The Sam Wainwright Family

Anna Wolf Wainwright

Sam Wainwright a native of Illinois, made Iowa his home since 1869 and lived within the borders of Taylor County since 1893. He started is business career in Sharpsburg, where for 6 years, he was actively associated with the lumber and grain trades, and conducted a banking business. A resourceful man he extended his profit into manufacture of cement block, built a garage for his automobile business, for which he was known for offering the best-known motor cars of the day. Mr. Wainwright was considered one of the most active and prosperous business man of the western Iowa. He materially aided in advancing the interest of Lenox and surrounding country side, by encouraging the spirit of determination.

In 1890, Sam was united in marriage to Miss Anna Wolf, who was a native of Kansas. She was a teacher by profession, but became an assistant cashier in the Sharpsburg Bank. Anna was the mother of sons Carroll and foster son Leonard who they had got off the orphan train from New York. Anna Wainwright is the first cousin to my maternal Great-Great Grandmother, Gertie Brannon Ferkins.

At the turn of the century, Sam chose to honor his wife with a new home in Lenox and erected an attractive and modern home. Their home was considered to be warm-hearted hospitable and the center of a cultured social circle for Saturday night gatherings, as seen in the photo taken in 1922.

300 North Main Street, Lenox, IA