Stephen Calvin Wright
Stephen Calvin Wright, deputy judge of the Greene county probate court, former editor of the Cedarville Record, former postmaster of Cedarville, president of the Cedarville Community Club, a member of the board of trustees of Cedarville College and former head of the normal department of that institution, is a native of the Hoosier state, but has been a resident of Ohio and of Greene county ever since he came to enter Cedarville College in the days of his youth and is thus as well known hereabout as though "native and to the manner born." He was born on a farm in the immediate vicinity of the village of Idaville, in White county, Indiana, February 22, 1873, son of John B. and Agnes Isabel (Bailey) Wright, both of whom were born in that same county, members of pioneer families in the Idaville neighborhood, and the former of whom is still living.
John B. Wright, a retired farmer and banker, now living at Idaville, where he has made his home ever since retiring from the farm years ago, was born in 1847, son of Stephen P. and Elizabeth (Billingsley) Wright, who were pioneers of the Idaville neighborhood, and all his life has been spent there. He married Agnes Isabel Bailey, who also was born in that community, daughter of Thomas and Agnes (Morrison) Bailey, early settlers thereabout, and after his marriage established his home on a farm nearby the village. Not long after his election to the office of trustee of his home township he retired from the farm and moved to Idaville, where he since has made his home. For two terms he served as township trustee and meantime founded the Idaville State Bank, of which he still is president. He is the owner of two hundred acres of land in his home farm and owns besides another farm and has other property interests. Mrs. Wright died in July, 1916, she then being seventy years and seven days of age. She was a member of the Reformed Presbyterian church, as is her husband, and their children were reared in that faith. There were seven of these children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the first-born, the others being the following: Luella, unmarried, who continues to make her home with her father at Idaville; Mary Elsie, wife of Elliot Crowell, of Idaville; Glenson, who is now engaged in farming in the neighborhood of Creston, Nebraska; Oda May, who died on October 6, 1906, the year following her marriage to Harvey Downs, of Idaville; Laura Belle, wife of Prof. F. D. Francis, superintendent of schools at Gilman, Iowa, and who is her husband's assistant in that office, and Fannie, who died at the age of fourteen years.
Reared on the home farm, Stephen Calvin Wright, who is better known to the friends of his boyhood as "Cal" Wright, received his early schooling in the Idaville schools and supplemented the same by a course of preparatory work at Wabash College at Crawfordsville, Indiana, after which he entered Cedarville College, from which institution he was graduated in 1903, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In the meantime Mr. Wright had married and upon leaving college he decided to establish his home at Cedarville, a decision he never has had cause to regret. Seeking an outlet for his energies he turned to the "fourth estate" and in that same year, 1903, started the Cedarville Record, continuing as editor and publisher of that newspaper until he sold it in 1911 in order to devote his whole time to the duties incumbent upon the postmaster of Cedarville, he having received the appointment to that office in 1910. Upon the completion of his term of service as postmaster in 1914 Mr. Wright was elected financial secretary of Cedarville College and has ever since been officially connected with his alma mater. It was in that year that the normal department of the college was created, under the provisions of the new law, and upon the establishment of that department Mr. Wright was made head of the same, continuing to serve in that capacity until his resignation in August, 1917, to accept the appointment as deputy probate judge of Greene county, under Judge Marshall, which position he now occupies, continuing, however, to make his home at Cedarville. Mr. Wright is a Republican, as is his father. He is a member of the board of trustees of Cedarville College and for ten years also rendered service as a member of the local school board at Cedarville. He also served for years as clerk of the village. For the past two years or more Mr. Wright has been the president of the Cedarville Community Club, an association of one hundred and twenty of the business men and farmers of Cedarville and vicinity, formerly known as the Cedarville Board of Trade.
On October 26, 1896, at Idaville, Indiana, Stephen Calvin Wright was united in marriage to Eva Emma Johnsonbaugh, who also was born in the vicinity of that village, daughter of John and Nancy (Marvin) Johnsonbaugh, both members of pioneer families thereabout, and to this union have been born four children, namely: Naomi I., who was graduated from Cedarville College in 1917; John Calvin, who in December, 1917, enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and is now in service; Harry D., who is now a student at Cedarville College, and Marjorie, who is attending high school at Cedarville. The Wrights are members of the Reformed Presbyterian church at Cedarville.
From History of Greene County Ohio, Its People, Industries and Institutions, vol. 2. M.A.Broadstone, editor. B.F.Bowen & Co., Indianapolis. 1918