Texas Ranger and Sheriff Capt. Will L. Wright
Floresville, Wilson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(February 10, 1868-March 7, 1942) A fearless, colorful, cultured man whose honesty and diplomacy often prevented bloodshed. An 1890s Wilson County Deputy Sheriff. In Frontier Battalion, Texas Rangers. Sheriff, Wilson County, 1902-1917. At request of Texas Adjutant-General, he organized and commanded Co. D, Texas Rangers, 1918-1939. Gained great fame along Rio Grande. Married Mary Ann Brown. Their seven children included two who became law officers. Recorded, 1967
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Will L. Wright rose from a Wilson County deputy sheriff in the 1890s to one of the most respected lawmen on the Texas border, serving as county sheriff and then commanding Company D of the Texas Rangers from 1918 to 1939. Remembered as fearless yet diplomatic, he was credited with preventing bloodshed through honesty rather than force during turbulent years along the Rio Grande. Two of his seven children followed him into law enforcement.
Why it matters
Wright embodies the Texas Ranger tradition during the volatile early-twentieth-century border era, when a single officer's judgment could mean the difference between peace and violence.
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Related people
- · Will L. Wright
- · Mary Ann Brown
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
James Charles Wilson
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When Wilson County was organized in 1860 it honored James Charles Wilson, an Englishman who left home in 1836 and remade himself as a Texan lawyer, editor, and legislator. Captured during the ill-fated 1842 Mier Expedition, he escaped a Mexican prison in 1843, then built a career spanning the press, the bench, the Texas Senate, and the delicate work of settling Spanish- and Mexican-era land claims. He closed his life near Gonzales, licensed to preach, and now rests in the State Cemetery in Austin.
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Wilson County was created and organized in 1860 and named for James Charles Wilson (1816–1861), a veteran of the Republic of Texas's Mier Expedition into Mexico. Wilson went on to serve as a district clerk in Brazoria County and as a state senator representing Matagorda County. Floresville became the county seat.
Wilson County Courthouse
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Completed in 1884, this Italianate courthouse replaced an earlier building raised soon after Floresville became the Wilson County seat in 1871. It came from the drafting table of noted San Antonio architect Alfred Giles and was built with bricks fired in a local yard. Its Doric-columned entry pavilions, bracketed cornice, and central steepled tower marked it as the civic centerpiece of the county.
The Flores de Abrego Family and Floresville
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