Where and When did Elizabeth (Wintersteen) Wright Die?

There has been considerable debate as to when and where Elizabeth (Wintersteen) Wright died and is buried. It has long been assumed by some, that she died June 14, 1873 in Oregon, Dane County, Wisconsin and is buried there some five miles south of town. This is almost certainly due to a death of a woman who is identified as "Mother Wright," age 71, as reported contemporaneously in a regional newspaper obituary.[1] This single bit of evidence has likely been attributed to her because of the proximity of some of her known children in nearby counties and because no other explanation of the above Elizabeth (Wintersteen) Wright's death can be found anywhere else.

Others however, have long believed this was not Elizabeth (Wintersteen) Wright, but someone else entirely. Mostly because the obituary does not actually identify her by name, because the age difference is significant[2] and because there is no tangable evidence she herself ever lived in Wisconsin, despite some of her known children living there.

Noted Wright family genealogist (Alan Williams) believes this person was Sarah (Smith) Wright, the wife of Charles Wright. Mr. Williams writes "No relationship is known between our Wrights and these. This family of Wrights came out of Morgan County, Ohio (found there in 1850)... Charles and Sarah, a son Charles, a son Marion (Frances), a daughter Mary, and others. They were however, in Viroqua, Bad Ax County (later Vernon County), in the 1855 Wisconsin state census... Charles Wright family and "Francis" Wright family. Charles Wright was a shoe maker by trade."

The Charles and Sarah Wright family is also in the 1860 census in Viroqua, Bad Ax County, Wisconsin (the part that became Vernon County), with a daughter Mary still in the house. Next door was a son, Charles S. Wright and his young family. Also, in Harmony, Bad Ax County, was son Frances “Marion” Wright. In 1870, that same family was still in Viroqua (by then, name changed to Vernon County)... Charles was 65 and Sarah (Smith) Wright was 67. This family moved not to Oregon, Dane County, Wisconsin, but to the actual STATE of OREGON, where she died and is buried! They moved sometime between the 1870 census and Sarah's death in 1873. The son Charles S. Wright was already in Washington County, Oregon by the 1870 census (as C.S. Wright in the census, with his wife Deborah "Debbie" and kids), while the son Frances Marion Wright was still near his parents in Vernon County, Wisconsin (as "Frank" Wright, with his wife Catherine and kids). It is apparent that the parents, Charles and Sarah Wright then moved with their son Frances Marion Wright and family out to Washington County, Oregon, where son and brother, Charles S, Wright had already settled. Sarah's burial is in the in the Mountain View Memorial Gardens cemetery in Forest Grove, Washington County, Oregon, as was her husband Charles and the one son, Frances Marion Wright and his wife Catherine, all buried same cemetery."[3]

Alan William's research and analysis are both persuasive and conclusive, including his observation about the November obituary for a June death not being so odd, after all, considering the real distance the news traveled.

In the end, this does not solve the mystery of where Elizabeth (Wintersteen) Wright died or where she is buried, only that the Wright woman mentioned in the November 1873, Wisconsin Newspaper, is NOT Elizabeth (Wintersteen) Wright, but rather a Sarah (Smith) Wright who died in the State of Oregon and not in the town of Oregon, Dane County, Wisconsin, near Viroqua, where she had once lived.