Matthew Wright was born in 1836 in Lancashire, England, the son of Thomas and Fanny (Jarvis).
By 1860 Matthew was a farm laborer living with and/or working for Silas Hedges in Tallmadge, Ottawa County (Charles Randall who would also enlist in Company I worked for Jeremiah Hedges)
Matthew stood 5’4” with blue eyes, brown hair and a light complexion and was 25 years old and still living in Tallmadge when he enlisted in Company I on May 13, 1861 (and was possibly related to John Wright and/or William Wright), and was reported missing in action on July 1, 1862, presumably at White Oak, Swamp, Virginia. He was soon afterwards returned to the regiment and allegedly deserted on August 28 or 29, 1862, at Second Bull Run. It is not known whatever became of this charge, although he was present for duty when he was wounded on May 3, 1863, at Chancellorsville, Virginia.
Matthew reenlisted on December 24, 1863, at Brandy Station, Virginia, crediting Algoma, Kent County, was presumably absent on veteran’s furlough, perhaps in Michigan, in January of 1864 and probably returned to the regiment on or about the first of February. He was transferred to Company I, 5th Michigan Infantry upon consolidation of the 3rd and 5th Michigan Regiments on June 10, 1864, and was taken prisoner on October 27, 1864, probably at Boydton Plank road, near Petersburg, Virginia. There is no mention of his being paroled although curiously he was reported AWOL in March of 1865, then as absent sick in April, and mustered out with the regiment on July 5, 1865, at Jeffersonville, Indiana.
It is not known if Matthew ever returned to Michigan. He was living in Wisconsin in 1888 when he applied for and received a pension (no. 536123). He was probably still living in Wisconsin when he married New York native Mrs. Lois L. Rogers Haskins on February 14, 1896, in Monroe or Wonewoc, Juneau County, Wisconsin.
Matthew died of heart disease on February 6, 1899, possibly in Wisconsin.
In 1900 his widow Lois was residing in Juneau County, Wisconsin, when she applied for a pension (no. 741808), but the certificate was never granted.
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