Quartus Wright (1813-1887)

Portrait from the Vineland Daily Journal, August 7, 1961.

  Tucked away in a small cemetery in the obscure settlement of Wrightsville, Pennsylvania lie the remains of Quartus Wright, a curiously named Pennsylvania farmer who late in his life moved to what is now Vineland, New Jersey. After several years of residence in the township of Landis, Wright was elected as a borough committeeman, and after that township voted to incorporate as the borough of Vineland, Quartus Wright was elected as its first mayor. Following his mayoralty, Wright continued residence in Vineland, and after his death in 1887 was returned to Pennsylvania for burial. On August 25th, 2022 I was able to visit his gravesite in Wrightsville, and some photos from the trip will conclude his profile here.

  Born (depending on the source) in either Genesee County or Onondaga County, New York on September 10, 1813, Quartus Wright was the last of eleven children born to Joshua (1771-1842) and Sybil (Loomis) Wright (1771-1852). The son of the founder of Wrightsville, Pennsylvania, little information exists on Quartus's early life, except notice of his being a farmer in that town. Wright married in the mid-1830s to Olive Tuttle (1819-1885), with who he had three children, Newton Ferdinand (born 1837), Saphronia (1839-1875), and Dr. DeForest J. Wright (1843-1879).

  After decades of residence in Pennsylvania, Quartus Wright removed to what is now Vineland, New Jersey in 1867. Residing in the borough of Landis, Wright continued farming after his resettlement, being remarked as:

"a practical farmer of no little note, his corn, fruit, and clover being "unexcelled.''' 

  Wright began an interest in local politics in the 1870s, winning election to the Landis township committee, and later served several years as both treasurer and chairman. Upon the creation of the borough of Vineland in May 1880 Quartus Wright (then serving as chair of the Landis township committee) was elected as the borough's first mayor "by a small majority". He served one term, leaving office in 1881, and was remarked to have built a "showplace" home on Montrose street in that city. In early 1887 he suffered a paralytic stroke, and in March of that suffered a second stroke, which contributed to his death on March 7, 1887, at age 73. He was preceded in death by his wife Olive and two children and was briefly interred at the Siloam Cemetery in Vineland. Following an indeterminate period, he and his wife were returned to Pennsylvania for burial in the Wrightsville Cemetery, the same resting place as that of his parents and siblings.

                                                           From the Vineland Evening Journal, March 8, 1887.

 The grave of Quartus Wright at the Wrightsville Cemetery, Wrightsville, PA.

"Quartus".