Martha
A. “Mattie” (Humphrey) Wright’s life was quietly lived in the shadow of her
famous husband “Bad John” Wright. Though
Mattie remained in the background she was always there to cook and provide for
John and their family, their many friends, neighbors, travelers, and business
associates. One of the greatest
compliments of a person’s life is the good witness of those who knew them. A
number of people that remembered Mattie were interviewed after her passing and
all spoke of what a very nice woman she was. With
the many newspapers accounts, books, and other articles of her husband’s life,
little has been written of John’s faithful help-mate. For the most part, all
that has been known about Mattie is that John brought her to Martha
A. “Mattie” Humphrey was born in Cynthiana, Mattie’s
father Jameson Humphrey was a well known The man
that would later become Mattie’s husband had enlisted as a young man in the
Confederacy and his war records state he was wounded in The Battle of
Cynthiana. William Troy Wright gives a description of the battle and how his
father was wounded which closely matches the accounts of the Keller Bridge
Battle. The Battle of Cynthiana took place around the narrow old covered bridge
that stood at the edge of the town, about a mile north in a meander of
the Licking River. This bridge served the community for over 80 years after the war. William Troy says his father was scouting
when he came upon a band of sharp-shooting home guards near the town of William
Troy depicts the fight as taking place in the early part of the day and we know
General John Hunt Morgan approached Cynthiana at dawn, on During
this turmoil, John lay hiding in a ravine through that day and night, suffering
from severe injuries, in pain, bleeding and without food, not more than two
hundred yards from the scene of the previous day’s fight. With only water from the river and no food
for nourishment, the soldier’s chances of survival were bleak. It was the next day before a farmer with a
sled and ox searching for firewood discovered the wounded man. The farmer
cautiously loaded him to the sled, concealed his body under firewood, then moved him to his home where he kept him out of sight in
a blind cellar that was only accessible from the interior of the house. Who was this farmer who risked his own life
in order to save a stranger? It is
thought by many that the farmer was Jameson Humphrey and the young farm girl
was none other than Mattie, later to be the wife of John W. Wright. During the
long weeks of his recovery, the farmer’s young daughter and his family took
turns nursing the severely injured soldier back to health. The story has endured that this is how Mattie
first met her future husband. The
Keller Bridge Battle took place Their
marriage bond gives information the marriage took place The
couple spent the first few years of their marriage in the Bluegrass Region of Kentucky
where John worked for Mattie's father while doing a little horse trading and
some detective work. All the time Mattie
realized her husband missed the beautiful mountains he had grown up in and
though they were happy together, she felt that he would be happier back in his
mountains. No doubt for that reason, four years later Mattie, her husband and
young family were living in the mountains of eastern Kentucky, listed as
residents of Letcher County on the 1870 census. By this
time she had given birth to the first two of their children, James, who was
born in Cynthiana and Joel who was an infant. Their son John Phillip,
"Little John", would be born about three years later. John and Mattie had five children but only
two, James and Johnny Phillip, lived to be adults. In addition to the
three sons, they also had two girls. The
children were buried at the
In 1923
Mattie fell and broke her hip and was bed-fast for some time. Nurse Sally Nolan Baker was paid $150.00 a month
for her job as a camp nurse at Dunham
for the Consolidation Coal Company in Jenkins and she recalled nursing Mattie,
the wife of Bad John Wright. Nurse Baker said,
"She lay in a homemade bed and I rode a horse to her house
to nurse her, since we all rode horseback in those days." Mattie’s
step son William Troy ‘Chid’ Wright said in his book
“Devil John Wright Of The Cumberlands” that he
thought Mattie only went back home once after their move to Letcher County and
that one of her brothers came to visit her one time. As far as he knew
these were the only visits she had with her family after she and John moved to
the mountains. However, though it can’t be documented, Mattie must have
kept in good contact with the rest of her family in It must have been very
difficult for such a young girl to leave all that was familiar, home, family,
and friends to begin a completely new life so far away with her husband. Her
love must have been very deep-seated to have taken such a step. She could
easily have remained in the Mattie’s
parents, Jameson & Elizabeth (Henry) Humphrey, were the parents of seven
children which are listed in Jameson’s will dated His
children as listed in the will are:
Nancy A. Humphrey,
B. F. Humphrey, Jamimia J. Buzzard,
Mattie Right, Eliza Crofford, J. H. Humphrey and
Joseph Humphrey. The will instructs that
his land be divided with each child receiving a parcel of the land. Mattie Right was given Parcel No. 2 which
consisted of 17.85 acres which is listed in the Division of Property papers
recorded According
to the amount of land distributed in Jameson Humphrey’s will, he owned about 110.23 acres. The breakdown of the division
of land for each child as per will went as follows: Nancy
A.
Humphrey
15.00 acres Mattie
Right
17.85 acres Eliza
Crofford
15.72 acres Jamimia J.
Buzzard 15.00 acres B.
F.
Humphrey 15.00
acres Joseph
Humphrey
17.00 acres James H.
Humphrey 14.66
acres The
information from these documents gives us the proof that Martha A. “Mattie” (Humphrey)
Wright was indeed the daughter of Jameson & Elizabeth (Henry) Humphrey of
Cynthiana,
They lived mostly
in the community of Jenkins,
Sources of Information: 1850 and 1860 Certificate of Marriage for John Wright & Martha Humphrey Death Certificate for Mattie Humphrey Wright Will of Jameson Humphrey Division of Property of Jameson Humphrey Appraisement & Inventory and Settlement of Property of Jameson
Humphrey Final Settlement Papers On site assessment of Cynthiana, including
The material is copyrighted © 2007 by
Nancy Wright Bays, Patty May Brashear 
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