William Wallace Wright

MCMAKEN, WRIGHT

Posted By: Judy Wight Branson (email)
Date: 10/14/2004 at 11:52:12

“The History of Madison County, Iowa”
Union Historical Company, Des Moines, 1879
page 571, 572

W. W. Wright, Ohio twp., farmer, Sec. 31; P.O. Prairie Grove; born in Leads county, Upper Canada, February 26, 1827; his father died when he was two years of age; at the age of fourteen he went with his mother to Oswego county, New York, where he lived eight years, and then returned to Canada, and remained two years, and then came to this State and located in Des Moines county; he enlisted in Co. D, First Iowa cavalry, in December, 1863, and was mustered out in February, 1866; he married Miss Sarah McMaken in September, 1860, and came to this county in 1867; owns eighty-three acres of land.

Transcriber's note: Transcribed as published, YOB should be 1836.
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“History of Madison County Iowa and Its People”
Herman A. Mueller, Supervising Editor
Chicago, The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1915

William Wallace Wright, a retired farmer and an honored member of the Grand army of the Republic of Winterset, was born in Ontario, Canada, on the 26th of February, 1836, a son of Charles and Diana (Mott) Wright, the former born in New York in 1799 and the latter in the Dominion of Canada about 1807. The father accompanied his parents to Canada when he was but a boy and was reared there. He followed farming during his active life and was well known in his community, although retiring in disposition. He passed away in 1839 when but forty years of age and was survived by his widow until 1888.

William Wallace Wright was the third in a family of four children and his educational opportunities were those afforded by the public schools in the neighborhood of his home and the public schools of the state of New York, as the family moved there in 1848. Ten years later he returned to Canada where he resided until 1861, in which year he came again to the States, settling in Des Moines county, Iowa. His energies were utilized in farming and in working in a mill until 1863, when he felt it to be his duty to assist in the preservation of the Union and accordingly he enlisted in December of that year in Company D', First Iowa Volunteer Cavalry. He served until the 15th of February, 1866, when he was discharged at Austin, Texas, and returned to Des Moines county, Iowa. In 1867 he removed to Ohio township, Madison county, and acquired title to land here. He cast in his lot with the agriculturists of the county and was successful in the work of cultivating the soil and raising stock. In 1881 he removed to Scott township, where he resided until 1893, when he put aside the cares and responsibilities of active life and removed to Winterset, where he is now living retired. He owned one hundred and forty-two and a half acres of land and as his place was well improved and kept in fine condition it was one of the valuable properties of his neighborhood.

On the 13th of September, 1866, Mr. Wright was united in marriage with Miss Sarah McMaken, who was born in Des Moines county, Iowa, on the 14th of March, 1843, a daughter of John Lowrey and Eliza (Cummins) McMakin, both born in Butler county, Ohio, the former in 1815 and the latter in 1818. Mr. McMakin passed away in Burlington, Iowa, in 1898, having survived his wife for many years, as she died in Des Moines county in 1870. He farmed in Ohio, but feeling that better opportunities awaited the agriculturist in the west, he came to Iowa in the fall of 1838 to attend land sales. The following year his family came with a colony of settlers, making the trip down the Ohio and up the Mississippi in a chartered boat. He owned three hundred and twenty acres of excellent land, and although it was unimproved when it came into his possession he made it a well developed farm. He was a member of the United Presbyterian church and was active in building a number of houses of worship in the early days. All public affairs were of interest to him and he was always eager to cooperate with others to secure the general good.

Mrs. Wright has always lived in Iowa and has experienced many of the privations that were the inevitable accompaniments of pioneer life. In her girlhood she attended the first schools of Des Moines county, which were then held in log schoolhouses, and also assisted her mother in the many and varied duties that fell to the lot of the pioneer women. Many tasks that are now done outside of the home in those days were performed by the women of the household, and theirs was a busy life indeed. Added to the never-ceasing work there were the severe winters to be endured, the absence of the conveniences and comforts of a later civilization and at times a sense of loneliness, but the women of that early day peoved themselves of Courageous Spirit and did their part not only willingly, but even gladly, rejoicing in the fact that homes were being built in the west and that in time the country would be upon as high a level of civilization as the eastern states. As Mrs. Wright grew to womanhood she assumed more and more responsibility, and since her marriage she has proved a helpmate indeed, and Mr. Wright gives her much credit for the success that he has gained. Both are ernest members of the Methodist church and he is also connected with Pitzer Post, No. 55, G.A.R., and values highly the opportunity of meeting with his comreds in blue. His policical allegiance is given to the republican party, and he takes a commendalbe interest in all public movements. He is honored and respected not only as a man of known integrity and as a successful farmer, but also as one who in the nation's hour of peril unflinchingly stood by the Union.

Madison Biographies maintained by Linda Griffith Smith.
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