Volusia County FlArchives Biographies.....Wright, Berlin Hart 1851 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/fl/flfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com February 4, 2008, 1:34 pm Author: B. F. Johnson Berlin Hart Wright In a noted murder trial the principal witness for the prosecution was impeached and absolutely discredited by an almanac. He had sworn that he was enabled to recognize the defendant because the bright light of a full moon had shone in his face. The almanac showed that the moon was not due to shine on the night in question. Astronomical calculations require much patience and absolute accuracy. A pre-requisite is a fund of information that may be acquired only by years of study. But with thorough training and equipment there lies within the student the power to time the future movement of the heavenly bodies that seems marvelous to the uninitiated. The date of solar and lunar eclipses can be figured years and even centuries ahead, and the very minute fixed at which they will begin and end at any place on earth. It is comparatively an easy matter to calculate the minute at which the sun will rise and set and chart the varying phases of the moon throughout the year. But the man who does this work professionally is necessarily at home with the stars and infallible in the handling of figures. A citizen of Florida who for over thirty years has been engaged in making astronomical calculations for every part of the world, and whose work is in demand with the publishers of many of the popular and standard almanacs is Berlin Hart Wright of Deland. This is his work. His diversion has been along the line of original investigation in conchology and in this he has been gratified by material results. Mr. Wright's career was doubtless influenced by his early environments, his father having been a physician, astronomer and naturalist. He comes of old English stock tracing his ancestry back through Simeon Wright of West Chester county, N. Y., Jacob Wright of Massachusetts to John Wright of Wright Bridge, Essex, England. B. H. Wright was born July 5, 1851 in Yates county, N. Y., his parents being Dr. Samuel Hart Wright and Joanna (McLean) Wright. He perfected his education by his own efforts and under his father's guidance. He entered professional life, while still a youth, as a teacher in 1869. In 1871 he became professor of mathematics and physical sciences in the Penn Yan Academy. He prosecuted his own studies all the time and since 1876 has been a competent civil engineer and surveyor and has done a large amount of work in that field. The making of almanac calculations has, however, been his real work, and he supplies the data for such popular publications as the New York Tribune Almanac, The Brooklyn Eagle Almanac, The Chicago Daily News Almanac, and also for the publishers of the advertising medium almanacs that are printed and distributed by the million. He is called upon to make astronomical calculations for almost every part of the world. He is also a geologist and while living in New York prepared and published an exhaustive work on the "Geology of Yates County." He removed to Florida in 1883 and located at Deland. Since his residence here he has taken up the study of conchology as a diversion and among the other results achieved he has discovered, in Florida, Georgia and Alabama, about fifty species of fresh water mussels that were new to science. These he has classified and published. Two of his publications since residing in Florida are "Check list of Unionidse" and "New Florida Naiades." He is also a frequent contributor to prominent newspapers and scientific journals on subjects in which he is interested and of which he has made a study. He has never allowed himself to become actively interested in politics. He is identified with the prohibition party and an ardent supporter of its principles believing at the same time in an impartial elective franchise based purely on the educational test. He is a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which he is a steward, a trustee, and teacher in the Sunday School. These claim his time and attention. He thinks the "drink curse" is the greatest menace now threatening the moral welfare of the people and believes that its eradication with the enforcement of honesty in politics will do much towards uplifting the people. For the material welfare of the State he believes the preservation of the forests and the reclamation of waste lands by drainage are most important. He believes that success may be attained by hard study, diversity of work, physical and mental, wasting nothing, not even little fragments of time, and by maintaining a sunny disposition and going fishing, once in a while. Mr. Wright was married December 25, 1874, to Loretta F. Mills, a daughter of Dr. John C. and Abigail Mills and they have six children as follows: Burdette N. Wright, civil engineer with The American Bridge Works; Leon M. Wright, Chief Electrician of U. S. A. Naval Station at New Orleans; Mrs. Inez Ethel Shepard; Mrs. Olive Blanch Lacy; and Leona M. and Gladys H. Wright. The history of the Wright family is of sufficient interest to justify giving some part of it. An exhaustive investigation into the antecedents of the Wright family shows in Georgia four or five different branches. The family which has its headquarters in Wilkes county traces its origin back to Sir James Wright, the last British Governor of Georgia, who was a son of Robert Wright, an Englishman who came from Durham, England, to Charleston, South Carolina, in the early part of the eighteenth century. The second family, which has its headquarters in Savannah, appears to come from Benjamin, who came from England to Virginia, about 1645. The third family, represented in this generation by the Hon. Seaborn Wright and Judge Moses Wright, both of Rome, Georgia, is descended either from Benjamin of Virginia, or John of Maryland. The fourth family, represented in the present generation by the Hon. Boykin Wright, a distinguished lawyer and legislator, of Augusta, Ga., and his brother, Robert F. Wright, Assistant Commissioner of Agriculture for the State of Georgia, traces its immediate origin back to Robert, of Virginia, a soldier and officer in the Revolutionary armies, who after the war came to Georgia. This Robert may have been descended from Benjamin, but I think it is much more likely that he was descended from John, of Maryland. The fifth family, represented in this generation by Hon. Wm. A. Wright, Comptroller General of the State of Georgia, goes back to Ambrose, who came to Georgia with Oglethrope, and was private secretary of the famous preacher, George Whitfield, married a Hammond, of South Carolina, and the prevailing family names in that section of the Wright family are Ambrose and Hammond. Further investigations show Samuel, at Boston, in 1630, Richard, at Lynn, Massachusetts, in 1632, and Thomas, in Connecticut, in the latter part of that century. Investigation in England shows Suffolk and Essex to be the principle seats of the family. It is questionable which is the older branch, Suffolk or Essex, but rather think that the Suffolk is the older one and was the parent family. Through all this Suffolk family we find John and James and Robert to be preferred names on the male side, with an occasional Samuel, and on the female side, Sarah and Alary Jane seem to have been favored names. Richard and Thomas and Benjamin mentioned among these early settlers in America do not appear at all among the English lines. Over fifty members of the family have been prominent in American life. Quite a number of them have run to scientific lines especially in mathematics and astronomy. We find an Ambrose now, a distinguished astronomist, in San Francisco, connected with Lick Observatory, who is evidently descended from one of these Georgia families, as his given name clearly indicates. They have been quite prominent as soldiers. Marcus J. and Ambrose R. were Confederate generals. Luke E., the late Secretary of War, was a Confederate soldier. Two members of the family were major-generals in the Federal army. Silas Wright, one of the Governors of New York, was one of the foremost statesmen of the last century. We incline to the opinion that Berlin Hart Wright's descent goes back to John of Maryland. John came from England, in 1666, and settled in Queen Anne's county. We find in the sixth generation the name Berlin Hart, and we find, also, that there is a post town in Worcester county, on the eastern shore of Maryland, known as Berlin. While, of course, we cannot be sure of this, it is quite probable that this name, Berlin, comes into Mr. Wright's family through marriage with the Berlins, after whom that little town was named, or else the name was appropriated by the Wrights from the little town itself. If Berlin H. Wright's first ancestor in this country was John, as we are disposed to believe, then Robert F. and Boykin Wright, of Georgia, are remote relatives of his. If he comes down, however, through Samuel, or Richard, or Thomas, of New England, then the New England Wrights, who are now very numerous, and the New York Wrights, also numerous, are his relatives. In the early days of the Colonies there was a considerable movement from north to south, and vice versa, so that unless one has thoroughly accurate information by means of family biographies or family Bibles, it is very hard to make positive statements, but of this we feel reasonably sure, that the five Wrights who came to America between 1630 and 1670 were all descended from practically the same family in England, and all, therefore, in a certain sense related, so that their descendants would be yet related in a more distant degree. The American branches of the family appear to have multiplied, and they are now numerous in the New England States, New York, Maryland, Virginia, Tennessee, and Georgia. In Georgia the various branches of the family represent a very extensive connection. Additional Comments: Extracted from: FLORIDA EDITION MAKERS OF AMERICA AN HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL WORK BY AN ABLE CORPS OF WRITERS VOL. III. Published under the patronage of The Florida Historical Society, Jacksonville, Florida ADVISORY BOARD: HON. W. D. BLOXHAM COL. FRANK HARRIS HON. R. W. DAVIS SEN. H. H. McCREARY HON. F. P. FLEMING W. F. STOVALL C. A. CHOATE, SECRETARY 1909 A. B. CALDWELL ATLANTA, GA. COPYRIGHT 1909 B. F. JOHNSON File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/fl/volusia/bios/wright40gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/flfiles/ File size: 10.9 Kb