These are biographies that I have donated. If you would like to be listed as a family contact, please let me know. . If you have any biographies you can donate, please drop a line to Janine M. Bork.Your information can help others.

HON. DUNHAM WRIGHT. - No history of Union county, or of eastern Oregon, would be at all complete were there failure to incorporate therein the history of the life of the eminent gentleman whose name is at the head of this article, and whose life has been one of constant activity for the advancement of the interests of this county, both by able efforts in the halls of legislation as well as by faithfully exemplifying in his career the watch word of the pioneer, "Improvement." In all lines, having built some of the best institutions of the county and made wealth by developing the resources at hand, while his personal walk and reputation have been quite above reproach and stand a bright example for all who will see.

The father of our present subject was a man of distinction and it is in place to record something of his career here. John D. Wright was born in Vermont in 1807 and twenty years later came to Illinois, arriving there at the same time that the Hawks and Lincoln families did. He married there Miss Cecilia Hawks, a native of Kentucky and a cousin of Abraham Lincoln. Four children were born to this union, one of which was our subject. Mrs. Wright then died, and later Mr. Wright married Miss Evaline Simmons and six children were born to them. Mr. Wright was a civil engineer, and to him is due the credit of instructing young Lincoln in his early days. Lincoln would work all day and then recite his lesson to Mr. Wright at night. Lincoln was later captain and Wright orderly sergeant in the same company fighting against the Black Hawk Indians. Mr. Wright was active in politics and served in offices of trust nearly all of this life until too infirm to incur the responsibility. His death occurred on May 28, 1892, in his eighty-fifth year.

Returning to the immediate subject of this sketch, we note that he was born in Des Moines county, Iowa, on March 13, 1842, and remained there until he was twelve, removing then with his parents to Union county, in the same state. This section of Iowa was then inhabited by redmen and a few Mormon adherents who had fled from Nauvoo. Here and at his birthplace, our subject was educated in the historic log school house, but gained most of his training from the hands of a wise father and in careful personal research. At the age of eighteen Dunham started forth with the capital of pluck, activity and two good hands. He heard of the wealth of the mines of the west, and 1860 found him delving for this treasure in the vicinity of Pike's Peak, also he spent time in prospecting. There also he formed the acquaintance of Senator Teller, nursing him through a dangerous illness, thus cementing a lifelong friendship. In 1862 our subject went to Idaho and the year following found him in Union county, since which time he has been a potent factor in both the industrial and political realms here. He bought land near Cove and for a time gave his attention to packing, and then had sufficient funds to begin development and improvement and that has been his line constantly since. Four hundred acres is the amount of this farm and it is well stocked and improved, and he has one apple tree that measures seven feet in circumference. In addition Mr. Wright owns the Cove hotel and a block of lots there, also the Medical Springs in the town of that name and a hotel there which property is rapidly becoming one of the popular health resorts of this entire country, and an elaborate account of it is found in other portions of this volume. Mr. Wright also owns four hundred acres of land near Medical Springs, which he has improved in good shape and with large orchards. In 1872 Mr. Wright was sent to the state legislature by a discriminating people from Baker and Union counties. In 1874 he was re-elected, and in 1878 was sent a third time to the halls where he had done faithful and efficient work. In 1880 he was sent to the state senate for a term of four years. In 1892 he was nominated by the Populist party for supreme judge of the state, but declined the nomination, but being tendered the senatorship from Umatilla and Union counties he accepted. He has formerly been with the Democratic party, but is now with the People's party, believing its teachings best for the farmer's interests. Mr. Wright is kindly inclined toward the redmen of the forest, having spent many days in childhood with their children as companions.

Mr. Wright married Miss Mishy, daughter of Frederick W. Duncan, on July 4, 1867, and one child has been born to them. Grace, born March 14, 1879, and now the wife of Ira W. Huffman, the son of Hon. William H. Huffman, an early pioneer of this section. Mrs. Wright is a native of Missouri. Mr. Wright is widely known over the state, has wrought with a firm hand and manifestation of both wisdom and prudence, has been one of the active developers of this county, has maintained an untarnished reputation and is at this time the recipient of the good will, respect, esteem and confidence of all, both in this and adjoining counties.

The birth of our subject was recorded in Taney county, Missouri, on March 10, 1842, his parents being Lazarus and Mary A. (Giles) wright. They were farmers and as early as 1850 crossed the plains to Myrtle, Oregon, where the father took a donation claim remaining on it until 1863. While they were making the journey across the plains they were called to endure the grief, made doubly severe and sad by the occasion of the death of the mother, and her remains sleep by the old trail of many winters where slowly trod the emigrant to the rich valleys of the west. Jackson, thus early bereft of a mother's love and care, soon learned something of the sterner duties of life, and he was early fitted to grapple with the forces where afterward he gained such good success and left a worthy record. He attended the primitive district school in the vicinity of the western home and remained at home and assisted in the tilling of the farm and also in mining and stock raising. He mined for placer gold on Hogham and Grave creeks in the winter of 1861-2, and in the early part of 1862 he came to the new and rushing camp of Florence, and the following year, in company with his father, made his way into the Grande Ronde valley. They located below Island City and engaged in farming and stock raising until the last days of 1867, and then returned to Myrtle creek. For four years he remained there and then set out in 1872 for the Rogue river, where he remained for three years and raised stock, then on August 20, 1875, he came to the Grande Ronde again. Here he raised cattle and sheep and in 1880 bought three hundred and twenty acres of land eight miles north from Cove. To this he has added one section more, forty acres of which is timber. Of this fine domain he cultivates five hundred acres to the cereals, ten acres to orchard, and the balance is used for pasture. His orchard is largely apples and late green prunes. Mr. Wright's farm is skillfully handled and presents to the observer an industry and care of details that accounts for the abundatn success that has been his to enjoy.

On April 16, 1868, Mr. Wright took a wife, the lady being Miss Marinda, daughter of Franklin and Mary Richardson, natives of Missouri and pioneers to the Willamette valley in 1848. To our subject and his estimable wife there have been born nine children as follows: Mary A., wife of James E. Renfrow, of Lost Prairie; George W., farmer in Union county; Lazarus F., stockman in Wallowa county; Willis, stockman in Wallowa county; Ellen, wife of C.L. Green, of Union county; John, married and at home; Edwin, deceased; Thomas, at home; Willie, at home. Mr. Wright has served as director of district No. 9 for twelve years and for one term he was road supervisor. Mr. Wright's father died at Cove in 1885.

By way of reminiscence we are constrained to mention among the many experiences which Mr. Wright has had with the Indians the following; He was in company with Captain Baily, of Eugene, in driving a band of eight hundred and sixty-two cattle from Oregon to the Washoe mines, Nevada, when they were attacked by the Ptt river Indians. The savages killed Baily and Samuel Evans, the former selling his life very dearly however, for he shot down seven of the redskins before he received the fatal bullet. After the fall of these two men the others of the party made their escape as best they could but the entire band of cattle were captured by the Indians. Mr. Wright owned sixty-four of these cattle, and has never been paid for them by the government.