Statewide County HI Archives Biographies.....Wright, William Wilson January 1846 - 1921
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
J. Orr orr@hawaii.com October 8, 2009, 2:47 pm

Source: The Story of Hawaii and Its Builders. Published by The Honolulu Star Bulletin, Territory of Hawaii 1925
Author: Edited by George F. Nellist

WILLIAM WILSON WRIGHT, Early Manufacturer. For more than forty years 
associated with the development of business life in Honolulu and the founder 
of a family here which, in turn, became identified with the city’s growth, the 
late William W. Wright dedicated a long and useful career to the advancement 
of commercial enterprises. Mr. Wright was the father of six children, two of 
whom, George F. and Stanley Wright, are now members of the firm of Wright, 
Harvey & Wright, engineers and surveyors.
  By trade a blacksmith, the elder Mr. Wright came to Honolulu from New 
Zealand in 1880, and after spending several years in the employ of various 
firms branched into business for himself, and for many years was a leading 
carriage maker of the city. Before the introduction of automobiles, carriage 
makers’ shops had the place in the community now held by garages and repair 
shops. And it was at the shop of W. W. Wright & Son that customers in former 
times sought the latest models in surreys, buggies, phaetons, pony carts and 
dray wagons. King Kalakaua, a personal friend of Mr. Wright, was one of his 
patrons. When the Kaimiloa was being fitted for its historic but unsuccessful 
expedition to gain possession of Samoa for Hawaii, Mr. Wright had the contract 
for all iron work on the vessel.
  Born in Langton, near Warlington, England, in January, 1846, Mr. Wright, 
upon finishing his schooling, was apprenticed in his father’s blacksmith shop, 
a trade followed for more than 150 years by members of the family. After being 
associated with the Wesson Foundry in England, Mr. Wright went to Australia 
and before coming to Honolulu was employed for three years by the government 
railroad there.
  First employed by C. C. Coleman, blacksmith, in Honolulu, Mr. Wright became 
associated with S. M. Whitman and J. M. Rose, carriage builders, later 
purchasing Mr. Rose’s interest in the firm and consolidating it with the 
Hawaiian Carriage Co., remaining as a member of the firm until he established 
W. W. Wright & Son. Mr. Wright retired from active business life in 1916. He 
married Annie Marshall Wright in England. They were the parents of four sons 
and two daughters, John F. (deceased), Jane H. Wright (Mrs. E. A. Jacobsen), 
William Wilson Wright (deceased), George F. Wright Marion and Stanley Wright. 
Mr. Wright died in Honolulu in 1921. For many years he was a prominent Odd 
Fellow and was long a member of the Honolulu Fire Brigade.


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