1st marriage: Sarah Fannie Aycock, about 1855, Sarah died in 1865
2nd marriage: Lucy Ann Quarles, 1868, Wood Co., Texas, Lucy died in 1880
3rd marriage: Lydia Bell, 1883, Wood Co., Texas

Son of William R. Wright and Theanna Hightower Wright

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From "Life in the Piney Woods, Vol. II" by Ona Wood, 1955:

WOOD COUNTY LOSES A BENEFACTOR

Dr. William Epaphroditus Hightower Wright, doctor, preacher, industrialist, and politician was a man of strong convictions, who did not spare himself when humanity called; the kindly doctor whose faithful work helped to save Mary Roberts from the ravages of that dread disease, typhoid fever, when she was a young woman of 17 years, died in the early part of the year 1897. He with his wife, Mrs. Fannie Aycock Wright, and one child moved from the state of Mississippi to Texas and to Wood County in the early 1850's.

He settled about two miles from the town of Quitman on what is now the Gilmer Highway where the road turns south to go to the old Negro church known as Shiloh. The Negro burying ground known as Shiloh graveyard is across the road from where lay his land.

The child that he and his wife brought with them from Mississippi passed away while it was quite small. To Dr. Wright and his wife, Mrs. Fannie, were born a son, Joe, and a daughter, Fannie. The son, Mr. Joe Wright, is in this year 1955, living in San Antonio, and is 93 years age. The daughter, Miss Fannie Wright, married a Mr. Dupree who lived about two miles east of Hainesville and passed away many years ago.

Dr. Wright moved from the house on the road across from Shiloh after he had completed a house on the hill to the right off the present Gilmer Highway which is about two miles from the town of Quitman.

Like so many other women of the wilderness country who were subjected to the privations, toil, and lack of medicine, Mrs. Wright died and left the Doctor with the small children. Later, he married Miss Lucy Quarles of Wood County, and to this marriage were born several children. Those who survived the diseases of childhood were two daughters, Alice and Katy, and one son, Earnest.

To the south of the home which he had built on the hill, and on his property lay a big glade and an abundance of water. The Doctor conceived the idea of erecting a grist mill and a cotton gin to be run with water power. In order to have water power, he constructed a huge dam and built a big pond some distance to the east from the place where the waters of Glade Creek cross the Concord-Quitman road about three miles south from Quitman. The mill race flowed in the same channel as the creek flows at the spot today. It was near this crossing that he set up his machinery. He built another house on the same road and on a spot directly across the road from what was later known as the Martha Grant spring, and to this place he moved his family. The home and the industrial site were well situated, and the mill setting was beautiful. As far as one could see through the heavily wooded areas there was water, clear as crystal; the surroundings for miles up the country was of a swampy nature.

The grist mill turned corn into meal, and wheat into flour. Many of the settlers in an early day raised wheat and had it ground into flour on grist mills. Wheat and corn were also brought from more distant places to be ground into breadstuff on Dr. Wright's mill. Quantities of wheat were hauled from Smith County.

Dr. Wright's daughter, Mrs. Alice Wright Turner, remembers having seen 100 wagons or more at her father's mill and gin awaiting to have grain made into meal or flour or to have cotton ginned. Mrs. Turner also remembers that her father often sent for Mr. P. M. Gunstream to overhaul the machinery at the plant; and that Mr. J. M. Roberts often worked for Dr. Wright at the mill, in the gin, and on the farm, during which times he boarded in the Wright home.

Mrs. Lucy Wright's mother was a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Mosley who were early settlers in Wood County, and neighbors of the Roberts and Lively families when they lived on the big glade east of Quitman, Texas.

On one occasion when the J. M. Roberts family were traveling by wagon from their home at the Gunstream to Mineola -- a distance of 26 miles -- to attend a circus, they went by way of the Martin Bridge Road, which led from Dr. Wright's mill to the town of Mineola and spent the night in the Doctor's home. Mr. Roberts had always spoken very highly of Mrs. Wright, after having boarded in her home, but the entire Roberts family long remembered and spoke often of the hospitality shown them and said had it not been for the fact that Dr. Wright and his wife were hospitable, Mrs. Roberts and her daughters would not have had the privilege of attending the show. It was indeed a rare occasion when the hard-working people of the rural districts had a chance for entertainment.

Dr. Wright practiced medicine all over the southern and eastern sections of Wood County and surrounding counties for many years, traveling by horseback with such medicines as he could get placed in the saddlebags. In his practice, he, like all the other country doctors of the time, and for many years afterward, traveled over all kinds of rough roads and trails, often taking short cuts through the woods, fording streams which were at times swollen, never sparing himself or his horse in the effort to save a life or ease suffering humanity. Often it was necessary for him to stay several days and nights in a home when the patient was dangerously ill, even when his own family needed his assistance.

Like all the doctors of that day, he was poorly paid in a material way for his services. Often his only pay was the fact that he had rendered needed service.

In the latter years of his practice, Dr. Wright bought a gig in which to make his calls. It was quite a welcome occasion to see Dr. Wright come bouncing up to the gate of a home where loved ones lay sick.

The home of Dr. Wright was stricken with sorrow when death claimed his second wife, Mrs. Lucy, who had contracted a complication of pneumonia and mumps.

Dr. Wright was in a few years married a third time, and this time to a widow, Mrs. Lydia Frances, who was the mother of one daughter, Miss Ida Maye Frances and one son, Mark Frances.

A son, Reuben Wright, was born to the last marriage.

By the three marriages, Dr. Wright was the father of eleven children, but of that number only six lived to be grown men and women.

Not only was Dr. Wright a practicing physician, but he was a preacher of the gospel, and was a member of the Baptist faith. He preached to congregations and attended Baptist associations in many churches in the same area where he practiced medicine. He traveled on horseback to many appointments and worked with many other of the pioneer preachers. He was a neighbor of the Reverend H. Y. Lively, and worked with Reverend Ambrose Fitzgerald - the same Ambrose Fitzgerald who was appointed County Clerk of Wood County in 1851 -- in many meetings and associations.

Dr. Wright, like so many other of the pioneer fathers, was stern in dealing with his family problems and was determined to rear his children according to his interpretations of Biblical teaching. His daughter, Miss Alice vexed her father sorely when she eloped and married her young lover, Mr. Jim Turner, after her father objected to the marriage. Dr. Wright's good friend and co-worker, Reverend H. Y. Lively performed the ceremony. Mr. and Mrs. Turner reared a large family in Wood County consisting of nine sons and one daughter. In the year 1955, when this book is being compiled, Mrs. Alice Wright Turner, ____ years of age, lives in Quitman, Wood County with her daughter, who is now Mrs. Ell Maye Blalock. Mrs. Turner radiates happiness through her lovely smile and pleasant manner.

Even though Dr. Wright was stern in many ways, in political ideas, religious belief, and in his business, he was one of the solid characters in the building of the county. Just as his name, William Epaphroditus Hightower is such an unusual name, Dr. Wright was an outstanding man in his day.

The part of the name that was Hightower was the maiden name of his mother. Epaphroditus is a Bible name meaning handsome. The Doctor in his young manhood was handsome with a striking fierceness in his countenance, but with the light of kindness in his eye.

Above information from Dawn Kelley (#47319272)