Davis S. Wright is a saw mill man and a true blue Republican with no uncertain motto on his banner and with plenty of keen penetration into issues and ability to handle convincingly the political questions of the day. His mill is located four miles west from Ho, is one of the best and perhaps the largest plant in the reservation country and is handled with a wisdom and business ability that have given to the owner a gratifying success. In the political field he is known as one of the strongest factors of the party in this section and a terror to opposers and in the caucuses and conventions he is a familiar figure and a power.
Davis S. Wright was born in Ohio, on April 15, 1858, being the son of Charles S. and Deborah (Oliver) Wright. The father was born in the state of presidents in 1838, and his father was a pioneer there. Charles S. Wright is now operating a flour mill in Dublin. The mother of our subject owns Ohio as her native place also and her parents were pioneers there. She and her husband came to Walla Walla in 1873. Our subject was taken from Ohio to Wisconsin by his parents when he was two weeks old, the trio being made by wagon. Settlement was made in Vernon County and ten years later they pulled up stakes and turned the prow of their prairie schooner toward the setting sun and cast anchor in Washington County, Oregon. There they farmed and about 1872 or 1873 they came thence to Walla Walla.
Our subject was educated in Oregon and Washington and when he was nineteen went to do for himself. He was married about that time and went to farming near Walla Walla, where his home continued to be until 1892, in which year he removed to the Potlatch country. He settled in Kendrick and took up the livery business and assisted materially to build that town. In 1896, Mr. Wright came to the reservation and took a farm near Fletcher and in 1898, he took up the saw mill business as mentioned above.
On November 24, 1877, Mr. Wright married Miss Emma, daughter of Thomas and Lydia (Skinner) Whetstone, the wedding occurring in Dayton, Washington. Mr. Whetstone was a pioneer in the Walla Walla country and built the first house on the wagon road from that town to Lewiston. It is located in Whetstone hollow. Mrs. Wright was born in Columbia County, Washington, in 1860. She has the following named brothers and sisters, Mary, Alice, Robert E., all living in Nez Perces County. Mr. Wright has three brothers, William A., in Dublin, George W., in Kendrick, Amos A., in Spokane. Three children have been born to our subject and his wife, Robert O., Lilly Johnson, Bessie L., in Nez Perces County.
Mr. Wright is a member of the 1. O. O. F., Lodge 65, at Magnolia. He has been justice of the peace for two terms.
Back to: Nez Perce Biographies
Source: An Illustrated History of Northern Idaho, Embracing Nez Perce, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone Counties, Western Historical Publishing Company, 1903