Son of John Bright Jr. and Susan Pugh

Married Cordelia Brower, 17 Feb 1873, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah

Married Martha Adaline Craghead, 2 Mar 1887, Logan, Cache, Utah

Married Mary Etta Smith, 30 Sep 1866, Oxford, Franklin, Idaho

History - Summarized from a larger history by Edythe Bright Casper, a great-granddaughter. Contributed to Find a Grave by Brian Harper-Tibaldo.

Isaac Preston Bright, better known as "Ike," was born Oct. 14, 1844 at Nauvoo, Ill. just four months after his parents, John Bright Jr. and Susan Pugh Bright, arrived there. The Brights were of German descent (the name had been Brecht in the old country), and they had migrated from the Tennessee Valley to Illinois after joining the Mormon Church.

Young Ike was little more than a toddler when the family moved again to Council Bluffs, Iowa where his father died unexpectedly. His mother later took her children west to Utah, joining other members of their faith at Salt Lake City in 1852. Ike, not yet eight years old, walked the entire distance, helping drive the animals. They settled first at Willard, Utah and later at Alpine. Ike was about 16 when they made a final move to Richmond, Utah in the Cache Valley around 1860.

The Cache Valley and surrounding mountains were home to many Native Americans at that time, and the Bright family grew to be close friends with the local Indians, whom they respected and trusted. Ike learned to speak their language and remembered that Indians were always welcome in the Bright home, where they were given food and allowed to spread their blankets on the kitchen floor and sleep overnight.

Ike was almost 22 when he married Mary Etta Smith, age 18 on September 30, 1866, at Oxford, Idaho. Two daughters and a son were born to them at Richmond: Mary Florence (1867), Clara Ann (1869), and Isaac Preston, Jr. (1871). His daughter Clara Ann died in 1870 at nine months of age, and his wife Mary Etta died a year later on May 22, 1871, three months after Isaac Jr.'s birth.

On February 17, 1873, in Salt Lake City, Ike married Cordelia Hussey Brower, a beautiful, fun-loving young woman, at the Endowment House in Salt Lake City. Her parents were Ariah Coates Brower and Margaret Elizabeth Hussey, originally of New York.

Cordelia was 15 when she married Ike, a 28-year-old widower needing a mother for his two young children. It was likely an arranged marriage, as many were in those days, but it was a happy one.

Ike and Cordelia lived on a farm they obtained near Lewiston, Utah and began to grow their blended family. Six children were born to the couple: John Monroe "Roe" (1875); Cordelia Etta "Deal" (1877); Elsie Elizabeth (1880); Martha McKinnie "Kinnie" (1881); Charles Minet "Charl" (1884); and Zaloma "Lome" (1886). Immediately after Zaloma's birth, Cordelia fell ill and died May 23, 1886.

Ike was again a widower and in desperate need of a mother for his eight children. About nine months later (March 2, 1887) he married Martha Craghead at Logan, Utah. She was the daughter of Thomas Laudway Craghead and Harriet Wilson of Smithfield, Utah. This was also an arranged marriage. Martha was 20 years old, and Ike was 42.

With his third wife, seven more children were born: Harriet (1887); Elda (1889); George (1890); twins Zora and Zola (1897); Sarah Matilda (1900); and Nettie (1903). Harriet died at age two, and Zola died at birth. Isaac was age 59 when his last child was born. Of the sixteen children he fathered, thirteen lived to maturity and remained close as siblings, helping and supporting each other as much as time and distance would allow.

A farmer and rancher all his life, Ike made his living primarily in sugar beets, and was assisted by various members of his large family. He had a passion for horses and was remembered to always have the best in the valley.

The recollections of his grandson Clifford Monroe Bright offer some personal insights to Ike. Clifford remembered his grandfather as a kind, quiet man, around 5'10", who was well liked and "didn't push himself," that is, he didn't want to call attention to himself. Ike was quietly religious and supportive of the Mormon faith, though he rarely attended services. When the Lewiston Ward needed a Liberty Pole for the Fourth of July celebration, the bishop asked Ike to go up in the canyon and get one. He agreed, on the condition that the bishop would let the Liberty Pole take the place of his own participation in future meetings.

Ike was 72 at the time of his death on May 24, 1917. Martha lived four more years and died at age 54 on Feb. 25, 1921. He is buried at the Richmond Cemetery with all three of his wives.

Utah Death Certificate