George B. Wright and Family: Finding Aids : MNHS.ORG


	Creator:	Wright, George B. (George Burdick), 1835-1882, creator.
	Title:	George B. Wright and family papers.
	Dates:	1785-1955.
	Language:	Materials in English.
	Abstract:	Correspondence, survey notes, land records, legal and financial papers, scrapbooks, and other materials relating to the family of George B. Wright, a Fergus Falls (Otter Tail County, Minnesota) businessman and promoter.
	Quantity:	4.50 cubic feet (10 boxes and 8 oversize folders, unboxed).
	Location:	See Detailed Description for shelf locations.

Correspondence (1858-1860) between Wright and his wife Serena discusses travel, home life, frontier hardships, schools, national affairs, and the writings of various authors. Other papers concern Wright's work in land surveying and sale (1865-1879). Correspondence (1880-1935) between Wright's son Vernon and his wife Grace (Clarke) offers information on the early history of the Fergus Falls water-power industry and on the organization and operation of the Otter Tail Power Company (1907-1955).

Also includes correspondence (1860-1871) of Wright and his father-in-law, Charles G. Ames regarding Wright's teaching and surveying careers, and life in Minneapolis; and correspondence of Serena with her parents about her life in Minneapolis, reaction to the Civil War and the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862, and the death of her son Cyrus in 1867.

Includes correspondence of the Clarke family of Massachusetts, and Civil War letters and official papers (1861-1865) of Thomas Clarke, 29th Massachusetts Infantry, describing casualties, battles, changes in the Union Army's command, and civilian attitudes toward the war.

There are also stock certificates of various New England and Minnesota corporations (1844-1889); biographical and genealogical data, diaries, notebooks, and scrapbooks of Clarke and Wright family members; and township plats from many Minnesota counties.

Return to top

Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. George B. Wright and Family Papers. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession number: 5370; 8235; 8728; 9181; 9227; 12,704; 13,310

Processing Information:

Legacy Amendment logo

Digitized by: Minnesota Historical Society, February 2021.

Digitization was made possible by the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund through the vote of Minnesotans on November 4, 2008.

Catalog ID number: 990017308990104294

Return to top

Location

Box

A.W949

1

Correspondence, undated, 1785-1852. 6 folders.

The undated correspondence includes information on patents and copyrights; a short sketch of the Massachusetts Veterans Infantry, 29th Regiment written by Thomas William Clarke and Civil War letters.

The rest of the correspondence relates to the activities of Thomas William Clarke and his family. Items of interest discussed in the papers include: information on Chauncey Hall School, Brattlesboro, Vermont, and Harvard College, both of which were attended by Thomas W. Clarke; admission and matriculation certificates from Harvard College; references to national affairs; and one letter of interest (November 10, 1785) describing proposals to raise tobacco and hemp in the United States for domestic use and for the export trade.

Location

Box

A.W949

2

Correspondence, 1853-1859. 6 folders.

The letters from 1853 to 1858 were written to Thomas Clarke by his friends. They are full of discussions of national affairs: slavery; slave insurrections; elections; and other events leading up to the Civil War.

Letters starting August 26, 1858 mark the first of a series of letters between Serena Marie Ames and George B. Wright. Included in this correspondence are descriptions of travel, home life, and frontier hardships, schools, and many references to national affairs, and literary matters. Discussed in detail are the works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Wendell Phillips, Charlotte Brontë , and Charles Dickens. Letters of particular interest include: a description of the assault on Senator Charles Sumner by Preston Brooks (June 23, 1856); genealogical data on the George B. Wright family (January 26, 1859); information on the St. Anthony Falls and dam, containing a sketch of the Falls area and letters describing bridges destroyed in the area at the time (June 5, 1859); references to Henry Hastings Sibley and Alexander Ramsey (July 3, 1859); and several letters referring to John Brown, and a sermon preached on the death of John Brown by Charles Gordon Ames, father of Serena Ames Wright.

October-December, 1859

Location

Box

A.W949

3

Correspondence, January 1860-July 1863. 5 folders.

The correspondence between Serena and George B. Wright continues in this box. Also included are Civil War letters written by Thomas William Clarke. Topics discussed in the Wright letters cover the following areas: George B. Wright’s teaching career; biographical data on Serena Wright; anti-Black sentiment; description of a fire in Minneapolis; the 1860 presidential election; travel and exploration around Forest City, St. Cloud, Lake Amelia, and Alexandria; Indian attacks; and life in early Minneapolis.

The Civil War letters touch on such matters as: casualties; descriptions of battles; changes in the military command of the Union Army; and the personal feelings of the civilians towards the war. Letters of special interest include: description of life at Fort Snelling (August 8, 1861); letter from Thomas William Clarke to Miss Annie B. Clarke describing the encampment of troops at Newport News, Virginia, and additional letters in this period from Clarke written while he was stationed at Camp Butter, Newport News (October 22, 1861); Thomas W. Clarke to his sister Lizzie giving information on a skirmish near Fair Oaks, and mentioning General Thomas J. Jackson (June 27, 1862); George Wright to Serena Wright mentioning John Armstrong, a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives from Brown County (November 5, 1861); Serena Wright describing public reaction to the news of the U.S.-Dakota War (August 25, 1862); letters giving information on the U.S.-Dakota War, and the execution of the Dakota at Mankato (September 3, October 17, and December 21, 1862); and rumors of a Ojibwe uprising, and information on Abraham Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation (January 4, 1863).

Location

Box

A.W949

4

Correspondence, 1863-1879. 7 folders.

The Civil War letters of Thomas W. Clarke continue in this box. Information is found particularly on military maneuvers and on war destruction. Letters following the Civil War give information on Reconstruction policies; the Freedman’s Bureau; and the trial and execution of the persons involved in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Items of interest include: Thomas Clarke to Lizzie giving a description on military maneuvers and destruction (August 13, 1863); death of Captain Fisk and his men (October 11, 1863); description of Freedman’s Aid Society in Minneapolis (October 28, 1863); a map showing roads and railroads leading to Petersburg, Virginia, and also troop positions (November 26, 1864); memoranda of an agreement between W.W. Eastman and George B. Wright regarding land and water power rights on the Yellow Medicine River (August 8, 1868); six published letters by George B. Wright entitled: "Electoral Reform and the Preference Vote" (1874); George B. Wright to his daughter in Germantown regarding political satires he wrote on Wilkinson and Ignatius Donnelly (March 8, 1874); and copy of a letter to the editor regarding railroads in Minnesota, which may have been published by a Minneapolis newspaper (February 10, 1876).

August-December, 1863

1864

1865

January-September, 1866

October-November, 1866

1867-1874

1875-1879


Location	Box
A.W949	5	Correspondence, 1880-March 22, 1899. 5 folders.
			The following types of material are found in Box 5: legal papers including the Articles of Incorporation (November 22, 1882) and the bylaws (December 11, 1882) of the Fergus Falls Water Power Company; descriptive letters of the people and country around Millersburg, Pennsylvania, written by Thomas W. Clarke, Jr., who was in Pennsylvania as a Field Assistant with the U.S. Geological Survey; a series of letters from Grace Tillston Clarke while a student at Bryn Mawr College; and the first correspondence between Grace T. Clarke and Vernon A. Wright.
			1880-1882
			1883-1889
			1890-1894
			1895
			1896-March, 1899

Location

Box

A.W949

6

Correspondence, March 1899-1903. 5 folders.

Most of the correspondence in this box is between Grace Clarke Wright and Vernon A. Wright. The letters contain a great deal of information on the early history of the water power industry in Fergus Falls, Minnesota. References are found to the Dayton Hollow Dam; mills and factories in Fergus Falls; and the proposed coffer dam in Fergus Falls (June 10, 1900).


Location	Box
A.W949	7	Correspondence, 1904-1921. 6 folders.
			The correspondence between Grace and Vernon Wright is continued in this box, and covers much the same topics as found in Box 6. Also mentioned in the letters is the Otter Tail Power Company of Fergus Falls. Items of interest include: letter from Thomas W. Clarke to his wife regarding his appointment by the Oil Association as Manager in Charge of their campaign against yellow fever in the oil fields of Tuxpam and Tampico (October 16, 1920); and letters from Thomas and Cyrus Wright to their parents describing college life at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts.
			1904-1909
			1910-1911
			1912
			1913
			1914-1919
			1920-1921


Location	Box
A.W949	8	Correspondence, 1922-1949. 4 folders.
			Contains correspondence on the Otter Tail Power Company.
			1922-1923
			1924-1926
			1927-1929
			1931-1949

Biographical and genealogical data:

Manuscript and printed data on the Clarke and Wright families. Included are charts and letters containing family information; newspaper clippings of obituaries of Thomas W. Clarke; and a printed booklet on the life of Vernon Ames Wright.

Clarke genealogy and biographical material.

GEORGE B. WRIGHT AND FAMILY:

OVERVIEW

SCOPE AND CONTENTS

ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

CORRESPONDENCE, GENEALOGICAL DATA, AND MISCELLANEOUS

VOLUMES

OVERSIZE ITEMS

CATALOG HEADINGS