W. J. Bright House

William Josiah Hatch Bright, born February 28, 1849, in Arkansas, was the son of Gatlin and Elizabeth Matthew Bright, originally from Tennessee. The family moved to Gonzales when Josiah was a young boy. He married Nora Mitchell on December 14, 1871, and they had five sons. Nora, born February 19, 1850, in Gonzales, was the daughter of Eli and Elizabeth Zumwalt Mitchell. Eli was born in Turkey Foot, Pennsylvania, and Elizabeth hailed from St. Charles County, Missouri. Both Josiah and Nora were graduates of Gonzales College.

Josiah worked for the Miller and Sayers banking firm before founding and becoming president of the Gonzales State Bank and Trust Company. He passed away on September 6, 1927, and Nora followed on April 22, 1941. Both are buried in the Gonzales Masonic Cemetery.

According to family members, Eli owned property stretching from Saint Vincent Street to the Guadalupe River. The family lived in a log cabin south of the current house site. After Eli’s death, Nora inherited part of the property, including a four-acre plot bordered by Saint Vincent, College, Mitchell, and Bright Streets. She and Josiah moved the Mitchell cabin to the College Street location, where they lived until building their Victorian-style house in 1885. It is believed that the house was built around the original cabin, as parts of the foundation include large timbers. Family and friends recall Nora sitting in her rocker, telling the story of how the house was constructed around the Mitchell family log cabin.