In 1880 he and his parents and eight of his siblings lived on a farm in Fallsbury Township, Licking County, OH. Wilson and Melvin worked as farm laborers.

In 1900 he and his mother and younger brother lived there. Joseph worked as a farm laborer. They owned their farm, with a mortgage.

In 1910 he and his wife and their daughter lived on a farm in Fallsbury Township, Licking County, OH.

In 1920 they lived in a place they were renting at 2 South Terrace Avenue in Tulsa, OK. (This address seems to no longer exist.) He worked as the manager of a real estate company. They had two boarders living with them, William and Mary Van Voorhis.

In 1930 he and Anna and their daughter and her three children lived in a house they owned at 4632 South 28th West Avenue in Tulsa. Their home was valued at $3000, and they did not have a radio. He worked as a salesman for a real estate company.

In 1940 he lived on a farm he was renting for $18 a month on Dog Leg Road on the south side of Newark, OH.

Through the 1940s he lived with several different women on farms in the area. His grandson Marvin told the story to his nephew that when he and his family would go to visit they were told that the current woman was "the cook". One from probably the mid-to-late-1940s was named Bonnie, and there was another whose name he couldn't recall.

The one he did know enough detail about to be able to determine who it was was Hazel Butt with a son Maynard who died later. That puts their time together at about 1941.

From Newark, OH, newspapers:

April 4, 1953. Marriage Licenses. Joseph Wright, 63 [sic.], of 126 West Shields Street, to Glennie L. Cochran, 55, of 126 West Shields Street.

July 1, 1958. Mrs. Joseph Wright, 635 Evans St., was moved to Newark Hospital in a Criss ambulance.

January 17, 1961. J. W. WRIGHT. Joseph W. Wright, 81, farmer and real estate dealer, resident of 635 Evans St., a patient in Newark Hospital since Jan. 7, died at 9:50 p.m. Monday. He had been in declining health for some time. Mr. Wright, who engaged in farming, real estate sales, and had also been located in the Bladensburg area, returned to Licking County from Tulsa, Okla., in 1935. During World War II he was employed at Curtis-Wright, Columbus area.
Born Aug. 15, 1879, he was the son of John and Nancy J. (Crouch) Wright. His wife, the former Anna Meek, preceded him in death Jan. 5, 1936, and he leaves a daughter, Mrs. H.J. Minteer of Pittsburgh, Pa.; also three grandchildren; three great-grandchildren. He was the last of his family, three sisters and eight brothers being deceased. He was a member of Mt. Pleasant Christian Union Church. The Rev. Homer J. Rice will officiate at services at 1 p.m. Friday in the chapel in Criss Brothers Funeral Home. Interment in West Carlisle Cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home after 2 p.m. Wednesday.