John W. Wright, a well-known and substantial farmer and
landowner of Knox
township was born in that township and has been a
resident of this county all his life.
Mr. Wright was born on April. 26,
1862, and is a son of Samuel and Mary Ann
(Babb) Wright, both of whom
were born in Ohio and whose last days were spent in
this county. Samuel
Wright was born in Perry county, Ohio, April 20, 1825, and grew
up in
his native state, where he remained until in the early '50s when he came
over into
Indiana and bought an eighty acre farm in Knox township, this
county. When the Civil
war broke out he enlisted his services in behalf
of the Union and served as a soldier for
a year. He remained on that
farm in Knox township until 1881 when he moved to an
"eighty" he had
bought in Penn township and on this latter place he continued farming
until his retirement In 1894 and removal to Pennville, where his last days
were spent,
his death occurring on May 18, 1905. Samuel Wright was twice
married. By his first
wife, who was Susan Garber of Darke county Ohio,
he had two children, Alpheus
and Marietta, both of whom are deceased. On
March 2, 1854, he married Mary Ann
Babb, who also was born in Ohio, and
to that union there were born six children, of
whom three are living,
the subject of this sketch having a sister, Rachel, and a brother,
Frank
Wright. The three other sons in this family, now deceased, were Calvin,
Thomas and William Wright.
Reared on the home farm in
Knox township, John W. Wright received his schooling
in the neighborhood
schools and remained on the home farm until he had attained his
majority
when he rented a farm and began operations on his own account, gradually
extending these operations as his affairs prospered until he was operating
more than
200 acres of land. In 1902 Mr. Wright bought an "eighty" in
Penn township and made
his home there for a year, at the end of which
time he bought an "eighty" in Knox
township and returned to this latter
township. Three years later he returned to Penn
township, where he
bought another eighty-acre farm and remained for nine years, or
until he
bought his present farm of seventy-four acres in Knox township and returned
to his old home township where he has since resided. In addition to his
general farming
Mr. Wright pays considerable attention to the raising of
livestock and is doing well.
John W. Wright has been twice married, his
first wife having been Lillie May
Sullivan, who was born in this county,
a daughter of Levi and Elizabeth Sullivan,
and to whom he was married on
March 13, 1884. On August 23, 1902, he married Mary
Frances McEwen, of
this county, and to this union was born a child who died in
infancy.
Mrs. Wrightwas born in Montgomery county, Ohio, and was but a child
when
she came to Jay county with her parents, Horace and Elizabeth McEwen, who
became residents here and in this county spent their last days.
SOURCE: Milton T. Jay, M.D., History of Jay County Indiana, Historical
Publishing
Co., Indpls. 1922, Vol. II, pp. 385-386. Transcribed by
Eloine Chesnut.