Evidence needed to support as son of William Wright

Biography

There is a possibility that Francis Wright was an immigrant, with no ties to the current Wrights of Virginia. Please do not attach him to any early Wrights of Virginia.

Francis Wright of Lancaster County, Virginia is documented as being present in said county before 8 Nov 1671, when he was assessed for tithables.[1] He married Mary Hill (Wright-Lawrence-Meredith) before 11 Jan 1670, most likely in Lancaster County, Virginia.[2] A few of their known children are:

• 1. Francis Wright bef. 1677, married Anne ______.
• 2. Charles Wright bef. 1677
• 3. Mary Wright-Briggs bef. 1698, married Ralph Briggs.
• 4. John Wright aft. 1678 of Goochland County, married Elizabeth Meredith.

Birth date is estimation and not proven. Most likely born before 1654. Death date established between 1688-1690.

Notes

1698-1720 - Tithable in Lancaster County, Christ Church Parish as was brothers John and Richard.

Abt 1707 moved from Westmoreland to Lancaster County....sold 100 acres to Michael Talbert for 4000 lbs. tobacco- 25 Feb 1707.

Information from Dennis Wright:

Yes according to my records Francis Wright, Jr. (1685-1743) was the father of Francis E. Wright.

Francis Wright (Jr), was the second son of Francis Wright (Sr) & Mary Hill, born ca.1683, in probably Middlesex / Lancaster County. Francis Wright (jr), married Mary "Ann" Edwards, (called "Ann") the daughter of Dr. James Edwards & Mary (?) Edwards, of Lancaster County, ca.1708, in Lancaster County, Virginia. Francis Wright (jr) & Mary "Ann" Edwards, had (found) three children born of union, two sons John and Francis E. Wright, and one daughter, Anne (Ann) Wright.

There are several court documents, Lancaster Deed Book 9, page 476 & CD 174, Virginia Vital Records #1, which tie the realtionship of this family and that of their deceased father, Francis Wright (Sr), and his property to his sons, Francis E. & John Wright.

Francis Wright (jr) and "Ann" Edwards, located to Westmoreland County, sometime between 1712 and 1715, and found no more records for him from that point till his death there, ca.1743, in Lancaster County.

Genealogy Note:

This Francis Wright (Jr) who married Mary Ann" Edwards, & the s/o Francis Wright & Mary Hill, may be confussed with, Francis Wright, a 2nd cousin, who married Ann Massey, 1737, in Stafford County, and died in 1741, in prince William County, leaving only four daughters, and not that of our Francis Wright (Jr), who married Mary "Ann" Edwards, ca.1708, in Lancaster County.

Our Francis Wright, died ca.1743, Westmoreland County, and did not have a will, however their is an administration of his estate on file. Change Date: 20 NOV 2007 at 06:29:5

Possible origins

Two Francis Wrights lived on the Northern Neck of Virginia at the time; hence potential confusion.

The current hypothesis is that this Francis' Wright's father is (x); unknown. Additionally it is hypothesized that this Francis Wright came to Virginia and that his father never came to Virginia & thus never left any record of presence in North America.

Two alternate hypotheses regarding this Francis' Wright's father being on record in North America need addressed: one that this is the son of the Francis Wright, son of Richard Wright & Anne Mottrom, who married Anne Washington. That Francis Wright has been identified with a Y-DNA signature of J2 > J-Y12007 by the Worldwide Wright Surname DNA project.

The other hypothesis is that this is the son of a William B Wright, whose lineage might A. be (x) unknown or B. be of the aforementioned Francis Wright's uncle, or otherwise a close cousin of Francis Wright, son of Richard Wright & Anne Mottrom; descended from Francis Wright III (about 1601-1655) of Bolton-on-Swale, Richmondshire, North Riding of Yorkshire.

Y-DNA

The line of Wright men that descended from Francis Wright who died 1690 in Lancaster Co., VA, belong to R - M512 - (R1a) - Family Group 1: R1a>M512/M198>M417>CTS4385>Y2894>L664>S2894>YP285>YP282>YP44 >YP1014>BY25522/YP6501>BY32004 Ancestor descendants listed include Francis E. Wright b. 1710 Louisa CO., VA, Francis Wright who died 1767, (these two are likely the same ancestor) John Wright b. 1795 TN, John Philip Wright b~1781, d. 1845 Obion Co, 1832 John Wright of Clarke Co., GA, Warren Brown Wright, 1849-1942. The group includes a Wraight, whose ancestors come from Kent and Sussex County, England. This is the first clue as to where this family may have originated before coming to America.[5]

References

1. http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=bmarsh200... (dead link)
2. WikiTree contributors, "Francis Wright (abt.1640-aft.1688)," WikiTree: The Free Family Tree, (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Wright-31647 : accessed 06 March 2025). cites
3. Grant Pg 4 citing Virginia County Court Records, Order Book Abstracts of Lancaster County, Virginia 1656-1706 Title List Ct. O.B. 1666-1680/212, “...To receave of (vist.) Fran: Wright upon Frizles lande 2...” Also Pg 194 of 207 Descendant Chart.
4. Married Well and Often: Marriages of the Northern Neck of Virginia, 1649-1800. Headley, Robert K. 2003 Baltimore, MD, USA: Genealogical Publishing Co. Pg 385. "Bride was an orphan of chas. Hill; she was the mother of Francis & Chas. Wright; she mar. (2) [Epaphroditus] Lawson and (3) geo. Harwood; (LC DB 9:226, 231; DW 12:207; OB 1:177; WB 8:13, 121)."
5. Headley, Robert K. Married Well and Often: Marriages of the Northern Neck of Virginia, 1649–1800. Baltimore, MD, USA: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2003.
6. Wright, John. http://www.wright-dna.org/trees/Grp1/1690FrancisWright.html; accessed 6/3/2018 Wright-Y-DNA R - M512 - (R1a) - Family Group 1: R1a>M512/M198>M417>CTS4385>Y2894>L664>S2894>YP285>YP282>YP44 >YP1014>BY25522/YP6501>BY32004 Pg 2.
7. Grant, Robert N. (Robert Noel), b. 1945, "Sorting some of the Wrights of southern Virginia : Part X, 1690 Francis Wright of Lancaster County, his wife Mary (Hill) (Wright) (Lawrence) Meredith and their descendants", 2014 by the author, Revised 1 Jan 2015. PDF version can be obtained by writing the author.
8. FamilyTreeDNA Wright familytreedna.com accessed 26 March 2021.