Ohio History Journal

his last years, of incessant and intense activity and most successful achievement. His parents were of the best New Eng- land stock, and emigrated from Massa- chusetts to  Ohio in 1808.    Both his grandfathers were soldiers in the Colo- nial army during the war for American Independence. His father was a soldier in the war of 1812.    General Wright therefore descended from an ancestry dis- tinguished for patriotism and bravery. He was the youngest member of a family of five children, two sisters and three brothers. He was born, and spent his boyhood like so many Ohioans who have attained honor and high position, upon a farm. This one was located near Gran- ville, Licking county, this state, and there

442        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

of law, and was admitted to the bar in 1843, and immediately began

active practice upon his chosen vocation at Newark, Ohio.   He at

once showed especial ability and aptness in his profession, and be-

came in a short time the attorney for the three corporations then con-

structing railroads which were to pass through Newark, viz: The San-

dusky, Mansfield & Newark, The Central Ohio, and The Steubenville &

Indiana. In two of these companies he became a stockholder and

officer. In 1857 he was appointed receiver and general manager of The

Sandusky, Mansfield & Newark Railroad Company, which position he

retained until May, 1861, when he was called to Columbus by Governor

William Dennison to assist in equipping and sending to the field Ohio

soldiers for the Union Army. He entered the quartermaster's depart-

ment as first lieutenant, and was rapidly promoted until he reached the

head of the department and was made quartermaster general of the state,

with the rank of brigadier general. This responsible position he occupied

until 1864, discharging its duties with conspicuous fidelity and business

tact, and disbursing in the department from three to five millions of

dollars, all of which was done without the loss or discrepancy of a single

cent. In the meantime he was appointed colonel of the 106th Ohio Vol-

unteer Infantry, but was not permitted to go into the field, as he greatly

desired, but was detailed on duty at Columbus, and in addition to his

duties as quartermaster general, he was appointed by President Lincoln

an ordinance officer, and placed in charge of the Columbus Barracks, and

superintended the construction of the first buildings employed for that

purpose at the state capital. In 1867 he was appointed by Governor

Joseph D. Cox the first commissioner of railroads and telegraphs in

Ohio. He was reappointed to this office by Governor Rutherford B.

Hayes, discharging the duties of this position for some three years,

and receiving great praise for the methods he adopted in the manage-

ment of this important state department. His compilation of the laws

regulating railroads and telegraphs and the history of their lines then in

operation or projected was printed in a separate volume and had wide

circulation throughout the country and was highly appreciated and valued

by the officials of the railroad companies and the lawyers of the state.

In 1871 he resigned the commissionership of railroads and telegraphs to

accept the office of vice-president of The Atlantic & Great Western Rail-

road Company, of which General George B. McClellan was president.

When he was in that position he had charge of the legal work of the

railroad, with his headquarters at Meadville, Pennsylvania. After two

years service in that capacity, he resigned this position (1873), and

was made receiver of The Indianapolis, Bloomington & Western Railroad

Company of Indiana and Illinois. This position he held until 1880, when

the road was sold, and the company reorganized. His headquarters during

this time were in Indianapolis, where he remained until 1887, when he

returned to his former home in Columbus.

Editorialana.                       443

 

Since 1887, when General Wright retired from active business, he

resided at Columbus, enjoying the companionship of his children, grand-

children and innumerable friends. In 1846 General Wright married Miss

Netta A. Taylor of Newark, a most attractive and accomplished young

lady. From this most happy union four children survive: Mrs. Colonel

James Kilbourne, Mrs. Frank C. Eaton, of Columbus; Miss Helen

Wright, in charge of the Art department of the Congressional Library at

Washington, D. C.; and Mr. James Wright, who is engaged in the rail-

road business at Macon, Georgia. The wife of general Wright died many

years ago.

The above are the bare facts in the chief events of General Wright's

industrious and conspicuous career. They suggest in themselves the un-

ceasing activity of his life, the loyalty and devotion to his country and

state, the honor and character of the man, and the unusual esteem and

confidence of those who occupied the highest positions in the nation and

state. His ambition was of the purest and most unselfish kind. He em-

ployed his great opportunities not for his own preferment or renown

but singly with the view of serving his fellow men, and faithfully dis-

charging every responsibility that was placed upon him. Not even was

he tempted during that period when temptation was great and too often

made available by the avaricious and unscrupulous, to acquire riches. With

all his golden opportunities he lived and died comparatively a poor man.

During his laborious and responsible employment by the state, he re-

ceived but a modest salary, and as evidence of the recognition of his faith-

ful services in that critical period, the seventy-fourth general assembly

endeavored to make partial recompense for his inadequate pay by appro-

priating (April 16, 1900), a sum in further compensation.

General Wright was possessed of a remarkably cheerful disposition

and hopeful temperament. His chief delight was in intellectual enjoy-

ments, the history and literature of the past, as well as the live topics of

the day and the association of congenial and high-minded friends. He

was a great reader, and had, by close acquaintance with the choicest

spirits of other times and peoples, stored his mind with a wealth of

poetic and literary lore. With remarkable facility and tenacity of mem-

ory even to his last days he could repeat lengthy poems and passages

from the masterpieces of English and classical literature. He was a man

of the most optimistic and uplifting philosophy, and held fast to the

firmest faith in the pervading rule of an all-wise Providence, and the

final rightful outcome of all human affairs. He had the urbanity and

dignity but gentle and gracious manner of a gentleman of the old school,

always kindly and sympathetic, ever thoughtful and considerate of the

feelings and comfort of others; and he was a thrice welcome guest equally

in the circles of the old and the young.

He was, at the time of his death, the oldest living member of his

college fraternity, the Beta Theta Pi, and was frequently the most hon-

444         Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.

 

ored guest at their gatherings and re-unions. He was a member of the

military order of the Loyal Legion of the Grand Army of the Republic,

and of the Sons of the American Revolution, being president of the Ben-

jamin Franklin Chapter, (Columbus, Ohio), at the time of his death.

General Wright for many years past had taken an active part in the

work of The Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society. He was a

life member. February 25, 1897, Governor Asa Bushnell appointed Gen-

eral Wright trustee of the Society to fill out the term made vacant by

the decease of Judge William J. Gilmore. March 30, 1898, Governor

Bushnell appointed Mr. Wright trustee for the full term of three years

and at its expiration, April 5, 1901, Governor George K. Nash appointed

the general for another full term which would have continued until Feb-

ruary 18, 1904. Upon the death, June 5, 1899, of Rev. William E. Moore,

first vice president of the Society, General Wright was elected to that

office and was continued therein to the time of his death. As member,

trustee and vice-president, General Wright ever took the keenest and

liveliest interest in the work of the Society and the details of its affairs.

No one was more faithful in attendance upon the public gatherings or

the meetings of the trustees. His decease is a decided loss to the So-

ciety as well as to the community in which he lived.

The writer of these lines was especially indebted to General Wright

for a long and most loyal friendship. It was a pleasure and a profit to be

in his presence and many a delightful hour was passed in his companion-

ship. His kindly deeds and sunny disposition will not fade from our mem-

ory. Though he had been spared nearly two decades beyond the allotted

span of man, three score years and ten, yet seemed he to have drank at

the font of perennial youth for his days of the "sere and yellow leaf"

were serene and bright: his was-

 

"An age that melts in unperceived decay,

And glides in modest innocence away."

 

 

 

 

 

LIST OF LIFE MEMBERS OF THE OHIO STATE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL

SOCIETY WHO HAVE BEEN ELECTED AND WHO HAVE

QUALIFIED SINCE JULY 1, 1901.

Gen. Thomas M. Anderson, Sandusky.

Hon. Martin B. Bushnell, Mansfield.

Mr. Clarence Brown, Toledo.

Mr. A. J. Baughman, Mansfield.

Prof. Frank T. Cole, Columbus.

Hon. Albert Douglas, Chillicothe.

Mrs. Jessie Myer Davis, Columbus.

Major W. F. Goodspeed, Columbus.