Wilbur & Orville Wright Trivia

1. Which Wright brother was the oldest child in the family?

From Quiz The (W)Right Brothers

Answer: Ruechlin

Seven children were born to Milton and Susan Wright. Wilbur and Orville were third and fourth in birth order. Milton was a bishop in the Church of the United Brethren, and the family moved with the job from time to time.

From Quiz The (W)Right Brothers

Answer: Their father gave them a toy helicopter.

Bishop Wright brought the boys a souvenir toy helicopter on one of his trips. It wasn't very sturdy. Made of bamboo, paper, cork, and a rubber band, sources say the boys played with it until it broke, and then they made their own!

From Quiz Katherine, The Other Wright

Answer: Tuberculosis

Susan Wright was largely the reason that Katherine's childhood was such a happy one. She was a loving woman who played with her children and encouraged them in their interests. Katherine was only seven when her mother first became sick and was diagnosed as having tuberculosis. Because their father travelled so much for the church, the boys and Katherine took care of their mother, kept the household running, and looked after one another. Susan's illness worsened and by the time that Katherine was twelve, she was an invalid. Susan Wright passed away two years later, shortly before Katherine's fifteenth birthday.

From Quiz The (W)Right Brothers

Answer: Printing Shop

The brothers opened a printing business in 1889 after building their own press. One source states that it was made out of a damaged tombstone and old buggy parts. Their first paper was called "The West Side News." Orville was the publisher, and Wilbur was the editor. Eventually the brothers moved on to commercial printing.

From Quiz The (W)Right Brothers

Answer: Dayton, Ohio

As the boys were growing up, the family moved from time to time due to their father's work. Wilbur was born in Indiana; Orville was born in Ohio. The family moved to Iowa when Milton became a bishop, but subsequently moved back to Dayton. This is where their aviation experiments began, but, of course, Kitty Hawk is the place of their first flight.

From Quiz The (W)Right Brothers

Answer: They could not test fly together.

Because of the high mortality rate among early aviators, the brothers promised their father they would not fly together, but in 1910 they asked their father's permission to do so, and he allowed it. Then Orville took Milton, 82 years old, on a seven-minute flight. Reportedly, the plane rose to about 350 feet, and Milton called, "Higher, Orville, higher!"

From Quiz The (W)Right Brothers

Answer: Dress Silk

The plane flew from Dayton to Columbus, Ohio, in one hour and six minutes. Morehouse-Martens Department Store paid $5,000 for the service. They cut the silk in small pieces and sold them as souvenirs.

From Quiz Katherine, The Other Wright

Answer: 81 years old

Bishop Wright was eighty-one when Orville finally persuaded him to go up with him. Bishop Wright had declined to go with Orville and Katherine to join Wilbur in France, but he was very interested in his sons' work. When the brothers left for Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, in 1903, Bishop Wright gave Wilbur $1.00 and told him to send him a telegram if he had anything important to tell.

From Quiz Katherine, The Other Wright

Answer: Wilbur died of typhoid fever.

Wilbur Wright fell ill in May, 1912, shortly after returning home from a business trip to Boston, Massachusetts. It was thought that the oysters he had eaten at the hotel came from polluted waters. He died on May 30, 1912, after about a three-week illness. Wilbur left Katherine $50,000.00 in his will to ensure she would have financial independence.

From Quiz Katherine, The Other Wright

Answer: Women's right to vote

When Katherine went with Orville to Germany in 1910 to again act as his social secretary, she lost her job teaching Latin at Steele High School. She then began spending much of her time doing volunteer work. She was a staunch supporter of a woman's right to vote, as was both Bishop Wright and Orville. She also supported equal pay for men and women.

From Quiz Katherine, The Other Wright

Answer: She married one of her old college friends.

Orville Wright never married, but on Nov. 20, 1926, Katherine married Henry J. Haskell, a Kansas City newspaper editor. Haskell and his wife, Isabel, had been Katherine's friends since their days at Oberlin College. When Isabel died, Katherine and Henry fell in love and decided to marry. Orville would not have anything to do with Katherine after her marriage. Katherine, for her part, never had any ill feelings for her brother. It was with both joy and sadness that she left her old life and began her new one. She was in her early 50s. Their father, Bishop Wright, died in 1917, and had never remarried.

From Quiz Katherine, The Other Wright

Answer: Kansas City, Missouri

Until Katherine married Henry Haskell, she had always lived with her family, first in her father's house and then, in 1914, she moved into Orville's mansion, called Hawthorn Hills. After her marriage, Katherine and Henry moved into a house in Kansas City, Missouri. Katherine enjoyed having her own home, and they were very happy together. Henry and Katherine were planning a trip to Europe at the time of her death.

From Quiz Katherine, The Other Wright

Answer: 1929

Katherine died of pneumonia on March 3, 1929. Orville finally came to Kansas City and was reconciled with Katherine. She died the following day. Orville Wright died in 1948, outliving his sister by nearly twenty years.

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