Jasper Wright. The life of this gentleman has been rather an uneventful one, but clearly demonstrates how much can be accomplished and acquired under the most unfavorable circumstances. He was born in Barren County, Ky., in 1840, and, after assisting his father on the home farm until twenty-seven years of age, he began doing for himself, but dropped his farming implements in 1861 to enlist in the Crittenden Rangers, a cavalry company organized in Crittenden County, Ark.; and was in the battles of Chickamauga, Corinth and Knoxville. He was paroled at Chester, S. C., in 1865, and returned to Poinsett County, which place has since been his home. He was married here, in 1867, to Miss Martha Jane Huston, a Tennesseean by birth, but her death occurred in 1875, she having borne a family of four children; Harriet Jane (Mrs. Albright) and John William are the only ones now living. The following year Mr. Wright wedded Miss Laura Stevens, a Georgian, by whom he became the father of two children -- Elizabeth and Bessie -- but he was called upon to mourn her death in 1884. His next matrimonial venture was in 1885, his wife's maiden name being Josephine McClellan; she was born in Tennessee, and to them has been given one child, Lloyd D. In 1868 Mr. Wright purchased a timber tract of eighty acres, but sold it in 1879, and purchased another tract consisting of the same number of acres. He has added eighty acres to this, and has fifty acres under cultivation.
He has always voted the Democratic ticket, and has served as justice of the peace for some years, and in 1886 was elected county and probate judge, serving two years. Socially, he is a member of the Agricultural Wheel, and also belongs to Harrisburg Lodge of the A. F. & A. M. He and wife are worthy. members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He is one of five children born to Joseph and Sarah (Ford) Wright, natives of Tennessee and Kentucky, respectively. In 1844 they removed to Poinsett County, Ark., and here spent the rest of their lives, the father's death occurring in 1876, and the mother's in 1854.