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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Arkansas County, Arkansas published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1890.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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William Joseph Wright, originally from Ireland, emigrated to this country in 1846, locating in Vermont. His father, Frank Wright, was reared and educated in England, and joined the English army, in which he was soon promoted to the rank of colonel for his bravery. He was in the English army during the Revolutionary War, and led the “Twentieth Foot Regiment” at the battle of Waterloo. His wife, Mary (Hopkins) Wright, also of Ireland, was the mother of five children. William J. moved from Vermont to Kentucky in 1847, and was engaged in steam-boating on the Mississippi, between Louisville, St. Louis and New Orleans, until 1852, when he was employed on railroads in different parts of the country for several years. In 1879 he bought land in Texas and engaged in farming for two years, after which, coming to Arkansas, he located at Pine Bluff, where he took a position as foreman in the shops of the Cotton Belt Railroad. He has been in the employ of that road for about seven years in various capacities, part of the time as contractor and for a time as conductor, his long experience qualifying him for almost any position. Mr. Wright married Miss Bridget Martin, also a native of Ireland, and they are the parents of twelve children, five living: Mary (wife of Joe Woodland, foreman of the car department of the Cotton Belt Railroad, residing at Pine Bluff), Charlotte (wife of Alexander Frenitell, also of Pine Bluff, and who holds the position of master car builder for the above railroad), Frank (an engineer on the Trans-Continental), William and Henry (both engineers on the same road). Mrs. Wright died in 1876, in the State of Mississippi, where they had resided for a short time. In 1888 Mr. Wright gave up the railroad life, in which he had been engaged nearly all his life, and bought a tract of land consisting of 760 acres, partially prairie land and the balance finely timbered. The average purchase price of this was $7.50 per acre. Since then he has sold all of the land, but forty acres of timber, at an average of $20 per acre. Subsequently purchasing the New Hampshire House, at Stuttgart, he has since improved it, making it the leading house in the county. Mr. Wright’s second wife was Miss Annie M. Rowley, a native of Connecticut and of Irish descent. They have five children living: Aradeneck, Albert, Jessie, Charles and Vennefred. He is a member of the A. F. & A. M. and of the I. O. O. F. Mr. Wright, wife and children are members of the Catholic Church.

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This family biography is one of 50 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Arkansas County, Arkansas published in 1890.  For the complete description, click here: Arkansas County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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