Wright

01. James Wright was born in 1671.  The following is quoted from a book on Quaker ministers:  "James Wright, an elder of the Hopewell monthly meeting, was one of the first settlers in that part of Virginia. He was a sober, honest man, grave in manners, and solid and weighty in his conversation. He was diligent in the attendance of his religious meetings, exemplary in humble waiting therein, and of sound mind and judgment. He was cautious of giving just offence to any one, and was earnestly concerned for the unity of the brethren, and the peach of the church. He appeared, say his friends, concerned him, for some time before his illness, as one who had finished his day's work, and who was waiting for his change. He was 83 years old when he died."  The parents of James have not been confirmed and there are multiple reports on where he was born.   James married Mary Bowater, daughter of John Bowater and Mary Maunder on Feb. 26, 1706 in East Nottingham, Chester, PA.  Note that a Mary Davis is often listed as the mother of John, but Stewart Baldwin in the American Genealogist has determined that Mary Bowater must be the spouse to James Wright Sr. because of their being witnesses at different weddings of both sides of the family and other Bowater being witnesses at weddings of their children.

02. John C. Wright, son of James and Mary was born in Chester County, Pennsylvania on January 28,  1716. He removed from Nottingham Monthly Meeting to Nonocacy MM in Prince George County, Maryland, where he married Rachel Wells. She was born in Anne Arundel county and was the daughter of Joseph and Margaret Wells. Both John and Rachel became Overseers of the Men's and Women's Meetings of Monocacy in 1745. They transferred to Hopewell.  In 1749, with the seven minor children born to them by that time, the Wright's were granted a certificate to Carvers Creek Monthly Meeting in North Carolina. There they became charter members in 1751 of Cane Creek MM in Orange County, NC. They became parents of six more children during their time in NC. According to the Quaker Records from Historic Camden, S. C., by Kirkland and Kennedy, they were present in Camden District by 1760 when John Wright appears as a witness to a deed. The Annals of Newberry mention three more children born to John and Rachel after they removed to South Carolina.  Reportedly, Bush River Monthly Meeting in Newberry County to which the Wright's belonged was established in 1770. However Cane Creek MM records Rachel Wright's transfer to Bush River in 1767. Their presence in SC prior to the time of Rachel's transfer suggests there was no meeting to which they might belong prior to 1767. It may also be presumed that the Wright's were instrumental in the formation of a meeting at Bush River.  During the migration of southern Quakers to the Ohio Valley in the early 1800's, almost all of John and Rachel Wright's surviving children and grandchildren became a part of that movement. A good number of them, particularly the Hollingsworth and Cook descendants, became Hicksites and Wilburites when they separated from the Orthodox Quakers.

03. Nathan Wright, son of John and Rachel was born on October 7, 1758 in Orange, North Carolina.  He married Sarah Jay, daughter of William Jay and Elizabeth.  Nathan died after 1805 in Newberry County, South Carolina.  Known children of Nathan and Sarah: Right Wright, Mary Wright, William Wright and Charity Wright.

04. Charity Wright, daughter of Nathan and Sarah was born on June 10, 1801 in South Carolina.  Proof of her parentage comes from a letter written in 1841 by Right Wright retained by Ronald E. Toops to sisters Mary Brooks and Charity Marshall.   Click here for a link to the photocopied and transcribed letters posted by Christy L. Jay.  Charity married William Marshall abt. 1817 in South Carolina.  Her family moved by covered wagon to Miami County, Ohio by 1825.  After William Marshall died in 1837 it is unknown what happened to Charity but she was living in 1841.  I descend from their son Thomas Marshall who married Rhoda Furnas.

BOWATER

MARSHALL