And the answer is....

This is one of Devil John Wright's pictures. It was in a bag of pictures that were found in his home after he died and one of the grandchildren moved into the house. At first it was given to me as "Devil John and his wives," but it is so much more than that.

It was taken at Devil John's homeplace. When the photographer set up the guy on the left was never intended to be in the picture. He was just watching what was going on leaning against the barn. I don't know who he is. I hope someone has this same picture and can identify him.


The next person in the picture is Martha "Mattie" Humphreys. She was the wife of Bad John. She is leaning to the side thinking she was putting herself out of the picture. She did not want to be photographed with John's other women. Mattie was born in 1835 in Cynthiana, Kentucky. She met John when he was in the Civil War and was wounded. Her family took care of him. She married him and moved to Letcher County with him. Mattie is 70 in this picture. She died in 1925 of senility.

Next to Mattie is Devil John himself. He is 61 years old. He lived until 1931.

Next is Kinky Haired Sam Wright. Sam was a brother to Devil John. He was the baby of Joel Ellis Wright and Eliza Agnes Bate's children. Eliza was the sister of the Kentucky giant, Martin Van Buren Bates. Samuel was taken in by Martin and his wife, Anna Swan. He lived with them for a while in Seville, Ohio. This is a picture taken of him as a child.




I always wondered when I saw this picture of Sam why he was so well dressed, etc. Once I found out that he had lived with Martin and Anna for a time, I figured this picture was taken during that time.

Sam is holding one child in his arm and has his hand on the head of another child. I thought they might be his children, but the timing doesn't work out right. It seems obvious to me that the two children have some connection to him from his holding one and holding on to the other for the picture. His children were John Wesley, William Henry, Samual Washingon "Washie" and Essie Blaine Wright. They would have been 24, 22, 9 and 5 respectively. John Wesley didn't have children until 1906 so that eliminates it being grandchildren of Sam. The children could be nephews but it appears they are very comfortable with him.

Sam died in 1921. He was serving as a city policeman in Neon at the time of his death. He got involved in a dispute over an election and engaged in a shootout on the street with Dabber Bentley, in which both participants were mortally wounded.

Next to Sam, with his hands behind his back, is John Venters. He was born in 1850. He was the son of James Venters and Emeline Slone. His sister, Jane R. Venters was married to Devil John's brother, Joel Martin Wright. John died before 1910.

Behind John Venters on the horse is Mary Jane Mullins.

Mary Jane Mullins was the daughter of William Mullins and Sarah Ann "Saryan" Bates. Saryan was the sister of John's mother, Eliza Agnes Bates, making Mary Jane Devil John's first cousin.

Mary Jane was married to John Venters. They had seven children together: William "Willie", George Martin, James E., John, Booker E., Roy L. and Orval C. Venters.

Standing next to John Venters is Mary Brummett, his second wife.

In the 1880 census John is in Pike County with Mary Jane Mullins. It shows

Venters, John 29
Mary J. 24
William 6
Jame E. 5
George M. 10 months

In the 1900 census John is in Letcher County. His wife's name is Mary, BUT notice this:

Venters, John, head, 49 married 2 years
Mary, wife, Apr 1863, had 5 children 4 living
James E. son 24
Martin, son 20
Booker, son 15
Roy, son 7
Orval, son 4
Piney M, daughter 2

So this is a 2 year old marriage to Mary Brummett not the first marriage to Mary Jane Mullins.


In 1910 Mary Brummet is married again to Albert R. Meade shortly after Albert's first wife, Elizabeth dies:

Meade, Albert, head 65, marriage 2 zero years (meaning married within the year)
Meade, Mary E. 47, marriage 2, had 5 children, 4 living
Venters, Roy, stepson, 18, married zero years (meaning married within the year)
Venters, Orville, stepson 13
Venters, Piney May, step daugther, 12
Quillen, Lula, granddaughter, 12
Quillen Etta, granddaughter, 10
Carlson, John, farm laborer, 28 Finland Finland Finland, came to America 1906

Mary's first child was Susan Wright who I have written about in several blogs. Piney Mae is the daughter of John Venters and Mary. The gap between the 1880 cenus and 1900 leaves lot of room for Mary to have had three other children.

Albert Meade died in 1913.

In the 1920 census Mary is the head of household listed as a widow.


Mead, Mary
Roy, 28, son
Ovl, 23
John 7 grandson
Gernie C 1 year 10 months grandson

They are listed as Meades, but Roy and Orville are John Venters children by Mary Jane Mullins. UNLESS Mary Brummett is their mother.

The thing is, I thought Mary Brummett married John Venters after Mary Jane Mullins died. Now I keep finding other family genealogies show that Mary Jane did not die until 1914. Where did she go? The children stayed with John Venters and Mary Brummett. I had not thought about them both living at the same time until this picture.

Now to add more, Devil John and Kinky Haired Sam were also the brother of William Jesse Wright. Jesse was married four times. His second wife was Mary Brummet. They are in the 1880 census together:

Wright, Jesse 25, head, farmer
Mary E. 17, wife
Susannah, 8 months
Mary 62, aunt
Lucinda, 22 cousin

There is a separate blog on Mary Brummett. There are also several stories about their daughter Susannah Wright. The Mary listed here as the aunt is Mary Ann "Annie" Bentley who married John Wright, the son of Joel and Susannah Wright. She lived with Jesse and Mary in the 1880 census. In the 1900 census she is living with the Bentley family. There is a blog on Mary Bentley Wright, too -- one included a trip to find her grave, which was a failure. However, since then her grandson Mack was able to get up the side of the hill and have a stone put in for her to mark her grave instead of just the rock which has marked it for years. Mack and I will go back to her grave in better weather so I will post pictures after we make that trip.

The child on the horse behind Mary Jane is unknown. Mary Jane and John's youngest child was Orval C. Venters. He would have been nine at this time. It is possible that it is Orval.


Keeping to the back, the other horse holds Robert E. Lee Wright, the son of James Henderson Wright and Laura Belle Whitaker. James is the one standing between Kinky Haired Sam and John Venters. On the horse behind Robert Lee, as he was known, is his wife, but I don't know her name yet.

In front of this couple and to the right of Mary Brummet is Lilly Mae Whitaker Mullins. She is the daughter of Isaac Whitaker and Mary L. Bentley. Mary Bentley was the daughter of John Vint Bentley and Annie Potter. Mary was the sister of John Martin Bentley.

Lilly was married to James Madison Mullins, the son of Solomon Mullins and Elizabeth Hall.

The woman next to Lilly is Susannah Ellen "Sookie" Saunders. She is listed in the 1920 census as the second wife of Bad John. I have seen marriage dates of September 8 1924 for this couple. Many say that they had to have been married or John would not have been allowed to be baptized into the Old Regular Baptiist Church. She had four children with John: Joel E., Daniel S., Healtha and Ira E. Wright.





This is Ellen with her daughter in law, Mary Chaney Reynolds and her son, Joel E. Wright. The girl in the back by the fence I don't remember at the moment and haven't put my finger on the file that has her name.






This is a picture of John and Ellen.

The boy in front of Ellen is "Samuel P.". My first thought was it Robert E. Lee Wright's brother, but he was born in 1890, so that would make him 14 or 15 in this picture and this child doesn't look like he could be older than 9 to me. The information handed down was that he was Samuel P. Wright who descended from Alexander Wright, the son of Samuel Wright who was the son of Joel and Susannah. That Samuel P. Wright was born in 1883 and married Clarissa Johnson, the daughter of Winfield Scott Johnson and Lovene Fleming. I can't find their children yet to see if they also had a Samuel P. So that's what I know about Samuel P.

Behind and to the right the woman on the horse is Alice Wright, the daughter of Bad John and Mary Bentley. She was born in 1881 and married Allen Burton. She was 24 in this picture.

Mary Bentley had seven children by John. They never married. The children went by Bentley at times and by Wright, so you may find them under either name.

The man on the horse on the far right is Morg Killen. He was married to Delaney Elizabeth Bentley, the daughter of John Vint Bentley and Annie Potter. Delaney was the sister of Mary Bentley whose daughter, Lilly Mae Whitaker Mullins is in this picture. I have a couple of blogs about Morg Killen and how his son Alexander shot him in 1925.

Last, and certainly not least, to the left of Morg and to the right of Samuel is Healtha Wright Mullins. She is the daughter of Devil John and Ellen. The reason she is so important in this picture is she was pregnant with her first child in the picture and that is how we have been able to date the picture. She married John Benjamin Franklin Mullins. He was the son of Booker Mullins and Charlotte "Charity" Wright. Her first child was born December 16, 1905 in Jenkins. He was Ted Vaughn Mullins.

From the leaves on the trees I am guessing this might be September or more like October of the year.

If you know who any of the unknowns are or can help identify which Samuel P. Wright or other persons are, please write me at karenchat@aol.com.

I loved finding this picture. I can find how all the folks are connected that they would have known each other. I just thought John Venters wife died and Mary Brummett married him. Now with both of them being in this picture and realizing that Mary Jane Mullins Venters did not die until 1914, I wonder if Roy and Orval Venters might have been Mary Brummet's sons instead of Mary Jane's. I know she had 5 children and the first was with Susan Wright by Jesse Wright. The last was Piney Mae Venters by John Venters. One died, but who were the other two? It seems at least a possibity now to me that Orval and Roy were the two other children.

I love family history.