What Milton Wright Lacked

UPDATE 9/5/2023: My article below concluded that Milton Wright, though a Christian minister, was wrongly silent when it came to speaking of faith in Christ to his famous sons, Wilbur and Orville Wright. I recently received a link to a well-researched article that persuasively challenged that conclusion. I gladly retract my statements about Milton Wright. He evidently did write and speak to his children about the truth of Scripture. We will leave up my original only so you can be referred to a better and more exhaustive treatment on the subject in the article “Christianity Amongst the Wright Brothers,” by Matt Yanney, which can be accessed here:

 https://wrightbrothershistory.blogspot.com/2014/05/christianity-amongst-wright-brothers.html

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Two of the most influential men of the 20^th century, Wilbur and Orville Wright, came from the stock of an influential father, Milton Wright. A determined, hardworking man of strong convictions, Milton Wright was a bishop in the United Brethren Church. He lived the life of an itinerant preacher, often on the road, and therefore parenting his children through letters mailed back home. His enduring reputation reveals his devotion to women’s rights, the abolition of slavery, and opposition to secret societies like Freemasonry. The strength of his conviction on these issues led to a split within his church’s denomination when they moved toward allowing church members to become members of secret societies. Although the Wright brothers inherited their superior mechanical skills from their mother, who was known to be able to make or fix just about anything in their home, they were influenced greatly by their father’s unwavering determination in the midst of conflict. This served the brothers well in their often opposed and ridiculed pursuit of powered flight.

The records of Bishop Wright’s involvement with his children focus on his encouragement of their intellectual pursuits and adherence to Christianity’s moral values. Popular historian David McCullough notes the bishop encouraged his children to read and possessed a bountiful library from which they could choose. Among the writings the famous brothers read from their father’s shelves were the works of Robert Ingersoll, a renowned and vocal agnostic of the 19^th century. Ingersoll championed human authority and reason: “Every mind should be true to itself; should think, investigate, and conclude for itself.” The brothers’ discovery of Ingersoll was not without consequence. McCullough surmises, “Reading Ingersoll led the brothers to give up regular attendance at church,” a decision which was met by their father “without protest.” Bishop Wright spoke freely to his children about all subjects with the notable exceptions of money-making and religion. Not much is known about the Wright brother’s personal beliefs except what they did not do: they did not attend church, use tobacco or alcohol, and they did not work on Sundays.

Few fathers have as remarkable a reputation as Milton Wright. The father of the inventors of powered flight is deserving of some commendation for his attentiveness to his sons and the virtues he instilled in them. Yet, there is a significant aspect of his legacy that is lacking. The record of his involvement with his children shows love, encouragement, and care, but does not include any known discussions of faith in Christ. All of the admiration and enduring reputation of Milton Wright lay in who his sons were as airplane inventors and in his devotion to social issues, not in being consumed by a Christ-centered view of the world.

Everything we do in this world is meant to relate back to God. “For from him and through him and to him are all things” (Rom 11:36). Our parenting is to be centered on the Lord Jesus Christ: “Fathers, … bring up [your children] in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Eph 6:1). Deuteronomy 4:9 instructs parents to make God’s works and words known to their children. Morally respectable children with a mechanical keenness and unrelenting work-effort would be a dream come true for many parents. But the relationship between parent and child that lacks an ongoing and intentional transfer to the child of the things pertaining to the Lord Jesus Christ is a relationship that is severely lacking in the values that matter. Morally upright children cannot be the parent’s goal. Honoring God in raising kids must be. We do that by telling our kids about Him, His Son, and His Word, praying that the Spirit would make them alive to these truths. The legacy of the parents at our church cannot be to merely instill Christian values into their children, but to convey a life of faith in Jesus Christ that affects all things, even inventing airplanes.