Trigger Warning: Family Violence, Emotional Abuse, Physical Abuse, Mental Abuse, Incest, Childhood Abuse, Sexual Assault, Substance Use and Abuse. Please do not continue if any of the above topics trigger you.
Methodology: I relied mostly on Newspaper Articles, Oral Interviews from his living children, Ancestry.com and Family Search to piece together Percy's family life.
Percy Wright: Building a Family
We left off the last blog with the marriage of Percy and Helen, Percy joining the military, and the couple bearing 2 children, Roger and Paul on the last blog. I do not know if this marriage was toxic from day one or if Helen ever loved Percy and vice versa, but none the less, this union resulted in the births of 6 children, 5 boys and 1 girl (the youngest who is also my mother). There are very early signs that this union was toxic. In an article published in The News-Palladium out of Benton Harbor, Helen was requesting a divorce from her husband Percy due to “alleged cruelty and non-support” as early as October 1956. Helen also requested custody of her two children [2]. An Order for Appearance published in The Herald-Palladium on 17 Nov 1956 states that an affidavit was filed that alleged that “Percy Wright [was] not a resident of Michigan, but his last known address was General Delivery, Charleston, West Virginia” [4]. This date would be one year after Percy left the military and four years after their marriage, meaning Helen was only 19 years old navigating taking care of a home and her children with an absentee father and little family around her.
By using what I knew from family stories about where Percy and Helen lived as well as previous genealogical evidence, I was able to narrow down the geographic boundaries and probable dates to limit the number of results from Newspapers.com. This allowed me to have more streamlined searches that allowed me to gain more information about the couple’s relationship. I had always heard stories about Percy and his cruelty towards his wife and others. I was quite surprised to see that Helen filed for divorce as she was young and taking care of two children. After speaking to my uncles and mom, they did not know of any such filing, granted this was before their time. My Uncle Rick does believe that she would not leave or file for a divorce in later years due to the fear of Percy murdering her [5].
Tumult and Turmoil
The relationship between Helen and Percy was, as my Uncle Rick stated, like “oil and water.” As children, neither he nor my mom could recall the two getting along. When Tony was asked what was good about his father in an interview, he stated that he had a strong work ethic. Uncle Rick said when Percy wasn’t drinking, he would help the neighbors by working on cars and could be cordial. We already know he has a drinking problem from the previous blog (Blog 8) as he already has a DUI [6].
Helen was brought up in a similar household where alcohol ran the show. Alcoholism is a disease that has had its grip on many a family member over the years. Helen never goes through with the divorce and has children number 3 and 4, Phillip ”Michael” and Anthony “Tony”, while residing in Ohio. Michael was born on 13 February 1958, and Tony was born on 20 July 1959. I was able to locate a date of birth for Michael from his obituary in the News-Palladium of Benton Harbor [7]. No birth record for Michael has been found. I attempted the following searches on Ancestry.com: Phillip Michael and Phillip Wright. I also inputted his mother and father’s surnames. I also tried it with the year of his birth and complete birthdate as well as doing a broader search.
My Grandma Helen had a copy of Tony’s City of Cleveland Division of Health Immunization Booklet, which recorded his date of birth [8].
With that information, I was able to go onto Ancestry and search for his birth certificate within the Ohio, U.S., Birth Index, 1908-1998. According to the indexed information, Anthony was born on the aforementioned date in Cleveland, Cuyahoga, Ohio, USA. The certificate number is listed as well as the maiden name of his mother [9].
The Family Grows
The Wrights would have another two children, Rick in 1961 [10] and Lisa in 1963 [11]. The family was still moving around at this time as indicated by Lisa being born in Los Angeles, California. The family did have relatives in California as Vasper, Percy’s father, was in California for some time. All in all, the Wright's had 5 boys and one girl.
Family Life
Based upon the information from the interviews, newspaper articles and genealogical documents obtained, it was clear that life in the Wright household was far from tranquil. Percy was physically and emotionally abusive towards his wife, Helen. The children all recall yelling being one of the constants in their lives during this period of time. For much of Rick and Lisa’s childhood years, the family resided in a tiny house that was probably no more than 700 sq ft. That is 2 adults and 6 children, living in a space that is smaller than many two-bedroom apartments.
According to interviews with the Wright siblings, it appears that Percy had a hands-off approach to child rearing and many of the younger children did not recall having one on one conversations with their father much less a personal relationship with him. Even though it appears much of the abuse was directed at his wife, his wrath made his children terrified of him, with each child having their own response to intense situations. According to Rick, Roger was more of a lover than a fighter and would attempt to deescalate situations. Paul would come head on at his father when injustice was occurring towards someone in the family, mostly his mother. Rick brought up an incident where Paul was lucky to be alive when his father struck him with a sheathed bayonet. Another incident of note occurring between Paul and his father was an incident where Paul alerted his father to the fact that his “cousins” were talking poorly about him. Percy responded by destroying a car. Michael passed away young, which will be discussed but he was remembered as being gentler than the other Wright siblings. Tony was a fighter outside of the home. Rick and Lisa both attempted to avoid their father with Lisa stating that she would rather pee the bed then have to walk past his room to the bathroom. She would also spend many of her days in the crawl space under the house [12].
On a positive note, both Rick and Tony expressed the fact that their father always provided food as they were always fed. As he probably did not have meals readily prepared for him growing up, making sure he could feed his family would have probably been a source of pride. Rick shared that when he was not drinking, he was cordial with the neighbors and would even help many of them fix their vehicles. I am not sure if I can classify the next story as positive, but it does show that he cared about his daughter Lisa to some extent. Lisa was scared by a miniature pony and when Percy found out, he punched the pony. Now, this reaction is not appropriate but with his limited interactions with his daughter, at least he stood up for her… [12].
Percy Friendship
When the siblings were asked about any friends of Percy, they mentioned a man by the name of Harrison. Rick recalled an incident where Harrison dove into a well that Percy was being electrocuted in to save him. Please see article below [13].
Tragedy in Lake Michigan
While living in the Wright household was strenuous at best, it became worse following the accidental drowning of their 11 year old son, Phillip Michael Wright. Michael and his brother Paul were at the beach in Lake Michigan when Michael lost his innertube in approximately six feet of water. His father was at the house working on a car when he was alerted to his son’s disappearance. He ran to the lake and almost ended up drowning himself, looking for Michael. After trying to find him, emergency crews had to be called in to find the body.
Because his wife, Helen, was with the boys at a family gathering on the beach when this incident occurred, Percy blamed Helen. The siblings saw this as a turning point for the family. The tragedy pushed Percy further away from Helen and his children. He began to drink more heavily and self-medicate with prescription pain pills [14].
![1969 Philip Michael Wright, middle son of Percy and Helen Wright Dies by drowning at age 11 [15].](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/a0cdbf_dcfeddd3e4d9421799566d1c5226ca08~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_712,h_406,al_c,q_85,enc_auto/a0cdbf_dcfeddd3e4d9421799566d1c5226ca08~mv2.png)
From one Tragedy to the Next
The violent tendencies of Percy became more pronounced as his alcohol intake increased and angry towards the world intensified. We see outward displays of this aggression impacting him as according to a newspaper article from 1971, he was criminally convicted of assault with a deadly weapon (that weapon being an axe) from an attack that occurred on a state trooper. He had another charge of assault waged against him by his sister-in-law but that charge was dropped [16]. Prior to this conviction, Percy’s run ins with law enforcement tended to be from drunk and disorderlys and petit larcenies, mostly nonviolent offenses. His drunkenness and yelling led officers to their home often in the years leading up to 1972.
Percy had struggled since conception. Growing up, he was neglected by his indigent parents and forced to live in a child welfare system notorious for its abuses. A year after getting married, he went off to the Korean War for two years [17]. He would marry young, without the small leg up of any positive role models to show him how to have a healthy relationship within a family structure. The tools of his rough childhood fomented from his years of neglect and distrust of family, authority figures, and people in general led to his abuses of alcohol, pain meds and family members. Ultimately, Percy had a large family. He had 5 sons and 1 daughter, another generation left to battle poverty, authoritarian fear tactics and familial turmoil. The unmitigated abuses and traumas of his childhood coupled with the death of his son Michael continued to compound as more crises occurred. Ultimately, what took place on the night of 20 March 1972 into the early morning hours of 21 March 1972 would tragically impact the family yet again when a shootout with police would leave Percy and Roger dead and the rest of the family left to pick up the pieces. An analysis of this incident and how some of the siblings reacted to the incident then and the impact of this event on them to this day, will take place in the next blog. There will also be a podcast dedicated to this event.
[1] Percy Wright, photograph, location and date unknown; privately held by Helen Duncan. Nicole Joseph took a digital image of this photo from Helen Duncan's private photo collection in November 2022.
[2] Wright Children near Christmas Tree, photograph, location and date unknown; privately held by Helen Duncan. Nicole Joseph took a digital image of this photo from Helen Duncan's private photo collection in November 2022.
[3]"Divorces Sought", The News-Palladium, Benton Harbor, Michigan, 4 October 1956, News, Digital Images, Newspapers.com, (https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-herald-palladium-divorces-sought/136771613/), citing original p. 6.
[4] "Order for Appearance", The News-Palladium, Benton Harbor, Michigan, 17 Nov. 1956, News, Digital Images, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-herald-palladium/136666046/), citing original p. 13.
[5] Interview with Rick Wright and Lisa Wright conducted by Nicole Joseph and Melody Colter via Microsoft Teams on 23 December 2023. Automatic Transcript saved via Teams and Sound Recording of Interview with Nicole Joseph.
[6] Ibid.
[7] "Hagar Twp. Youth Dies in Big Lake", The Herald-Palladium, Benton Harbor, Michigan, 14 Jul 1969, News. Digital Images, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-herald-palladium-card-of-thanks/136665253/), citing original p. 13.
[8] Anthony Wright Well Child Conference Book, City of Cleveland – Division of Health, Record Number 3580814; Helen Duncan, private owner, Michigan, 2021.
[9] Ancestry.com. Ohio, U.S., Birth Index, 1908-1998, [database on-line]. Record for Anthony Wright, Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012, Obtained on 29 January 2024. Original data: Ohio Department of Health, Index to Annual Births, 1968-1998; Ohio Department of Health, State Vital Statistics Unit; Columbus, OH, USA.
[10] Interview with Rick Wright and Lisa Wright conducted by Nicole Joseph and Melody Colter via Microsoft Teams on 23 December 2023. Automatic Transcript saved via Teams and Sound Recording of Interview with Nicole Joseph.
[11] Ancestry.com. California Birth Index, 1905-1995 [database on-line], Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005, Name: Lisa Wright, Birthdate: 6 Oct 1963; Birth County: Los Angeles. Original data: State of California. California Birth Index, 1905-1995. Sacramento, CA, USA: State of California Department of Health Services, Center for Health Statistics.
[12] Interview with Rick Wright and Lisa Wright conducted by Nicole Joseph and Melody Colter via Microsoft Teams on 23 December 2023. Automatic Transcript saved via Teams and Sound Recording of Interview with Nicole Joseph.
[13] "Repair Job is Nearly a Tragedy," The Herald-Palladium, Benton Harbor, Michigan, 9 August 1965, News, Digital Images, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-herald-palladium/138120580/ : accessed 5 Jan 2024), citing original p. 20.
[14] Interview with Rick Wright and Lisa Wright conducted by Nicole Joseph and Melody Colter via Microsoft Teams on 23 December 2023. Automatic Transcript saved via Teams and Sound Recording of Interview with Nicole Joseph.
[15] "Hagar Twp. Youth Dies in Big Lake," The Herald-Press, Saint Joseph, Michigan, 14 Jul 1969, News. Digital Images, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-herald-press/136664701/).
[16] "District Judges Sentence Window Peeper, 15 Others," The Herald-Palladium, Benton Harbor, Michigan, 10 September 1971, News, Digital Images, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-herald-palladium/138116056/ : accessed 5 Jan 2024), citing original p. 18.
[17] "U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010," indexed database, Fold3, Fold3.com (https://www.fold3.com/record/619830411/percy-wright-1932-us-veterans-affairs-birls-death-file-1850-2010 : accessed 4 Jan 2024), entry for Percy Wright (1932-1972), SSN 236487817; citing Beneficiary Identification Records Locator Subsystem (BIRLS) Death File. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
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