Champaign County IL Archives Biographies.....Wright, Hon James S 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Celia Snyder cgsnyder@uiuc.edu September 1999

Biography of Honorable James S WRIGHT, Champaign County, Illinois

From:  "History of Champaign County, Illinois with Illustrations," 1878


HON. JAMES S. WRIGHT.  The subject of this history has been a
resident of Champaign County for the long period of fifty-six years,
and has won an enviable place in the hearts of its people.  After a
busy and energetic life he is now retired from active labor, and in a
beautiful home, surrounded by the comforts of life, and the
friendship of his fellow-citizens, is enjoying the ease and quiet to
which his early industry and honorable and upright course in life
have fully entitled him.

Mr. Wright was born in Highland County, Ohio, on the 4th of August,
1816, and came to Illinois in 1830, with his father's family,
excepting the mother, who had died five years previously in Indiana.
They first settled near Homer, Champaign county.  The father of our
subject, John B. Wright, was born in Virginia in 1785, and in 1805
was married to Miss Elizabeth Stephens.  They removed on a boat down
the Ohio River to a point near Leesburg, where James S. was born.  In
the same year they emigrated to Indiana, locating where Winchester
now stands.  There the mother died, in 1825, and the father in 1869.
The latter was a man of great force of character, and possessed more
than ordinary ability, being prominent in the local affairs of his
county, and served in the State Legislature at Corydon, the old
capital, from 1818 to 1824.  Here the boy James was raised after the
manner of most farmers' sons and assisted his father in the
blacksmith-shop, the latter having served an apprenticeship at this
business in early manhood.  Our subject attended school three months
each winter, where the old Scotch teacher would vary the afternoon
exercises by taking a nap, a drink of liquor, and whipping two or
three boys.

The Wright family was of Scotch-Irish descent, and the family of John
B. consisted of three sons-David, James and John B., Jr.  After going
to Indiana the father of our subject, in addition to his
blacksmithing and legislative duties, served as County Treasurer, and
filled other responsible positions with credit and fidelity.  After
coming to Illinois they located in what was then called Vermilion but
is now Homer Township, Champaign County.  Here the elder Wright
purchased 160 acres of land, for which he paid $500, and where, after
years of industrious labor, he established a comfortable homestead,
which he occupied until a few years before his death, which occurred
in 1869.  His natural abilities were soon recognized by the people of
this locality, and it was not long before he was tacitly acknowledged
as a suitable leader in the community and a man whose opinions and
word could be relied upon.  Here he served as County Commissioner and
was called to other positions of note.  He had been reared in the
Society of Friends, and possessed in a marked degree the simplicity
and the honor which go hand in hand with the lives of the Quakers.
The parental family consisted of nine children, of whom four are now
living and all are residents of this county-Phebe, Mrs. Way; Rebecca,
Mrs. Butler; Sidna, Mrs. Swearingen, and James S.

When nineteen years of age James S. Wright after much persuasion
received the permission of his father to start out in the world on
his own account.  The family had experienced all the difficulties and
privations of pioneer life, and when our subject was offered the
enormous salary of $1 per day by the Illinois& Michigan Canal, he at
once accepted, after having hired a farm hand at $10 per month to
work for his father during his minority.  lHe had received a
practical education and had taught school one winter.  After three
days' work on the canal he "flew" his contract, as the bread-making,
which was carried on by an Irishman with a pipe in his mouth, took
away his appetite.  He then secured employment in a hotel, where he
became practically cashier and treasurer, and remained there until
1837.  He then returned home, and purchased eighty acres of land, but
until ready to take possession of this engaged as clerk in a store in
Homer, with which, in connection with book-keeping, he occupied
himself for five years following.  Subsequently he engaged in the
pork trade, transporting his produce down the river to New Orleans.
After abandoning this he engaged as a stock-dealer at Homer, buying
cattle and hogs, and feeding and shipping, continuing at this for ten
years.

In 1855 Mr. Wright removed into the city of Champaign, and in
addition to mercantile pursuits engaged quite extensively in
real-estate transactions.  He was cashier of the bank at Champaign
for three years after its organization.  He put up the first brick
building in the city, in 1856, and was first and foremost in every
enterprise calculated to advance its welfare.  He donated the first
$1,000 for the establishment of the Illinois Industrial University.
During the erection of the building work was stopped one year on
account of the high prices occasioned by the war, and Mr. Wright in
his anxiety to see it completed then contributed $500 more.  As time
passed on he became an extensive land-owner in this and adjoining
counties.

In 1846 Mr. Wright was elected to the Legislature by fifty majority
over the Democratic Candidate, Col. M. W. Busey.  He met in this body
such men as ex-Gov. Reynolds, U. F. Linder, Gov. Matteson, Judge
Joseph Gillespie, and Stephen P. Logan, then leader of the House.
Lincoln and David Davis were there, but not members.  Stephen A.
Douglas during that term was elected Senator.  In the meantime Mr.
Wright was also the incumbent of the office of County Surveyor.  In
1880 he was elected to the State Senate for four years, and he often
refers proudly to the brains and talen which he found in the General
Assembly of Illinois thirty years ago, and which he believes superior
to that of the present day.  He has never belonged to any church or
any other organization except temperance societies, of which he
joined every one that came in his way, and by every means in his
power opposed the manufacture and sale of spiritous liquors.  Mr.
Wright, as may be supposed, is a stanch supporter of the Republican
party, and has served two terms as Mayor of Champaign.  He was
Postmaster of Homer and Justice of the peace in that place and in
Champaign.

The marriage of James S. Wright and Miss Catherine Lander was
celebrated in Homer Township, this county, at the residence of the
bride's parents Nov. 19, 1840.  Mrs. W. was the daughter of John and
Sophia W. Lander, of Kentucky, who removed from Bourbon County in
1830, and coming to this State and county settled in what is now
Homer Township, near the farm of John B. Wright.  John Lander died
seven years later, in 1837, and his wife in 1849.  Mrs. W. was born
in Bourbon County, Ky., March 26, 1823.  Upon the same day of her
marriage with our subject, her sister Margaret was married to William
Elliott, Esq., of Homer, Rev. William Phillips performing the joint
ceremony.  After remaining the faithful and affectionate companion of
her husband for a period of forty-six years, Mrs. Wright departed
this life Nov. 9, 1886.  She was a lady of great personal worth and
highly respected by all who knew her.  They became the parents of
eight children, four now living-James C., Jessie A., Minne E., and
Katie G.  The family residence is located at No. 136 University
avenue, where its inmates, surrounded by hosts of friends, are
enjoying all the comforts of life.


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