Saturday, October 1, 2016

THE LEGACY OF DR. WARREN A. WRIGHT


Dr. Warren A. Wright is a name that appears often in Readfield’s historical records and narratives. The youngest of six children, he was born in Palmyra, Maine in 1837 to Ruel and Fanny (Strickland) Wright. The Wrights are an old New England family - Dr. Warren Wright’s 5th great grandfather, Deacon John Wright, immigrated to Massachusetts from England before 1630. The first of this line to move to Maine was his father Ruel about 1815, when most of Maine was still wilderness. To function as a country doctor in 19th century Readfield Dr. Wright had to have high principles, a strong work ethic and commitment to his community. From what we know about him, that was all true.

Warren Wright received his secondary education from Hartland Academy in Hartland, ME. He also attended “Corcuma Academy”- presumably the study of pharmaceuticals. According to the Harvard Alumni Directory he attended Harvard Medical School in Boston 1861-62. The Directory of Deceased American Physicians, 1804-1929 says he received his Maine license to practice allopathic medicine in 1862. That same year our subject appeared on the Readfield tax roll as a 25 year old physician. He must have endured some scrutiny as a newcomer! For nearly 75 years the people of Readfield had been treated by two doctors who were father and son - the doctors Currier. Old Dr. Samuel Currier had been the physician in our town for decades when he died in 1848 and then his son, Dr. George Currier, carried on their practice. The son Dr. Currier died in 1863, the year after Dr. Wright arrived. Perhaps Dr. Currier had an awareness of his own declining health which motivated him to recruit the young doctor? Whatever the case Dr. Wright must have been a welcome addition at a vital crossroads in our town’s history!

 Dr. Warren Wright was a busy man from the first and, in spite of his youth, he soon proved himself worthy of respect. He came to Readfield in the throes of the Civil War and our town was reeling from its affects. Readfield’s population was 1,500+ in 1860 and an astounding 10% enlisted for military service in the three years that followed. During Dr. Wright’s first two years in Readfield twenty-seven families were impacted because their sons were wounded, killed in action or died in prison camps. The emotional wounds and physical toll on the men who returned home, and on their families, was beyond measure. The railroad had come to town a few years prior and had brought with it new problems and unanticipated financial strain to the town – such as itinerants, who often required medical attention. Multiple factories and farms meant injuries and infections were common. Since there were no antibiotics those infected wounds or fractured limbs often meant amputation – then emotional scars and financial strain soon followed. The childbirth rate was increasing and complicated births and the death rates of mothers, infants and young children was distressingly high everywhere. Consumption, diphtheria, kidney disease, heart failure and scarlet fever were all too common in addition to other afflictions. But Dr. Wright was up to the challenge and settled in for an admirable lifetime medical career that lasted nearly 60 years. He came to be a much beloved physician among our townspeople.

Dr. Wright delivered many children in Readfield and the surrounding area during the mid 19th into the early 20th century. He devotedly ministered to the poor as well as to those who could afford medical care. He took his call to service very seriously – sometimes placing himself in peril to do so. When Readfield’s roads were still dirt, and in poor condition, people sometimes chose to travel the frozen lakes rather than riding the rutted and muddy roads. It is said that in late winter / early spring, when the ice was getting dangerously thin, Dr. Wright often took chances in order to reach a laboring mother or sick child in time. His carriage could be seen flying across our ponds as he whipped his horse to full speed. Fortunately he always managed to keep ahead of any breaking ice, but on more than one occasion he and his horse and carriage nearly fell through.  This story leads me to believe he must have sported a sense of adventure.

In the midst of his busy medical practice Dr. Wright also took interest and found time to become involved in a business. In 1880 Thomas U. French of Chesterville purchased the old carding and fulling mill in West Mt. Vernon and had it moved south and across the road. The next year those buildings provided a start when, for $14,000, French and Dr. Wright partnered to build a tannery and chimney at the head of Taylor Pond. The tannery had become one of the most important industries in the area when they sold in 1900. The massive building burned later, in 1912, and the business died but the chimney in West Mt. Vernon remains a landmark to this day.

Dr. Warren Wright had bought property on the west side of Church Road in 1866 on which there was a small Cape Cod house. In 1877 he bought a lot across the street and had his Cape Cod house moved there (25 Church Rd), where it still stands today. He then had a large house built on his lot adjacent to/north of the Union Meeting House, which has been known as the "Dr. Wright house" ever since. 

Dr. Wright married Mary Jane Goodwin and they had six children between the years 1867-1879. Three died in infancy – including their youngest child and only daughter, Julia. Four days before Christmas in 1899 Mary Jane Wright died. She was 58 years old and the cause of death was listed as rheumatic neuralgia. In 1913 his eldest son Willis, who was a farmer in Mt. Vernon at the time, developed bladder disease and died of uremic poisoning. Dr. Wright signed both Mary Jane’s and Willis’ death certificates as attending physician. How saddened he must have been that he could not save the lives of his own wife and four children!

The widowed Dr. Wright and two of his grown sons, Arthur and Charles, lived at the big house alone for three years until he married Ellen Dorothy Fogg – a maiden lady from a well known family in town. He was 65 and Nellie, as she was called, was 44. There was a grand wedding at the Fogg Homestead. Engraved invitations were mailed, the best table settings were brought out and guests came from miles around dressed in their finery. Among artifacts and other Fogg family memorabilia Nellie’s wedding dress was recently donated to Readfield Historical Society by the Fogg family where it is now on display. Dr. Wright and Nellie lived in the big house on Church Road throughout their 17 yrs of marriage. Dr. Wright carried on his busy medical practice for the rest of his life, and he continued to hold the admiration of townspeople. He was also revered by Nellie’s family according to Joanne Fogg Fournier who says: One of the little family idiosyncrasies that I always found interesting was that, as a couple, the old folks in the (Fogg) family ALWAYS referred to them as "Nellie and Dr. Wright" - never as "Nellie and Warren". Indicative, I think, of the great respect everyone had for the good doctor.”  Nellie and Dr. Wright never had children of their own. His sons Arthur and Charles moved to South Paris, ME where they lived until the end of their days.

 According to his death certificate Dr. Wright began suffering from the affects of nephritis in 1916. I suspect he detected his own declining health before that because he signed his property over to his wife Nellie in 1913 – the same year his eldest son Willis died. No doubt he did this to make sure Nellie would be taken care of after he was gone.  Dr. Wright died in 1919 at 81 years of age. He was buried at Readfield Corner Cemetery along with his first wife Mary, four of his children and a daughter-in-law. He had lived his life of service well - with dignity, integrity and loved by all.

 Nellie remained at the Wright house where she was living alone in 1920. In 1921 she remarried to Ernest Lewis, a widower from Jay, Maine. They lived there for about 2 years and then sold the Wright property to E.C. Frost. Later that decade Nellie married a third time to another widower, Frank S. Willard, and she moved with him to Los Angeles, California. Nellie died in 1934 and was brought home for burial in the Readfield Corner Cemetery. There she lies beside her parents and other members of the Fogg family.

(c) 2013 All Rights Reserved by Dale Potter-Clark

This article appeared in Lakes Region Reader in April 2013.