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The WRIGHT Family Name Page

WRIGHT SURNAME ORIGIN

Borrowed from http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/5917/Tidbits.htm
The following information was contributed by June Ross.

I am very fortunate as I have a small notebook that Peter Wright of Glasgow wrote in 1800, "Respecting the Name of Wright and the Wrights of Aithry, Drumdrouls, Loss and Foodie etc."

This gave me a great deal of information about the Wrights and enabled me to do further research. I have copied the first few paragraphs before he starts the genealogy.

"The name of Wright seems to very ancient, as we find from History, that John Wright a famous architect, constructed a bridge (Kildean) over the Forth nfar Stirling which upon drawing a pin separated in the middle; this stratagem being put in execution gave Sir William Wallace a decided victory in a battle fought 13th September 1297 over the English when part of their army had passed & part upon the Bridge, the Pin was drawn out by Wright himself who was suspended in a basket under the Arch and escaped unhurt. The English Army being thus divided & surprised, many were killed & drowned and suffered in the pursuit through Stirling, St. Ninians, and the Forwood. Wright was ever after that known by the Name of the Pin. "

"The great Barony of Aithrey in the Parish of Logie near Stirling seems to have been in the possession of Wright long before the reign of James 1st, King of Scotland; one of that family, Bishop James Wright, baptised a son of James the 3rd in the year 1473 in the Castle of Stirling; a large hall was erected in the course of six weeks for that occasion. The Bishop's son John was Armour Bearer to King James the 4th & by him knighted; but happening in a Duel to kill a man in Stirling, the friend of King James, he fled to Ireland where he remained till his death, His eldest son sometime after came back to Scotland & endeavoured to get a gift of his father's escheat but to no purpose; so he was obliged to take the farm of Nethertown of Inverallan, where he & his heirs laboured for several years."

Borrowed from http://www.familytreemaker.com/users/w/r/i/Daniel-L-Wright/index.html

It is indeed a far cry from a twentieth century American to the marauding Vikings of the eighth centuries, but it is an established fact that the American Wrights of today, of English ancestry, had their origin more than a thousand years ago among the Vikings of old. Some of those Vikings later became Normans. After the conquest of England by William the Conqueror, Normans became Englishmen. Six hundred years later Englishmen colonized Virginia, and became Americans. There were Norman Wrights in the army of William the Conqueror, and English Wrights in the War of the Roses (1455-1485), with Marlborough at Ramilles (1706), with Nelson at Trafalgar (1805), and with Wellington at Waterloo (1815). Also, their were English Wrights among the cavalier settlers of Virginia, just as their were American Wrights in the Continental Army of 1776; in the Mexican War of 1846-7; wearing both blue and grey during the Civil War of 1861-65; in the Spanish-American War of 1899; in World War I of 1914-18; in the dreadful World War II of 1941-45; and in every war fought by America thereafter.

I have traced my branch of these Wrights back to England. The first Wright of my family to settle in America was Captain Richard Wright (1633-1663), who began an association with the aristocratic family of Colonel John Mottrom at Chicacoon on the Potomac River in Northumberland, Virginia.

The descendants of Captain Richard Wright are as follows:
Direct Descendants of Richard Wright
1 Richard Wright b: 1633 in London, England d: 1663 in Northumberland Co., Virginia
Number of children: 3
... +Anne Mottron b: 1639 in England d: 1707 in Westmoreland Co., VA Father: John Mottrom, Col. Mother:
Number of children: 3
2 Francis Wright, Major b: 1660 in Coan, Northumberland Co., VA d: June 26, 1713 in Westmoreland Co., Virginia
Fact 1: Occupation: Lawyer
Fact 2: Rec'd an excellent education by terms of his father's will.
Fact 3: 1682 Commissioned a Justice by Governor Bixby in Westmoreland Co.
Fact 4: Had large estate at Lower Machodoc on the Potomac in Westmoreland Co.
Fact 5: Gentleman Sheriff. Known for his intellectual activities and social position.
Number of children: 3
..... +Martha Cox Father: Mother:
Number of children: 1
3 Richard Wright b: Abt 1711 *2nd Wife of Francis Wright, Major:
..... +Anne Washington b: 1662 in Bridges Creek, Westmoreland Co., VA m: 1682 in Richmond, VA d: 1697 in Westmoreland Co., VA Fact:
Her brother was grandfather of President George Washington Father: John Washington, Col. Mother: Anne Pope
Number of children: 3
3 John Wright, Sr. b: 1682 in Westmoreland Co., VA d: Bef May 28, 1739 in Leesylvania, Prince William Co., VA
Number of children: 2
...... +Dorothy Aubrey m: Abt 1705 d: in Prince William Co., VA Father: Richard Aubrey Mother: Dorothy Meador
Number of children: 2
.. 4 John Wright, Jr b: 1707 in Westmoreland Co., Virginia d: 1792 in Faquier Co., VA
Number of children: 6
....... +Elizabeth Bronough Darnell b: 1710-1713 in Prince William Co., VA m: 1728 d: 1785-1804 Father: Waugh Darnall
Number of children: 6
... 5 William Wright b: November 1, 1740 in Prince William Co., VA d: August 29, 1806 in Fauquier Co., VA
Fact 1: Elizabeth,---2nd wife
Fact 2: Buried in Dermonte Burial Ground Number of children: 14
......... +Mary Grant b: 1738 d: in Fauquier Co., VA Father: Mother:
Number of children: 2
..... 6 John Wright b: September 25, 1760 in Fauquier Co., VA d: Aft December 24, 1846
Fact 1: December 24, 1846 John appeared before William S Boyd, an acting Justice of the Peace, Montgomery
Fact 2: Co., AL to obtain pension for war service.
Fact 3: His character witnesses' were Denis Allen, & Senator Dixon H, Lewis
Number of children: 1

Please e-mail me for query on any of the above. I have much more information and many more family members to share & exchange.

Daniel Lloyd Wright
5905 N. 300 West
Michigan City, IN 46360
United States
(219) 326-5589 Fax: (219) 324-9096
wrightd1@csinet.net

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Last updated May 2000 by Web Genealogist Chris Stefanovich.