USA > Tennessee > McNairy County > Reminiscences of the early settlement and early settlers of McNairy County, Tennessee > Part 5
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" He was only a few paces in front of Lient. Wright, who, seeing bis leader fall, cried cut " Avenge your leader," an I led the charge. The charge was made in gallaut style by our troops. Gen. Samuel Houston was a lieutenant in the 39th Regiment, and was wounded in the arm at this battle by a musket ball. * * Maj. Charles Sevier, an old citizen of Jackson, Teon., was near Lieut. Wright when storming the Indian fortification. He then lived in Overton county, but emigrated to Madison county in 1822.
" I have frequently been present an I wi nessel meetings between these old veterans, whose War memories they delighted to rehearse. Major (or Colonel) Wright was a man of powerful frame, upwards of six feet high, straight as an In- dian, and as a business man had few equals an I no superior.
" In 1823 he married Mrs. Martha Aun Harwell (your mother) at the re-idence of Col. Stokeley Hays, in Jackson, Tenn , and from thence to his death resided in Purdy, MeNairs county.
" When troops were callel for by President Polk for the Mexican war your father volunteered as a private soldier. * ₭ " ₣
Maj. Wrig' , had two children by his Erst marriage, Mrs. Francis Bracken, of Holly Springs, now dead, and Charles L. B. Wright who was accident l'y drowned at Memphis.
Maj. Wright was a soldier in the Mexican war, and contractel disease there from which he never recovered. He died in Purdy January 30, 1560.
MARTHA ANN WRIGHT.
Mrs. Martha Von Wright was born in Dinwiddie county, Virginia. Her first husband was Herbert Harwell, by when she had Ave children. Richard S. Har- well, of Purly, Tenn ; Dr. Rufus S. Harwell, of Arkansas; Littleton Haus.il, dead ; Amanda Adams, (widow of Birnel! B. Adam>), of Corinth, Miss., ani Julia Harwell, who did in Purdy in 1824, and was the first person buried in the old grave yarl, near Purdy. Mrs. Wright hal by her second marriage three children, Hon. John V. Wright, of Columbia, Tenn .; Ma. Elizabeth Trump, now dead, and Marcus J. Wright. She died at Party February 27, 1552.
The following is an extract from an obituary notice written by the Rev. A. A. Saun lers on the death of Mrs. Marcha Ann Wright :
"The deceased was a native of Dinwiddie county, Va., and was in her 66th year at the time of her death. Her maiden : ame was Hicks. She was twice minied; fret to Herbert Hirwe.I, of her ontive county, by whom she had three sons : Littleton W. J. Harwel!, who died in 1833; Richard S. Harweil, Esq., a merchant of this place, and Dr. Rafas S. Harwell, of Ouwchila county, Arkansas, and three daughters, Mrs. Amanda B. Alvas, of Corinth, Miss,, and Elvira and Julia, both long since passed to the spirit hand.
Her secon I marriage was with Mejor Benjamin Wright, of the U. S. A., then re- siding in Milile Pennessea. Two sois, the Hon. John V. Wright, present min- ber of Congress from the Seventh Congressional District of Tennessee, and Marcus J. Wright, E.g., Clerk of the Common Law and Chancery Court of Memphis-ini one daughter, Elizabeth, the devenant wie of Dicto. Charles C. Crump, of M. le
Tennessee Maj. Wait at an early day removed from Mail. Tennessee to Jackson, and thedes to f'uriy. * * Here the dec axel * had lived for more than thirty years, a. 1!al passed through all of the perplex ties
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Martha A. Wright.
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and trials incident to newly settled villages. She was one of the Old Dominion's most intelligent and culture! daughters, gifted beyond measure with colloquial powers and pleasantry. She always made her visitors feel the charm of her society. She was devotedly attached to her friends, but she had to feel that the objects numbered as such, were worthy, and her discrimination was so clear that she was scarcely ever deceived. It is believed that but few mothers ever had more confidence in the integrity and uprightness of their children, or higher hopes of their eminence and prosperity, and it is pleasing to know that she had just cause to be proul of several of them.
"In her last sickness she express- her readiness and preparation for the solemn journey before her. * * She retained her reason to the last, and on Sabbath evening she quietly bade a lieu to earth and entere I upon an everla.t- ing existence."
SKETCH OF BENJAMIN WRIGHT. BY COL DEW M. WISDOM.
The writer has a distinct recollection of Benjamin Wright. Ta his day, per- haps, the most popular man in MeNairy county, and his popularity with all classes and all parties was due to an unending genialty that never forsook him. In politica he was a Jeffersonian Democrat " without variablevers of shadow of turning," and one of those reliable followers of " Oll Hickory," who, if he did not " vote early," never failed to rute for that mastrious Chi-train as often as hig name was presented to the suffrages of the people. In MeNairy county the strong tide of Jacksonism swept down every thing before its resistless current, and, if I am not mistaken, as the race between him and John Q Adams, only two men in that county dared to vote against J. k. a-one of wh w? was Time, Reel, always either a Federalist or Wnig, was openly rebuked at the poles, and the other voter fared even worse at the hands of an outraged democracy. Benjamin Wright dis- tingai-hed himself at the battle of House Shoe Bend, and in that campaign won the respect, confidence wad est. m of Ger. Sam Houston, which he retained to his dying day. I saw these gallant men meat in 1952 at the old Kincaid Hotel in Purdy. Houston was returning to Texas from Washington City. Years before he had, on account of domestic troubles, quit Tennessee under a cloud, but he re_
turned with an " Empire at his back." When did prodigal for ever return to the parental roof with so magu.frent a dowry ? Both Houston and Wright were men of fine physiques, each over six feet in height, and have that military air that if it does not awe is sure to attract the beholder. It was a rare trut to bear them during the whort stoppage of the stage coach recount their alve: tures by " dori and fell," and hurriedly Soup together the leadling points of their lives. Both were fine talkers, and before the interview en led nearly the entire population of Purly had gathered in the bar room, ( is it was called) drawn timber to see the hero of San Jacinto and the conquerer and savior of Sau's Anna They spoke to eich otheris the most affectionate anl familiar manner, calling each other " Ben and Son 'a" Mike old woman ances free to jest." It seems at one time Mejor Wright vist ! Texas while He avion was in the hey. day of his power, and he wiring et axel tem in the above perview, because he bal come back to Tenn see and ne, lecte I the op portnoifies that were micro lis gra-p, and which, if improved, would have made bim one of the first and most
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conspicuous characters of the " Lone Star State." Such was Houston's estimate of the man, and who that knew Major Wright-his courage, his generosity, his utter unselfishness-can doubt that he would have won as surely the hearts of the Texans as Le Hi rame with whom his hit was cat " till in the sere and yellow leaf" he put aside his armor, and went down unblanched to his honored grave.
One incident in Col. Wright's life stands out vividly on the canvass of memory. In his old age, ling after the noon of his life had passed, he heard once more the call of his country, and volunteered as a private in the war with Mexico. He served un le: Scott along the very route the dauntless Spaniard had gone cen- turies before, and bore the privations of that campaign with characteristic forti- tude. I saw him or his return, ' ome welcomed by the outpouring of every man, woman and child in Purly and vicinage. It was an ovation more lipart-f-It than ever greeted the exultant entry of triumphant kinga. The speech of welcome was marie by Jas. F Mchinny, Esq .. and it was an eloquent tribute to the brave old man, who, despite his age, and the exemptions that belong to it, had set the young men of his country a noble example, and had followed the "old dag " in the perilous ridges of battle beneath a foreign sky.
Broken in the service of his country, the people elected him again and again to the Me of Register of Deals of the county and he discharged its doties with punctilious fidelity. No man ever kept a neater set of books. They are yet ex- tant, an tare minte, yet eloquent, memorials of his patient industry, his methodical precision and undisputed accuracy There are no blurs upon their ample pages, no evidences of haste, but every page et liter ation of punctuation, hespeaks the cool collected brain that guided aright the obedient pen. While these recor ls re- main, his vindication written in almost imperishable characters as a man of busi- ness will stand intact, even if he failed to leave behind him a colossal fortune which in this utilitarian age is too often the only test of success, and the only badge of merit.
Col. Wright was a good man by nature. Ifis generosity was not the out- growth of the formula of schools or creeds. Little children sought bis society, and played in trusting fondness at his feet, or " ellubed his knees the envied kise to share." Strong men leaned upon him in hours of adversity, and found .n " anchor both sure and steadfast." When the -torm came they gathered around his commanding form for protection, as do the beasts of the field " neath the sheltering nak when the tempest sweeps the forest and marks to pathway with havoc and destruction. Women, ton, were his most ardent almirers, because they knew him to be gallant, trunful and the soul of honor. No impure wool ever soiled his lips, or impure thought ever darkened his counsel. He was 3 Chesterfield in manners, andI belongel to that obl school of gentlemen that sprung ap iromediately subsequent to the Revolutionary period, and of whom it may be truly said, " we shall not look upon their like again. ' Tl-ir devotion to the gentler sex was perhaps, unenrpassed. Jackson and Clay were types of such men, aud notable examples were t, be found in every county, even down as lato as the outbreak of our Civil war, and " within the memory of men now living."
Col. Wright was the embodiment of what the port calls " sound eloquence," and in his conversa lon there spaikled ever the blaze of wit and Hish of bricht intelligence. To young men he was especially kind, and they were always his warmest friends and Gibst ar lent supporters. Indeed, he exhibited in his dady
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life a ready sympathy with all classes, and both his right and his left hand were devoted to charitable uses.
He lived beyond the period allotted by the Psalmist to fall humanity, and at the very threshold of octogenarian manhood " death touched Lis tired heart." In the "old grave yard " the polished shaft placed there by flux! hands marks the spot where his remains repose and commingle with their original elements, and on its base, in the chiselel tracery of the sculptor's art, is written in faleless let- ters the story of his life. That shaft rises in full view of the small village-al- ways to him like Sweet Auburn, the lovehest of the plain-the " native heath to his wondering feet," and it overlooks the little stream whose sunny waves were never brighter than his golden traits of character.
"Such graves as his are pilgrim shrines, Shrines to no code or creed confined, The Delphian vales, the Palestines, The Meccas of the mind."
JACKSON, TENN., NOV. 221, 1951
WRIGHT-HARWELL. A SKETCH BY JENNIE S. PERKINS.
Few more seemingly hopeless tisk; were ever un lertaken than the search for material out of which to make distinguished personages in the run' Estricta of West Tennessee half a continy ago. A race of pioneers, whose forefathers hed been the saine for several generations, with all the mental deprivation that the name implies, gare little promise of a lding much to the ranks of vraiment men. Yet, as the mountain to rents sometime carry gold to the valleys below, so the tide of ensigration often bore upon its brown, even at that remote pelle 1, persons ujon whom an olier civilization had bestowed its culture and refnement -- whose descendants possessed the element of greatness by the law of here inary tras :- mission
Instinces that go to prove the truth of this assertion have doab.loss fall-a under the observation of others ; but the facts I am about to relay are based apos the vivil impressions and recollections of my own chillhood and the assured facts of maturer years.
Forty years ago, Pardy, the county-seat of MeNairy county, was a small village of a few hun ired in', ibitoots, att, although it was the business centr- of the surrounding county it sem I almost as deritate of a progressive spirit as a B. Juin tevling post. It hai the best school. that the section afirled ; its queca of legal and medical men educated elsewhere, and its merchants and tradesmen some of whom were in eager pursuit of wealth ; there were also some among them who had been important actors on the stage of life elsewhere. It also had its "aristocracy"; but all lived in a unpretentious manner, cont at with the beauties of surrounding nature, and the quiet cleanes of their homes.
In one of its modest cottages resilel Major Wright, who hot been a com- missioned oficer, and in a tive service under General Andrew Jackson. Hiscom- manding person, great dignity of minners and martial bearing n ver faxed to impress all with whom he came in can act with his superiority.
The Major's wife was a queenly withan, whose grace, beauty and intellectual ifts would have adorned any position, and made her the pride of the circle in
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which she moved. Richard and Rufus Harwell, her sons by a former marriage, lived with them at that period.
Richard was elegant in person and dress, and possessed a nice discrimination and excellent judgment. He followed mercantile pursuits, and was a prosperone man until the ill fortunes of war ruined his business.
Rufus was a physician, and very popular. He was the bandsomer of the two, and one of the most remarkable looking men I remember to have seen.
Elizabeth, Jobn V. and Marcus J. were the offsprings of their mother's mar- riage with Major Wright, and were all minors when I frst saw them. The daugh- ter was very lovely, and was married in early youth to Dr. Charles C. Crump, a man who enjoyed the respect and confidence of all who knew him. She lived to grace the society of her native town a few years, and then slowly faded out of existence-
The sons early evinced a thirst for knowledge, and both obtained a classical education -- a rare acquirement for that day and time. John V chose the legal profession, and soon entered public life, embracing the principles of the Democratic party, whose idol he became. He canvaszed the Seventh Congressional District in its interest, and charmed his bearers of all shades of political opinion by bis eloquence. His handsome person and winning address added greatly to the effect of his works, and led his listeners' fancy captive. He was elected by his cox- stituents a member of Congress, the greatest compliment that had ever been pa.d to a native of that section.
Marcus J. was an "Old Line Whig," and on attaining his majority went to Memphis, Tenn, to reside, and was elected Clerk of the Common Law and Chan- cery Court, a very honorable and remunerative position. Ile was gifted with sound judgment, great executive ability, and a correct literary taste, and before the late war was known as an able contributor to Southern literature.
Both brothers espoused the cause of the South. They were promoted at once, and remained in active service until Toho V. was called from military to civic duties in the Confederate Congress at Richmond.
Marcus J. Wright was made Brigadier General and Military Governor of Columbus, Ky., during its occupation by the Confederate forces. He was ap. pointed on the Ist of July, 1:73, by the Secretary of War, for the purpose of col- lecting for the use of the Government such records of the late war, (on the Con- federate side) as could be obtained.
In our humble judgment no better selection could have been mile; and we, in common with all native McNairyans, feel a pardonable pride in speaking of a family that was identified with the pioneer settlers of our section. and whose members are an ornament to our cominon country.
WILLIAM SARGENT WISDOM.
Wm. S. Wisdom was one of the oldest and the most prominent of the citizens of M.Nairy county. He was a man who achievel success in his, wis ever the friend of the poor ant deserving. an Istnun hd -En ler of the willow ant orphin He died at his residence in Purdy on November, 19, 1871, in the 7Th year of his age.
The writer of this article has from boyhood known Mr. Wisdom, having been Ireared in the village in which he has passed his life, and having in early ife been the recipient of his kindness, and preserved his fast friendship sp
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to the day of his death, he now feels that it is but a lubor of love to speak of bims as he was, now that he " sleeps with his fathers."
Mr. Wisdom was born in Rockingham county, North Carolina, on the 14th of July, 1706; his father, James Wisdom, moved to Anderson county, East Ten- nessee, in 1809; in 1311 he moved to Overton county, and from there in 1850 he moved to Western Tennessee, and settled near what is now known as Henderson Station ; in the following year he came to McNairy county, where the subject of of this notice resided up to the day of his death. Mr. Wisdom had but a limited education, but as it has been aptly said of another, " As Cornish diamonds are not polished by any lapidary, but are pointed and smoothed even as they are taken out of the earth," so nature itself was all the art which was used upon him.
He went to school at night and worked during the day to pay his tuition and assist his father. Being a man of extraordinary mind, he advanced rapidly and acquired the ordinary rudiments of an English education in ha'f the time re- quired by most scholars with the best advantages. He afterwards taught a small school in his neighborhood, supplying the place of his former teacher, who had died. He served for some time as a deputy io the office of the county court clerk of his county, and was subsequently elected clerk. These were all the public offices he ever beld; yet his personal popularity was very great, and increased up to the day of his death. He afterwards engaged in merchandise, and became one of the largest land-holders in the State. He acquired a handsome fortune, and was al- ways foremost in works of charity and public enterprise. He was married in 1833 to Jane Anderson, by whom he had three sone and five daughters, all of whom survive him, except his wife an i second son ; his eldest son, Colonel D. M. Wisdom, distinguished himself as a Confederate soldier in the late war, and was the editor and proprietor for some years of the Jackson Whig and Tribune. His second wife, who survives him, was Mrs. Celia Sbull. Both wives were excellent women, worthy of such a husband.
Ir domestic life he was neighboil - and companionable, fond of the society of the young and was never better pleased "than when promoting youthful pleasire by participation and encouragement;" he ever proved himself the devoted and affee i nat. bushind and faber, and the faithful and enduring friend. When io full health and surrounded by all of ear 's advantages which could contribute to render his life one of happiness and pleasure, he reviewed for himself the evi- dences of Christianity, ponderel open it- Truths, felt its sacred influences, and de- liberately made his decision ; he dommel it of far more importance than all of re- gard and reverence w' ich this world could confer. He became a member of the Christian (or Campbellite) Church, and lived and ched in full faith of a happy is- mortality. His latier days were marked with tranquil cheerfulness. In the bosom of a family that was most doar to hin, he was blessed with-
" All that should scumpany old age, As honor, love, st. lience."
As an evilence of the regard had for him among the people with whom be bad lived for half a century on the day after his death a public meeting was held at the court house in his county town, attended by all classes of the community. Eloquent and feeling speeches Were made ; strong men wapt, and oll isen sobbed aloud, and all felt that a friend of the poor of the widow and orphan, had gone, and there was no ou left to fill his place. Mr. Wisdom's whole heart was enited with the South is the latte war, an ! while rude soldiers were quartered on him,
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his money and property fordilly taken from him, and even personal indignities offered him and family, be never swerved from his loyalty to his own people.
In person he was of the ordinary height, his forin inchning to portliness, his bair brown mixed with gray ; his eyes gray and full and prominent ; his counte- contentu. at end bag ine's yet it showed much decision and firmness of purpose; his manners Were cooltly, amiacle, unaffectel, kind and conciliating in a high degree, his conversation was entertaining and instructive, abounding in humor and playful wit; bis even and cheerful disposition rendered him the delight of he domestic cinde in all the relation of which he exhibited an example worthy of imitation He dr-w his morals from the pure fountain of Christian ethics, and was severe only with himself, being always charitable and lenient toward others. In his transactions and intercourse with Ins fellowmen. his conduct was always governo l by an in exile sense of justice and integrity.
Forewarned by a long and quintal iliness of this approaching dissolution, he met deat! calmly ant withour fear, an 1
"Gave his Lonors t . the world again. His blessed part to heaven, and slept in peace."
M. J. W.
PUBLIC MEETING AT PURDY-DEATH OF W.M. S. WISDOM ESQ
On Monday, November 20th, the citizens of Purdy assembled at the court house for the purpose of p aring suitable tribute of respect to the memory of W. 6. Wodom Es, one of the oflost and best citizens of McNairy county, who died Nov-isher 19 ISTi, at his residence.
The object of the meeting being explained by A. B. Per-in, on mation, Julga J. F. MeE noor was called to the Chair worden. C Mok apontei retry. A. B IN ... 1,16 · Hur Lante and I'm M. Harris were appoint: 1 by d e Chair as a committee to dra. " resolutions of respect to the dead, and of sympathy and con- dolence with the bereav- 1 kinddel ani bien!s.
Will- ter adr. tee were frawin ; no the flowing re-oliths I. F. Ha- Aston, Hall Rev. R. M. Thompson spoke in eloquent terms of the noble traits and the great loss to the country of such a citizen. The full wag revolu- tions were subaked by Jas. W. Purv.anes, L .1 , we.my intel with appropriate and eloquents words of eulogy, and unanimously adopted :
Whereas In the order c: Norme, it was pleased the Creator of all things to remove from us our much esteemed fellow citizen, W. S. Walom; that we, feel- ing the great low to al community by his death, do, in meeting a-embed, hereby express our deep sense of his worth, by resolving.
21. That is Highly appreciate bis many virtues, and deeply deplore the loss of one who was ever a con tant and dew friend to the poor, and an honor and ornament to society.
34. That the business of the community Iwes a min who was al veys in ad- vance of any pryjene that v. ull prom te the wellare of the county ; ine that Al- ways true to his promised, and ing rable in all his business thingdi is.
4th. That in b., feita n- much loved wife bas lost one of the n blest hus-
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bands, his children an indulgent and loving father, and that our deepest sympa- thies are extended to them in their great afflictions.
5th. That a copy of these resolutions be sent to the wife and each of the chil- dran of the deceased, and also a copy of the same, with request that they pub- fish, to the Jackson Why amI Trilome, and the Bolivar Bulletin.
A. R. PERSON JAS W FURVIANCE, J. M. HARRIS, Committee.
GEO E. MEEKS, Secretary.
Nov. 20th, 1871.
MRS. CELIA (SHULL) WISDOM.
Mrs. Celia Wisdom was born near Mobile, on her grandfather's plantation, where the town of Blakeley now stands, on Mobile Bay. the 11th of January, 1804. Her maiden name was Celia sherman Che emigrated to McNairy county in the year 1324, accompanied by her mother, her step-father and two sisters, and " settled at Purdy.
In 1826 she was married to Peter Shull, by whom she had two children - Calvin ant Margaret, the latter of whom married John G. Combs in 1847, and died in 1:03, leaving five children.
Mrs. Shull's second marriage was with Wm. S. Wisdom. She is a remarka- ble woman both mentally and j'ysicially. She and Richards. Harwell are the oldest survivors of the early settlers of MeNairy county. She is a woman of large Il y-ical prevention con mining and striking in appearance, and her in- tellectura qualities are fully in keeping with her physique. fler memory is most remark ble, and ber conversational powers are surprised by few. She is at this priting the old. - t living person of the early settlers of the counts
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