(1821-1901) by: Norma Gorman Wright, 1998 We have not been able to determine for certain just who the parents were of William M. Wright. He was born in Lincoln County, Tennessee, September, 1821; he died May 5, 1901, at the home of his son, David Wright, in Bunyan, Erath County, Texas. His son, Ed (Edmund Whitfield Wright, 1856-c1928), told his (Ed's) nephews Doran and Hal Wright, that the mother of William M. was Jemima "Jennie" Stovall Wright. We have made note of every Jemima Wright, and many of the Stovall family; but as yet have not found the group of facts that will forge the vital link. In the Federal Census of Lincoln County, Tennessee, for 1820, the year before our William M. was born, there were Andrew C. Wright, Benjamin, Dennis, Jacob, Jacob, and Solomon Wright, all listed as Heads of Household, and all except Dennis having children under ten years of age. Dennis Wright and his wife, Eleanor, were in Spotsvylvania County, Virginia, in 1785 and 1789. We have read Bible Records of several Wright families of Tennessee. Other Wrights were listed regularly in Probate Court and County Court Minutes, as plaintiffs, defendants, or as appointees on various committees, and called to serve on Juries. But as yet have not found our William M. mentioned. In other records, there are clues waiting to be investigated, such as Military Service and records of The Order of Freemasonry, to name only two. The following may be our family: I hope it will prove to be so.
In 1846, Jane Wright, George S. Wright, and William M. Wright were on the Tax List of Lincoln County, Tennessee, in District 15. In subsequent years, Jane, George, and William were taxed, seemingly for the same property, but now in Tax District 24. Jane seemed to be principal landowner, of 180 acres on Robertson Creek, and two slaves. George and William were taxed for one poll each. In 1848 and 1849, Jane was taxed for one slave; Elizabeth S. Wright was taxed for one slave, same district. We found Elijah and Ancil Stovall taxed in 1848 and 1849, in the same District 24. George and William remained in the District. Samuel Wright joined them in 1849, and was taxed for the 180 acres, Jane only for one slave. In 1856, William M. Wright of Madison County, Alabama, with Joseph N. Wakefield and wife, Elizabeth S. Wakefield, of Franklin County, Tennessee, sold to George S. Wright of Lincoln County, Tennessee, their interests in 180 acres, on which Jane Wright now resides. [Note: The handwriting on the original record looks like Joni' Wright, but from previous and subsequent records, we know it had to be Jane. ngw] My theory is that George S., William M., and Elizabeth S. were siblings. Perhaps Samuel also. That Jane was related to Ancil and Elijah Stovall. 1850 Census, Lincoln County, Tennessee: Living next door to Joseph and Mariah Damering [Damron]:
HH #1294 William M. Wright and wife, Minerva*, daughter Elizabeth, age 3, and Sarah Elizabeth Bean, were listed. [Sarah E. was "Dora" Bean Wright's sister.] Daughter Elizabeth Wright was born December 1847 in Tennessee. *"Minerva" is a corruption of Malvina Musadora (Bean) Wright. Her grandchildren knew her name as "Dora". I believe further: That William M. and his wife Dora moved to Madison County, Alabama, which adjoins Jackson County, before their fourth child, Sarah Ann, was born in July 1855. William and his sister Elizabeth S., who was now married to Joseph N. Wakefield of Franklin County, Tennessee, sold their interest in Jane Wright's 180 acres on Robertson Creek in Lincoln County, Tennessee, to brother George S. Wright. It is known that George S. Wright remained in Lincoln County, and is buried in the Damron Cemetery in Franklin County. The Damron family was a next-door neighbor to Jane Wright in Lincoln County, District 24. An interesting note is that in the 1960 Census of Franklin County, Tennessee, wife of Joseph N. Wakefield is "Sebrina Wakefield". Is this the same Sebrina Wright who was living with Jane Wright, and sister of Elizabeth S. (Wright) Wakefield of December, 1856, Deed of Sale? If Tax District 24 was in the southeast part of Lincoln County, then Franklin County, Tennessee, and Madison County and Jackson County, Alabama, were all within about a five mile radius. These are facts waiting for further research. Known and documented facts follow.
On January 14, 1848, William M. Wright married Malvina Musadora "Dora" Bean, in Franklin County, Tennessee, by H. Larkin. Dora Bean was born May 29, 1829, in Alabama - possibly Tuscumbia, the birthplace of her three younger siblings. She was the daughter of Edmund I. Bean and Eliza Whitford Bean, who was daughter of Martin Whitford (1775-1814) and Mary "Polly" Clark. Eliza and her twin sister, Charlotte Cordee Whitford, were born August 12, 1808. There were other siblings. (Lardner Clark Bible Records). Eliza's grandparents were Lardner Clark and Elizabeth (Bowen) Clark. Parents of Edmund I. Bean, born c1801, were George Bean Senr. and his second wife, the widow Prudence (Windham) (Cope) Bean. George Bean was born about 1754 in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, son of William Bean Senr. and Lydia (Russell) Bean, who moved from Virginia in 1769 to pioneer Tennessee's Watauga Valley. William and his descendants were renowned throughout the frontier for their finely tooled guns. Bean guns were still found (1990) in certain Collectors' Catalogs. Visitors to the Bean family included other well-known frontiersmen, among them Daniel Boone. It is possible that Daniel Boone carried with him a gun made by William Bean or one of his sons! William Bean died in Washington County, Tennessee, 1782. "George Bean settled first in Grainger County, Tennessee. There are many who say that, at least, he helped to establish BEAN STATION TAVERN. In 1792, he advertised in the Knoxville Gazette, issue of Oct. 4, 1792: GEORGE BEAN has an advertisement that he is engaged in the business of a Goldsmith at German Creek.'" (Vera Bean Looney, The Bean "Beene" and Wynne "Wynn" History and Genealogy, Copyright 1965, page 23.) George Bean married Prudence (Windham) Cope on February 11, 1800. Prudence Bean's brother, Reuben Windham of Mississippi Territory, made a deed of gift of personal property to Edmund I. Bean in 1806, when Edmund I would have been about five years old. Note: Edmund was probably named for an uncle, Edmund Bean, who was killed by Indians on the Tennessee frontier. Eliza Whitford Bean, wife of Edmund I. Bean, died April 30, 1837, in Alabama, perhaps in Tuscumbia, though no records have yet been uncovered. It was just two months after the birth of Sarah Elizabeth. Survivors were her husband and four children: Musadora, age 8; W.H. "Billy", age 6; Orlando W."Lander", age 3; and Baby Sarah Elizabeth, who was only 2 months old. While in Tennessee, William M. and Dora Bean Wright became parents of three children: Elizabeth Harriett in December 1847, Jennie [possibly for Virginia], birthdate unknown at this time, and David, who was born, we think, in 1851. Sarah Ann "Sallie", was born in July 1855, in Jackson County, Alabama. The eighth, and last child, was Clemenzia, "Menzie", who was born in Alabama, about 1866 or 1867. Dora died when Menzie was about three years old, which places her death as circa 1869. To date, we have not found a record of place or date of death; but are still searching (1997). 1861, on July 9, W.M. Wright received Warrant Certificate No.32754, for theSoutheast quarter of the Southeast quarter of Section 19 in Madison County, Alabama., just across the river from Lincoln and Franklin Counties, Tennessee. He had 39 acres in Township 3 South, Range 3 East, Huntsville Meridian. (Old Land Records of Madison County, Alabama, by Margaret Matthews Cowart, page 226 (p.275 of original record.) The 1866 Census lists, in Jackson County, Alabama, the families of Bostick, Frazier, Stovall, and Swaim, who were all related to William by marriage. W.W. Wright was listed, and could be our William; but more proof is needed. Most of the families mentioned were members of the Methodist Church; and the Bostick family founded the Bostick Hill Church in Jackson County, Alabama. Some time after the death of his beloved Dora in about 1869, William moved to Texas, with his son David, daughter Bettie and her husband Floid Bostick, the Swaim family, whose daughter David married in 1875 in Erath County, Texas. The brothers and sister of Dora; and probably some of William M.'s own brothers and sisters, if we only knew their identities, all moved at about the same time.. We have had undocumented reports that William had a brother Frank Wright, who settled near Whitesboro, Texas. Another account places Frank Wright near Cleburne, Texas. We have not pursued this information. In 1870, Jackson County, Alabama, a W.M. Wright married a Frances Woodall. More than likely, it was not our William; but there is that possibility. He does not seem to have had a wife in Texas; but there is yet much research to be done. One of his grandsons, John F. Hall, wrote from Virginia in 1966, that his grandfather lived a few months of each year with his family, Sam and Sallie (Wright) Hall, southeast of Arlington, Texas; other months he spent with David and Betty (Swaim) Wright, and Floid and Bettie (Wright) Bostick in Bunyan, Texas, which is near Dublin in Erath County. John recalled that his grandfather was called by his friends, "Uncle Bucky", and that he was congenial and patient with children; and that he and the children would work together to cut wood for the winter fires. When the 1900 Census was taken in Erath County, Texas, William M. was living in the household of his son David, next door to Floid and Bettie Bostick, in Bunyan. He reported that year that he was born in September 1821, in Tennessee; and always told his children that Lincoln County was his birthplace. He and "Minerva", as the census enumerator listed 'Dora', their 3-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, and sister-in-law, Sarah Elizabeth Bean, were in the 1850 Census of Lincoln County. William M. Wright was a farmer, and possibly a breeder of horses. His sons George and Ed Wright are said to have been breeders of horses for racing, bringing their stock from Alabama to Texas. In the younger portrait of William, despair and tragedy seem to show in his countenance, leading to the assumption that the picture was made shortly after the death of his wife of approximately 22 years, as a widower with eight children. He seems to have been a very responsible person, and one who felt keenly the closeness of family ties. Because his male descendants, specifically, George O. Wright Jr. and Harold E. Wright of Childress, placed such great importance on the Brotherhood of Freemasonry, I should be surprised if he was not a loyal Mason. That is another avenue waiting to be explored. Not knowing names of his parents or of his siblings is a real hindrance; because there are many Wrights in various counties of Tennessee, Georgia, Virginia, and Kentucky; and George, William, James, and John were popular names in most of them. One of these days we will know which of them are ours. William M. did come to Texas in the early 1870s. We found him in the 1850 Census, living in Lincoln County, Tennessee, with wife and 3-year-old daughter; but have not found him in the census again until 1900, when he was living in the household of his son, David Wright, and his wife, Bettie (Swaim) Wright. Also in the household was Martha M. Swaim, David's mother-in-law, who was the widow of Michael Swaim of Jackson County, Alabama. William's brothers-in-law and sister-in-law also came to Texas. In the census of 1870, Orlando W. Bean and his wife Jennie (English) Bean were in Jefferson, Marion County, Texas, where Orlando (known in the family as "Uncle Lander") was a machinist, an understandable occupation, considering the reputation of his Bean ancestors as fine metal toolers and gunsmiths of the Tennessee frontier. Orlando and Jennie did not have children of their own, but were much loved by, and loving of, their nieces and nephews. It is told by C. Wayne Lawrence that his mother, Menzie (Wright), lived for a while with Uncle Lander and Aunt Jennie following the death of her mother. The last letters we have written by George O. Wright Sr., state that he and son, Davey, are getting good care from Uncle Lander and Aunt Jennie in Arlington. He was seeking medical help at the time for his right arm, which had been severely injured by a runaway horse, which pulled him by the reins he was holding, against a tree or pole. Cancer developed in the arm, and it had to be amputated a few days after he wrote the letters, copies of which are in our possession. Orlando, with his brother William H. Bean, owned a cotton mill in or near Arlington, in Tarrant County, Texas, and reportedly, also one near Sherman in Grayson County. There is a town by the name of Tom Bean in Grayson County. To date, I have not been able to learn if Tom was a relative of Dora Bean Wright, Orlando, William H. and Sarah Elizabeth (Bean) Campbell. We do know that the families were a close-knit group; and that their faith in God was the constant and steadfast support that sustained them through change, through Civil War times and the Reconstruction Period, with political and emotional upheavals, and through epidemics of disease and loss of loved ones. William M. Wright died quietly in the home of son David Wright, on the 5th of July 1901, in the community of Bunyan, Erath County, Texas. The gentle letter written by his son, David to another son, George Orlando Wright, in Childress, Texas, telling him of their father's last days, and exhorting him to lead a blameless life in order to meet again "Our dear father and mother and sisters", attests to the warmth and depth of feeling this family shared. Sources and Notes:
Generation II 1. (**) Elizabeth Harriet "Bettie", born December 1847, Lincoln County, Tenn. md Floid B.
Bostick, born 1841, of Lincoln Co, TN., and Jackson Co, AL. 2. Jennie/Virginia Wright, born circa 1849, Tennessee married John (?) Frazier(Frazer).
Moved to Alpine, Arkansas 3. (**) David Wright, born 6 November 1851 (1900 Census, Erath Co Texas) married 1875
in Erath Co. Texas Elizabeth Swaim "Bettie", Lived Erath County, Texas. 4. (**) Sarah Ann "Sallie" Wright, born 21 July 1855, Alabama, married 1st, 1874, Robert
Osborne/Ausburn/ married 2nd, 21 Sep1883, in Honey Grove, Texas, Samuel Hall. 5. (**) Edmund Whitfield Wright, born 1 Nov 1856. married Aggie Powers. No children.
Lived Childress, Texas. 6. (**) George Orlando Wright, born 1 Oct 1859, Jackson County, Alabama. died 17 April
1907, Childress, Texas, married Lillie Julia Doran, who was born 11 October 1862; died 11 July
1955, daughter of Alexander McCormack.Doran and Margaret Ellen (Jones) Mundy, Tennessee
to Pilot Point, Denton Co., Texas. 7. (**) William Henry Wright, born ca 1861-65; Died Santa Fe Street, Dallas, Tex. married
[2nd?] Mary Corbell. Lived Arlington, Dublin, Quanah, Henrietta, and Dallas, Texas. 8. (**) Clemenzia "Menzie" Wright, born 1866 or 1867, married John Jefferson LAWRENCE
"Jeff", Ten children. Residence, Eldorado, Oklahoma Menzie was about three years old when
her mother, Dora, died. She was sent to live for a while with Dora's brother, Orlando W. Bean
and wife, Jennie (Virginia English), and/or the other Bean uncle, William H. Bean, according to
her son, C.Wayne Lawrence, Iowa Park, Texas, 1997. She was not listed in Orlando and Jennie's
household in 1870, in Jefferson, Marion County, Texas. [She may have lived with the Swaim
Family (her Uncle Dave and Aunt Bettie Wright) for a time also. ngw] By Norma Gorman Wright, updated continuously. Children of Edmund I. Bean (1801- ) and Eliza Whitford
(d.1837). She was a twin. Ref: The Lardner Clark Family Bible. Compiled and submitted by:
We have a number of reserchers that are working on this and other closely related families. We will list their names and E-Mail addresses here in hopes that others may be interested. If you are researching this family and would like to add your name to the list, let us know. At your request, we will add your name to this list.
Norma Gorman Wright -
Norma852Wr@aol.com
**** Alphabetical Listing **** Bean, Clemenzia  Please place in the Subject Line: WEBPAGE-HISTORY 
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