Milton Wright (bishop)

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Milton Wright (bishop) bigraphy, stories - Father of the Orville brothers

Milton Wright (bishop) : biography

17 November 1828 – 3 April 1917

Milton Wright (17 November 1828 – 3 April 1917) was the father of aviation pioneers Wilbur Wright and Orville Wright, and a Bishop of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ.

Marriage

Milton met Susan at Hartsville College in 1853, where he was appointed supervisor of the preparatory department and she was a literature student. After a long courtship, Milton asked Susan to marry him and accompany him on his assignment by the church to Oregon. She declined, but agreed to marry him when he returned. They married in 1859, when he was almost 31 and she was 28.

Both shared a love of learning for the sake of learning. Their home had two libraries — the first consisted of books on theology, the second was a large, varied collection. Looking back on his childhood, Orville once commented that he and his brother had

“special advantages…we were lucky enough to grow up in a home environment where there was always much encouragement to children to pursue intellectual interests; to investigate whatever aroused their curiosity.” Wilbur and Orville Wright

Family

  • Father: Dan Wright
  • Mother: Catherine Wright née Reeder
  • Spouse: Susan Catharine Wright née Koerner married 1859 (b. 1831, d. 4 July 1889)
  • Children:
    • Reuchlin Wright (born 1861 near Fairmont, Indiana, died 1920 Kansas)
    • Lorin Wright (born 1862 Orange Township, Indiana, died 1939)
    • Wilbur Wright (b 16 April 1867 near Millville, Indiana, d 30 May 1912 Dayton, Ohio)
    • Otis Wright (b 1870 Dayton, Ohio, d 1870 Dayton, Ohio)
    • Ida Wright (b 1870 Dayton, Ohio, d 1870 Dayton, Ohio)
    • Orville Wright (b 19 August 1871 Dayton, Ohio, d 30 January 1948 Dayton, Ohio)
    • Katharine Wright (b 19 August 1874 Dayton, Ohio, d 3 March 1929 Kansas City)

Church service

Milton joined the Church of the United Brethren in Christ in 1846 because of its stand on political and moral issues including slavery, alcohol, and "secret societies" such as Freemasonry.

Indiana and Oregon

From 1855 to 1856 he served as pastor of the Church of the United Brethren in Indianapolis. He was ordained in 1856 and was pastor in Andersonville, Indiana from 1856 to 1857. Later that year, he went to Oregon as a missionary and served as pastor at Sublimity and first president of Sublimity College, a denominational institution.

Wright returned from Sublimity in 1859 and was assigned by the church as a circuit preacher in eastern Indiana, where he served also served as presiding elder and pastor in Hartsville, Indiana. From 1868 to 1869 he was professor of theology at Hartsville College.

Ohio and Iowa

In 1869, Milton became editor of the church newspaper, the Religious Telescope, moving to Dayton, Ohio. This position that gave him prominence within the church and helped him get elected as a bishop in 1877.

Bishop Wright continued to advance in the church hierarchy. In 1878, he assumed responsibility for the Western conferences of the church and moved his family to Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Westfield College in Illinois, gave him the degree of D.D. in 1878.

He traveled widely on church business, but always sent back many letters and often brought presents home. His gifts stimulated his children’s curiosity and exposed them to a world beyond their immediate surroundings. Returning from one of his travels, he brought Wilbur and Orville a toy helicopter. The helicopter was made of bamboo, cork, paper and powered by rubber bands. When the first broke, the boys made several copies. excerpt

Division in the church

By 1881, the leadership of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ was becoming more liberal. Milton Wright, a staunch conservative, failed to be re-elected to his Bishop’s post. The Wrights moved to Richmond, Indiana, where Milton served a circuit preacher once again. He served as presiding elder in the White River conference from 1881 to 1885. He also founded a monthly religious newspaper, The Star, for fellow conservatives in 1883.