Henry Wright, ex-county auditor and one of the most substantial farmers and leading citizens of Buck Creek township Hancock County, Indiana, was born here November 28, 1838, an is a son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Stevens) Wright, the former of whom, a son of John and Elizabeth (Fix) Wright, was born in Greene County, Pennsylvania, December 27, 1810, and died in Indiana November 12, 1891, Elizabeth (Stevens) Wright dying January 14, 1901.

John Wright, grandfather of Henry Wright, also a native of Pennsylvania, was born in 1787, was reared a farmer, and at the age of twenty-three years removed from his native state to Ohio and located on the Little Miami River, where he resided for ten years, thence removed to Wayne County and followed farming until his death, which occurred in 1881; Mrs. Elizabeth (Fix) Wright, also a native of Pennsylvania, died in 1880, each reaching the age of ninety-four years. To John and Elizabeth Wright were born nine children, viz: Joseph, William, John, deceased; Washington, a farmer in Wayne county, Indiana; Enos, farming in Kansas; Margaret, Lucy and Mary, deceased; Elizabeth, widow of Benjamin Stenson and living in Brown County, Indiana.

Joseph Wright, father of Henry Wright, when about ten years of age came to Indiana with his father and here attended a subscription school, on leaving which he himself taught for a number of years in Wayne county, also in Lawrence township, Marion county. He married Elizabeth Stevens in 1832, and in October, 1834, settled on a tract of one hundred and sixty acres of wild land in Buck Creek township, which land he had entered from the government. Elizabeth Stevens was born in North Carolina, was a daughter of Spencer and Elizabeth Stevens, and when four years old came to Wayne county with her parents. Spencer Stevens was a farmer and died in Wayne county, Indiana, at seventy years of age. To this couple were born six sons and three daughters, viz: William, Spencer, Isom, Robert and Samson, all deceased; Susan, Anna, Elizabeth, also deceased. To Joseph and Elizabeth (Stevens) Wright six children were born, namely: John W., deceased; Henry, the subject of this sketch; Isom, who is unmarried and makes his home with his brother Henry; William, who is engaged in the real estate business in Los Angeles, California; Mary, wife of John C. Evans, a farmer of Buck Creek township; and Celia, deceased.

Henry Wright was educated in the public schools of Buck Creek township and also attended a grade school for two terms at Oakland. In 1860 he began teaching and followed the profession for sixteen years in Hancock and Wayne counties. In 1874 he was elected county auditor of Hancock county on the Democratic ticket, and proved to be so capable in the administration of the affairs of that office that he was re-elected by a large majority in 1878. During his incumbency of this office Mr. Wright had his residence in Greenfield, the county seat of Hancock county, and at the expiration of his second term returned to his farm.

The marriage of Mr. Wright was solemnized in 1876 with Miss Dora E. Davis, and this union has been crowned by the birth of one son, Charles H., now, at the age of twenty-three years, a teacher by profession. He was prepared for this responsible vocation, after leaving the common and graded schools, by an attendance of two terms at the Northern Indiana Normal Institute at Valparasio, and a two-year term at Terre Haute, and is reputed to be one of the best teachers in Buck Creek township, and is, moreover, a popular young man.

Fraternally Mr. Wright and his brothers Isom and William, and son, Charles are members of the Free and Accepted Masons, the chapter at McCordsville, and the Greenfield commandery of Knights Templar.

Mr. Wright has a model farm of eighty acres, it being the old homestead, where he cultivated the ordinary crops grown in this latitude. His dwelling, erected by his father upwards of fifty years ago, presents the appearance of being the abode of people of refinement and good taste. No family in the township is held in higher esteem, and no citizen of the township is more public-spirited than Mr. Wright. He has been ready at all times to advance from his own means, when called upon, his full share of the funds necessary to construct such public works, or for keeping in repair such as were already constructed, that were needful for the public convenience at times when public funds were not available, and has always been active in using his influences in advancing such undertakings as promised to be of undoubted benefit to the community at large. As a Democrat he is one of the most popular in the county.

Transcribed from Biographical Memoirs of Hancock County B. F. Bowen, Publisher, Logansport, Indiana, 1902 Pages 420-422.

Submitted by Sylvia (Rose) Duda, Laingsburg, MI Aug 15, 2006.

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