WI BIO - Trempealeau Co - WRIGHT, Hollister

History of Northern Wisconsin. Chicago: Western Historical, 1881, vol II, p 
1051

Hollister WRIGHT, farmer, Section 33; P. O. Centerville [Trempealeau County, 
Wisconsin] was born 11 November 1823 in Lower Canada. His father, Major 
WRIGHT, moved to the northern part of Ohio when the subject of this sketch 
was only twelve years of age, remaining there until he [Major WRIGHT] died, 
in 1844, the mother also dying about the same time.

Soon after their deaths, Hollister, in company with his brother, Rev. E. N. 
WRIGHT, now of Waupaca [Waupaca County, Wisconsin], started West to find new 
homes for themselves, first locating in the town of Burnett, Dodge County, 
Wisconsin, where he [Hollister WRIGHT] pre-empted a claim from the 
Government, on which he lived until 1854, when he moved to Trempealeau County 
and settled on his present farm, being the first resident in that vicinity 
with the exception of Mr. LEE. He first erected a small board shanty, a few 
rods south of his present residence, in which he lived four years.

There used to be an Indian trail running across his farm from the 
Trempealeau mounds on the Mississippi to the Big Tamarack, which was a 
regular camping ground for the Winnebago Indians. There are a number of 
mounds a little north of Mr. WRIGHT's house, of which we have seen 
descriptions as occurring in other parts of the State being of an oval shape. 
He made an excavation in one about 1860, resulting in the finding of some 
human bones, such as the skull, jaw bones, teeth and thigh bone.

He [Hollister WRIGHT] well remembers the deep snow of the winter of 
1856-1857, when the roads were blockaded, and there was but one track from 
his section of the country to [the town of] Trempealeau [south of 
Centerville]; also the Indian scare of 1862, when the neighbors all gathered 
together to defend themselves, though, fortunately, there were no Indians 
forthcoming. Mr. WRIGHT has been County Treasurer of Trempealeau, also one 
of the Town Board of Trempealeau; is also connected with the Methodist Church 
at Centerville, having been a liberal contributor and faithful worker since 
he embraced that cause.

Submitted by Cathy Kubly