In Memoriam

Rev. Robert "Dick" Wright and Ethel Lea Haynie were married October 6, 1930. Robert was a son of Rev. Isaac "Marvin" Wright and Bessie Lynn Wright.

Isaac Marvin Wright was the youngest of six sons born to Rev. Isaac Edward Wright and Martha Ellen Henderson.

Robert's Grandfather Isaac Edward Wright served in the Confederate Army: Pvt. Co E, Borders Regiment Mounted Cavalry CSA as did a younger brother Rev. Christopher Columbus Wright. Brother Rev. Robert Dickerson Wright served in the CSA. Brother John Wesley Wright also served. Four of Isaac Edward Wright's five brothers were Ministers.

Isaac and Martha were the parents of six sons. Isaac Wright was Pastor Holly Grove Methodist Church in Vernon Parish, Louisiana for a year in 1870. Isaac Marvin Wright, Robert's father was born during the time they were residing in Louisiana. Isaac, Martha, and their children returned to Texas after his tenure was completed as Pastor. They returned to Angelina County to live near his brother Rev. Henry Dawson Wright, the first Pastor of Ryan Chapel Methodist-Episcopal Church South in Burke, Angelina County, Texas.

Rev. Isaac Edward Wright preached wherever he had the opportunity and farmed his land in Burke. He and Martha were happy raising their young sons, living their lives near family. Isaac became very ill and died January 20, 1873, age 36 years. In October 1873 young Robert Henry Wright died and was buried in front of his father in Ryan Chapel Cemetery.


Martha struggled through the years to care for their children. The young sons worked on the farm just as she did, hard, back breaking work. Without Isaac with his knowledge and expertise in farming, raising the hogs and cattle, they became very poor.

Martha taught her sons to be honest. They learned to read by reading the Bible though she could not read, and they attended church regularly all their lives. The four living sons John "Wesley" Wright, Napolean "Dow" Columbus Wright, Francis "Dick" Asbury Wright, and Isaac "Marvin' Wright became fine young men. John "Wesley" Wright and Isaac "Marvin" Wright answered the call to the ministry just their father Isaac Edward Wright had. Rev. John Wesley Wright married Abbie Lee "Abilee" Palmore,. They became parents of and they four children, three who lived. He was a minister and a farmer. They moved to Falls County, Texas. He died in 1902. Dow Wright and Jennie Franklin married, and had children.

Marvin and Dick were in their twenties. Marvin was preaching and Dick farming, both caring for their widowed Mother. They went to visit their relatives who lived about fifty miles away in San Augustine and Sabine County, way back in the piney woods of East Texas. Marvin fell in love with Bessie Lynn Wright who was sixteen years old. Dick was smitten with her younger sister, young Cynthia Sarah Wright. Marvin and Bessie they eloped and were married January 9, 1895. Grandma Mary Gary Loggins was not happy! She definitely did not want Dick and Cynthia to marry with Cynthia being so young, only fourteen.

Dick stayed away as long as he could. On December 26, 1895, the day after Christmas, he borrowed a horse and rode to Sabine County to visit Cynthia. They eloped, Cynthia holding on to Dick as they rode off, never looking back. They were young and they were in love. Rev. Isaac Marvin Wright performed the wedding ceremony. Grandma Mary (Carter) Gary Loggins wouldn't have anything to do with either young couple for two years. By then Bessie had her first baby and she relented.

Marvin and Bessie were happy together. They went through good times and they went through bad times. They lost three of their young children to sickness through the years which was almost unbearable. They had a growing family and five living children when Bessie gave birth to their ninth, an infant daughter they named Elma Bessie.

About four weeks later Bessie was hanging clothes on the line outdoors to dry when she began hemorrhaging, slumped to the ground and died that afternoon. Young Robert "Dick" Wright was just a young lad, five years and nine months of age when his mother died.

Rev. Marvin Wright spent his time farming and preaching close by, and caring for his children. A few years later he met a schoolteacher named Martha Augusta Palmore who came from Mississippi to visit her brother. Martha gave him purpose and an interest in life again. They were married on her birthday September 22, 1918. Marvin and Augusta raised Marvin's children, and later had seven children.

They worked hard all of their lives on farms and ranches, and he preached wherever he could. There never seemed to be enough finances to go around. They were united as a family and were together until his death in 1939. His wife had even harder times trying to support their young children by herself. When the boys were of age they joined the military and helped their Mother the best they could.[Reference: Heart warming biographies of Rev. Isaac "Marvin" Wright, Sr., and Martha Augusta Palmore Wright by Granddaughter Dorthy Kilgore Casten. Click to read their memorials linked below.]

Wright Family Reference: Read the online "Genealogy of Barbara S. Byley and Leo Wright" comprehensive history of the Wright family beginning early Virginia Colony years to the 21st century.