WRIGHT, WILLIAM THOMAS (1869-1965). William Thomas (Uncle Willie) Wright, cattle drover, county commissioner, and an organizer of Jim Wells County, son of T. C. and Elizabeth (Adams) Wright, was born in Nuecestown, Texas, on June 4, 1869. He started school at the age of six at Robert (Bob) Adams'sqv Tecolote Ranch elementary school and, from 1884 to 1886, attended Goliad College. After college Wright delivered cattle by contract from ranchers to buyers. From Victoria alone he moved more than 30,000 head, some as far as Monroe, Louisiana. He was proud of his ability to handle livestock slowly and deliberately so that they did not stampede. In 1898 he bought El Carro Ranch, moved its small house to the top of a hill, and improved it. On October 18, 1899, he and Bertha Halsey, an Alice schoolteacher, were married in Monroe, Louisiana. From 1904 until 1911 Wright was a county commissioner of Nueces County. Governor Oscar B. Colquittqv appointed Wright to a committee of five to organize Jim Wells County. In 1919 Wright was elected commissioner of Precinct 2 of Jim Wells County and held the post until 1947. W. T. and Bertha Halsey Wright were Episcopalians. They had six children. Wright died on January 5, 1965.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Alice News, June 2, 1966. Agnes G. Grimm, Llanos Mesteñas: Mustang Plains (Waco: Texian Press, 1968).
Agnes G. Grimm
