Catherine Reeder Wright

Quick Facts

Significance:

Paternal Grandmother to Orville & Wilbur Wright

Place of Birth:

Cincinnati, Ohio

Date of Birth:

March 17, 1800

Place of Death:

Orange, Indiana

Date of Death:

September 24, 1866

Place of Burial:

Orange, Indiana

Cemetery Name:

Wright Cemetery

Milton Wright's mother was born to George Reeder and Margaret Van Cleve in Cincinnati, Ohio. Margaret Van Cleve was one of the first women of European ancestry to live in the Miami River basin. By 1818, Catherine lived in Centerville, Ohio, where she met her future husband, Dan Wright, Jr. They married there on February 12, 1818. She and Dan had seven children, five of whom survived to adulthood. Milton Wright was their fifth surviving child and fourth son. In 1821, Catherine and Dan Wright moved to a farm in Rush County, Indiana. They relocated a short distance in 1823 and moved to a farm in Fayette County, Indiana that grew to a full quarter-section (160 acres) in size in 1840. Modern historians mention little else of Catherine’s life in their writings; she died in the autumn of 1866 and is buried at her farm in Indiana.