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From Commemorative Biographical Record of the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette, Wisconsin, publ. 1901 - page 349-350
GEORGE W. WRIGHT (deceased), late of Platteville, Grant county, was born in Madison county, Ill., Aug. 4, 1827, and was a son of James C. and Sarah WRIGHT, natives of Kentucky. The parents migrated first to Illinois, where they lived some years, and in 1828 came to Wisconsin, locating in Elk Grove, Lafayette county, where they resided until 1858, Mr. WRIGHT following farming. They then retired to Platteville, where Mrs. WRIGHT passed away in 1874, and Mr. WRIGHT in 1877. They were the parents of nine children besides our subject, born in the following order: Belinda, wife of Eli ROBINSON, a lawyer; Permelia, deceased wife of Thomas GINN; Emily, deceased; Martha C., deceased wife of Charles RAND; Samuel E., of Dunlap, Iowa; Harriet, E., who was married to Albert BOISE, and died in 1867; William H. H., also a resident of Dunlap, Iowa; Mary F., wife of the late Thomas J. HOOPER, of Milwaukee, Wis.; and Austin. The parents had many trying experiences in the early days, and were "forted" twice during the Black Hawk war.
George W. WRIGHT was educated in the Platteville Academy. In 1850 he crossed the plains to California, enduring many hardships en route, and encountering many hostile Indians. He was rewarded with success, however, while in the Golden State, where he passed eight years in the mines, and in 1858 returned to Wisconsin with a small fortune. He then for a time attended a business college in St. Louis, Mo., and in the spring of 1864 was employed by Dr. NEWHALL in a drug store in Galena, Ill. In 1865 he came to Platteville again and opened a pharmacy on his own account, which he conducted until 1871, when, in order to increase his scientific knowledge of pharmaceutics, he hired a pharmacist to take charge of his business, and entered the Chicago School of Pharmacy. He was in Chicago at the time of the great fire in 1871, and with many others was hemmed in on the lake front some ten or twelve hours during that excitement. The School of Pharmacy was burned, and he then resumed the drug business, which he followed most successfully until his death which occurred in Platteville, in September 1892. He made many friends in the city, who, with his family, sincerely mourned the loss of an affectionate husband, an indulgent father, and a good and patriotic citizen. He had long been an Odd Fellow, and in politics was a leading Republican. Mr. WRIGHT was a member of the Wisconsin State Pharmaceutical Association, of which he was one of the original promoters and one of the first vice-presidents.
In 1860 Mr. WRIGHT was united in marriage with Miss Nancy E. KELL, daughter of John and Emily (SWETT) KELL, old and respected residents of Madison, Ill., the former of whom, native of Tennessee, is now living in Missouri; the latter, a native of Illinois, was of New England descent. They reared two children: Nancy E., now Mrs. WRIGHT; and David W., a farmer of Richmond, Mo., where his wife died, leaving three children, Nellie, Edward and Lloyd. To Mr. and Mrs. WRIGHT were born four children, of whom three died in infancy. The survivor, Charles E. was graduated from the University of Wisconsin, at Madison, in 1888, and is the successor of his father in the drug trade at Platteville, being chief manager of the store, which is the finest in the city, and in which Mrs. WRIGHT also holds an interest. He has become quite popular as a chemist, as well as personally, and fraternally is a member of the Odd Fellows lodge in the city.
Religiously Mrs. WRIGHT is a member of the Congregational Church, has ever been very active in pushing forward the good work of the congregation, never being behind in her contributions to the support of the church itself, and is a lady of the most charitable and kindly impulses. She is a member of the Daughters of Rebekah, an adjunct of the I.O.O.F.
This biography generously submitted by Carol Holmbeck