Washington Co., AR - Biographies - Thomas Wainwright *********************************************** This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: The Goodspeed Publishing Co Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgenwebarchives.org *********************************************** Thomas Wainwright is a native of Madison County, Ala., and was born near the city of Huntsville, on the 12th day of September, 1828, a son of William and Nancy Wainwright, and grandson of Samuel Wainwright, who came with a brother of his from England to America, prior to the Revolutionary War. His brother located in the State of New York. Samuel located in Dinwiddie [p.1034] County, near Petersburgh, Va., where he became an extensive planter and slave-holder. Here his son William was born in 1785, and after the completion of his education he left his father's and went to Charleston, S. C., where, after spending what money he had, rather than return back to his father's and be dependent upon him. he learned the carpenter's trade, and in 1811 went to Huntsville, Ala. He entered the Seminole War under Gen. Jackson, at the close of which he went to Lincoln County, Tenn., where he married a Miss Nancy Turner, who was a native of Virginia, near Lynchburg. Immediately after his marriage he settled in Florence, Ala., where he lived for three years, at the close of which time he moved back to Madison County and settled near Huntsville. In 1815 his father died, and he received his portion of the estate, consisting of money and slaves. He then purchased a plantation and engaged in cotton raising. In 1835 he became security for some of his friends to the amount of some $13,000. In 1837 he had these security debts to pay, which consumed about all he had. Later in life he retrieved to some extent his fallen fortune. William and Nancy Wainwright were the parents of nine children, seven sons and two daughters. He died in 1855, and she in 1864. They were both members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Their son Thomas was reared on his father's plantation in his native State, and attended the common schools of that county. Was converted to God on the 29th day of August, 1845, and was received in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, immediately afterward. Was licensed to preach in September, 1846, and admitted into the Tennessee Conference in the following October as an itinerant preacher, filling circuits, stations and districts. In order to extend his knowledge in the sciences and of literature, he entered the best academies in his circuits, and the best colleges in the towns where he was stationed; by so doing he acquired an extensive knowledge of his own language and the different sciences, embracing medicine and law. On September 26, 1854, he was united in marriage with Miss Henrietta A. House, who died in 1859. She gave birth to two children: Cornelius Porter, and Henrietta, now deceased. His second marriage was to Mrs. Fannie Venerable, by whom he has seven children: Thomas (deceased), Lily M. (wife of J. J. Peer), William H., Fannie P., M. Lula, Cornelia J. and John. Politically he has ever been a Democrat. He first voted for Pierce, Buchanan and Douglas, against secession.