Son of Asa Wright Jr. and Bathsheba Dadman
Married Sarah Elizabeth Angell, 12 Dec 1847, Winter Quarters, Douglas, Nebraska
Children - Oscar Jefferson Wright, Albert B. Wright, Sarah Ellen Wright, Eunice M. Wright, Augusta Eudolphine Wright, Luman B. Wright, Marcellus Orrin Wright, Jane M. Wright, Adaline LaVerne Wright, Alice Wright, Mary Emma Wright, Alvin Wright, Clara Virginia Wright, Ernest Osborn Wright
History - Jefferson Wright was born 30 July 1825 to Asa Wright and Bathsheba Dadman in the state of Massachusetts. He was the third of six children, with brothers and sisters that spanned a twenty-year period. Jefferson was sixteen years old when his youngest sister, Emily, was born; his mother 39 and his father 43 years old. The Wright family ancestors lived in and around Westford, Massachusetts for many decades. Many of the battles of the American Revolution took place in the area surrounding Westford.
One history states Jefferson had learned to "think for himself", leaving his father's home working "by the mouth since he was 15". If that is the case, we are not sure of Jefferson's place of residence during those years.
Jefferson and his older sister, Esther, apparently joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints about the same time in Lowell, Massachusetts and attended the Branch there. Jefferson's baptism date is listed as December 8 1845. The only other family member known to have joined the LDS faith was Esther..(see copy of Esther's journal below) Ester was baptized according to her journal in 1842. A couple of years after his baptism, Elder E.T. Benson, a newly called apostle, came on a mission to the East and called Jefferson to go on a mission with him. They traveled for a couple of months from Massachusetts to Philadelphia, then on to Nauvoo, across Iowa and finally to Winter Quarters arriving November 27, 1846. He lived with the Benson family and probably was soundly educated in the doctrine of the Church.
As the Saints started moving west Ezra Taft Benson was called to go with the first group, Jefferson stayed to help the Benson family members during his absence. During the summer of 1847, he met another New England convert, Miss Sarah Elizabeth Angell, 16, daughter of Solomon Angell, a General Authority. and Eunice Clark Young Angell. They courted amidst the hardships of Winter Quarters and married 12 December 1847.
The young couple had meager belongings, and thus drove one of Brigham Young's yoke of oxen to the Salt Lake Valley in 1848. Jefferson's journal states, "During the winter and summer the saints that staid at Winter Quarters suffered very much from hunger and sickness and many died. During the winter of 47 and 48 great preparations war made to move the saints to the Salt Lake Country the next season. I started on the 25 day of May in President Brigham Young Company to cross the plains then a barren unsettled wilderness with my wife and what little we had with one yoke of oxen to draw us along the thousand miles of parched and hartless plains. After much fatigue and hardship we reached the valley of the salt lake on the 21st day of September 1848 and camped on the river Jordan". They traveled with Sarah's parents and grandmother, Phoebe Ann Morton Angell, age sixty-two, who with her daughter drove another of Brigham Young's teams. They were in the company of John and Rebecca Dalton, great grandfather to J. Lewis Dalton (author's father).
Sarah delivered their first child just two months after their arrival in the Valley, he lived just four days. A second son was born a year later and he died after only one day. Finally a daughter, Sarah Ellen, was born in 1850 and lived. They went on to have a total of fourteen children, two more died shortly after birth, so they raised ten children. Our ancestral line, Adaline, was the ninth child. Esther Wright, Jefferson's sister, married Francis Fletcher and Jefferson helped 'pilot' them into the Valley (see note below). In 1848 Jefferson received his patriarchal blessing (copy with S. Hart).
Jefferson cut lumber for their livelihood with Joseph Holbrook, Sarah's uncle, in Mill Creek Canyon. They sold the lumber and "coal wood" for 12 ½ to 25 cents a bushel. But according to Holbrook, it was "not half enough to keep off hunger".
December 21, 1850, the Wright family was called to go to on a mission to Parowan in Iron County. They did so, being listed as some of the original pioneers (along with other ancestors of ours). The little family is listed on the 1850 Census in both Salt Lake City and in Parowan. They were permitted to return to the Great Salt Lake Valley on May 25, 1851 with President George A. Smith. It is not known why they returned.
By 1852 they were fulfilling another assignment to go to Brigham City and help settle that area. A Brigham City history states that on the 6th of October "William Davis had the first log house completed. The two second log houses to be completed were Jefferson Wright's and Benjamin Tolman's." Although fairly close to Salt Lake, it was still the wild West and over 500 Shoshone Indians roamed the immediate area. Six of the Wright children were born in Brigham City. The family resided in Brigham City for about eleven years.
Jefferson was called to go on an Eastern United States mission and was set apart by John Taylor and Orson Hyde at the Tabernacle in Salt Lake City on 31 August 1854. He was probably gone a year or so, as his next son, Luman, was born in May 1856. In March 1856 Jefferson was elected Treasurer of Box Elder County. He was also in the Box Elder Military (which included Cache and Box Elder Counties) the unit was organized under Jefferson's supervision. Martial law was declared at one time by Brigham Young, and preparations were made for war if necessary. As work on the Salt Lake Temple began, Jefferson worked in the Big Cottonwood quarry with his father-in-law, Solomon Angell, and his uncle Truman Angell (architect of the SL Temple).
Suddenly their lives changed; during October Conference 1861, at the age of 36, Jefferson was called to settle another LDS community; this time it was Virgin City in Southern Utah. Again the Wrights went with two families from the Dalton side of the family, John Dalton and James Lewis – interesting coincidence, as two members of each family later married. The Wrights arrived in 1862 and were among the first to settle the area. They were advised by Brigham Young to stay close together until the Indian trouble could be settled. The first grist mill was built in Virgin City and Jefferson "was the first miller for this mill". "The day the mill started, everybody turned out to see the wonderful sight and taste the flour". The mill burned down about 1878-9.
Life was hard in Virgin, getting sufficient water for crops, then fighting major flooding which washed away farm land carried many hardships for the settlers. In 1865, Solomon and Eunice Angell (Sarah's parents) and their family moved to Southern Utah also. It was probably comforting to Sarah and Jefferson to have family nearby.
The law of Consecration was declared and on March 5, 1874, Jefferson was named as Vice President of the United Order for Virgin City Ward. After eighteen months that organization was dissolved and the United Order members again went to work for themselves. From June to September 1877 Jefferson served yet another mission to the eastern United States. His father died in April 1877, just a few months prior to his trip. Perhaps he had seen his family on his previous mission.
In the Virgin City records, Jefferson's name is recorded as part of the town's history. One time it mentions "Jefferson Wright, a 70 [a LDS Church position], was present at the meeting where Pres. McAllister gave instruction as to the necessity of brotherly love. They had a prayer circle after being appropriately dressed". And on Jan 1, 1883, Jefferson is listed as one of the jurors in a case that resulted in a verdict of voluntary manslaughter. In a letter from St. George in 1888 written by J.W. McAllister, it is evident that Jefferson did family history and performed the ordinances at the St. George Temple.
Sarah was called to serve as a Counselor in the Relief Society in 1868 and served for twenty years in that calling. Her mother died in 1879 and her father in 1881. Jefferson and Sarah's last child was born in 1884, and so would have been only twelve years old when Jefferson died. Most of their ten living children remained in Utah and were active in the LDS Church.
Jefferson died in 1896 at age seventy. He was buried in Virgin, Utah, but the graveyard was ploughed up and so no tombstone remains. Sarah lived another nine years after he died - until 1905. Jefferson was an honorable, noble man.
The following is an excerpt from Esther Bathsheba Wright's journal:
They (she and her husband, Francis Fletcher, received the Gospel together and were baptized by Issac Butterfield in Westford, Massachusetts in July, 1842. Esther continued lated, "After the toilsome and weary journey of three months we were blessed with the sight of the valley of the Saints, the 29th day of September 1851. We found a brother [Jefferson Wright] that had come to the valley among the first settlers. He was out in the mountains to meet us. That day will never be forgotten. This brother was the only son of my Father Wright's that embraced the gospel at that early day and preceded us to these valleys."
Her brother, Jefferson Wright, who had met them as they entered the valley, had been called on a mission and sent to Massachusetts where he preached the gospel to his kindsman. Esther wrote: To my brother, peace attend thee While in distant lands you roam May the God of peace attend thee. Far from Saints and far from home. Go and gather up our kindred Bring them up to Zion's Hill Let not one be left behind you. Bring them all if it's God's will. Sound the Gospel to the people-- Those we knew in early youth. Teach to them the words of wisdom Show to them the ways of truth May the power of God attend thee On the journey o'er the plains. May His spirit e'er be with you Wherever you may remain. When you meet our friends and brethren Greet them all in love for me. Tell them I have ne'er forgotten Those I loved so tenderly. Tell my Father and my Mother, Come amongst the Saints to dwell. Tell my brother and my sisters To gather up to Zion' Hill.
In February 1875, her brother, who now resided in Virgin City, Kane County paid her a visit after an absence of 10 or 12 years. "It gave me much joy, as he is the only relative I have in this Church."
Married Sarah Elizabeth Angell, 12 Dec 1847, Winter Quarters, Douglas, Nebraska
Children - Oscar Jefferson Wright, Albert B. Wright, Sarah Ellen Wright, Eunice M. Wright, Augusta Eudolphine Wright, Luman B. Wright, Marcellus Orrin Wright, Jane M. Wright, Adaline LaVerne Wright, Alice Wright, Mary Emma Wright, Alvin Wright, Clara Virginia Wright, Ernest Osborn Wright
History - Jefferson Wright was born 30 July 1825 to Asa Wright and Bathsheba Dadman in the state of Massachusetts. He was the third of six children, with brothers and sisters that spanned a twenty-year period. Jefferson was sixteen years old when his youngest sister, Emily, was born; his mother 39 and his father 43 years old. The Wright family ancestors lived in and around Westford, Massachusetts for many decades. Many of the battles of the American Revolution took place in the area surrounding Westford.
One history states Jefferson had learned to "think for himself", leaving his father's home working "by the mouth since he was 15". If that is the case, we are not sure of Jefferson's place of residence during those years.
Jefferson and his older sister, Esther, apparently joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints about the same time in Lowell, Massachusetts and attended the Branch there. Jefferson's baptism date is listed as December 8 1845. The only other family member known to have joined the LDS faith was Esther..(see copy of Esther's journal below) Ester was baptized according to her journal in 1842. A couple of years after his baptism, Elder E.T. Benson, a newly called apostle, came on a mission to the East and called Jefferson to go on a mission with him. They traveled for a couple of months from Massachusetts to Philadelphia, then on to Nauvoo, across Iowa and finally to Winter Quarters arriving November 27, 1846. He lived with the Benson family and probably was soundly educated in the doctrine of the Church.
As the Saints started moving west Ezra Taft Benson was called to go with the first group, Jefferson stayed to help the Benson family members during his absence. During the summer of 1847, he met another New England convert, Miss Sarah Elizabeth Angell, 16, daughter of Solomon Angell, a General Authority. and Eunice Clark Young Angell. They courted amidst the hardships of Winter Quarters and married 12 December 1847.
The young couple had meager belongings, and thus drove one of Brigham Young's yoke of oxen to the Salt Lake Valley in 1848. Jefferson's journal states, "During the winter and summer the saints that staid at Winter Quarters suffered very much from hunger and sickness and many died. During the winter of 47 and 48 great preparations war made to move the saints to the Salt Lake Country the next season. I started on the 25 day of May in President Brigham Young Company to cross the plains then a barren unsettled wilderness with my wife and what little we had with one yoke of oxen to draw us along the thousand miles of parched and hartless plains. After much fatigue and hardship we reached the valley of the salt lake on the 21st day of September 1848 and camped on the river Jordan". They traveled with Sarah's parents and grandmother, Phoebe Ann Morton Angell, age sixty-two, who with her daughter drove another of Brigham Young's teams. They were in the company of John and Rebecca Dalton, great grandfather to J. Lewis Dalton (author's father).
Sarah delivered their first child just two months after their arrival in the Valley, he lived just four days. A second son was born a year later and he died after only one day. Finally a daughter, Sarah Ellen, was born in 1850 and lived. They went on to have a total of fourteen children, two more died shortly after birth, so they raised ten children. Our ancestral line, Adaline, was the ninth child. Esther Wright, Jefferson's sister, married Francis Fletcher and Jefferson helped 'pilot' them into the Valley (see note below). In 1848 Jefferson received his patriarchal blessing (copy with S. Hart).
Jefferson cut lumber for their livelihood with Joseph Holbrook, Sarah's uncle, in Mill Creek Canyon. They sold the lumber and "coal wood" for 12 ½ to 25 cents a bushel. But according to Holbrook, it was "not half enough to keep off hunger".
December 21, 1850, the Wright family was called to go to on a mission to Parowan in Iron County. They did so, being listed as some of the original pioneers (along with other ancestors of ours). The little family is listed on the 1850 Census in both Salt Lake City and in Parowan. They were permitted to return to the Great Salt Lake Valley on May 25, 1851 with President George A. Smith. It is not known why they returned.
By 1852 they were fulfilling another assignment to go to Brigham City and help settle that area. A Brigham City history states that on the 6th of October "William Davis had the first log house completed. The two second log houses to be completed were Jefferson Wright's and Benjamin Tolman's." Although fairly close to Salt Lake, it was still the wild West and over 500 Shoshone Indians roamed the immediate area. Six of the Wright children were born in Brigham City. The family resided in Brigham City for about eleven years.
Jefferson was called to go on an Eastern United States mission and was set apart by John Taylor and Orson Hyde at the Tabernacle in Salt Lake City on 31 August 1854. He was probably gone a year or so, as his next son, Luman, was born in May 1856. In March 1856 Jefferson was elected Treasurer of Box Elder County. He was also in the Box Elder Military (which included Cache and Box Elder Counties) the unit was organized under Jefferson's supervision. Martial law was declared at one time by Brigham Young, and preparations were made for war if necessary. As work on the Salt Lake Temple began, Jefferson worked in the Big Cottonwood quarry with his father-in-law, Solomon Angell, and his uncle Truman Angell (architect of the SL Temple).
Suddenly their lives changed; during October Conference 1861, at the age of 36, Jefferson was called to settle another LDS community; this time it was Virgin City in Southern Utah. Again the Wrights went with two families from the Dalton side of the family, John Dalton and James Lewis – interesting coincidence, as two members of each family later married. The Wrights arrived in 1862 and were among the first to settle the area. They were advised by Brigham Young to stay close together until the Indian trouble could be settled. The first grist mill was built in Virgin City and Jefferson "was the first miller for this mill". "The day the mill started, everybody turned out to see the wonderful sight and taste the flour". The mill burned down about 1878-9.
Life was hard in Virgin, getting sufficient water for crops, then fighting major flooding which washed away farm land carried many hardships for the settlers. In 1865, Solomon and Eunice Angell (Sarah's parents) and their family moved to Southern Utah also. It was probably comforting to Sarah and Jefferson to have family nearby.
The law of Consecration was declared and on March 5, 1874, Jefferson was named as Vice President of the United Order for Virgin City Ward. After eighteen months that organization was dissolved and the United Order members again went to work for themselves. From June to September 1877 Jefferson served yet another mission to the eastern United States. His father died in April 1877, just a few months prior to his trip. Perhaps he had seen his family on his previous mission.
In the Virgin City records, Jefferson's name is recorded as part of the town's history. One time it mentions "Jefferson Wright, a 70 [a LDS Church position], was present at the meeting where Pres. McAllister gave instruction as to the necessity of brotherly love. They had a prayer circle after being appropriately dressed". And on Jan 1, 1883, Jefferson is listed as one of the jurors in a case that resulted in a verdict of voluntary manslaughter. In a letter from St. George in 1888 written by J.W. McAllister, it is evident that Jefferson did family history and performed the ordinances at the St. George Temple.
Sarah was called to serve as a Counselor in the Relief Society in 1868 and served for twenty years in that calling. Her mother died in 1879 and her father in 1881. Jefferson and Sarah's last child was born in 1884, and so would have been only twelve years old when Jefferson died. Most of their ten living children remained in Utah and were active in the LDS Church.
Jefferson died in 1896 at age seventy. He was buried in Virgin, Utah, but the graveyard was ploughed up and so no tombstone remains. Sarah lived another nine years after he died - until 1905. Jefferson was an honorable, noble man.
The following is an excerpt from Esther Bathsheba Wright's journal:
They (she and her husband, Francis Fletcher, received the Gospel together and were baptized by Issac Butterfield in Westford, Massachusetts in July, 1842. Esther continued lated, "After the toilsome and weary journey of three months we were blessed with the sight of the valley of the Saints, the 29th day of September 1851. We found a brother [Jefferson Wright] that had come to the valley among the first settlers. He was out in the mountains to meet us. That day will never be forgotten. This brother was the only son of my Father Wright's that embraced the gospel at that early day and preceded us to these valleys."
Her brother, Jefferson Wright, who had met them as they entered the valley, had been called on a mission and sent to Massachusetts where he preached the gospel to his kindsman. Esther wrote: To my brother, peace attend thee While in distant lands you roam May the God of peace attend thee. Far from Saints and far from home. Go and gather up our kindred Bring them up to Zion's Hill Let not one be left behind you. Bring them all if it's God's will. Sound the Gospel to the people-- Those we knew in early youth. Teach to them the words of wisdom Show to them the ways of truth May the power of God attend thee On the journey o'er the plains. May His spirit e'er be with you Wherever you may remain. When you meet our friends and brethren Greet them all in love for me. Tell them I have ne'er forgotten Those I loved so tenderly. Tell my Father and my Mother, Come amongst the Saints to dwell. Tell my brother and my sisters To gather up to Zion' Hill.
In February 1875, her brother, who now resided in Virgin City, Kane County paid her a visit after an absence of 10 or 12 years. "It gave me much joy, as he is the only relative I have in this Church."
Son of Asa Wright Jr. and Bathsheba Dadman
Married Sarah Elizabeth Angell, 12 Dec 1847, Winter Quarters, Douglas, Nebraska
Children - Oscar Jefferson Wright, Albert B. Wright, Sarah Ellen Wright, Eunice M. Wright, Augusta Eudolphine Wright, Luman B. Wright, Marcellus Orrin Wright, Jane M. Wright, Adaline LaVerne Wright, Alice Wright, Mary Emma Wright, Alvin Wright, Clara Virginia Wright, Ernest Osborn Wright
History - Jefferson Wright was born 30 July 1825 to Asa Wright and Bathsheba Dadman in the state of Massachusetts. He was the third of six children, with brothers and sisters that spanned a twenty-year period. Jefferson was sixteen years old when his youngest sister, Emily, was born; his mother 39 and his father 43 years old. The Wright family ancestors lived in and around Westford, Massachusetts for many decades. Many of the battles of the American Revolution took place in the area surrounding Westford.
One history states Jefferson had learned to "think for himself", leaving his father's home working "by the mouth since he was 15". If that is the case, we are not sure of Jefferson's place of residence during those years.
Jefferson and his older sister, Esther, apparently joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints about the same time in Lowell, Massachusetts and attended the Branch there. Jefferson's baptism date is listed as December 8 1845. The only other family member known to have joined the LDS faith was Esther..(see copy of Esther's journal below) Ester was baptized according to her journal in 1842. A couple of years after his baptism, Elder E.T. Benson, a newly called apostle, came on a mission to the East and called Jefferson to go on a mission with him. They traveled for a couple of months from Massachusetts to Philadelphia, then on to Nauvoo, across Iowa and finally to Winter Quarters arriving November 27, 1846. He lived with the Benson family and probably was soundly educated in the doctrine of the Church.
As the Saints started moving west Ezra Taft Benson was called to go with the first group, Jefferson stayed to help the Benson family members during his absence. During the summer of 1847, he met another New England convert, Miss Sarah Elizabeth Angell, 16, daughter of Solomon Angell, a General Authority. and Eunice Clark Young Angell. They courted amidst the hardships of Winter Quarters and married 12 December 1847.
The young couple had meager belongings, and thus drove one of Brigham Young's yoke of oxen to the Salt Lake Valley in 1848. Jefferson's journal states, "During the winter and summer the saints that staid at Winter Quarters suffered very much from hunger and sickness and many died. During the winter of 47 and 48 great preparations war made to move the saints to the Salt Lake Country the next season. I started on the 25 day of May in President Brigham Young Company to cross the plains then a barren unsettled wilderness with my wife and what little we had with one yoke of oxen to draw us along the thousand miles of parched and hartless plains. After much fatigue and hardship we reached the valley of the salt lake on the 21st day of September 1848 and camped on the river Jordan". They traveled with Sarah's parents and grandmother, Phoebe Ann Morton Angell, age sixty-two, who with her daughter drove another of Brigham Young's teams. They were in the company of John and Rebecca Dalton, great grandfather to J. Lewis Dalton (author's father).
Sarah delivered their first child just two months after their arrival in the Valley, he lived just four days. A second son was born a year later and he died after only one day. Finally a daughter, Sarah Ellen, was born in 1850 and lived. They went on to have a total of fourteen children, two more died shortly after birth, so they raised ten children. Our ancestral line, Adaline, was the ninth child. Esther Wright, Jefferson's sister, married Francis Fletcher and Jefferson helped 'pilot' them into the Valley (see note below). In 1848 Jefferson received his patriarchal blessing (copy with S. Hart).
Jefferson cut lumber for their livelihood with Joseph Holbrook, Sarah's uncle, in Mill Creek Canyon. They sold the lumber and "coal wood" for 12 ½ to 25 cents a bushel. But according to Holbrook, it was "not half enough to keep off hunger".
December 21, 1850, the Wright family was called to go to on a mission to Parowan in Iron County. They did so, being listed as some of the original pioneers (along with other ancestors of ours). The little family is listed on the 1850 Census in both Salt Lake City and in Parowan. They were permitted to return to the Great Salt Lake Valley on May 25, 1851 with President George A. Smith. It is not known why they returned.
By 1852 they were fulfilling another assignment to go to Brigham City and help settle that area. A Brigham City history states that on the 6th of October "William Davis had the first log house completed. The two second log houses to be completed were Jefferson Wright's and Benjamin Tolman's." Although fairly close to Salt Lake, it was still the wild West and over 500 Shoshone Indians roamed the immediate area. Six of the Wright children were born in Brigham City. The family resided in Brigham City for about eleven years.
Jefferson was called to go on an Eastern United States mission and was set apart by John Taylor and Orson Hyde at the Tabernacle in Salt Lake City on 31 August 1854. He was probably gone a year or so, as his next son, Luman, was born in May 1856. In March 1856 Jefferson was elected Treasurer of Box Elder County. He was also in the Box Elder Military (which included Cache and Box Elder Counties) the unit was organized under Jefferson's supervision. Martial law was declared at one time by Brigham Young, and preparations were made for war if necessary. As work on the Salt Lake Temple began, Jefferson worked in the Big Cottonwood quarry with his father-in-law, Solomon Angell, and his uncle Truman Angell (architect of the SL Temple).
Suddenly their lives changed; during October Conference 1861, at the age of 36, Jefferson was called to settle another LDS community; this time it was Virgin City in Southern Utah. Again the Wrights went with two families from the Dalton side of the family, John Dalton and James Lewis – interesting coincidence, as two members of each family later married. The Wrights arrived in 1862 and were among the first to settle the area. They were advised by Brigham Young to stay close together until the Indian trouble could be settled. The first grist mill was built in Virgin City and Jefferson "was the first miller for this mill". "The day the mill started, everybody turned out to see the wonderful sight and taste the flour". The mill burned down about 1878-9.
Life was hard in Virgin, getting sufficient water for crops, then fighting major flooding which washed away farm land carried many hardships for the settlers. In 1865, Solomon and Eunice Angell (Sarah's parents) and their family moved to Southern Utah also. It was probably comforting to Sarah and Jefferson to have family nearby.
The law of Consecration was declared and on March 5, 1874, Jefferson was named as Vice President of the United Order for Virgin City Ward. After eighteen months that organization was dissolved and the United Order members again went to work for themselves. From June to September 1877 Jefferson served yet another mission to the eastern United States. His father died in April 1877, just a few months prior to his trip. Perhaps he had seen his family on his previous mission.
In the Virgin City records, Jefferson's name is recorded as part of the town's history. One time it mentions "Jefferson Wright, a 70 [a LDS Church position], was present at the meeting where Pres. McAllister gave instruction as to the necessity of brotherly love. They had a prayer circle after being appropriately dressed". And on Jan 1, 1883, Jefferson is listed as one of the jurors in a case that resulted in a verdict of voluntary manslaughter. In a letter from St. George in 1888 written by J.W. McAllister, it is evident that Jefferson did family history and performed the ordinances at the St. George Temple.
Sarah was called to serve as a Counselor in the Relief Society in 1868 and served for twenty years in that calling. Her mother died in 1879 and her father in 1881. Jefferson and Sarah's last child was born in 1884, and so would have been only twelve years old when Jefferson died. Most of their ten living children remained in Utah and were active in the LDS Church.
Jefferson died in 1896 at age seventy. He was buried in Virgin, Utah, but the graveyard was ploughed up and so no tombstone remains. Sarah lived another nine years after he died - until 1905. Jefferson was an honorable, noble man.
The following is an excerpt from Esther Bathsheba Wright's journal:
They (she and her husband, Francis Fletcher, received the Gospel together and were baptized by Issac Butterfield in Westford, Massachusetts in July, 1842. Esther continued lated, "After the toilsome and weary journey of three months we were blessed with the sight of the valley of the Saints, the 29th day of September 1851. We found a brother [Jefferson Wright] that had come to the valley among the first settlers. He was out in the mountains to meet us. That day will never be forgotten. This brother was the only son of my Father Wright's that embraced the gospel at that early day and preceded us to these valleys."
Her brother, Jefferson Wright, who had met them as they entered the valley, had been called on a mission and sent to Massachusetts where he preached the gospel to his kindsman. Esther wrote: To my brother, peace attend thee While in distant lands you roam May the God of peace attend thee. Far from Saints and far from home. Go and gather up our kindred Bring them up to Zion's Hill Let not one be left behind you. Bring them all if it's God's will. Sound the Gospel to the people-- Those we knew in early youth. Teach to them the words of wisdom Show to them the ways of truth May the power of God attend thee On the journey o'er the plains. May His spirit e'er be with you Wherever you may remain. When you meet our friends and brethren Greet them all in love for me. Tell them I have ne'er forgotten Those I loved so tenderly. Tell my Father and my Mother, Come amongst the Saints to dwell. Tell my brother and my sisters To gather up to Zion' Hill.
In February 1875, her brother, who now resided in Virgin City, Kane County paid her a visit after an absence of 10 or 12 years. "It gave me much joy, as he is the only relative I have in this Church."
Married Sarah Elizabeth Angell, 12 Dec 1847, Winter Quarters, Douglas, Nebraska
Children - Oscar Jefferson Wright, Albert B. Wright, Sarah Ellen Wright, Eunice M. Wright, Augusta Eudolphine Wright, Luman B. Wright, Marcellus Orrin Wright, Jane M. Wright, Adaline LaVerne Wright, Alice Wright, Mary Emma Wright, Alvin Wright, Clara Virginia Wright, Ernest Osborn Wright
History - Jefferson Wright was born 30 July 1825 to Asa Wright and Bathsheba Dadman in the state of Massachusetts. He was the third of six children, with brothers and sisters that spanned a twenty-year period. Jefferson was sixteen years old when his youngest sister, Emily, was born; his mother 39 and his father 43 years old. The Wright family ancestors lived in and around Westford, Massachusetts for many decades. Many of the battles of the American Revolution took place in the area surrounding Westford.
One history states Jefferson had learned to "think for himself", leaving his father's home working "by the mouth since he was 15". If that is the case, we are not sure of Jefferson's place of residence during those years.
Jefferson and his older sister, Esther, apparently joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints about the same time in Lowell, Massachusetts and attended the Branch there. Jefferson's baptism date is listed as December 8 1845. The only other family member known to have joined the LDS faith was Esther..(see copy of Esther's journal below) Ester was baptized according to her journal in 1842. A couple of years after his baptism, Elder E.T. Benson, a newly called apostle, came on a mission to the East and called Jefferson to go on a mission with him. They traveled for a couple of months from Massachusetts to Philadelphia, then on to Nauvoo, across Iowa and finally to Winter Quarters arriving November 27, 1846. He lived with the Benson family and probably was soundly educated in the doctrine of the Church.
As the Saints started moving west Ezra Taft Benson was called to go with the first group, Jefferson stayed to help the Benson family members during his absence. During the summer of 1847, he met another New England convert, Miss Sarah Elizabeth Angell, 16, daughter of Solomon Angell, a General Authority. and Eunice Clark Young Angell. They courted amidst the hardships of Winter Quarters and married 12 December 1847.
The young couple had meager belongings, and thus drove one of Brigham Young's yoke of oxen to the Salt Lake Valley in 1848. Jefferson's journal states, "During the winter and summer the saints that staid at Winter Quarters suffered very much from hunger and sickness and many died. During the winter of 47 and 48 great preparations war made to move the saints to the Salt Lake Country the next season. I started on the 25 day of May in President Brigham Young Company to cross the plains then a barren unsettled wilderness with my wife and what little we had with one yoke of oxen to draw us along the thousand miles of parched and hartless plains. After much fatigue and hardship we reached the valley of the salt lake on the 21st day of September 1848 and camped on the river Jordan". They traveled with Sarah's parents and grandmother, Phoebe Ann Morton Angell, age sixty-two, who with her daughter drove another of Brigham Young's teams. They were in the company of John and Rebecca Dalton, great grandfather to J. Lewis Dalton (author's father).
Sarah delivered their first child just two months after their arrival in the Valley, he lived just four days. A second son was born a year later and he died after only one day. Finally a daughter, Sarah Ellen, was born in 1850 and lived. They went on to have a total of fourteen children, two more died shortly after birth, so they raised ten children. Our ancestral line, Adaline, was the ninth child. Esther Wright, Jefferson's sister, married Francis Fletcher and Jefferson helped 'pilot' them into the Valley (see note below). In 1848 Jefferson received his patriarchal blessing (copy with S. Hart).
Jefferson cut lumber for their livelihood with Joseph Holbrook, Sarah's uncle, in Mill Creek Canyon. They sold the lumber and "coal wood" for 12 ½ to 25 cents a bushel. But according to Holbrook, it was "not half enough to keep off hunger".
December 21, 1850, the Wright family was called to go to on a mission to Parowan in Iron County. They did so, being listed as some of the original pioneers (along with other ancestors of ours). The little family is listed on the 1850 Census in both Salt Lake City and in Parowan. They were permitted to return to the Great Salt Lake Valley on May 25, 1851 with President George A. Smith. It is not known why they returned.
By 1852 they were fulfilling another assignment to go to Brigham City and help settle that area. A Brigham City history states that on the 6th of October "William Davis had the first log house completed. The two second log houses to be completed were Jefferson Wright's and Benjamin Tolman's." Although fairly close to Salt Lake, it was still the wild West and over 500 Shoshone Indians roamed the immediate area. Six of the Wright children were born in Brigham City. The family resided in Brigham City for about eleven years.
Jefferson was called to go on an Eastern United States mission and was set apart by John Taylor and Orson Hyde at the Tabernacle in Salt Lake City on 31 August 1854. He was probably gone a year or so, as his next son, Luman, was born in May 1856. In March 1856 Jefferson was elected Treasurer of Box Elder County. He was also in the Box Elder Military (which included Cache and Box Elder Counties) the unit was organized under Jefferson's supervision. Martial law was declared at one time by Brigham Young, and preparations were made for war if necessary. As work on the Salt Lake Temple began, Jefferson worked in the Big Cottonwood quarry with his father-in-law, Solomon Angell, and his uncle Truman Angell (architect of the SL Temple).
Suddenly their lives changed; during October Conference 1861, at the age of 36, Jefferson was called to settle another LDS community; this time it was Virgin City in Southern Utah. Again the Wrights went with two families from the Dalton side of the family, John Dalton and James Lewis – interesting coincidence, as two members of each family later married. The Wrights arrived in 1862 and were among the first to settle the area. They were advised by Brigham Young to stay close together until the Indian trouble could be settled. The first grist mill was built in Virgin City and Jefferson "was the first miller for this mill". "The day the mill started, everybody turned out to see the wonderful sight and taste the flour". The mill burned down about 1878-9.
Life was hard in Virgin, getting sufficient water for crops, then fighting major flooding which washed away farm land carried many hardships for the settlers. In 1865, Solomon and Eunice Angell (Sarah's parents) and their family moved to Southern Utah also. It was probably comforting to Sarah and Jefferson to have family nearby.
The law of Consecration was declared and on March 5, 1874, Jefferson was named as Vice President of the United Order for Virgin City Ward. After eighteen months that organization was dissolved and the United Order members again went to work for themselves. From June to September 1877 Jefferson served yet another mission to the eastern United States. His father died in April 1877, just a few months prior to his trip. Perhaps he had seen his family on his previous mission.
In the Virgin City records, Jefferson's name is recorded as part of the town's history. One time it mentions "Jefferson Wright, a 70 [a LDS Church position], was present at the meeting where Pres. McAllister gave instruction as to the necessity of brotherly love. They had a prayer circle after being appropriately dressed". And on Jan 1, 1883, Jefferson is listed as one of the jurors in a case that resulted in a verdict of voluntary manslaughter. In a letter from St. George in 1888 written by J.W. McAllister, it is evident that Jefferson did family history and performed the ordinances at the St. George Temple.
Sarah was called to serve as a Counselor in the Relief Society in 1868 and served for twenty years in that calling. Her mother died in 1879 and her father in 1881. Jefferson and Sarah's last child was born in 1884, and so would have been only twelve years old when Jefferson died. Most of their ten living children remained in Utah and were active in the LDS Church.
Jefferson died in 1896 at age seventy. He was buried in Virgin, Utah, but the graveyard was ploughed up and so no tombstone remains. Sarah lived another nine years after he died - until 1905. Jefferson was an honorable, noble man.
The following is an excerpt from Esther Bathsheba Wright's journal:
They (she and her husband, Francis Fletcher, received the Gospel together and were baptized by Issac Butterfield in Westford, Massachusetts in July, 1842. Esther continued lated, "After the toilsome and weary journey of three months we were blessed with the sight of the valley of the Saints, the 29th day of September 1851. We found a brother [Jefferson Wright] that had come to the valley among the first settlers. He was out in the mountains to meet us. That day will never be forgotten. This brother was the only son of my Father Wright's that embraced the gospel at that early day and preceded us to these valleys."
Her brother, Jefferson Wright, who had met them as they entered the valley, had been called on a mission and sent to Massachusetts where he preached the gospel to his kindsman. Esther wrote: To my brother, peace attend thee While in distant lands you roam May the God of peace attend thee. Far from Saints and far from home. Go and gather up our kindred Bring them up to Zion's Hill Let not one be left behind you. Bring them all if it's God's will. Sound the Gospel to the people-- Those we knew in early youth. Teach to them the words of wisdom Show to them the ways of truth May the power of God attend thee On the journey o'er the plains. May His spirit e'er be with you Wherever you may remain. When you meet our friends and brethren Greet them all in love for me. Tell them I have ne'er forgotten Those I loved so tenderly. Tell my Father and my Mother, Come amongst the Saints to dwell. Tell my brother and my sisters To gather up to Zion' Hill.
In February 1875, her brother, who now resided in Virgin City, Kane County paid her a visit after an absence of 10 or 12 years. "It gave me much joy, as he is the only relative I have in this Church."
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