My Genealogy Hound

JOHN A. WRONG, contracting agent for the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad, and one of the popular citizens of Sedalia, is a Candian by birth and parentage. The family originated in England, whence his grandfather, John Wrong, emigrated to Canada and became one of the prominent residents of his province. He participated in the War of 1812, and held an official rank in the British army.

The father of our subject, J. W. Wrong, was born in Canada, and for many years carried on a mercantile business in Vienna and Port Burwell, but now lives in retirement from active cares, and at the age of seventy-five is enjoying, in his pleasant home at Windsor, Canada, the fruits of his toil in former years. His wife, who is now seventy years of age, bore the maiden name of Augusta E. Brewster, and was born in Watertown, N. Y. Her father, Dr. Augustus E. Brewster, was a lineal descendant of Love Brewster, son of Elder Brewster, of “Mayflower” fame. He was born in Vermont, and received an excellent medical education, graduating from the Vermont Medical College. For some years he practiced his profession in Watertown, N. Y., thence removed to Canada, and engaged in practice at Vienna; later he went to Royal Oak, Mich., where he died at the age of eighty-eight years.

Born in Vienna, Canada, September 27, 1845, the subject of this notice is the eldest of six children, four of whom are now living. He was reared in Port Burwell, where he was for some years a pupil in the public schools. At the age of seventeen he left home, and went to Oswego, N. Y., where he secured a clerkship in a dry-goods store. Two years later he went to Cleveland, Ohio, where also for a year he was clerk in a dry-goods store. In 1863 he shipped before the mast on the schooner “John Thursby,” and sailed on all the Great Lakes during that season. The following year he was on the schooner “San Jacinto,” and the third year shipped on the barque “Tom Wrong.”

Abandoning his sea-faring life, Mr. Wrong went to Terre Haute, Ind., where he sojourned a few months. In January 1866, he came to Missouri, where he has since resided. The first few years were spent in the freight office of the Terre Haute & Alton (now the “Big Four”) at St. Louis. In 1870 he transferred to the St. Louis freight office of the St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad, where he held the position of foreman. In 1871 he went to Neosho, Mo., where he was agent for the same road two years, remaining with it until its consolidation with the Atlantic & Pacific. Afterward he was agent at Pleasant Hill for the Missouri Pacific Division, being in that place for two years. Later he held various agencies under that line. In 1877 he came to Sedalia, where for a time he was agent for the Missouri Pacific Railroad, but June 30, 1894, resigned that position in order to accept the office of contracting agent for the Missouri, Kansas & Texas.

In 1869, while a resident of St. Louis, Mr. Wrong married Miss Emma C. Newkirk, a native of that city, and the daughter of Thomas Newkirk, deceased, one of the first Mississippi River engineers in St. Louis. Socially, Mr. Wrong is a Master Mason in Sedalia Lodge No. 236, and belongs to Equity Lodge No. 26, A O. U. W. Politically, while not a partisan, he is firm in his advocacy of Democratic principles. In public affairs he takes a commendable interest, and keeps himself well posted concerning all topics of general importance, affecting the welfare of the people. He and his wife have four sons, namely: John N., a graduate of the American Veterinary College, New York City, Class of ‘95, and now practicing in Sedalia; Edward B., who is a clerk in the St. Louis freight office of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas; Charles A., who holds a similar position with the Missouri Pacific in Sedalia; and Walter E., a student in the Columbia Law School.