Person:Margaret Reed (17)

MRS. MARGARET REED WRIGHT is matron of Thornton Home at Newburg, Warrick County, Indiana. Mrs. Wright formerly lived at Evansville but since the death of her husband she has found opportunity for a useful work and interesting contact with people whom she loves and who in turn love her. Mrs. Wright is the widow of the late Dr. A. C. Wright, a prominent physician and surgeon. Doctor Wright was born in Warren County, Kentucky, and died October 29, 1910, at the age of seventy-one. His father was Dr. Thomas B. Wright, also a native of Warren County, Kentucky. Dr. A. C. Wright was one of five children. His sister Mrs. Elizabeth Wright Thomas, who died March 1, 1931, at the age of eighty-nine, was active in literary and social clubs at Bowling Green, Kentucky. She had two sons, Thomas and Richard, both of whom were leading lawyers. Hon. Thomas Wright died March 4, 1930, at the age of sixty-three. Another son, Daniel Webster Wright, was a Kentucky lawyer and land owner and a member of the Legislature. Mrs. Margaret Reed Wright is a daughter of Rev. Wiley Martin Reed, who was born in Giles County, Tennessee, entered the Confederate army, commanded a regiment as colonel and was mortally wounded at Fort Pillow while serving under General Forrest. General Forrest appointed a special escort to convey him to Jackson, Tennessee. He was also an intimate friend of General Jackson, who presented him with a beautiful horse when he joined the army. Prior to the war he had been pastor of the First Cumberland Presbyterian Church at Nashville, Tennessee. Rev. Wiley Martin Reed was distinguished in appearance and his abilities were in keeping. The mother of Mrs. Wright was Mary Caroline White, also a Tennesseean, daughter of John D. White, a pioneer of Shelby County, that state, and a very wealthy man. Mary Caroline White and Wiley Martin Reed were educated at Lebanon, Tennessee, and their romance began while in college there and they were married as soon as their studies were completed. In the Reed family were seven children: Edgar, Marshall, Erskine, Percy Ward, Mary, Margaret, now the only one living, and Wiley M., Jr. Edgar was for many years with the Louisville & Nashville Railroad. Marshall was educated for medicine but spent an active career as a railroad man. Erskine was connected with the Dun and Bradstreet Commercial Agencies. Mary married William H. Cook, of Smith's Grove, Warren County, Kentucky. Miss Margaret Reed was educated at Nashville, Tennessee, and at New York City specialized in music and expression. Both she and her sister taught music and expression in the Cumberland Female College at McMinnville, Tennessee, for six years. Miss Reed and Doctor Wright were married at Smith's Grove, Kentucky, November 14, 1895. Mrs. Wright has one son, Wiley Reed Wright, who was born April 6, 1897, and was educated in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and the Castle Heights School, and during the World war was in training with the Aviation Corps, receiving a commission as first lieutenant and later was promoted to captain and finally to major of the Reserve Corps. He was for a time at Gerstner Field, Lake Charles, Louisiana, and after the war spent some time with the Clyde Steamship Lines. He is now under the United States Commerce Department, aeronautic branch, as inspector of aeroplanes and products. This line of service requires him to travel over the mountain and Pacific States and Alaska, establishing airports and reporting on various angles of aviation industry. Mrs. Wright is a Democrat in politics, is a member of the Presbyterian Church of the United States, and belongs to the United Daughters of the Confederacy and Daughters of the American Revolution and the Newburg Literary Club. The Thornton Place Home is an institution conducted for the benefit of disabled Presbyterian ministers, their wives, widows, missionaries and orphans. It was established at Evansville by the Cumberland Presbyterian Board, but in 1908 the board acquired the beautiful residence and country home of Mrs. Ames at Newburg in Warrick County. Other buildings have been added to supplement the facilities provided by the handsome residence and there are accommodations for forty guests, though at the present time only twenty-five are enrolled. Mrs. Wright handles all the financial affairs of the institution, which is supported by the church at large. She has the supervision of a staff of three nurses and other competent employees. Outside the buildings there are 110 acres of land. A motor bus was presented to the institution by a prominent Evansville philanthropist and other things that add to the comfort and entertainment of the guests are radio and piano. Mrs. Wright for the past seventeen years has been in full charge of the institution. She is called "mother" by all and she calls the guests her children, although some of them are much older than herself. These children idolize her. Mrs. Wright is exceptionally well educated, a woman of fine culture and broad experience and has been an ideal person for the position she fills.