(Wilbur died of typhoid fever at age 45, before construction had even started.) Living in the home was Orville, his sister Katharine, and their father Milton. But in 1914, Hawthorn Hill was welcoming some of America’s most famous people and of course, serving as a residence for members of the Wright family. These days, the Wright Brothers’ family home may be best known as a tourist attraction or the place where local kids go sledding after a snowstorm.

She was 54 years old (this passage is from Wikipedia).You can’t miss the big house that rests on top of the hill in Dayton’s Oakville neighborhood. Another brother, Lorin, persuaded him to visit her, and he was at her bedside when she died. When Orville found out, he still refused to contact her. Two years after her marriage, Katharine contracted pneumonia. She tried many times for a reconciliation, but Orville refused. Katharine and her husband moved to Kansas City, but she grieved over her broken relationship with Orville. When Katharine wed in 1926, Orville refused to attend the ceremony. He was devastated, and stopped speaking to his sister. After several attempts, Henry broke the news to Orville. They began a romance through their letters, but Katharine feared Orville's reaction. In the 1920s, Katharine renewed correspondence with an old boyfriend from college days, newspaperman Henry Haskell, a widower who lived in Kansas City. An unfailing intellect, imperturbable temper, great self-reliance and as great modesty, seeing the right clearly, pursuing it steadily, he lived and died. This morning at 3:15, Wilbur passed away, aged 45 years, 1 month, and 14 days. As was written in a diary their father had kept: It was unfortunate that Wilbur contracted and died of Typhoid in 1912. After Wilbur's death she put all of her time and energy helping Orville continue the brothers' aeroplane business, The Wright Company, an aeroplane factory. Katharine was extremely close with Wilbur and Orville, and became involved in her brothers' expeditions, even traveling to France with them in 1909, where she became a celebrity in her own right. They seemed bound by an unspoken agreement to remain together and let no one come between them. Yet none of them showed any interest in finding a mate. In the mid-1890s, Wilbur, Orville, and their sister Katharine were in their twenties, the age young people of their time typically began to seriously contemplate marriage. This from the Wright Brothers internet site: In fact, they made an unspoken pact, along with their sister, to never allow a romance to enter their lives - they considered their work far too important to have something as trivial as a marriage interfere!

On the opposite end of the sitting room is the dining room Entranceway to the Front Parlor from the sitting room

Orville wrights last family home