Julia McNair Wright


Julia McNair Wright was an American writer. She published numerous temperance and anti-Catholic stories, among which were Almost a Nun; Priest and Nun; The Gospel in the Riviera; The Heir of Athole, Scenes of the Convent; A Wife Hard Won; A Million Too Much; The Complete Home; Bricks from Babel. Her scientific stories included, The Sun and His Family; The Story of Plant Life; The Nature Readers, Seaside and Wayside. The Complete Home sold over 100,000 copies. Most of her stories were republished in Europe, in various languages.

Early life and education

Julia McNair was born in Oswego, New York, May 1, 1840. She was the daughter of John McNair, a civil engineer of Scotch descent.
She was educated in private schools and seminaries.

Career

Wright began her literary career at age sixteen by the publication of short stories. Her published works include Almost a Nun ; Priest and Nun ; Jug-or-Not ; Saints and Sinners ; The Early Church in Britain ; Bricks from Babel, a manual of ethnography ; The Complete Home ; A Wife Hard Won, a novel.
Julia McNair Wright's The Field Of Fortune or Practical Life is a 626 page tutorial on the value of Common Sense in all of life's pursuits. The volume's themes are presented by a newcomer visiting the general store/post office in Arcadia, a fictional American town. 'The Stranger' expounds on the value of dedication, hard work and familial love, addressing small groups of the town's elders as well as the young folk, with questions asked, answers offered, and comments/retorts welcomed and discussed.
She also produced the four-volume series The Nature Readers. Her works were popular. Most of her stories were republished in Europe, in various languages, and several of them appeared in Arabic. Wright never had a book that was a financial failure; all did well. The Complete Home sold over 100,000 copies, and others reached ten, twenty, thirty and fifty thousand. Since the organization of the National Temperance Society, she was one of its most earnest workers and most popular authors. She wrote on historical, nature, ethnographical, theological, and biblical subjects.
She was the main author of Ladies' Home Cook Book: A Complete Cook Book and Manual of Household Duties... Compiled by Julia Mac Nair Wright, et al..

Personal life

In 1859, Wright married Rev. Dr. William James Wright, a mathematician. She had two children. Her son was a businessman; her daughter, Mrs. J. Wright Whitcomb, was an author.
Julia McNair Wright died on September 2, 1903, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, or Fulton, Missouri.

Selected works

George Miller and his mother, 1860Mary Reed, 1861Blind Annie Lorimer, 1863Life and light, or, Every-day religion, 1863Biddy Malone : or, The bundle of silk, 1863Nannie Barton, 1864The cap-makers, 1864The little Norwegian, and the young wood-cutter : true stories 1865New York Ned, or, Wreck and refuge, 1865The path and the lamp 1865The convict's family, 1865Malcom's cottage and Malcom's friend, 1867Old Michael and his little friend, 1867The golden heart, 1867Mabel and Tura of the Southwest : a tale, 1867Shoe-binders of New York, or, The fields white to the harvest, 1867The New York needle-woman, or, Elsie's stars, 1868The golden fruit, 1868The Golden life, 1867Richard Knill, 1869The Ohio ark; and where it floated, 1869The story of a tinker, 1869The New York Bible-woman, 1869Henry Martyn, 1869The little king, 1869Three seats full, 1869The Indian's friend, 1869Our class, 1869Story of a prophet, 1869Tom Scott, 1869Brave Max, 1869Good Louise, 1869Henry Martyn, 1869Priest and nun, 1869John Huss, 1870Melanchthon, 1870A million too much, a temperance tale, 1871A made man : a sequel to "The story of Rasmus; or, the making of a man"...Patriot and Tory: One Hundred Years Ago, 1876A plain woman's story, 1890

Attribution

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