Electa Amanda Wright Johnson
"A Woman of the Century"
Born
Electa Amanda Wright

(1838-11-13)November 13, 1838
Arcadia, New York, U.S.
DiedJanuary 17, 1929(1929-01-17) (aged 90)
New York, U.S.
Occupations
  • philanthropist
  • writer
Known forco-founder, Wisconsin Industrial School for Girls
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1860; died 1900)​

Electa Amanda Wright Johnson (née, Wright; November 13, 1838 – January 17, 1929) was an American philanthropist. She was one of the founders of the Wisconsin Industrial School for Girls, and was selected by the governor of Wisconsin several times to represent the state on the questions of charity and reform. Johnson wrote essays, short stories, and sketches of travel for the daily papers of Milwaukee.[1]

Early life and education

Electa Amanda Wright was born in the town of Arcadia, New York, November 13, 1838. Her father, Bezaleel Wright Jr. (1796–1878), was from a family that had fought in the American Revolution, and her mother, Catharina Kipp (1799–1863),[2] came from an old Knickerbocker family.[3][4] She was a descendant of Bezaleel Wright, who served in Captain Abijah Child's company, Colonel Thomas Gardner's regiment, at the siege of Boston.[5]

While she was still a child, her parents moved west and settled near Madison, Wisconsin.[3] She attended neighborhood schools and finished high school in Madison.[3]

Career

Johnson became a successful teacher in Madison.[3]

On September 24, 1860, at Madison,[6] she married Daniel Harris Johnson,[2] a lawyer of Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. In 1862, she and her husband settled in Milwaukee, where he became a Wisconsin Circuit Court judge.[3] They had one child, a daughter, Kate (1861–1892).[2]

Early on, she directed her attention to works of charity and reform. She was one of the founders of the Wisconsin Industrial School for Girls, was for many years its secretary, and later still, an active member of its board of managers.[3]

Several times, Johnson was commissioned by the Governor of Wisconsin to represent the State in the national conferences of charities and reforms.[4] In that capacity, she participated in their deliberations in Washington, D.C., Louisville, Kentucky, St. Louis, Missouri, Madison, Wisconsin, and San Francisco, California.[3]

She was involved in the associated charities of Milwaukee, strongly favoring efforts to aid and encourage others to become self-supporting, rather than mere almsgiving. She was an active member and was for two years corresponding secretary of the Women's Club of Wisconsin. She was not a professional literary woman, but she wrote short articles and brief stories for publication, and numerous papers to be read before the societies, conferences, clubs and classes with which she was affiliated.[3] Johnson was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution.[5]

Death

Electa Amanda Wright Johnson died in New York, January 17, 1919.[2]

Selected works

  • "The Wisconsin industrial school", Milwaukee Monthly, v. 11, 1876, pp. 118–120.
  • "Milwaukee home for the friendless", Milwaukee Monthly, pp. 246–250.

References

  1. ↑ State Historical Society of Wisconsin Library (1893). Bibliography of Wisconsin Authors: Being a List of Books and Other Publications Written by Wisconsin Authors, in the Library of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Democrat printing Company, state printers. p. 136. Retrieved 17 June 2022. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Electa Amanda Wright 1838–1919 • K6H3-SYH". ident.familysearch.org. Retrieved 16 June 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Willard, Frances Elizabeth; Livermore, Mary Ashton Rice (1893). "JOHNSON, Mrs. Electa Amanda". A Woman of the Century: Fourteen Hundred-seventy Biographical Sketches Accompanied by Portraits of Leading American Women in All Walks of Life (Public domain ed.). Charles Wells Moulton. pp. 421–22. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  4. 1 2 Logan, Mrs John A. (1912). The Part Taken by Women in American History. Perry-Nalle publishing Company. p. 539. Retrieved 17 June 2022. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  5. 1 2 Daughters of the American Revolution (1898). "Mrs. Electa Amanda Wright Johnson. 5493". Lineage Book. The Society. p. 346. Retrieved 17 June 2022. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  6. ↑ The National Cyclopedia of American Biography ... V.1-. J. T. White. 1901. p. 95. Retrieved 17 June 2022. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
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