JOE WRIGHT
The following bio was taken from page 455 of the book entitled " Rusk County History" compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.
Transcribed by Claudia Schuster
Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Rusk County TX Coordinator
Joseph Hansel Wright, born May 2, 1880 in Rusk County, Texas, died November 15, 1938. He was the son of Cole Wright and Margaret Lanford and was the great-grandson of Hansel Wright for whom he was named. He married Georgia Pollard, daughter of Dan Pollard and Lady Dean Smith. The wedding took place December 25, 1901 at New Prospect, Rusk County, in the bride’s home, and the ceremony was performed by the Reverend A. Livsey. Georgia was born July 29, 1880 and died June 17, 1973. They are both buried in the New Prospect Cemetery beside their son, Douglas.The Wrights lived for a short time near Dr. John Vinson’s old home at Prospect, then moved to Elderville where their first child, Lady Dean, was born. They next moved to Oakhill, and Joe went into business with Luther Burton in operating a small general store. They soon came to Henderson and, except for a few years spent at Pine Hill working as a salesman for the well-known A.M. Sanders, they remained in Henderson.
Joe was a very intelligent, witty, and industrious person. He had many friends, and the anecdotes of his youth are still told to his descendants. He was kind and good to everyone.
Georgia was a good mother and spent her entire life looking after the well being of her children. She made all their clothes, even the boys’ shirts, and always cooked good things for her family to eat. Her own mother had died when she was three years old, so she tried extra hard to be successful in her own household, and she was.
Joe and Georgia were the parents of eight children; (His mother had eight children) his sister Janie had eight children; and his other brothers and sisters had several each, so there was a great deal of visiting among such a group. Growing up with a lot of cousins was a wonderful way to spend one’s youth. There were twenty-three "girl" cousins in the Cole Wright family.
The Wrights daughter Lady Dean, who married Melvin Rettig. Their son Billy Joe married Nancy Hunter and had two children, Suzanne and Jeffrey.
Margaret Elizabeth married Gordon Brown (See Truitt Brown story).
Noel Douglas died December 15, 1930. Willard Murris, the fourth child, married Ernestine Phillips and had one child, Malee, who married Billy Joe Holland. The Hollands have two children, Melanie and Brigett.
Joe Memory married Martha Hane Hammer and they had two children, Carol Dean and David. Carol Dean married Johnny Baker and had Lee, Jana, and Shanin. Her second marriage was to Ron Penna Skinner. David married Allana ? And had Jason and Robert Memory.
Faustine married Le Roy Skinner and had a son, William (Bill) Lambert. Bill married Clara O’Quinn and had William Lambert, Jr. (Sam), Anna Beth (Missy), Renee and Quinton.
Anita Blanton married Douglas Bradford and had Noel Douglas and Rebecca Elaine. Noel Douglas married first Judy Felder and had Noel, Jr. and Chad. Then Noel Douglas married Sylvia Welch Maloney and they had Jason. Rebecca Elaine married John Welch Dutch.
Joyce Carolyn, the last child of Joe and Georgia Wright, married Wayne Boyd.
Submitted by Margaret W. Brown