Joseph Wright Of Laxfield, Suffolk, England ©By: Don Wright From Claire Wright Dear Don & Suzy She started with what information and misinformation I could provide. Mom said that her marriage certificate provided the names of Joseph Wright and Mary Wilkerson as her husband’s parents. She understood both had come from the Isle of Man separately and were married in Topeka in the late 1880's. Their first-born was Holland Joseph Wright, born approximately 1889 or 1890 in Topeka. Grover (Al’s father) always gave his birth date as October 1, 1892; however the 1900 Soundex census records from the National Archives listed him as age 10. Mom confirmed he was working for his room and board at the Thomas R. Reed farm outside Topeka in 1900. Joseph and Mary’s daughter, Portia, was born 29 December 1893. She married John C. Stapel on 9 September 1915 and moved to Columbia, Missouri in 1926. She died there on 2 June 1955. Holland Joseph married Pearl (unknown maiden name) and moved to Decatur, Illinois. He died there in May, 1962. When Joseph and Mary Wright died of TB some time after Portia’s birth, the terms of their will stated in effect that whoever took over raising the children cold take over their dairy farm outside Topeka. La Roy M. Penwell (born c1863) and wife Mary took over the dairy farm. They adopted Portia. Portia’s obituary refers to her as Portia Wright Penwell Stapel. The two boys were farmed out to Reed by Penwell. They ran away at quite young ages. Judging by the census records, Holland Joseph had already left in 1900. All the birth and death records from the Isle of Man have been microfilmed by the LDS Church. I had access to about 20 of the films last winter, but could find no Joseph Wright. Letters to the Isle of Man produced replies stating there were few Wrights on the island; they came there about 1511 A.D. from England. Mom thought her husband had said his father’s name had been Enright and that Joseph had changed to Wright when he came to the U.S. However, there are NO Enright’s or Wilkersons listed anywhere on the Isle of Man. This was confirmed by the Millenium Office at the Isle of Man. On the Soundex film of 1900 census for Kansas, I found: Grover C. Wright, Vol. 50, ED #167, born October 1890, age 10m born Kansas, Sheet 3, 1.25. Topeka Township, Shawnee County, enumerated with Thomas R. Reed and listed as boarder. No. H.J. or Portia were listed on the film; so I sent for the Penwell Soundex film for 1900. The 18 June, 1880 Shawnee County census records: Soldier TP, P.4, 34/36, Eli H. Penwell, age 53, carpenter & farmer, b. Indiana, his wife Mary, B. N.Y. and children Lauroiy age 17, Frank 15, Alphonse 12, and Alva J. 4, all born in Michigan. Two farms down the list are 36/37 Henry Denison, his wife Mariah, and her mother, Elizabeth Penwell (b. VT) and brother John W. Penwell, both born in Michigan. A Kate Penwell was attending Bethany College elementary school in Topeka at the time. Mom says that Grover was very young when his parents died, and he did not remember them. The story is told that the Salvation Army located Joseph’s children around 1900 or later to inform them they must go to the Isle of Man to claim the family property they’d inherited there, but “Daddy” Penwell vetoed that, and the property was turned over to the crown. Both Grover and Holland Joseph in later years claimed that “Daddy” Penwell had used their inheritance to finance going into his own business of establishing a Mortuary and Funeral Parlor. Child Labor Laws not yet in existence caused the boys to be assigned more work than they could handle, thus the beatings that ensued from their inability to complete all their tasks. For this reason, both ran away while still quite young. Katy Matthews’ research confirmed some of the above information and corrected the
erroneous data given to the boys by “Daddy Penwell.” I will quote from Katy’s
letters what she learned.
WRIGHT, Holland Case #3155 dated 30 Jan 1896 Guardianship action
Grover Same
Portia Same
WRIGHT, Joseph and Mary E. Dec’d.
De Moss, William A. 1st Guardian (died 1 Jan 1897)
Penwell, L.M. 2nd Guardian
Under death records:
MARY E. WRIGHT age 35; white; Died from consumption, (TB) died at Topeka, KS on
24 Jan 1896.
Physician - Dr. Dawson Reported by D.J. Penwell.
In 1900 census found L.M. Penwell and wife lived at 422 Quincy St. with Portia, adopted daughter born December 1892, age 7 years, born in Kansas. City Directory for 1895/96 showed Joseph Wright living in Soldier Township, with Penwell in business with De Moss at 512 Quincy. The 1885 City of Topeka census showed a J.H. Wright, v.254, p. 63, no age given, male, white, no occupation or birthplace given. Further checking showed that De Moss owned the hotel, and Penwell was a carpenter. In the Probate Court records was found a letter from a Mr. E. Sydney Taylor which showed Mary/s maiden name to be WILKINSON, rather than Wilkerson. A letter from a Mr. Penlington referred to an aunt in Liverpool. A copy of a private contract for the dairy farm showed that it had reverted to the original owner, A.H. Bragunier. She had died, leaving her father, Robert Stone, as heir. The obituary of Col. Wm. A De Moss, proprietor of the 5th Avenue Hotel, an old soldier....He was 52 years old., born Hendricks Co., IN., 6 May 1845. He was married 10 April 1864 to Abigail Phillips. He had 3 children: Ida, Edgar and O.B., all of Topeka. There was no mention of the Wright children. The 1895 Kansas State Census for Shawnee County, Soldier Township, p. 179, taken on 24 May 1895 showed: WRIGHT, JOSEPH, age 39, born England, from England and occupation was Dairyman. His wife was M.E. age 34, born England, also from England, and children were H.W. age 6, G.C. age 4, and Portia age 2; all born in Kansas. The Kansas Agriculture report showed that Joseph Wright owned 24 acres of land, 8 acres under cultivation, 24 acres fenced. Valuation was $2500. Plus $10.00 value of implements. Value of milk sold: $1200.00. He had 4 horses, 12 milk cows, 1 other cattle, and 7 cows had died during the year (no doubt of TB), cows sold for market value of $15.00. Church records showed Mary E. Wright registered with the CHURCH OF GOOD SHEPHERD, an episcopal Church which was admitted to convention in 1886, having been organized in 1882. It is located on the northeast corner of Quincy and E Streets in North Topeka. (Church is no longer there). Church records showed the Mary lived East of the railroad near Jones. In the column for where the person was from, there was a faint question mark, and that was all. No baptismal records for the children and no record of her or her husband’s funerals were found in church records. In 1894, the ministers were more concerned with financial reports than records for the parish. Katy stated she thought it was strange that one of the letters was missing from Probate files. She had heard some weird stories about how the lawyers searching the records, took whatever they wanted from the files without returning them. I am enclosing copies of the records found by Katy Matthews in the Probate Court. As noted by certain letters which are included, it is obvious that Mary Ellinore’s brother came to America to take the children back with him to Wales. However, the Court had already assigned guardianship to De Moss by the time he arrived. When one considers that it took three weeks minimum to cross the Atlantic from Liverpool to New York, plus the train time from New York to Topeka at that time, it is little wonder he arrived too late. A friend had notified him to come and help Mary, but she died within six weeks of her husband, too quickly for him to receive her letter and then make arrangements to come. Copies of letters in the files of Holland Joseph’s grandson were sent me in more recent years. It is obvious from these that the “inheritance” in the old country was from the Wilkinsons’ in Wales. Why Penwell told the offspring that they had come from the Isle of Man is beyond comprehension. Also included is a letter or statement from Mrs. Jane Jones of North Topeka to the Estate covering the care of Holland Joseph. According to the records I have received, Grover was in the care of Thomas R. Reed. Al and I did not have these files in our possession before our trip to Wales in 1985. We stayed in Hawarden and traveled to Chester (where Joseph and Mary Wilkinson were married) and other areas thereabouts. ( found some information on Mary’s side of the family in the microfilms at the Anglican Church in Hawarden (pronounced Harden). We were planning another trip back to Wales this past spring to research in the area of Mold and Buckley for present day descendants. According to information from Al’s cousin, Mary’s brother returned to Wales after his futile effort to obtain the children, but he did not stay. He returned to the U.S. via Canada, but no trace of him since. There are several avenues to pursue in continuing research on the Wrights’. I will keep you informed on any new information that is turned up. Meanwhile, enjoy the pages of research already obtained. Future endeavors will include trying to find out if there were any children from Joseph’s first marriage, trying to learn where the descendants of his brother, Peter, may be, and attempting to tie in Joseph and Peter’s Uncle John with the John in your family. As you and I have noted, when Debrett’s were searching for me in England, there weren’t that many John Wrights’ at that time, and none of the others fit what information we had. The same date of birth has to be significant. As I have mentioned repeatedly, there had to be someone to entice Joseph and Mary to come to this country, directly to Topeka without stopping, so soon after their marriage. Could Joseph’s uncle have been the instigator who lured them here? What part did Penwell play earlier? Why did he petition the court to allow De Moss to be the children’s guardian? Did he have a prior connection we don’t know yet? So many questions! Our work is laid out for us. Sincerely, NOTES ON THE WRIGHT GENEALOGY Katy Matthews of Topeka, Kansas Research showed: 1885 City of Topeka, Kansas census record: a. J. w. Wright V 254, p 63; No age, male, white, no occupation or birthplace. Register of Interments - Topeka, Kansas: Ivan E. Wright b 1/13/1875 in Newburn, Ind., d 2/28/1898 of TB, son of J. F. and E. T. Wright. W. Wright, b 9/1/1900 in Topeka, d 10/4/1901 of brain fever, son of J. W. and Addie Wright, buried in plot owned by Peter Wright. Joseph Wright, 12/15/1895 was buried. Wife Mary Reporter, no cause of death or date and place of birth. Mary E. Wright b 1/31/1861 at New Brighton Cottage, Northop, Flintshire, Wales d. 1/25/1896, buried 1/26/1896, died of TB, 3 small children listed under kin.  Please place in the Subject Line: WEBPAGE-HISTORY 
|