WRIGHT, James L., Sherman, TX., then Orleans Parish, Louisiana
Submitted by Mike Miller -    mike_m@deq.state.la.us

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Wright, James Long, secretary-treasurer of the Pan-American Life Insurance
Co., quartermaster general of the State of Louisiana, and vice-president of
the Antigua Gold-Copper Co., of New Orleans, was born in Sherman, Tex.,
Jan. 9, 1882; being the son and only child of Oliver Perry Wright, Jr., and
Susan Battle Long, the former of whom was a native of Jackson, Miss. The
father was in the fire and life insurance business in Sherman, Tex., where
his death occurred in 1884. His father, Oliver Perry Wright, Sr., was a
native of South Carolina, but spent his later years as a planter in
Mississippi, near Jackson. Gen. Thomas Wright, the paternal
great-grandfather of James L., was one of the most prominent men in public
life of South Carolina, and was a descendant of John Wright, a private
during the Revolutionary war, in the Carolina militia. The mother of James
L. was one of the daughters of Dr. James A. Long, a physician of LaGrange,
Ga., who removed to Sherman, Tex., after the Civil war, in which he
gallantly served as a Confederate medical officer, and who was a descendant
of Col. Nicholas Long, a staff officer in the Revolutionary war. Both the
Long and the Wright families are of English-Irish descent, their ancestors
having located in North and South Carolina, respectively, in colonial
times, being among the largest land owners of their day. Maj. James L.
Wright, the object of this sketch, was reared in Fort Worth, Tex., and
received his education in the public schools of that city, in which he also
had his early business training as office boy and later stenographer in the
Land Mortgage bank, of Texas. On July 6, 1900, when only 18 years of age,
he was married at Dallas, Tex., to Miss Helen Edward Herr, only child of
Edward Herr, of Mayview, Mo., and shortly after his marriage, removed to
Crowley, La., entering the service of the Peoples' Independent Rice Milling
Co. as stenographer. During the succeeding 5 years he won promotion from
time to time, until he had attained the position of assistant manager of
this business, when, following a consolidation of the sales departments of
fifteen other rice milling companies, he became the secretary and manager
of the consolidated company, at the age of 25. At that time he also became
associated with the Duson interests in Southwest Louisiana. In 1907, Maj.
Wright removed to New Orleans and became interested in mining in Spanish
Honduras, being yet vice-president of the Antigna Gold-Copper Co., which
owns an extensive gold and copper property in that republic, of which he is
also the manager. When the movement was launched for holding the World's
Panama Exposition in New Orleans, he was first made assistant secretary,
and later secretary, of the chartered company, having charge of the
offices. On March 28, 1911, he was made secretary-treasurer of the
Pan-American Life Insurance Co., of New Orleans, which position he now
fills, having entire charge of that company's extensive home offices, and
being at the head of its investment department, through which is handled
the investing of several millions of dollars. Maj. Wright's military
record began as captain of Co. F, 1st infantry, Louisiana national guard,
for which he was commissioned on July 9, 1904. He was promoted to be
regimental commissary on March 27, 1906, and the following year was
appointed United States disbursing officer for the organized militia of
Louisiana, on the staff of Gov. Newton C. Blanchard. He was continued as
disbursing officer on the staff of Gov. Jared Y. Sanders; and on Aug. 15,
1912, was commissioned quartermaster general of Louisiana, with the rank of
major, by Gov. Luther E. Hall, the present executive of the State of
Louisiana, which office he now fills. Maj. Wright is a 32nd degree
Scottish Rite Mason, a Knight Templar and a Shriner, also a member of the
Pickwick club, the Country club, the Stratford club, the Audubon Golf club,
and the Motor league of Louisiana, and is affiliated with several carnival
organizations. The children of Maj. and Mrs. Wright are a daughter, Louise
Marion, age 10, and a son, James Long, Jr., age 3. Like most men of
affairs, Maj. Wright has a hobby--rare books--and is the fortunate
possessor of one of the finest private libraries in the South, in which he
has accumulated deluxe editions of writers of all ages and times.

Source: Louisiana: Comprising Sketches of Parishes, Towns, Events,
Institutions, and
Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form, volume 3, pp. 476-477. Edited by Alc‚e
Fortier, Lit. D. Published in 1914, by Century Historical Association.