My Genealogy Hound

Col. John C. Wright, planter, Eldorado, Ark. This gentleman is one of the prominent citizens and most extensive planters in the county. He was originally from Talbot, Ga., where his birth occurred in March, 1835, and was the second of seven children, the result of the union of Major and Martha (Crowell) Wright, the father a native of Maryland and the mother of South Carolina. The father came to Georgia in about 1825, and at once engaged in merchandising. He settled and laid out the town of Macon, where he soon erected a storehouse and was one of the first merchants. He remained there until about 1833, and then removed to Talbotton, where he resided until 1838, after which he removed to Russell County, Ala. The Indians were still in this country and bothered Mr. Wright a great deal. At one time, had the family not received warning from some friendly Indians, they would all have been massacred. In 1843 Mr. Wright moved to Ark., settled near Lisbon, Union County, and secured a large tract of land. To the original tract he continued adding until the outbreak of the war, when he owned several thousand acres. He came to this county involved, and at the outbreak of the war he had amassed a property of over $100,000, all made from farming operations in this county. During the strife he did all he could to advance the Confederate cause, and at the close was bankrupt. He died in June, 1867, at the age of sixty-seven years. Mr. Wright was an ardent and enthusiastic Whig in his political views, and was a public spirited citizen. He was one of the founders of the Mount Holly Presbyterian Church and Academy, was one of the first elders of the church, and assisted in building the same up to prominence. The mother died in September, 1887, at the age of seventy-six years. When the Wrights came to Arkansas, Col. John C. was but seven years of age, and he attended such schools as the country afforded until eighteen years of age, after which he began to assume charge of his father’s estate. This he continued until twenty-four years of age when he married Miss Alabama Newton, native of Alabama, and the daughter of John and Penelope Newton. Mr. Newton was one of the pioneers of this county and a representative citizen. He bought property in the limits of El Dorado in 1846 and soon erected the fine residence in which our subject now resides. He was one of the principal patrons of a female academy at El Dorado, and was identified with every public enterprise during his short lifetime. His death occurred in 1848. Col. Wright, at the time of his marriage, began farming for himself (his father giving him a good farm to start with), and in January, 1860, he bought a farm of 1,500 acres eight miles north of El Dorado, twenty-five negro slaves, and made a large crop in that year. His crop of cotton was burned accidentally. In September, 1861, he raised a company, took it to Camden, where it was organized into a regiment, and our subject was elected lieutenant-colonel of the Fifteenth Arkansas Regiment. He was sent to Fort Henry, on the Tennessee River, and when the fort fell the Colonel’s regiment retreated to Fort Donelson, leaving all baggage, and many of the men in their shirt sleeves. At Fort Donelson, during a period of very cold weather, the men suffered very much. After the surrender when the command was sent north to prison, Col. Wright was ill and left in the hospital, where he remained about ten days, after which, with the aid of several Federal officers, he made his escape and came home. In about a month he reported to Gen. Bragg, at Corinth, who sent him with Gen. Hindman to organize the Trans-Mississippi Department, and after organization all the soldiers in Southern Arkansas were assigned to duty in Morgan’s regiment. Col. Wright was in the battles of Prairie Grove, Fort Smith and Backbone. In the fall of 1863 he was elected to the command of a cavalry regiment, known as Wright’s Arkansas Cavalry, and this regiment took a prominent part in all battles of Arkansas and Missouri until the close of the war. He was with Gen. Price in his Missouri campaign, and during this raid was in eighteen battles and skirmishes innumerable and had six horses shot from under him. His regiment was afterward sent to Shreveport, La., and here Col. Wright was sent by Gen. Kirby Smith to East Arkansas to reorganize the forces there. He was then paroled, June, 1865, when he returned to his home, where he found everything gone. He had sold all he owned before the war, and since has acquired, through his wife, large tracts, which he is farming in a thorough manner. Farming has been his principal occupation, and the energetic and wide awake manner in which he has taken advantage of all methods and ideas tending to the enhanced value of his property, has had a great deal to do with his success. He and family are residing on the old Newton homestead in El Dorado, to which there are 560 acres attached, and in the country, four miles away, they have 2,500, 500 acres of which are open land. On this place the Colonel has about 315 acres under cultivation, has a good house and one of the finest barns in Union County. In fruits he has all kinds, and has succession of peaches from June until frost. It is a fine peach and grape country. Col. Wright has recently erected a large gin with a capacity of fourteen bales per day, and a grist-mill that is equal to any in the country. He has always been the leader of the Democratic party, and has been active in all measures to reform and improve its affairs. In 1878 he was elected to the Legislature of the State, and previous to this, in 1874-75-76, he was county clerk of Union County. He was re-elected to this position from 1880 to 1886, and served three terms, being admirably suited to the duties of the same, as, indeed, he would be to any office calling for absolute correctness. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, El Dorado Lodge No. 13, and also of Chapter No. 35, and of the Council; is an I. O. O. F., K. of P. and belongs to the L. of H. To Col. Wright and wife were born six children, four of whom are now living: Nellie (wife of George A. Spyker, and resides in Baton Rouge), Robert, Whitaker and Pattie. The two children deceased were James Newton, who died in 1862, and Mary, who died in 1867, both infants.