WRIGHT, James W. (Biography)

James W. Wright  “J.W.” (ca. 1810 Virginia – 8 Oct 1873 Memphis) married Elizabeth J. “Eliza” Edmondson (ca. 1816 VA – aft 1880 Shelby County probably) on 3 Feb l836 in Lawrence County, Alabama. James was a brick mason and farmer. The family migrated briefly from Virginia to Mississippi where the two oldest children were born: Nancy and Margaret. By 1841 the family (J.W., 40, and Eliza, 34) moved to Memphis. (1850 City of Memphis Ward No. 6 Census and “Virginians in Tennessee in 1850″ Part 2)  The younger children were all born in Memphis, Shelby, TN

Between 1848 and 1860, James paid taxes for 3 to 6 children in the Fort Pickering area, 12th Civil District, Shelby County.  (In 1798 Fort Adams, a swampy, hard-to-defend location was abandoned and Fort Pike, later named Fort Pickering, was built. On the South Bluffs, Fort Pickering became an encampment by the Confederate troops during the Civil War, the Indian mounds used as redoubts.)

The City of Memphis’ population was decimated twice during the 1870s by Yellow Fever. Residents were surprised by the first in 1873 but left the City when the second Fever hit in 1878.  A male, J.W. Wright, died in Memphis on 8 Oct 1873 during the first Fever. This was probably James W. as his wife, Eliza, was widowed and lived with her son, Robert, by the 1880 Census.

 

Issue

Nancy Wright                    (b. 1837 MS)

Margaret J. Wright           (18 Aug 1840 MS – 17 Aug 1904, Memphis, buried Forest Hill Cemetery) married (1) John H. Brooks.  Issue: Dr. William Wyatt Brooks, Walter L. Brooks.  Margaret married (2) Dr. Shelton Hinson. Issue: Shelton Hinson, Jr. (See Hinson)

John Wright                       (b. Jun 1841 Memphis) was a farmer and a brick mason. John married Martha (b. ca. 1846 AL) about 1864. Issue: Jesseker (Jessica) (b. ca. 1866 TN), Maggie (b. ca. 1870 MS), Johnnie (b. ca. 1872 MS), and James S. (b. July, 1877).

James Wright                    (b. ca. 1843 Memphis)

Thomas Wright                  Thomas Wright  (May 1845 Memphis – 17 Oct 1908 Memphis, buried Forest Hill Cemetery) Thomas was a farmer and a brick mason. General Lee was a brick mason and a contractor who built houses.  Thomas married:

(1) Unknown.  Issue: Jimmie Wright (b. ca. 1866 in MS).

(2) Lizzie Neely (b. ca. 1856 TX  ca. mid-1800’s MS) on 17 Jun 1872 in Desoto Co., Mississippi.  IssueGeneral Lee Wright (b. 28 Dec 1875 MS – 18 Sept 1949 Memphis, buried Forest Hill Cemetery)

(3) Mrs. Amelia Reddell (Nov 1850 MS – Mar 1913, buried Forest Hill Cemetery 8 Mar 1913) ca. 1889.

Samuel Wright                   (b. ca. 1846)

George Wright                  (b. ca. 1849)

Robert Richard Wright     (24 Oct 1851 Memphis – 5 Apr 1936 Memphis, buried  Forest Hill Cemetery)  Robert was a farmer and truck farmer who specialized in raising berries. Robert married:

(1) Unknown.   Issue: Lucius Wright (b. ca. 1873 MS).

(2) Litiana Augusta Daily (July, 1860 TN – 2 Nov 1915 Memphis, buried Forest Hill Cemetery) ca. 1878.  Issue: Maggie (Jan 1880 Memphis), Robert Elmer (Apr 1884 Memphis), and Lena (15 Oct l885 Memphis – 2 April 1924 Memphis, buried Forest Hill Cemetery)

(3) Cambria ? (b. ca. 1870 TN)

 

The James W. Wright and John Brooks families may have known each other in Mississippi before moving to Memphis. They were neighbors in Memphis by 1850. John and his wife, Narcissa, were born in North Carolina. They migrated to Tennessee where their son, John H. Brooks, was born ca. 1835. Their daughter, Ellen Brooks, was born in Mississippi ca. 1837.  By 1850 John H. was 15 and Ellen, 13, and lived in Memphis.  The Wright and Brooks’ neighbor children, Margaret J. Wright (1840-1904) and John H. Brooks (1835) married on 28 Jan 1858 in Shelby, TN. John H. Brooks was a farmer in Fisherville, Shelby, TN in 1860. The family is listed in Memphis with their first child, William Wyatt Brooks, age 1 in 1860. Wyatt became a dentist, studying under his step-father, Shelton Hinson. John H. Brooks died bef. 1870 and Margaret (1840) married (2) Dr. Shelton Hinson, Sr. ca. 1871 in Memphis. (See Hinson)

 Issue of Margaret Jane Wright and John H. Brooks

Dr. William Wyatt Brooks (3 May 1859 Shelby, TN – 18 Mar 1927 Memphis) practiced dentistry at the age of 20 in 1879 with his step-father, Dr. Shelton Hinson in Memphis. (Southern Business Guide 1879-80.) Wyatt became the foremost pyorrhea specialist in the south. He married a fellow Memphian, May L. Peyton, who became Memphis’ first female dentist after their marriage. They divorced.

Issue: Dr. Ruth Brooks (ca. 6 Jan 1897 Memphis – ca. 15 Dec 1971 CA), attended Randolph Macon, the University of Chicago, and the University of Tennessee to become a dentist. She met Dr. John H. A. Campbell, D.D.S., Ph.D. at the University of Chicago and married in Memphis. They moved to Los Angeles and had a daughter, Mary L. Campbell.   (See Peyton)

Walter L. Brooks (ca. 1860 – Aft. 1952)

 

Issue of Margaret Jane Wright and Dr. Shelton Hinson

Shelton Hinson, Jr. (19 Dec 1871 Memphis – 18 Aug 1952 Memphis) (See Hinson) 

To date, no relationship has been determined between the John Brooks and the James M. Brooks families with whom they inter-married. (See Brooks, Hinson, and Peyton)

 

Submitted by Brenda B. Watson

HINSON, Shelton (Biography)

 


Shelton Hinson Jr
. married Mattie Daisy Fletcher (13 Dec 1875 Fisherville – 8 Jul 1925) on 29 Aug 1893 in Memphis. She was the daughter of A.J. Fletcher and Mary Elizabeth Brooks. They lived in Memphis where he was a building contractor in Memphis. He also designed and built furniture as a hobby. Daisy taught her daughters intricate tatting, knitting, embroidery and crewel. They both died in Memphis and are buried in Forest Hill. Issue: Ardenne, Henry, Margaret, James, and Arlene.  (See Fletcher and Brooks)

Issue of Daisy Fletcher and Shelton Hinson, Jr.

Dr. Mary Ardenne Hinson  (18 Aug 1894 Memphis – 13 Dec 1979 Memphis) graduated from the Memphis Normal School (college) and became a school teacher before entering dental school. She tutored many of her fellow dental students at the University of Tennessee for which she received life-long appreciation. She initially practiced dentistry with her aunt, Dr. May Brooks (nee Peyton), and then her nephew, Dr. Robert Black. She was a charter member and president of the Memphis Zonta Club (Women Professionals), an avid photographer, an accomplished artist and hand-crafter, and traveler. She remained single and lived with her father and sister, Margaret.

Both widowed, Dr. Shelton Hinson, Sr. married (2) Margaret J. Wright (Mrs. John H. Brooks) (18 Aug 1840 MS – 17 Aug 1904 Memphis) shortly after Kate’s death in 1867. Margaret raised Shelton’s three young sons, Leon, James, and William, along with her own boys, Wyatt Brooks and Walter Brooks. Together, they had one child, Shelton, Jr. Shelton, Sr. practiced dentistry in downtown Memphis and survived Memphis’ second Yellow Fever epidemic in 1878. He was a Mason. Shelton’s obituary in 1912: “Was a resident of this city (Memphis) for 59 years, coming here before the beginning of the Civil War. He was a native of VA. Surviving him are his son, Shelton Hinson, Jr. and his stepchildren, Dr. W. W. Brooks and W. L. Brooks.” Issue: Shelton Hinson, Jr. (19 Dec 1871 Memphis – 18 Aug 1952 Memphis.)  (See Wright)  

Shelton Hinson Jr. married Mattie Daisy Fletcher (13 Dec 1875 Fisherville – 8 Jul 1925) on 29 Aug 1893 in Memphis. She was the daughter of A.J. Fletcher and Mary Elizabeth Brooks. They lived in Memphis where he was a building contractor in Memphis. He also designed and built furniture as a hobby. Daisy taught her daughters intricate tatting, knitting, embroidery and crewel. They both died in Memphis and are buried in Forest Hill. Issue: Ardenne, Henry, Margaret, James, and Arlene.  (See Fletcher and Brooks)

Issue of Daisy Fletcher and Shelton Hinson, Jr.

Dr. Mary Ardenne Hinson  (18 Aug 1894 Memphis – 13 Dec 1979 Memphis) graduated from the Memphis Normal School (college) and became a school teacher before entering dental school. She tutored many of her fellow dental students at the University of Tennessee for which she received life-long appreciation. She initially practiced dentistry with her aunt, Dr. May Brooks (nee Peyton), and then her nephew, Dr. Robert Black. She was a charter member and president of the Memphis Zonta Club (Women Professionals), an avid photographer, an accomplished artist and hand-crafter, and traveler. She remained single and lived with her father and sister, Margaret.

Submitted by Brenda B. Watson

 

WRIGHT Jr., Claude Elbert (Biography)

Claude was born in Memphis, TN, on December 11, 1925 to: 
Claude Elbert Wright, Sr. (born 03-24-1885 and died 01-07-1948) and 
Verdie Richey Wright (born 12-17-1889 and died 04-18-1952).

Claude’s siblings were:

  • Hollis Wilson Wright (born 03-15-1909, died 01-02-2000)
  • Floy Mae Wright Larkin (born 11-24-1911)
  • Elsie Wright Collins (born 04-11-1915, died 04-08-2000)
  • Elizabeth Wright Hall (born 06-15-1918, died 05-01-1998)
  • Mildred Wright Young (born 02-28-1922, died 10-23-1987)
  • Nancy Rosalyn Wright Brockert (born 05-08-1924)
  • Edward Amos Wright (born 08-05-1927, died 10-02-1987)
  • Jo Ann Wright Siler (born 09-12-1931, died 02-07-1990)
  • Barbara Jean Wright (born 11-13-1932, died 01-29-1934)

Claude was in active duty in World War II and served in the United States Marines.  He was on Iwo Jima when the American flag was raised. He was awarded the purple heart. Claude went into the home building industry. In 1920 Census, before Claude, Jr. was born the family lived in Coldwater, Tate County, MS.  Claude married Margaret “Peggy” Nancy Dickson on November 7, 1952 at Calvary Baptist Church in Memphis, TN and they had three children born in Memphis, Shelby, TN.

The children were:

  • Charles Edward Wright, Sr, born September 24, 1953
  • James Lawrence Wright, born February 17, 1956
  • Nancy Marie Wright, born September 23, 1960

Claude died on March 12, 2001 and is buried in Forest Hill Cemetery East in Memphis, TN. 

Submitted by Peggy Wright Rhinerson