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John Wright

Constitutional Delegate. Born: June 4, 1827, Greencastle, Indiana. Married: First, Sarah, 1848. Second, Mary, 1860's. Died: December 1870, Leavenworth County, Kansas.

Born June 4, 1827, in Greencastle, Indiana, John Wright moved to Kansas Territory in 1854 from Buchanan County, Missouri, where he had settled with his family in 1839. Wright was married first to Sarah __________ in Missouri (circa 1848) and again, presumably after Sarah Wright's death, to Mary _________ in the mid-1860s. Almost immediately after his arrival, Wright took to politics in the troubled territory and served as a delegate to the Big Springs Convention in early September 1855 and as a captain in the Stranger Creek militia company during the summer of 1856. Wright represented Leavenworth County as a member of the council of the 1858 legislature and as a delegate to the constitutional convention of 1859—he had "no power or influence" at Wyandotte, according to the partisan Leavenworth Times. During the Civil War, Wright saw militia duty again during the Price raid of 1864, this time as a colonel, and engaged in the Battle of Westport. While seeking medical treatment at Fort Scott in December 1870, Wright died and was buried in the Fall Creek cemetery in Leavenworth County.

Entry: Wright, John

Author: Kansas Historical Society

Author information: The Kansas Historical Society is a state agency charged with actively safeguarding and sharing the state's history.

Date Created: June 2011

Date Modified: January 2013

The author of this article is solely responsible for its content.