Nannie Kelly Wright

The Life of Nannie Kelly Wright – Only Woman Ironmaster in America’s History

This is a continuing story as I find more information on the life of Nannie Hounshell Kelly Wright.

Mrs. Wright was born Nannie Hounshell, in Catlettsburg, Ky., on September 8, 1856, daughter of Capt. and Mrs. Washington Honshell. Her first marriage was to Lindsay Kelly, Ironmaster of Lawrence County, Ohio. Together they had one son, Lindsay Kelly, Jr., who attended military school in Heights Town, NJ, in the late 1890s and early 1900. She lived in Ironton, Ohio, in a house called Bide-A-Wee.

Divorce Court at Ironton is Dressy Affair

Ironton, Ohio – The divorce suit of Nannie H. Wright, Lawrence County’s richest woman, against her husband, D. Gregory Wright, was recently opened in the Common Pleas Court before Judge Layne.

The list of witnesses reads like a guest list at a fashionable social function. Bankers, manufacturers, lawyers, and ministers were summoned to testify. The summons of servants is also evident in the witness list. Mr. Wright, represented by the law firm of Andrews & Irish, was contesting the suit, asking that the court award him alimony. His residence since the separation has been here in Philadelphia.

Mr. Wright denied every allegation made by Mrs. Wright in her original petition. He summoned twenty-five witnesses and Mrs. Wright a like number. Mr. Wright was represented by Johnson & Jones.

The Wrights were married in Ironton, Ohio, on October 24, 1906, and the wedding was a social event. The bride was the widow of Lindsay Kelley, one of the pioneer iron manufacturers of this section, who left her a fortune estimated at $1,000,000.

Wright was a clerk in a Philadelphia broker’s office at the time he met Mrs. Wright. He came on here to assist in establishing the Superior Portland Cement Company, a million-dollar concern in which Mrs. Wright was heavily interested. He was at least twenty-five years his bride’s junior. No children have been born to them, and they have been separated for about a year. In her divorce petition, Mrs. Wright alleges that Wright has spent $50,000 of her money on wasteful living and never provided for her.

NOTE: After their divorce, D. Gregory Wright lived at 296 Central Park, in West Manhattan, NY, and was to marry Christine M. Bryan in the spring of 1923, but she died in Dec. 1922.

Obituary in Ironton newspaper on December 12, 1946, reads:
ONLY WOMAN IRONMASTER OF OLD FURNACE DAYS DIES

Mrs. Nannie Kelly Wright, one of the district’s most colorful personage – a woman whose life story is a saga of American opportunity, romance, and adventure- entered upon life’s greatest adventure-death.

Nannie Kelly Wright, who was 90 years old last September 8, died quietly in her room at the Hotel Marting at 8:30 a.m. following a critical illness of several days. With her passing, Ironton lost one of its most colorful figures-a woman who was at home in the drawing room with governors and presidents. In furnace offices and furnace casting rooms.

With her died a living memory of the old political, torchlight parades of other years of the business opportunities available, even in those years when it was generally considered that a woman’s place was in the home.

Mrs. Wright was probably the only woman iron master in America’s history. From 1894 to 1897, the iron industry in this country was practically at a standstill, and stocks were worth about 15 to 20 cents on the dollar. Buyers at that price were scarce.

Mrs. Wright, a close observer of political and financial affairs, reasoned an upward trend was due and invested in the old Centre Furnace near Superior. She paid the taxes, received an initial education in furnace operation, and in 1899 she bid in the furnace, at auction, for $19,950. This included 12,000 acres. She managed the furnace, conducted regular inspections of the property, and made regular weekly trips to Cincinnati. She continued as owner and operator until 1906, when she sold to the Superior Cement Co.

Mrs. Wright was born Nannie Hounshell, in Catlettsburg, Ky., on September 8, 1856, daughter of Capt. and Mrs. Washington Honshell. Her father was a riverman who helped form the White Collar line. There were three other children in the family, one brother and two sisters, now dead.

At the age of six, she started travels that were to take her around the world three times. At six, she joined her parents on a tour of New York and the St. Lawrence river. Thereafter she made many trips to Cincinnati and Richmond with her father. On October 8, 1879, she was united to Lindsey Kelly of Ironton in a gala church ceremony at Catlettsburg – the most elaborate the Kentucky village had witnessed up until then.

Barge of Flowers

The Kelly’s insisted on sending flowers for decoration, and the day before the ceremony, a steamboat and barge tied up at Catlettsburg Landing. The Kelly’s had placed some 300 tube roses on the barge, each potted. At this time, Mr. Kelly was serving one of two terms as an Ohio representative.

The newlyweds went to housekeeping in the old Henry S. Neal home that formerly stood on the southeast corner of Fourth and Park. Later they moved to Superior to care for Centre Furnace, and it was there that a son Lindsey, Jr., was born. Son and father died in 1902, but Mrs. Wright continued as an iron master until her sale of the properties in 1906.

In October of the same year, she married D. Gregory Wright of Philadelphia. He also preceded her in death.

During her residence in Ironton, at Fifth and Adams and on Sixth and Chestnut, Mrs. Nannie Kelly Wright entertained profusely, and her parties were always elaborate. Her home held priceless antiques and decorations acquired during world travels, and her every move was marked by glamour.

Her first world tour was made in 1898, another was taken in 1906, and a third in 1913. She crossed the Atlantic 14 times in years when it was unusual rather than the ordinary. In London, she was presented to the Court of St. James during the reign of Edward VII. She enjoyed a clipper trip to Catalina Island on her latest travels in America: “I was not afraid.” She said upon the conclusion of the journey. Those words aptly serve as a description of Mrs. Wright’s life.

Many Interests

Mrs. Wright’s business interests centered on Centre Furnace and the Kelly Nail and Iron Co. of Ironton. She served as director of the latter institution for years and was also financially interested in the Belfont Iron Works, Ironton Engine Co., Ironton, Huntington, Cincinnati, and Catlettsburg banks.

During recent years, Mrs. Wright had resided in Ironton and Huntington hotels. She maintained unusual physical and mental alertness throughout her 90 years. With her death today, Ironton’s lost a resident linked with the “aristocratic” days of other years, a woman whose life was always one of bold adventure. She was the last immediate member of her family but some cousins, including the Davidson family of South Point, survived.

The body of Mrs. Nannie Kelly Wright is at the O’Keefe Funeral home. Services will probably be conducted Monday, with burial in the Wright private mausoleum in Woodland Cemetery.

Mrs. Wright was reputed to have been, at one time, one of the richest women in their own right in America. She is reputed to have made and lost more money through business enterprise than any woman in this entire area.