The History of the Yakima Valley, Washington, Comprising Yakima, Kittitas and Benton Counties, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1919, Volume II, page 535 J. HOWARD WRIGHT. J. Howard Wright, prominently identified with horticultural interests at Yakima, is the president and manager of the Wright Fruit Company, extensive buyers and shippers, and at the same time is largely engaged in fruit production, having forty acres of land planted to orchards. He came to the northwest when a youth of sixteen years and has since been a resident of the valley. His birth occurred in Freeport, Illinois, December 21, 1878, his parents being Mr. and Mrs. William L. Wright, who are mentioned at length on another page of this work. He acquired a public school education, which was begun in his native state and continued in Yakima following the removal of the family to the northwest. He was graduated in the second class of the Yakima high school and in 1898, when a young man of twenty years, he responded to the country's call for military aid and became a member of Company E of the First Washington Infantry Regiment of Volunteer for active service against Spain. He was with the army for eighteen month in all, spending one year of that time in active service in the Philippines. From the time of his enlistment to the close he served as sergeant. When the country no longer needed his aid Mr. Wright returned to Yakima and became the assistant of his father in the propagation and care of orchards which have made the name of Wright well known in connection with the fruit raising interests of the Yakima valley. He also purchased ten acres of wild land and took up the arduous task of developing it for the purposes of raising fruit. Succeeding in this initial venture, he afterward purchased ten acres more and in addition he rents twenty acres of his aunt. He has the entire forty-acre tract in fruit, mostly in apples. He has built upon his place a pleasant residence and substantial barns and there are no equipments of the model fruit ranch that are not found upon his property. He also joined his father in organizing the Wright Fruit Company, of which he is the president and manager. They have a large warehouse, two stories in height and basement ninety by ninety feet. They both buy and sell fruit and their shipments reach from one hundred and fifty to two hundred car loads annually. The most progressive methods are followed by Mr. Wright in the development of his orchards, which show the most thorough and systematic care and which are producing fruit unsurpassed in size, flavor and beauty in the northwest. On the 16th of July, 1904, Mr. Wright was married to Miss Hulda Mann, who was born in Michigan, a daughter of J. H. and Amelia Mann. They now have one son, William H., who was born July 1, 1909, and is therefore ten years of age. In his political views J. Howard Wright has always been a republican since attaining his majority and in 1916 he was made the nominee of his party for the state legislature. He is interested in all matters of public concern and gives his aid and support on the side of every plan and project calculated for the general benefit, yet the major part of his time and attention is concentrated upon his business affairs and through well directed effort he has gained a position as one of the leading orchardists of the Yakima valley. ******************************** Submitted to the Washington Bios Project in December 2007 by Jeffrey L. Elmer. Submitter has no additional information about the subject of this article.