AMERICA THE GREAT MELTING POT
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Mary Elma Shepard
| Born: 1842 Newport, Vermillion Co., IN |
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| Married: 03/Nov/1869 Vermillion Co., IN | |||
| Died: March 26, 1930 Indianapolis, Marion Co., IN |
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| Buried: Crown Hill Cemetery Indianapolis, Marion Co., IN |
1920 census living in Indianapolis, Marion Co., IN - her daughter Bertha and grandson Frederick are living with her.
FATHER
MOTHER
HUSBAND
CHILDREN
1.John Shepard Wright b. 1871
2. Bertha Wright b. 1873
m unknown Mitchell
child: Frederick Mitchell
(whose only child, Betsey, had downs syndrome)
3. Harry E. Wright b. 1876
Obit from Dana News Thursday April 3, 1930
"Obituary of Elma S. Wright
Mrs. Wright was a native of Newport, Vermillion county, Indiana, and spent
much of her life in the county. For two years in the eighties her family
residence was at Clinton. From 1886 to about 1904 she resided in Dana.
Her husband, the Rev. John Ellis Wright, of the Methodist Episcopal church, held
pastorates in Newport and in Clinton. The last few years of his life he
resided in Martinsville, where he died in 1911. Mr. Wright was well well
known as a minister in Vermillion, Parke, Putnam, Montgomery and Carroll
counties.
Mrs. Wright was the daughter of Benjamin and Eliza Johnson Shepard. She
was born at Newport, Indiana, January 18, 1842, the fourth of a family of eleven
children. The late Hiram Shepard was the eldest of the family. The
late Dr. Louis Shepard of Newport was the second son. The late Judson P.
Shepard of Dana was her youngest brother and the late Mrs. John Harlan of Dana
was a sister. Benjamin Shepard, her father, was one of the pioneers of
Vermillion county, coming to Newport from Hawesville, Ky., in 1827. Her
mother, Eliza Johnson, was born in Cincinnati of English descent and came to
Indiana with her family as a child about 1820.
Mrs. Wright's girlhood was prior to the establishment of our present efficient
public school system, much less were there high schools available to the young
people. During this period several heads of families in Newport, among
which was Mr. Shepard, formed an association and established an 'academy' to
give their children preparation for college. Teachers were brought from
New England and as a result a number of the young people of Newport in the
fifties were enabled to enter the institutions of higher learning.
After finishing the academy, Mrs. Wright, at the age of seventeen, entered the
Terre Haute Female College, now extinct, remaining there two years as a student.
Professor Alphonso Wood, the distinguished botanist and contemporary of Asa
Gray, was then president of the college and taught natural sciences. Mrs.
Wright studied botany under Professor Wood and had interesting recollections of
the teaching of this eminent pioneer American scientist.
An edition of Wood's Botany of 1856 studied by Mrs. Wright, dated June 22, 1859,
contains a list of the names of twenty-two young ladies who were members of
Professor Wood's botany class. This list includes the names of Mrs. Wright
(Elma Shepard,) and her sister Elizabeth. After leaving college Mrs.
Wright taught school for two years.
November 3, 1869, she married John Ellis Wright, a Methodist minister of the
Northwest Indiana Conference, with whom she became acquainted while he was
pastor at Newport. Three children were born, John S. Wright of
Indianapolis, Mrs. Bertha W. Mitchell of Indianapolis and Harry Wright, of
Kokomo, Ind.
As the wife of an itinerant Methodist minister, she lived in a number of towns
in western central Indiana and formed a wide acquaintance in that part of the
state. In the fall of 1886 her husband's health failed and the family
located on a farm near Dana, Ind., where they remained until 1904 when they
moved to Martinsville, Ind. The family resided in Martinsville until after
the death of Mr.. Wright in 1911. Later Mrs. Wright removed to
Indianapolis, making her home with her daughter at 25 East 36th street.
Besides three children which survive her she leaves three grandchildren-
Frederick W. Mitchell of Indianapolis, Judson and Rosemary Wright of Kokomo.
Until her strength failed, due to advancing age, Mrs. Wright was an active
worker in the church. For many years she devoted much time to the Sunday
school both as a teacher and as superintendent. She was a woman of
profound religious conviction, unmarked industry, poise and serene disposition.
She was a devoted wife and mother and a steadfast friend."
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