The Proeger Family · Generation 6 — earliest known

James W. Wright

Father of Mary Jane Wright

James W. Wright

Confirmed

Father of Mary Jane Wright

Died
Not found
Married
Lucy Brooks
Sources
12

Research status

Research status: CONFIRMED as the father of Mary Jane “Mollie” Wright. Her own 1934 Texas death certificate, no. 56943, read from the image, names her father James W. Wright, born Tennessee S81; her brother J. B. Wright's 1937 Texas death certificate, no. 47820, read from the image, names his father James Wright, born Tennessee, and his mother Lucie Brooks, and its informant was J. D. Coffman of Potosi, Mollie's son S1074. FamilySearch indexes both certificates the same way (1:1:K34G-82Q for hers, 1:1:K3HP-2GG for his); those are indexes of the same two documents, so they confirm the reading but are not further evidence

Life in the order the records give it

Census1860
In the 1860 census, taken 20 August at Palace Hill, Precinct 2, Dallas County, he is Jas. W. Wright, 35, physician and farmer, born Tennessee, with L. C., 28, Sally, 8, Jas. B., 4, and Mary J., 9/12 Confirmed S1004
Census1880
In 1880 Dr James W. Wright, 55, physician, lived in Precinct 7, Dallas County, with Lucy C., 48, Jesse, 10, and Kate, 7, four dwellings from his newly married daughter and David E. Coffman S345
Record1878
His will, signed at Dallas on 9 July 1878, leaves the estate to his children Jessee and Kate Templeton Wright, subject to the homestead and community interest of his wife Louisiana C. Wright, whom he appoints sole executrix S84. It does not name Mollie, who married three months later
Record1892
The History of Dallas County (1892) gives his birth near Nashville, Tennessee, on 4 February 1825, as son of Thomas and Martha A. (Tate) Wright; his marriage to Lucy C. Brooks on 28 October 1848; the move to Texas in 1850; and, among his six children, “Mary J., wife of David E. Coffman, of Taylor county” S85. It is a paid-for family account, not a vital record; his parents rest on this book alone and stay Probable
Death1900
His death is not on any record read here, but Lucy is a widow in the census of June 1900 S1089, so he died before then. The death date that circulates online, and the middle name Wilson, are not used
Census1850
🆕 On 20 September 1850, in Civil District No. 4 of Davidson County, Tennessee, Jas. Wright, 25, physician, born Tennessee, lived in the household of Moses T. Brooks, 56, and Nancy, 51, the couple the county history names as Lucy’s parents Confirmed S1096. With him were “Rosanna” Wright, 18, and Martha Wright, 2 months. Rosanna is probably Lucy under another name or a mishearing: her age fits Lucy’s 28 in 1860 and 48 in 1880, but the census states no relationships and the given name differs, so Rosanna as Lucy, and Martha as their daughter, are Probable Probable confirm or correct →. The date also shows he was still in Tennessee in late September 1850, so the move to Texas “in 1850” came at the end of that year
Census1870
🆕 In the 1870 census of Precinct No. 1, Dallas County, he is James W. Wright, 45, a physician born in Tennessee, with real estate worth $1,800. With him are his wife Luciana, 38, and the children Jones B., 14, Mary J., 10, and Jesse, born that August, with W. A. Brooks, 35, and Gibson, 5 Confirmed S1132.
Record1848
🆕 His marriage licence to Louisiana C. Brooks was issued in Davidson County, Tennessee, on 24 October 1848 Confirmed S1145. His daughter Kate, the “Kate Templeton Wright” of his will, died as Mrs. Kate Temple Britain, a widow, at Hamilton, Texas, on 28 November 1945. Her certificate gives her birth as 21 January 1873 in Dallas County and her parents as James Wright and Lucy Brooks Confirmed S1146.
Record1869
🆕 On 22 November 1869 James W. Wright registered to vote in Dallas County, precinct 1, after nineteen years in Texas, in the county and in the precinct, which dates his arrival to 1850 Confirmed S1171.

Family parents, marriages, children, siblings

Marriage
Husband of Lucy Brooks

In the record Generation 6 — earliest known

James W. Wright · Sources

Citations

Sources cited on this card

12 of the record's sources are cited here. The numbering is the record's own; the full list, with where else each is cited, is at Sources.

  1. S81Mary Jane Wright Coffman — Texas death certificate, 6 December 1934. Texas State Department of Health, Standard Certificate of Death, file no. 56943, Taylor County; Texas, U.S., Death Certificates, 1903–1982. Read from the certificate image 16 September 2026. Mary Jane Coffman, wife of D. E. Coffman; born 23 October 1859, Texas; died 6 December 1934 at 7:20 p.m., two miles south of Potosi, Taylor County, of cerebral haemorrhage; buried Dudley, 8 December 1934; father James W. Wright, born Tennessee; mother's maiden name Lucy Brooks, born Tennessee; informant D. C. Coffman of Abilene. It settles a death year and it names two ancestors. Her gravestone and her FindAGrave memorial give the death a day later and a year later, in December 1935 [S21]; the certificate says 6 December 1934 and the family typescript [S72] independently says 1934 as well. A state certificate written five days after the death outranks a stone transcription, and it is followed on this page. The likeliest source of the wrong year is the state registrar's filing stamp, JAN 10 1935, on the face of the same document.
  2. S84Dr. James W. Wright — last will and testament, Dallas County, Texas, 9 July 1878. Dallas County probate records, two manuscript pages, transcribed from the images 16 September 2026. Devises the estate to his children Jessee Wright and Kate Templeton Wright, subject to the homestead and community interest of his wife Louisiana C. Wright, whom he appoints sole executrix and guardian. ⚠️ A name variant, recorded rather than adjudicated. The will calls his wife Louisiana C., the printed county history [S85] calls her Lucy C. Brooks, her daughter's death certificate [S81] calls her Lucy Brooks, and FindAGrave calls her Luciana Catherine. Same middle initial and same role as surviving widow in every one. This page uses Lucy Brooks, the form on the two primary records, and prints the others rather than hiding them.
  3. S85History of Dallas County, Texas (1892), pp. 687–688 — the biography of James W. Wright, M.D. Two printed pages, read from the images 16 September 2026. Gives his birth near Nashville, Tennessee, 4 February 1825, son of Thomas and Martha A. (Tate) Wright; service in the Mexican War; medical study at Louisville and a degree at Nashville; his marriage 28 October 1848 to Lucy C. Brooks, of Davidson County, Tennessee, daughter of Moses T. and Nancy (Tate) Brooks; the family's emigration to Texas in 1850; and, on p. 688, his children — among them "Mary J., wife of David E. Coffman, of Taylor county." A subscription county history is a paid-for family account, not a vital record, and is weighed that way here. Its value is that it reaches the same couple from the opposite direction to the 1934 death certificate [S81]: the certificate names Mary Jane's parents, the history names Dr. Wright's daughter. Neither was derived from the other. The G6 generation it supplies — Thomas & Martha A. (Tate) Wright, Moses T. & Nancy (Tate) Brooks — rests on this book alone and stays Probable.
  4. S3451880 U.S. Federal Census — Precinct 7, Dallas Co., Texas: David E. and Mary J. Coffman. Ancestry record 7452380. Image examined, read 24 September 2026. Confirmed David E., 23, farmer, b. Va.; Mary J., 21, b. Tex. of Tennessee parents — twenty months after the wedding. Four dwellings up the same page: Dr James W. Wright, 55, physician, Lucy C., 48, and their children Jesse, 10, and Kate, 7. The first census to show the Wright family itself.
  5. S10041860 United States Federal Census — Dallas County, Texas, Precinct 2, post office Palace Hill, page 107, dwelling 688 (20 August 1860). Ancestry record 34979679. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 29 September 2026. Confirmed Jas. W. Wright, 35, physician and farmer, born Tennessee; L. C., 28, born Tennessee; Sally, 8, born Tennessee; Jas. B., 4, born Texas; and Mary J., 9/12, born Texas. Next door, dwelling 687: Thomas Wright, 67, born North Carolina, and Martha, 65. 1860 states no relationships. Thomas and Martha Wright next door may be Dr. Wright's parents; that rests on adjacency alone.
  6. S1074J. B. Wright — Texas death certificate, 11 September 1937. Texas State Department of Health, Standard Certificate of Death, file no. 47820, Taylor County; Texas, U.S., Death Certificates, 1903–1982, Ancestry record 82243541. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 29 September 2026. Confirmed J. B. Wright died 11 September 1937 at Potosi, Taylor County; born 18 December 1855, Texas; divorced; father James Wright, born Tennessee; mother's maiden name Lucie Brooks, born Tennessee; informant J. D. Coffman, Potosi; buried at Potosi, 12 September 1937. The informant is Mary Jane Wright's son, which ties this J. B. to her family rather than to a namesake. A second child's certificate names the same parents as her own certificate [S81]. FamilySearch indexes this certificate as 1:1:K3HP-2GG; that is the same document, not further evidence.
  7. S10891900 United States Federal Census — Precinct 7 (Eagle Ford), Dallas County, Texas, ED 143, sheet 9A, dwelling 183, family 187. Ancestry record 70540740. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 1 October 2026. Confirmed 8 June 1900: Lucy C. Wright, head, born May 1832, 68, widowed, mother of 6 children of whom 4 living, born Tennessee of Tennessee parents, farmer, owns her farm free; James B., son, born December 1855, 44, widowed, born Texas; James L., 19, Sidney J., 16, and Robert E.(?), 13, all entered as ‘son’, born Texas, father born Texas, mother Alabama. By their parents’ birthplaces the three boys are James B.’s sons, Lucy’s grandsons, entered as ‘son’ in error.
  8. S10961850 United States Federal Census — Civil District No. 4, Davidson County, Tennessee, page 296, dwelling 482, family 482. Ancestry record 6049004. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 1 October 2026. Confirmed 20 September 1850: Moses T. Brooks, 56, farmer, born Virginia; Nancy Brooks, 51, born North Carolina; Octavia V., 16, Jas. M., 12, and Jos. F. Brooks, 8; Jas. Wright, 25, physician, born Tennessee; Rosanna Wright, 18; Martha Wright, 2 months. The index carries the head’s surname down onto the three Wrights (“Jas Brooks”, “Rosanna Brooks”); the image reads Wright. The census states no relationships. A James Wright, 52, farmer, born North Carolina, heads the next dwelling but one.
  9. S11321870 U.S. census — Precinct No. 1, Dallas County, Texas, p. 265, dwelling 1706 (29 September 1870). Ancestry record 5099456. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 29 September 2026. Confirmed Wright, James W., 45, physician, real estate $1,800, personal estate $969, born Tennessee; Luciana, 38, keeping house, born Tennessee; Jones B., 14, Mary J., 10, and Jesse, born in August, all born in Texas; in the same household W. A. Brooks, 35, farm worker, born Tennessee, and Gibson, 5.
  10. S1145State of Tennessee, Davidson County, Register of Marriages for 1848, p. 46 — James Wright and Louisiana C. Brooks (licence 24 October 1848). Ancestry record 4578431. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 1 October 2026. Confirmed Last entry on the page: “Wright James C[?] To Louisiana[?] C Brooks — Issued Oct 24. 1848.” The return column is blank. The lower page is water-damaged and no marriage date is entered; the 28 October date comes from the 1892 county history (S85). The middle initial after James is hard to read.
  11. S1146Texas Standard Certificate of Death no. 48594, Hamilton County, 1945 — Mrs. Kate Temple Britain. Ancestry record 82614521. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 30 September 2026. Confirmed Mrs. Kate Temple Britain, white, widowed, housewife, born 21 January 1873 in Dallas County, Texas; died 28 November 1945 at the Hamilton Sanitarium, Hamilton, Texas, aged 72 years 10 months 7 days; father James Wright, born Tennessee; mother Lucy Brooks, born Tennessee. Informant Mrs. Ruth Harris, Hamilton. Buried at Gentry’s Mill, Texas, 30 November 1945. The informant knew Kate, not necessarily her parents. Her 1878 will entry reads “Kate Templeton Wright” (S84).
  12. S1171Texas voter registration lists, 1867–1869, Dallas County register, entries 1541–1580 (registered 22 November 1869). Ancestry record 20630. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 1 October 2026. Confirmed No. 1563: James W. Wright, residence Dallas County, precinct 1; time of residence in the state 19 years, in the county 19 years, in the precinct 19 years. A common name; the identification rests on the nineteen years, which date his arrival to 1850, as the 1892 county history says (S85) and as the 1850 Davidson County census allows. The nativity column is on another page of the register, not read.

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