My Genealogy Hound

ROBERT E. WRIGHT, Jr., a prominent citizen and leading lawyer of Allentown, and President of the Allentown National Bank, was born in the city which is still his home, February 15, 1847. It was the desire of his parents that he should become a civil engineer, and at the age of fifteen, after having passed through the local public schools and the Allentown Academy, he entered the office of G. A. Aschbach, where as a student and employe he remained until 1864, receiving a very thorough training in the profession. He then went to Schuylkill County, where during the ensuing four years he held a responsible position in the service of the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Company, under Chief Engineer Charles E. Byers.

Notwithstanding the fact that he was now actually launched in the profession of civil engineering and seemingly provided with a life calling, Mr. Wright found himself unable to stifle his boyish ambition of becoming a lawyer, an ambition which had its origin in part, doubtless, in inherited tastes, but which had grown with his growth, stimulated by the inspiring and illustrious example furnished in the personality of his distinguished father; and now that he was free to act without running directly counter to parental views, it culminated in a resolve to qualify himself for the vocation in life for which he felt he was best adapted by natural inclination and taste. Procuring the needed textbooks, he devoted himself to the study of law in the evenings, and at other periods of leisure, and by the winter of 1868 had so far advanced in its mastery that he returned to Allentown, boldly declaring his intentions. He was permitted to enter his father’s office, where, under most encouraging auspices, he applied himself with diligence to perfecting his training and to acquire the necessary knowledge of the routine work of the profession. In the following September he presented himself before the proper authorities, passed a most creditable examination, and was duly admitted to the Bar.

Mr. Wright entered professional life at once as the business associate of his father, and for nearly a year had the invaluable aid of his direction and advice. At the close of that period his father retired from active duties and the whole weight and responsibility of the extensive practice fell upon his son and namesake, then but twenty-three years of age. It was a severe test of capability, but the young man proved fully equal to the constant and varied demands made upon him, and surprised his father by the relish he displayed for legal work and the assiduity with which he devoted himself to its intricate and perplexing details. With skill and ability rare even in much older and experienced members of the legal fraternity, he tried all pending cases, and with such success as not only to retain the large clientage left him by his father, but also to win the confidence and respect of the community. His brilliant success at the Bar led to his being retained as attorney for the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company, the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Company, the East Pennsylvania Railroad Company, the Central Railroad Company of New Jersey, the Ironton Railroad Company, and the Perkiomen Railroad Company, which, one after the other, placed their legal affairs in his hands. A number of other large corporations did likewise, including the Thomas Iron Company of Catasauqua, the Crane Iron Company, and the Bethlehem Iron Company of Bethlehem, the Allentown Rolling Mills Company, and a few others scarcely less important, and also several of the principal banks.

Iu 1886, upon the death of Charles W. Cooper, President of the Allentown National Bank, Mr. Wright, who had been the bank’s attorney for a number of years, was chosen his successor. The choice proved a wise one in every respect. Mr. Wright came to his duties with a thorough knowledge of the bank’s affairs, and he has since conducted them with marked ability and in such a manner as to measurably increase the institution’s prosperity. The Allentown National Bank ranks among the principal banks in the state of Pennsylvania, having a capital of $500,000, and a large surplus. Its deposits already exceed $1,200,000.

Mr. Wright is financially interested in a number of wealthy corporations in and near the city of his residence. He is President of the Lehigh Valley Car Company, and of all the street railway companies of Allentown and neighboring towns. He was a member of the Board of Water Commissioners of Allentown, and had personal charge of the construction of the recently completed water works of which he was the chief projector and the leading spirit in securing popular support and needed municipal legislation. He is interested warmly in the cause of education, has served a number of terms on the School Board, and is seldom too deeply engrossed by his business affairs to give earnest attention to his duties as a Trustee of Muhlenberg College and of the Allentown Female Seminary. Believing it to be a citizen’s duty to bear his full share of the burden of municipal management when called upon, Mr. Wright has consented to serve several terms in the City Council, in which he distinguished himself by his scrupulous honesty and by his liberal and progressive spirit. He is a Democrat from conviction, and is well known in party councils, in local, state and national affairs. For some years he has been very conspicuous as a Democratic leader in Lehigh County, has been Chairman of the County Committee several times, and also an influential delegate to nearly every state convention held during the last decade. In 1888 he was an alternate to the National Democratic Convention in St. Louis, which nominated Grover Cleveland for the Presidency, and also delegate to the National Democratic Convention of 1892.

Mr. Wright is extremely popular with the masses of the people, whose confidence he has won by a life of energy largely devoted to the development and upbuilding of local industries, by advancing general prosperity, and by an unstained record in the public service. His prominent connection with so many important corporations in Pennsylvania has extended his acquaintance to all parts of the state, securing for him, as a thorough and honorable business man, general respect and regard. His name has been mentioned frequently in connection with the Congressional nomination from his district, and also in connection with that of Judge. In 1880 he was almost unanimously nominated for the State Senate, but, not desiring office, he went before the nominating convention and declined the honor, although the nomination was equivalent to an election. In the Democratic State Convention in 1886 his name came prominently before the delegates in connection with the nomination for Governor of Pennsylvania, and for both that and the nomination for Lieutenant-Governor he received several votes. In 1891 he was the nominee of the Democratic party for Auditor-General of Pennsylvania. Mr. Wright has been for years an active member of the Odd Fellows’ society and has filled all the positions in the order, including that of Grand Master of the state of Pennsylvania. Since 1884 he has ably represented the Grand Lodge of this state in the Sovereign Grand Lodge of the United States. He is a highly educated, keen-witted, many-sided man of affairs, able and reliable in whatever he undertakes, and is actuated at all times by the most honorable motives. In an active life for fully a quarter of a century he has gained a varied and valuable experience, which, in combination with the vigor of ripe manhood, makes him a power in any field of effort.