[p. 574] residing on his well improved farm of 118 acres of fine land, which is situated in Perry Township, carries on a general line of agriculture and is numbered with the prosperous farmers of this section. He was born April 7, 1857, in the old log house that is still standing on the farm, and is a son of John and Isabelle (Wiemer) (Lesnett) Wright.
The grandparents of Mr. Wright were born in Ireland, and after they came to America they lived east of the Allegheny Mountains until after the birth of their son John, when they moved to Beaver County, Pennsylvania, where they resided during the remainder of their lives.
John Wright, father of Dell R., grew to manhood in Beaver County, and during his lifetime bought several farms there. Later he came to Lawrence County and bought the farm in Perry Township on which he spent the rest of his life, dying here when aged eighty-five years. He was twice married (first) to a Miss Morrison, and (second) to Isabelle (Lesnett) Wiemer. By his first union he had seven children, and six by his second, the survivors of the latter family being: Dell R., John, Joseph, Elizabeth (Marshall) and Jemima (Lutz). Francis is deceased. The venerable mother passed her eighty-eighth birthday on May 25, 1908. She resides on a farm of thirty-five acres which adjoin the farm of her son, Dell R. Her father was Christian Lesnett, a farmer in Beaver County.
After Dell R. Wright had completed his school attendance, he assumed the heavier duties on the home farm, and has always lived there, with the exception of one and one-half years, during which he was on another farm in Lawrence County. At the settlement of his father's estate it was found that he inherited thirty-five acres, for life, which is later to pass to his children. Mr. Wright then bought 118 acres, erected a comfortable residence and has lived on his own land up to the present time. He does general farming, some dairying, and each year raises a few fine cattle and other stock.
Mr. Wright married Sophia Fox, who is a daughter of Henry Fox, of Lawrence County, but of German ancestry. To Mr. and Mrs. Wright were born thirteen children, a large and happy family, as follows: William Edward, George Allen, Frank Wilson, Harvey Aiken, Joseph Irvin, Isabelle, Dalvey Leroy, Mary Agnes, John Frederick, Mark McCandless, Clarence Dell, James Leaf, and one, the fourth in order of birth, died in infancy. Frank Wilson is also deceased.
Mrs. Wright is a member of the United Presbyterian Church. In politics Mr. Wright is a Democrat. He has always taken an interest in agricultural advancement, and while it remained an organized body, was a member of the Farmers' Alliance of Perry Township.
20th Century History of New Castle and Lawrence County Pennsylvania and Representative Citizens Hon. Aaron L. Hazen Richmond-Arnold Publishing Company, Chicago, Ill., 1908
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