My Genealogy Hound

M. W. Wright was born in Baltimore, Md., in 1822. His father, William J. Wright, was a native of England, and came to the United States about 1818, settling in Baltimore, where the family lived until the outbreak of the war, then returning to England, leaving our subject in this country. The latter received his early education in the private schools of Baltimore, and spent two years at the Normal School in Wilmington, Del. When fifteen years of age he left home and went to New Orleans, where he was employed for four or five years with Hewitt, Norton & Co., commission merchants. In 1849 Mr. Wright embarked for California, going by way of the Isthmus of Panama, and spent three years in the gold mines with fair success. He returned to New Orleans in 1852, and from there went to Louisville, Ky., where he worked in the Louisville, New Albany & Chicago Railroad shops until 1856, part of the time having charge of an engine. In 1856 he went to St. Charles County, Mo., and turned his attention to farming, which occupation he followed until 1875, when he removed to Pulaski County. In 1859, in St. Charles County, he married Charlotte Chambers, who died in 1865, leaving two children. In 1870 Mr. Wright married Mrs. Mary Scofield, daughter of Moores and Nancy Burbanks, natives, respectively, of New England and Ohio, the former of whom died in 1835 and the latter in 1868. Mr. and Mrs. Burbanks, who were married in 1810, settled in St. Charles County in 1808, and were among the earliest white settlers of that county. Mr. Burbanks and Mr. Alexander Chambers (father of Charlotte Chambers) were comrades in the War of 1812, and served under Col. Nathan Boone. Mr. Chambers settled in St. Charles County in 1802. Mr. Wright owns 140 acres of land in Pulaski County and a home in Richland. In 1878 he was elected justice of the peace, which office he held until 1886, and from 1880 to 1882 he was associate judge of the Western District of the county court. Politically he is a Democrat.