Wright Family, pg 3

Manoah Bostick Hampton and Cynthia Mitchell Hampton

“Lilie” Hampton 4 oldest children of Lilie Hampton & Walter McClure Lilie Hampton McClure and her family, 1923

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Wright Family (continued) pg 3

The children of Richard Wright and Anne Mottrom (continued)

Mottrom Wright (continued)   This is all I know about the descendants of Mottrom Wright:

1. Mottrom WRIGHT (b.Abt 1658-Chickacone,Northumberland Co.,VA d.10 Oct 1700-England)
sp: Ruth GRIGGS
|-2. Frances WRIGHT (b.7 Jan 1685 d.by 1707)
| sp: (Dr.) Jospeh BELFIELD (b.Cal 1679 m.1704 d.Apr 1738-Richmond County,VA)
| +-3. Thomas Wright BELFIELD (b.1 Jan 1704/1705 d.Abt 1743-Richmond County,VA)
|    sp: Mary MERIWETHER-COLSON (b.Abt 1704-"Bathurst",Essex County,Virginia m.9 Mar 1722/1723 d.6 Oct 1750-"Manor House",Richmond County,Virginia)
|     |-4. John BELFIELD (b.23 Jun 1725-"Manor House",Richmond County,Virginia d.19 Aug 1801-"Manor House",Richmond County,Virginia)
|     | sp: Ruth SNYDOR (daughter of Anthony Sydnor and Elizabeth Dew) (b.15 Mar 1725/1726 d.8 Mar 1802)
|     | |-5. Mary BELFIELD (b.17 Feb 1753)
|     | | sp: William SMITH
|     | |-5. Elizabeth BELFIELD (b.9 Jan 1746/1747 d.1779)
|     | | sp: Robert CHINN (son of Thomas Chinn and Sarah Mitchell) (m.15 May 1764)
|     | | +-6. Mary Jane CHINN (b.31 Oct 1773 d.21 Aug 1830)
|     | |-5. Thomas Wright (2nd) BELFIELD (b.18 Feb 1744/1745)
|     | |-5. John BELFIELD (died a baby) (b.17 Dec 1749)
|     | |-5. John (II) BELFIELD (b.11 Mar 1750/1751)
|     | |-5. Anne BELFIELD (b.17 Nov 1754)
|     | |-5. Winifred BELFIELD (b.6 Sep 1756)
|     | |-5. Sydnor BELFIELD (b.12 Sep 1758)
|     | +-5. Joseph BELFIELD (b.14 Jul 1761)
|     |-4. Joseph BELFIELD (b.1 May 1727 d.29 Aug 1750)
|     | sp: Mary
  |     | +-5. Nancy BELFIELD
|     |-4. Thomas BELFIELD (died a baby) (b.23 Mar 1728/1729 d.25 Dec 1729)
|     |-4. Thomas Meriwether BELFIELD (died a child) (b.11 Feb 1730/1731 d.Oct 1743)
|     |-4. Bathurst BELFIELD (died a child) (b.21 Jan 1732/1733 d.6 Jul 1735)
|     |-4. Elizabeth BELFIELD (b.25 Oct 1732 d.Dec 1810)
|     | sp: Bolling STARK
|     | |-5. Belfield STARK
|     | +-5. Burwell STARK
|     |-4. Frances BELFIELD (b.22 Mar 1735/1736)
|     | sp: Freeman WALKER (b.23 Sep 1734)
|     | |-5. Frances WALKER
|     | |-5. Mary WALKER
|     | |-5. Elizabeth WALKER
|     | |-5. Alexander WALKER
|     | |-5. Thomas Belfield WALKER
|     | sp: Henry BROADNAX (2nd husband of Frances Walker)
  |     | |-5. John Belfield BROADNAX
  |     | |-5. Rebecca BROADNAX
  |     | |-5. Susan BROADNAX
  |     | +-5. Mary Ann BROADNAX
  |     +-4. Bathurst (II) BELFIELD (died a baby) (b.27 Jun 1739 d.2 Feb 1740)
|-2. Mottrom, (Jr.) WRIGHT (died young-never married) (b.20 Jan 1689/1690 d.Bef Feb 1712)
|-2. Mottrom (II) WRIGHT (used same name as brother) (d.1729)
+-2. (daughter) WRIGHT

Anne Wright was born about 1660 in Chickacone, Northumberland Co., VA. Anne Wright, daughter of Captain Richard Wright, inherited the estate upon the Potomac adjoining the present Mount Vernon: Anne Wright's inheritance from her father: "I give and bequeath unto my daughter Anne Wright all that my said land in the 'ffreshes' of the Patomack River." And she received on September 6, 1665, from her uncle and guardian, Colonel Nicholas Spencer, "in consideration of the natural love and affection which I have towards Anne Wright my niece, the daughter of Richard Wright within mentioned deceased" one-half of the eleven hundred acres at Mount Vernon on the Potomac which he had patented with her father, September 25, 1661, the other half of which she had inherited. This patent was recorded by Colonel Spencer in Westmoreland County on the day of his gift. Anne Wright married George Nicholas Hacke, born in Accomac County, Virginia, son of Dr. George and Anna (Herman) Hacke. Dr. Hacke was born at Cologne, Germany, in 1623, and appeared in Virginia in 1653; his wife was born at Amsterdam, Holland, sister to the noted Augustine Herman, founder and lord of the great manor of Bohemia extending from Chesapeake Bay (in Cecil County, Maryland) across Delaware to the Delaware River.) (An account of Dr. Hacke appears at page 256 of Volume V of the 'Virginia Magazine of History and Biography'.) Anne (Wright) Hacke did not long retain her eleven hundred acres at Mount Vernon, as she removed to the long, low promontory, Accomac County, between Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. I have been unable to find any children of Anne Wright & George Hacke, and would appreciate hearing from others about this, and also if they have knowledge of Anne’s death, about 1704?

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Major Francis Wright

FRANCIS WRIGHT, was born 1656/Aug 1660 Coan, Northumberland Co., VA; died 17/23 Jun 1713, Westmoreland Co., VA.    Charles Hoppin’s full account of Major Francis Wright is too long to include here, but portions of it read:

  “"Mr. Francis Wright, gentleman, captain, major, surveyor, attorney, sheriff, and justice of Westmoreland County, is abundantly of record as having increased the excellence of the social position and material independence of his father, Captain Richard Wright, whose will was proved December 10, 1663 {Northumberland Record Book, 1658-1666, page 114}. The many records indicate that his intellectual activities were of a professional rather than a mercantile nature, as at no time is he recorded as a merchant though he was a ship-owner. As the third child in his father's will he may not have been the oldest, but he received the largest and most valuable part of the real estate. If the youngest child he could not have been aged above two years at his father's death, about December 1, 1663, nor more than five years if the eldest son. Although he may have gone in 1665 with his mother to the home, in Lancaster county, of her second husband, the estimable David Fox, Sr., Gent., and even have remained with her awhile after her third marriage to Col. St. Leger Codd of Lancaster and Northumberland counties, a strict compliance with the terms of his father's will would have required him to remain under the control of that eminent gentleman, his uncle Col. Nicholas Spencer. That it was to the influence of Spencer that Francis Wright received, either in England or by a private tutor in Virginia, his excellent education one scarcely can doubt, for that worthy scion of the English Spencers of Cople, Bedfordshire, England, for whom a half of Westmoreland, Virginia, was named Cople parish, was a second father to his brother-in-law Wright's children. A review of the life of Francis Wright gives the impression that he went to England on one of Spencer's journeys hither, and there acquired, with the aid of funds on deposit there which his father had bequeathed to him, some of the Anglicisms that attach to some of the Virginian records of his own composition. About everything that he did in Virginia was in an aristocratic manner, and his guardian Nicholas Spencer was one of the first among Virginian gentlemen.
      Francis Wright, Gent., lived his thirty-five years after becoming of nominal legal age (then eighteen, though taxable at sixteen) in Westmoreland, upon his inherited estate of fourteen hundred acres fronting upon the Potomac and flanked by Nomini bay and Lower Machodoc river. Nothing strenuous is of record as to his career; he was active, influential and comfortable, always appearing in the records as a man who upheld the prestige of his caste and insisted upon his rights; but, as to his service in official positions, he has left evidence of that consideration for others less fortunate than himself which characterizes a true gentleman.”

Francis married Anne Washington, daughter of Col. John Washington and Anne Pope. Anne was born 1662 in Westmoreland Co., VA; died Mar 1697 at Great House Point, Westmoreland Co., VA. She is buried in the Bridges Creek Washington Family cemetery.    Her brother Lawrence was the Grandfather of our 1st President George Washington.    She was left her mother's rings, in her father's will.    The long intimate friendship between the Wrights and Washington’s suffered a mutual loss in the death of Capt. Lawrence Washington in March, 1698, whose will, naming his deceased sister Anne and her husband Francis Wright, conveys an esteemed impression of the social and intellectual position and material independence of these allied families. The Washington’s at this time resided along Pope's and Mattox (Appomatox) creeks in the northern part of Westmoreland near where the national memorial to the family:

Montross, Westmoreland County, Virginia Deeds & Wills No. 2 pg. 133, etc: "Item I give and bequeath to my sister Anne Wright's children, one man Servant a piece of four or five years to serve or Three Thousand pounds of Tobacco to purchase the same, to be delivered or paid to them when they arrive to the age of twenty years old Item I give that land which I bought of my Brother Francis Wright, being 200 acres lying near Storke's Quarter, to my son John Washington (etc) 11th day of March, Anno Dom. 1697-8."

Anne (Washington) Wright had died before the date of his will, March 11, 1697-8, hence no bequest to her, and hence the reference of the testator to being buried by the side of my Father and Mother & neare my Brother and Sisters, in the family burying ground on the original Washington estate near Pope's Creek in Washington parish, Westmoreland, where now stands the tall granite shaft erected by an act of Congress.

The death of Anne (Washington) Wright, when aged under thirty-eight, is also established in the deed of sale, executed by her only son John Wright and his father, of land she had inherited from her father Col. John Washington. (Montross, Westmoreland county, Virginia. Book entitled Deeds & Wills No. 4 Page. 175)

Francis & Anne Washington married between 1680 or 1682.    Their only son, John, was born 25 Feb 1685/1687 in Westmoreland Co., VA.

Anne Wright was the child of Francis’s 2nd wife, Martha Cox, whom he married about 1709.   Richard Wright was also the child of Martha and Francis.

Francis Wright died, in June 1713, age 53, and was buried in his own estate at Lower Machodoc in an enclosure (doubtless near the "great house") perpetually to be reserved to the Wright descendants.   The real estate fell to the elder son, John, under the law of primo-geniture, John being, as well, the sole heir male to the landed estate of his mother, Anne Washington Wright.

Children of Francis Wright:

1) JOHN WRIGHT (25 Feb 1685/1687 Westmoreland Co., VA; 1730 Prince William Co., VA)
2) Anne Wright (she was probably the child of Martha Cox), married Garrard Davis - believe one son was William Davis.
3) Richard Wright (any information welcomed about Richard and Anne)

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JOHN WRIGHT (1685/87 Westmoreland Co., VA - 1730 Prince William Co., VA), son of Francis Wright, was proven by Hoppin, without question, to be a son of Anne Washington.    Quotes from "The Washington-Wright Connection" by Charles Arthur Hoppin, state:     "JOHN WRIGHT, though gentle born and gently reared.... seems from the records like a man who to himself said, "Le me be no assistant for a state, but keep a farm."    "John Wright was a better sportsman than farmer or merchant and more pleased with entertaining than in advancing his political or private fortunes. That his inheritance was sufficient unto his needs scarcely can be gainsaid. he bought but little land, and sold a large amount. Eventually he sold out entirely and removed to another part of Virginia; not to his own personal enhancement but, most fortunately, to the ultimate advantage of his children, especially to his long-lived second son, John.   John Wright, however, neglected no public duty and, as was to be expected, succeeded his father as attorney, sheriff's deputy, surveyor, vestryman and judge; and he is always of record as a "gentleman", maintaining his excellent social position. John moved (1723) to the newer settlement in the present Price William county, as a pioneer, where one can scarcely doubt he was a first justice and sat at the first court held therefor. "He passed the short remainder of his life in the quiet comfort and enjoyment of his own estate, possessed of fund ample to the indulging of his own social pleasure and for the education and preferment of his two known sons, Francis (who died young)and John, whose long and honorable career confirmed the wisdom and garnered the resulting opportunities of his father's removal from Westmoreland.    His second son, John, far surpassed him in record as a public man. “

John Wright married Dorothy (last name unknown).    Although Hoppin hypothesized a surname Awbrey for her, this has since been disproved. (Parenthetically, Hoppin also attributed to Anne Washington a daughter Anne Wright, wife of Gerrard Davis, although this lady actually was the daughter of Francis Wright’s second wife; the husband, Gerrard Davis, can be proved to have been born after 1706.)   The wife of John Wright was a Dorothy, but was not Dorothy (Awbrey) Wright. Dorothy Awbrey was the wife of John Billups.

I am only familiar with two children of John and Dorothy:

1) Francis Wright    (1703-- Abt 1741/1742)   (eldest son, died a fairly young man)
2) John Wright (II) (1706/1707- 27 Feb 1792)

Note:   I do not claim to be an expert on the Wright’s!     Knowing that the family has been exhaustively researched by others, I make little effort to elaborate on them.    John Wright (II) was our direct ancestor.    Here are the bits I know about his brother, Francis:

Francis WRIGHT was born Mar 170___ in Lower Machodoc, Westmoreland Co., VA. He died about 1741/1742 in Fauquier, VA. We know that Francis "died young".

Hoppin also gave unquestionable proof that John Wright and Dorothy …. had an “eldest” son Francis Wright (ca 1703-1742) of Prince William County, as well as extremely persuasive circumstantial evidence that John Wright (ca 1705-1792) of Fauquier County was also a son. It seems unlikely that this relationship can ever be questioned.

"Francis the eldest son inherited all of his father's real estates. Both sons continued of official record thereabouts for the balance of their lives in a plethora of more than 50 seperate documents, though it is apparent that they were deeply at odds over their father's estate."

Sold Leesylvania estate for cash (1741) & bought an inferior ppty on Bull Run; Sole inheritor of father's real ppty, did not share with brother John; Forced brother John to leave the family home.

Francis married (1) Mary Fleet COX.

Francis also married (2) Ann MASSEY, daughter of Dade MASSEY and Elizabeth ELLIS, on 7 Dec 1737 in St. Paul's Parish, King George Co., Virginia.

Source" "The Washington-Wright Connection" by Hoppin, 1923

"Ann, the widow of Francis Wright, is not of further record in Prince William County. Her three daughters, Elizabeth, Dorothy and one whose name does not appear in Prince William records remained in that county about ten years after their father's death. Ann Wright's name disappears from the records either by death or a second marriage.."...(probably by death).

Elizabeth Wright, one of these daughters, married Taliaferro Stribling, who removed to Frederick county, where in a deed of 1771 and in his will of 1774 he bequeathed to her as his wife."

"Dorothy Wright, another daughter (doubtless named after her grandmother Dorothy Wright) chose Francis Ash as her individual guardian, and on 27 November, 1754, her uncle, John Wright, Gent., as a justice, confirmed this choice on that date." "Dorothy Wright thereafter disappears from the records of Prince William county."

They had the following children:

F i. Elizabeth WRIGHT. Elizabeth married Taliaferro STRIBLING.

F ii. Dorothy WRIGHT.

F iii. Frances WRIGHT.