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William Johnson Wright
WILLIAM JOHNSON WRIGHT, late of Kittanning, Armstrong county, was an old and
honored resident of that borough, where he had been engaged in the general
mercantile business for some years. He was born Jan. 12, 1832, in Metal
township, Franklin Co., Pa., on his father’s farm near the old Carrick
Furnace.Isaac Wright, his father, was born in 1807, in the County of Kent, England,
and came to America with his father, William Wright, in 1828, first locating
near Fort Loudon, in Franklin county, Pa. Three of his brothers had preceded
him to this country, viz: Jonathan, who came first, was a wagonmaker, and
settled in Fort Loudon, Franklin county; he was twice married and left several
children. Dr. Joseph K., another brother, came after Jonathan, studied
medicine at Shippensburg, Pa., and for a time traveled over the country,
selling notions, but eventually, about 1836, settled in Kittanning, where he
practiced medicine and had a drug store, being the second druggist at that
place; later he also had a general store; he had two children. Benjamin F.,
the third brother, settled in Cincinnati, Ohio, and left a family; he was a
carriage maker by occupation. Mary, sister of Isaac Wright, married Thomas
Johnson, a farmer in Metal township, Franklin Co., Pa., and had a large
family. Benjamin Wright, uncle of Isaac Wright, also preceded him to this
country, and settled in Bath county, Va., living to be 105 years old. He had
many descendants in that place.After living near Fort Loudon for a while Isaac Wright purchased a farm at
Carrick Furnace. Soon afterward he married Mary Ann Mackey, daughter of
William Mackey, a native of the North of Ireland. Mr. Mackey subsequently
moved west to Ohio, settling in or near Bucyrus, where he died at the age of
seventy-five years. He was married twice. Mrs. Wright died in 1845, when only
about thirty-five years old, a member of the United Brethren Church. She was
the mother of five children: Sarah, who married Wilson Burgstresser, a
gristmiller; William Johnson; Jonathan, who died unmarried (he was a member of
the 19th United States Infantry, regular army, during the Civil war, was
wounded at the battle of Shiloh, and died of his injuries in a hospital at
Washington, D.C.); James R., a farmer of Kittanning township, Armstrong
county, who married Elizabeth Baker; and Joseph M., who never married (he had
served during the Civil war as a member of Company C, 23rd Ohio Volunteer
Infantry, under Captain Skiles and Colonel Rosecrans, the late President
McKinley also serving in that command). Isaac Wright, father of this family,
died in 1882, in Metal township, Franklin county.William Johnson Wright received his education at Kittanning, where he
attended common school and tended store for his uncle, Dr. Joseph K. Wright,
who then had a general mercantile business. He well remembers the famous
snowstorm of September, 1843, when there were six inches of snow on the
ground. Remaining with his uncle until he was nineteen, he started for
California in 1851, going by water to the Isthmus of Panama, over the present
canal route to Panama City, and thence again by water to San Francisco, where
he bought goods for a man who had several stores in the mining regions. At
that time D. O. Mills had a small bank on J street, and Mr. Wright sold him
gold dust for coin; he also did business on K street with C. P. Huntington,
who then had a little hardware store. In 1855 he returned home and opened a
general store at the corner of Jefferson and Mulberry streets which he
conducted until 1859, that year moving to the country, going to live on the
farm of his father-in-law two miles east of Kittanning, where he remained for
fourteen months. Coming back to Kittanning, he again clerked in the store of
his uncle, Dr. Joseph K. Wright, until Sept. 12, 1862, the date of his
enlistment in Company I, 78th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, under Col.
William Sirwell. He saw active service in all the battles and skirmishes of
his command, including Stone River, Tullahoma, Chickamauga and Missionary
Ridge. He was discharged in June, 1865, at Nashville, Tenn., and returned home
June 26th, with the record of a brave man. Until the following October he
clerked in the McIlwain store, after which he was ill until May 1866, and when
able to take up work again he entered the planing mill of Heiner Brothers.
Later he became an employee in the planing mill of Cook, Henry & Steel,
who had extensive interests in that line, and afterward worked in the office
of Cook & Henry. His next change was to Samuel Brown’s insurance office,
where he was at first bookkeeper and later head man. In 1880 he engaged in the
iron ore business at Kittanning, continuing there until 1885, when he moved to
Riverview, this county, and took charge of the Riverview Coal Mining Company’s
store. Afterward he went into the office, taking charge, and remaining there
until 1898. That year he opened a store at Kittanning, moving into a building
(his late residence), which he had erected in 1877. He carried on this store
until his death, which occurred Jan. 13, 1913.Mr. Wright belonged to the I.O.O.F. and G.A.R., being particularly well
known in the latter organization; he held membership in Post No. 156, in which
he filled all the offices, and was buried with military honors by his
comrades, among whom he was universally beloved. For six years he served as
one of he school directors of Kittanning borough, taking particular interest
in the question of public education. A man whose mind was broadened by travel
and observation, an excellent judge, and one whose own life commanded the
respect of his fellow men, his opinions were sought and valued by those who
knew him and he occupied an enviable position among the citizens of his
community.On Jan. 8, 1857, Mr. Wright was married to Charlotte Hannegan Nulton,
daughter of John Funk and Margaret R. (Lemmon) Nulton, and granddaughter of
Col. Daniel and Charlotte (Hannegan) Lemmon. Mr. Wright was a member of St.
Paul’s Episcopal Church, to which his widow also belongs. They had four
children:(1) John F. died when five years old.
(2) Joseph died when two years, nine months old.
(3) William J., a tinner, slater and furnace builder, now lives in Kansas
City, Kans. He employs fourteen men. He married Lena Thorpe and they have one
son, George T., now (1913) twenty-five years old.(4) George S., a tinner and plumber of Kittanning, Pa., died Aug. 2, 1910. He
married Ina Z. Steltzer, daughter of Jonathan and Ellen (Kester) Steltzer,
both of Clarion county, Pa., and they had three children, Walter W., Margaret
C. and Sarah Frances.Source: Pages 548-549, Armstrong County, Pa., Her People, Past and
Present, J.H. Beers & Co., 1914
Transcribed September 2001 by Nancy Cain Knepper for the Armstrong County
Beers Project
Contributed for use by the Armstrong County Genealogy Project (http://www.pa-roots.com/armstrong/)Armstrong County Genealogy Project Notice:
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