Wright, Sr., Theodore L.

Born: 1806-10-07 Massachusetts

Died: 1881-01-11 Beloit, Wisconsin

Born in Easthampton, Massachusetts, Theodore L. Wright, Sr. was a construction manager, justice of the peace, merchant, and mill owner. In September 1833, he married Catherine B. Reynolds, with whom he eventually had at least five children. From 1849 until 1851, he was heavily involved in planning the construction of school buildings in Beloit, Wisconsin. In 1850, he lived in Beloit, worked as a justice of the peace, and owned $6,500 in real estate. The next year, along with S. T. Merrill, he founded a paper mill in Rockford, Illinois. In 1852, Wright also opened a paper mill on the west side of Beloit. Catherine died in April 1852, and, in November 1853, he married Jane Newcomb, with whom he had at least one child. In 1858, he opened another paper mill, this time on the east side of Beloit. By 1860, he owned $8,000 in real estate and another $17,000 in personal property. Wright continued operating his paper mills until after the Civil War and served as president of the Northwest Paper Company from 1854 until well after the war.

Massachusetts, U.S., Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988 (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, 2011); Christina Bailey, The Barbour Collection of Connecticut Town Vital Records, East Hartford, 1783-1853 (Baltimore, MD: Genealogical, 1997), 110; William Fiske Brown, ed., Rock County, Wisconsin (Chicago: C. F. Cooper, 1908), 2:789; The History of Rock County, Wisconsin (Chicago: Western Historical Society, 1879), 622, 625; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Beloit, Rock County, WI, 409; U.S. Newspaper Extractions from the Northeast, 1704-1930 (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, 2014), 714; Vermont Statesman (Brattleboro), 2 December 1853, 3:2; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Beloit, Rock County, WI, 87; Gravestone, Oakwood Cemetery, Beloit, WI; Wisconsin, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1800-1987, 1 February 1881, Rock County (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, 2015).