#52 Ancestors 2020 Week 1 Fresh Start: The Redemption of Hinton P. Wright

Hinton P. Wright seemed to have everything going for him. Born in 1849 in Franklin County GA, he was the eldest son of a prominent lawyer (later Judge), William Felix Wright and his wife Elizabeth Caroline Dent.  His maternal grandfather was a well-known member of Congress from Georgia, William Barton Wade Dent, who helped found the city of Newnan GA where Hinton grew up. Hinton's name was the family name of William BW Dent's wife, Sarah Hinton.  (I never have found out what the P. stands for!) Hinton went into the law profession himself and was regarded as a talented legal mind as well as an exceptionally handsome man.

Unfortunately, Hinton also had a temper and a seeming proclivity for using his considerable talents in his own self-interest rather than his clients.

In 1869, he was courting Marie Louise Robinson, the beautiful young daughter of John Evans Robinson.  Her family opposed the marriage, and her brother Edward challenged Hinton to a duel one morning outside of the Baptist Church in Newnan.  Hinton shot Edward dead, was arrested, but managed to escape custody.  Eventually, Hinton was acquitted, the young couple eloped and were married in March 1870, and had two children: Ida Dent Wright in 1871 and Albert Spaulding Wright in 1873.

The Atlanta city directories from 1872 to 1888 show Hinton practicing law with various partners, including, at one point, with his father. In 1876, Hinton was a magistrate, a low-level judge.  Even after his death, other lawyers told admiring stories about his courtroom exploits and clever legal maneuvers.

In 1879, however, Hinton was involved in a bribery scandal that got national attention. The Comptroller-General of Georgia was impeached for stealing public funds and apparently used Wright to bribe two members of the legislature to vouch for his innocence. After this scandal, Wright went rapidly downhill. As his obituary noted, "the handsome, well-dressed lawyer became a seedy drunk and a pitiful wreck." "His name became a proverb for debauchery."

Marie Robinson Wright divorced Hinton in 1886 and she went on to become a renowned writer for the New York World, a contemporary of Nellie Bly, famous for her explorations of Central and South America.

The divorce apparently spurred Wright on to reform.  In 1887, he spoke at a meeting of the Young Men's Prohibition Club declaring that he had stopped drinking, regained his health and was all in on the cause of prohibition. (Atlanta Constitution, 4 November 1887.)  He married for a second time in 1888 to May Bowen and had a daughter Lucille with her. Hinton left Atlanta for Chattanooga with his wife and daughter and was initially well-received there, according to the local paper, because of his seemingly excellent credentials and his imposing physical appearance:

"He had a large massive form, weighed nearly 220 pounds and was nearly six feet tall. His smooth-shaven face was lighted up by a pair of bright, intelligent black eyes and his head was covered with a heavy mass of black hair that had a decided tendency to curl. He was apparently about 40 years old and was a suave, chatty, and not uninteresting conversationalist."  (Chattanooga Daily Times, 24 November 1889)

But, alas, Wright swindled his landlady and several other citizens and fled the city.  He was arrested in Atlanta, Chattanooga, Birmingham and elsewhere on various criminal charges. By 1889, the newspaper reported that he weighed nearly 300 pounds and was no longer practicing law. .

Hinton Wright's redemption came late in his life.  A friend induced him to attend a tent revival outside Atlanta, suggesting that the alternative was commitment to an asylum because he was in such bad shape.  Wright's agreed to attend the revival and his conversion there became the talk of the town.  He vowed to become an evangelist himself and began preaching against the evils of drink.  "I know," he said, "that if I serve God half as well as I have served the devil, I will be successful as a Christian." As one newspaper noted, "Wright is a man of great natural ability . . . and it is predicted that he will be a singularly successful evangelist." (Memphis Appeal-Avalanche, 10 May 1891)

Wright returned to the practice of law and spent the next year or so preaching revivals, exhorting others to avoid the "rocks and quicksand" that he encountered in his own checkered career. In his obituary, the Atlanta Constitution reported that he was often seen at the police station trying to help some poor fellow out of trouble.  That became his religion: aiding others.

He died in August 1892 at Marietta GA.  As the Constitution dramatically reported: "Just as a new life of usefulness and honor was spreading before him beauteous with promise, Hinton Wright was touched by the chill finger of death and his career was abruptly ended."