Adams County History & Genealogy

Alexander Mitchell Wright

Adams County has lost another of her oldest and most respected citizens in the death of Alexander Mitchell Wright, of North Liberty, who answered Death's silent summons last Thursday night after a gradual failing of energy for several weeks. He was born in Cherry Fork, Oct. 9, 1818, and there spent his entire life of more than 88 years. He was reared on a farm back of town and there spent his early manhood. In 1841 he married Susannnah Plummer who died in 1875. To them were born three sons, William N. (deceased), John L., now a physician at Peebles, and Jas. T., an engineer at Winchester. In 1877 he married Mrs. Jane Williams who survives him. At the age of 19 he learned the smith trade and for the last 30 years he has lived in town and conducted a gun and general repair shop, where he displayed the mechanical ability and originality of the high order. All through life he enjoyed remarkable health, never ceasing active work at his trade till a few months before his death. An enthusiastic gardenter and lover of flowers, through the summer his yard was a bower of beautiful flowers and plants. Health and physical bigor into old age where the matter of pride with him. Temperance in al things, industry, freedom from the use of tobacco or alchoholic stimulants, purity in life -- to these he gave much credit for his preservations far beyond the alloted three score and ten. Endowed with the strong spiritual nature, he united in early life with the Dessenter church, afterwards with the Seceders, in both of which he was an elder for years, and after the dissolution of the latter he united with the Presbyterian church in Eckmansville where he was a member till his death. He was the last survivor of the old family of Wrights who settled Cherry Fork and reclaimed it from the wilderness. About 103 years ago his grandfather came out of Kentucky back of Maysville and settled with his family in Cherry Fork when all was a wilderness inhabited by Indians. His nearest white neighbor lived where Decatur now stands, eight miles away. Here he puchased a large tract of land from the government, made clearings and built a water mill on almost the spot where Lewis Hunter's mill now stands. When a boy Mr. Wright made trips with his father and brothers to Maysville, Ky., which was their nearest trading point, with their stock, grain and produce, selling them at prices which might seem incredibly low to children of this day. Winchester was then a village of only three houses. He and his six brothers were members of the famous "Underground Railway" which enabled many poor slaves from Kentucky to reach freedom in Canada before the Rebellion. Mr. Wright's last surviving brother, James, died about six years ago near North Liberty as the ripe old age of 91, and the deed for the original tract purchased from the government was recently found among his papers. Samuel Wright, who for years kept the Bank Hotel on Main street, West Union, was ___ [paper torn at end of article]