, generally found on the banks of, or in the immediate neighborhood of the streams and water courses by which its surface is veined. Tarkio Creek, flowing in a due southwardly direction from the state of Iowa, enters Atchison County, Missouri, in section 31, township 6j, range 39, of Lincoln Township; bending thence to the westward it enters section 1, of township 66, range 40, on the east side of the northeast quarter, and flows in a southwestwardly direction, through the northern part of section 12, from near the center of which it flows in a nearly due southerly course, through sections 13, 24, 25 and 36, from which latter it enters Tarkio Township.
Middle, fork of Tarkio, rising in the state of Iowa, enters Atchison County, Missouri, in section 34, township 67, range 39, whence it flows in a southerly direction, entering township 66, range 39, in section 3, whence flowing westward into section 2, it bonds to the southwest through the northwest corner of section 11, and onward, in a generally southwesterly direction, through sections JO, 16, 21, 29 and 31, from the center of the southern boundary of which latter section it enters Tarkio Township.
East Tarkio, a stream of considerable volume, flowing in a southerly direction from the state of Iowa, enters Lincoln Township, in Atchison County, Missouri, near the northwest corner of section 32, township 67, range 38; after traversing which, and entering section 5, of township 66, range 38, it flows in a generally southwesterly course, through sections 6,7 and 18, into and through sections 13, 24, the northwest corner of 2.5, and through sections 26, 35 and 34, of township 66, range 39, into Tarkio Township.
Besides these three principal streams, which divide the township into four nearly equal districts, not less than a dozen tributaries of the same vein the surface of Lincoln Township, affording an abundant and inexhaustible supply of stock water.
As before stated, Lincoln Township includes within its limits several groves of timber. The most northern of these is embraced in portions of sections I, 6, 31 and 32, embracing in its area considerably over 800 acres, and extending into the borders of the state of Iowa. In the southwestern corner of the township, lying chiefly in section 34, township 66, range 40, and extending westward into the adjoining section 35, is a grove of 400 or 500 acres of timber. Along the line of the Tarkio, in sections 13, 24, 25, and 36, chiefly on the left or east bank of that stream is a belt of timber varying in with from one fourth to one and a half miles in with. In sections 29, 31, and 32, in the southern part of the township and generally on the east side of Middle Tarkio Creek, is a body of timber including not less than 1,200 acres. Timber in Lincoln Township, in small quantities is found in sections 17, 18, 13 and 24, township 66, range 39, on both sides of and along the banks of East Tarkio, and also on the waters of Long Branch, a tributary of East Tarkio, in sections 19, 20, 29 and 30, township 66, range 39, within two miles of the Nodaway County line.
The bridges which cross the streams flowing through the area of Lincoln Township and into adjoining townships, are thirty and one-half in number. These, in common with those in other portions of the county, are of various sizes. The exact location, size and character of these bridges will be found in the chapter entitled Bridges.
As printed in The history of Holt and Atchison counties, Missouri : containing a history of these counties, their cities, towns, etc., etc. : biographical sketches of their citizens, general and local statistics, p (1882). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.
W. H. WRIGHT.
[This passage is too damaged in the scanned book to reproduce. See the original book.]
In 1865 Mr. Wright was married, in Randolph county. Indiana, to Letitia Mercer, a daughter of John and Mary Mercer. John Mercer was born in Ireland and was a cooper by trade. He died in Randolph county at the age of sixty. His wife survives him, making her home with a daughter in Indiana. Mr. and Mrs. INIercer were the parents of the following children: Mrs. Hester Howell; Margaret, now Mrs. W. T. Hubbard, of Atchison county; Letitia, deceased, who was the wife of our subject; James, of Ohio; William, of Indiana; Mrs. Clara Moore; Mrs. Rebecca McClellan; Mrs. Emma Williams; and Mrs. Florence Cable, with whom the mother resides. Mr. and Mrs. Wright were the parents of five children, who are: Edna, the wife of J. W. Laird, of Oklahoma; Fmman, the wife of J. R. Wolkup, of Atchison county; Bertha, the wife of J. R. Dewall, of Oklahoma; Clyde, the bookkeeper and assistant cashier of the Farmers' Bank of Fairfax; and Olive. Mrs. Wright died in March, 1885. She was a constant attendant of the Cumberland Presbyterian church, where she was an active worker. Mr. Wright remarried, in 1898, this time choosing.Mrs. Daisy E. Grav, a widow with two sons. She was a daughter of Mr. Taller, of Kentucky. She has one brother, John Taber, a miner living in Williams, Arizona. Mr. 'right has no children h\ this secijnd union.
As printed in A biographical history of Nodaway and Atchison counties, Missouri; (1901). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.
Named in this biography: W. H. Wright (b. 1848)
The printed record stops around 1882. We trace your line from there down to you, with every source cited.