Last updated: November 29, 2021
Person
Isaac Wright
Quick Facts
Significance:
Missouri Homesteader
Place of Birth:
Tennessee
Date of Birth:
about 1819
Place of Death:
Newtonia, Missouri
Date of Death:
January 25, 1895
Place of Burial:
Barker Cemetery, Newtonio, Missouri
On December 22, 1865, Isaac Wright made his mark with an “X” on his homestead application #2102 at the land office in Booneville, Missouri. His eighty-acre claim in Newton County, Missouri lay adjacent to his former enslaver William Wright’s farm.
Born into slavery in Tennessee about 1819, Isaac lived in Newton County, Missouri for most of his life. He was married to Lydia Ferguson, an enslaved woman from North Carolina who lived on a nearby farm.
Isaac and Lydia had five children, four of whom (Thomas, Sarah, Moses, and William) were also born into slavery. According to the story passed down the generations, Isaac was allowed to spend his Saturday nights and Sundays with her and their children on the farm of Lydia’s enslaver, provided he was back on William Wright’s farm by Monday morning.
After the Civil War, Isaac and Lydia were officially married on March 18, 1866. Their family lived on and worked their claim together. Seborn Samples and James H. Grinestaff, who were witnesses to the improvements Isaac’s family had made to their homestead, reported that Isaac had built “a comfortable house to live in” that was one story, 14 X 35 feet with three doors and a window. It had plank and puncheon floors and a “good stone chimney”.
In addition to their home, they had constructed a log smokehouse, two log corn cribs, planted twenty-five fruit trees, and fenced in approximately twenty-eight acres of their land.
Isaac signed his own name on the final affidavit for his homestead on December 22, 1870. It must have been a proud day. His land patent # 180 was delivered on August 1, 1871. Sadly, his beloved wife Lydia had died in 1868 having enjoyed only a few years of freedom as a married couple. Isaac never remarried. His land was passed down to his children after his death in January 1895.
Additional facts:Known for being a fair and honest man, Isaac Wright is credited with supporting the women and children on the surrounding farms while their menfolk were gone during the Civil War. In a gesture of gratitude after the war, the community stocked a small goods store for Isaac to run.
Isaac’s mother is listed as born in Africa on the 1880 U.S. Census, though records of her have are yet to be discovered.
~ Contributor Erika Lusco
Erika Lusco is Isaac Wright’s third great granddaughter whose family history research was born from a love of history and a desire to know more about her ancestors’ places in it. Her goal is to find and document the lives of her ancestors, especially those who were enslaved. She resides near Kansas City, MO where she teaches Spanish to young children. Erika would like to thank Carolin Hixon for obtaining and sharing Isaac Wright’s homestead file from the National Archives. What a gift!