Thomas M. Wright, a native of Connecticut, was a man of more than usual executive ability and philanthropic purpose; he was a leader in good works, and, although not a member of any church, was liberal in support of the same; was devotional in his nature, and a constant student of the Bible; he was devotedly attached to the Masonic Order, of which he was an honored member; he was kind and generous to all, emphatically the poor man's (in italics) friend, a noble humanitarian. In 1798 he married Miss Eliza Smead, of Massachusetts, and, in 1803, they, with a small colony from Massachusetts, emigrated to Warren Co., NY, which was then a wilderness; this earnest, harmonious colony was successful, and soon the wilderness bloomed with the beauty of fruit and flower, of schoolhouse and church; the first church erected was large and substantial, and long remained the well-frequented house of God; the high backed family pews with closed doors were occupied each Sabbath with religious regularity; the good Pastor taught inclosed (sic) in high box pulpit, and the choir stood in a row in the gallery and sang God's praises with the accompaniment of a bass-viol (italics), which was made and played by Thomas Wright, the oldest brother of the subject (Eliza Wright) of this sketch; he is now living in Maquoketa. 1879 JCH, 782-783.
Two years old when his father died, Thomas Miles was reared in his native state, and when nineteen years of age went to the town of Gill, in Franklin County, MA, and was there married to Miss Eliza Smead. In 1800 they went to NY, and cast their lot with the early pioneers of the town of Bolton where they took up a tract of land on the shore of Lake George. At once he built a frame house, and commenced to clear a farm from the primeval forests of that beautiful region. For some years he devoted his time to clearing land and farming. In after years he built a woolen mill, the first one ever erected in that part of the country, and engaged in carding and coloring wool and in finishing cloth--his eldest son having learned the trade. He continued to reside there until 1840, when he came with his family to Jackson County, and settled two and a half miles south of Maquoketa, buying a claim there, on which he lived some years. He then removed to Maquoketa, and passed the remaining years of a busy and honorable life. He and his wife were blessed by the birth of nine children, eight of whom grew to maturity. 1879 JCH, 308.
He was "reared by his stepfather." When a young man, he took up residence in Shelburne, Mass., where he was married to Miss Eliza Smead, a native of that place. 1879 JCH, 180.
About 1800 he, with several other families, set out for Warren County, NY, with ox teams, located on a tract of heavily timbered land in the wilderness, and put up a log house. Near this homestead afterward grew up the town of Huddle. His wife and all the other members of the colony, except himself, were members of the Presbyterian Church in New England, and after their arrival in the new country thay organized themselves into a society and put up a church edifice. Mr. Wright, with the assistance of his sons, cleared three farms, besides establishing a woolen-mill, in which he manufactured cloth, and a smelting furnace for iron. He also engaged in merchandising, and in the lumber business, running at one time two saw-mills. By his enterprise and industry he accumulated a good property, the whole of which he lost by the signing of notes for friends. He was a man of dauntless courage, however, and succeeded in retrieving a part of his fortune. He remained a resident of New York State until 1840, then set out for Iowa Territory on a visit to his children in this county. Upon his arrival here he was so much pleased with this country that he bought a farm, and made his home here with Mrs. Goodenow (his daughter Eliza) and his son Samuel until his death, which occurred in February, 1864, at the advanced age of eighty-eight years and four months. 1879 Jackson History, 180.
Birthplace: COLCHESTER, a large township in N. London co, Connecticut, 15 miles westward of Norwich, 25 S.E. of Hartford, 20 E. of Middle-ton, and 20 N.W. of N. London city.
A B R I D G M E N T OF THE AMERICAN GAZETTEER
Birthplace according to International Genealogical Index, Barbour Collection: CHATHAM, a flourishing township in Middlesex co. Connecticut, on the eastern bank of Connecticut R. and opposite Middleton city. It was a part of the township of Middleton till 1767. In this township, on the bank of the river, half a mile above the city of Middleton, is an inexhaustible quarry of the CONNECTICUT STONE, as it is called, excellent for building, and exported in great quantities for that purpose. Here also are coal mines, which hereafter may be found of great use for fuel.
A B R I D G M E N T OF THE AMERICAN GAZETTEER
His middle name, according to International Genealogical Index, Barbour Collection, is Mighells.
The "Lake George Colony." Lake George in eastern New York lies in a trough like depression of the Adirondack Mountains, trending nearly north and south, is thirty-six miles long, and is contained in both Warren and Essex counties. Our oldest and largest colony of pioneers consists of two groups, one from Warren County and the other from Essex; but since they had a common origin and had, to some extent, intermingled before emigration, we will consider them one body and give them the name of the beautiful sheet of water, near whose shores nestled the eastern homes of both groups. It will be noted that these people were mostly wholly, a New England community. They had come largely from Vermont with an earlier origin in Massachusetts, and also from New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, passed around the south end of Lake Champlain, and spread out along its westen shore, soon after the Revolutionary War, while all that region was still a wilderness. . . Eventually, the "panic year" of 1837 and the recently opened "Black Hawk Purchase" across the Mississippi, in what was then a part of the Territory of Wisconsin, caused many men (e.g. the Wrights, Thomas, 1839, and his father Thomas M. and brothers, Alfred and Samuel, 1840; Isaiah Griffin, 1840; H. B. Griffin, 1846; all representatives of large families) to better their fortunes by leaving N. Y. 1910 Jackson History, Vol I, 560.
In 1810 he served as a supervisor from Bolton, apparently for one year. H. P Smith, The History of Warren County, NY, 536.
In September 1813 he served as a juror in the first court. H. P Smith, The History of Warren County, NY, 294.
"By 1815 . . . Thomas Wright ran (an ashery) on the site of 'The Huddle.' He also owned a store and carding-machine here, and about 1830 started the only forge that was ever run in the town (Bolton, Warren, NY)" H. P Smith, The History of Warren County, NY, 530.
The population of Bolton, Warren, NY, in 1850 was 1147. H. P Smith, The History of Warren County, NY, 536.
After the death of his first wife (November 18, 1828), Mr. Wright was married to Catherine Staunton, nee Griffin, a native of Warren County, NY, and who spent her last years in that State. 1879 JCH, 180. (Gerald Lyman has found no record of her in Iowa.)
Thomas Miles Wright was about 65 when he went to Maquoketa, IA. The 1879 and 1910 Jackson Histories are not always without ambiguity in references to Thomas Wright since sometimes the father Thomas Miles is the reference and sometimes the son Thomas. Father and son both had the same occupations, it seems. (Note by Gerald Lyman)
A good summary of Iowa history, which indicates how the state opened up to immigrants, is found on <http://www.iowahistory.org/education/heritage_curriculum/timeline/iowa__timeline_page2.html>http://www.iowahistory.org/education/heritage_curriculum/timeline/iowa__timeline_page2.html
See the article on "Maquoketa" in 1910 JCH, Vol I, 553-573.
"We trace on the Maquoketa River, west of . . . Maquoketa within a distance of five and three-quarter miles . . ., five sawmills, including the Lowell mills erected in the early forties by Sears, Doolittle, and Wright." 1910 JCH, Vol I, 356.
See notes under Samuel Wright for references to Wright's corners by Baptist minister in 1842.
A missionary (William Salter) in Jackson county, 1843-6, commissioned by the American Home Missionary Society (consisting of Presbyterian and Congregational members), includes the following in his journal: "In the Wright settlement, three miles south of Maquoketa, and at Burleson's, six miles west, I visited the schools and preached, as I did in every settlement in the county. Thomas Miles Wright was a native of Connecticut, had lived in Warren County, New York, near Lake George . . . ; they all encouraged my work. In the Wright family were several sons of like spirit with their father. A daughter was the wife of John E. Goodenow; she had all the fine qualities of the excellent woman in the last chapter of the book of Proverbs." 1910 JCH, Vol I, 667
Among the advertisers in the first issue of the Sentinel newspaper (1854) is Thomas Wright & Company, manufacturers of woolen goods, Eagle factory. 1910 JCH, Vol I, 103.
He and his son Thomas were among those who petitioned in 1851 for the organization of a Masonic lodge. He served as the first in the office of secretary at a time when his son Thomas was proprietor of a woolen mill. 1910 JCH, Vol I, 596
His membership was in Helion Lodge, No. 36, A., F. & A. M., organized under dispensation May 5,8 (sic), 1851, and chartered in Muscatine, June 18, 1853. (Was he a member, as was his son Thomas in 1822, of Clinton Lodge, No. 278, in the State of New York?) 1879 JCH, 511.
The following e-mail indicates conflicting birth places for Thomas Miles and his son Thomas: " I found the following information . . .: Book 1, office of the Jackson County Recorder, (lists) the deaths of Thomas, born in New York, and Miles, also born in New York." Ken Wright, <mailto:wrightb@caves.net>wrightb@caves.net, June 26, 2001, Subject: JACKSON COUNTY LOOKUP-------------------------------------
The History of Jackson County, Iowa : containing a history of the county, its cities, town, &c., biographical sketches of citizens, war record of its, (Chicago : Western Historical Co., 1879 783 p. : ill., map, ports.)
Hon. James W. Ellis, History of Jackson County Iowa, Chicago: S. J. Clarke Publishing Co. 1910 2 vols.
H. P. Smith, History of Warren County, New York. 1885-------------------------------------
I am a descendant of the Wright, Griffin, Hansen and Lyman families that were early settlers in Maquoketa, IA. Eliza Wright is my 3rd great-grandaunt. I am descended through her brother Samuel Wright. My greataunt, Mary Hansen, was an educator, attending Holyoke College.
Your photo with the caption "The "old timers" gathered at the Goodenow home/inn in Maquoketa" possibly includes representatives of my family.
Gerald D. Lyman
Hemet, CA
jacnjer@pe.net