John A. L. Wright (1869-1945) was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and died in Revere, Massachusetts. By 1880 he had moved to Rutland, Illinois, with his mother, Abbie S. Ames (b. Scates), and his stepfather. He was an author, freelance writer, and journalist who often wrote under the pen name Livingston Wright. In the 1890s he and Ames moved back to Boston, an experience they coauthored a book about, entitled Mr. Eagle's U.S.A.: As Seen in a Buggy Ride of 1,400 Miles from Illinois to Boston, published in 1898.
In Boston, Wright became friends with James Henry Wiggin, an ex-Unitarian minister who, as an advisor and copyeditor, had assisted Mary Baker Eddy with revisions to Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures from 1885 to 1889. Wiggins died in 1900, and Wright was Wiggins's literary executor. In that capacity, in 1901 he wrote a manuscript claiming Wiggins instructed him to reveal that he had effectively ghostwritten Science and Health for Eddy. In 1903 Wright sent the manuscript to Mark Twain, 1835-1910, who endorsed it. The New York World published it as an article, entitled "How Rev. Wiggin Rewrote Mrs. Eddy's Book," in November 1906 and touted Twain's endorsement of it. Shortly thereafter Wright reprinted the article in pamphlet form and distributed it widely. The article was controversial, and its claims were quickly refuted by Eddy, the employees of John Wilson and Son who had been responsible for printing and publishing Science and Health in the late 1880s, and others. Wright married Marion J. Wright (b. Parks) in Lynn, Massachusetts, in 1909. The same year he published his book entitled Down the Road with a Tramp Writer. By 1920 he was living in Revere, where he remained for the rest of his life.
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John A. L. Wright (1869-1945) was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and died in Revere, Massachusetts. By 1880 he had moved to Rutland, Illinois, with his mother, Abbie S. Ames (b. Scates), and his stepfather. He was an author, freelance writer, and journalist who often wrote under the pen name Livingston Wright. In the 1890s he and Ames moved back to Boston, an experience they coauthored a book about, entitled Mr. Eagle's U.S.A.: As Seen in a Buggy Ride of 1,400 Miles from Illinois to Boston, published in 1898.
In Boston, Wright became friends with James Henry Wiggin, an ex-Unitarian minister who, as an advisor and copyeditor, had assisted Mary Baker Eddy with revisions to Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures from 1885 to 1889. Wiggins died in 1900, and Wright was Wiggins's literary executor. In that capacity, in 1901 he wrote a manuscript claiming Wiggins instructed him to reveal that he had effectively ghostwritten Science and Health for Eddy. In 1903 Wright sent the manuscript to Mark Twain, 1835-1910, who endorsed it. The New York World published it as an article, entitled "How Rev. Wiggin Rewrote Mrs. Eddy's Book," in November 1906 and touted Twain's endorsement of it. Shortly thereafter Wright reprinted the article in pamphlet form and distributed it widely. The article was controversial, and its claims were quickly refuted by Eddy, the employees of John Wilson and Son who had been responsible for printing and publishing Science and Health in the late 1880s, and others. Wright married Marion J. Wright (b. Parks) in Lynn, Massachusetts, in 1909. The same year he published his book entitled Down the Road with a Tramp Writer. By 1920 he was living in Revere, where he remained for the rest of his life.
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