PROFILE OF WRIGHT PATRIARCH

I think I'm looking at William I Wright; George Wright's descendents seems to have been thoroughly researched. Seems to be a lot more gaps in William's line. Uusing the naming pattern I'm looking at my ancestor as a son of a Joshua or a Thomas. Some say my Joshua's middle name as Isaac. There is also a Joel W. Wright and a James N. Wright Have never seen a middle initial for Thomas but can only find him in censuses 1850, 1860, 1880 and 1900. I think the enumerator for 1870 missed a section of the part of TN they lived in. Frances L Nally

Contact:  Myrtle Norton Bridges  October 24, 2014
The following is a guesstimate based on dates of birth of known children.
Estimated date of birth: 1798 - 1803
Estimated  date of marriage: 1823-1824
Estimated date of death: Aft 1845 - Bef 1850 or enroute to TN. I've checked SC, GA, AL, MS & TN. Not knowing the father's name 
can only check the four youngest children.
Possible wife-Sarah b. 1803-1808 - A Sarah b. 1805 NC is listed in the 1850 Anson Co census living with John P Wright. Living 
next door is Thomas Wright w/wife Elvina

Joshua b. 1824 NC - Listed in 1850 Anson Co census w/wife Ann Preslar
Thomas b.1825 NC - Listed in 1850 Anson Co census w/wife Elvina MNU next door to the above Sarah
Martha b. 1833 NC - 17yrs old - have marriage for her to Lytle Newton 1858 in Madison Co, TN
Joel W b. 1835 NC-  15yrs old - not listed any census until 1860 in McNairy Co, TN
James N b. 1839 NC - 11 yrs old -  not listed any census until 1860 in McNairy Co, TN
Mahala b. 1845 NC - 5 yrs old

These children are not in NC, SC, GA, AL, MS or TN that I can locate.  There is a 10 yr gap between Thomas and Joel. It's 
possible there is another sibling or two in that gap and the father and younger children are enroute to TN with other family 
members and Joshua and Thomas with mother Sarah are to follow. 

A Wright History was filed in Lexington TN in 1965 by a grandson and great grandson of Aldridge Wright b. 1853 in Anson Co, 
son of Joshua Wright. Joshua owned land in Anson Co that he sold in 1853. About then they migrated into the southern part of 
Henderson Co with Ann Preslar Wright's parents, Stephen and Anna, and a couple of her brothers. In the same group was Theopholis 
Holmes, wife Lucinda Little and children who lived in Union and Anson Co's.It's verypossible that Joshua's younger siblings could 
have moved on with either the father or older sibling and being in route do not show up in an 1850 census. 

Thoma's first child, James Franklin was born in 1850 in NC and the second Louisa Ellen b. 1852 in NC. Joshua's first child was 
born in 1853 in NC. Joshua and family, Thomas and family and Sarah could have followed in a second group. Joshua sold land in 
Anson Co in 1853 so assume they left NC after that. Thomas spent a couple of years in Mississippi because his next two children 
were born in Mississippi.

In 1860 census for Puray, McNairy Co, TN:
Thomas Wright b1830 NC (his son William Calvin is my line)
Celoma (Luten) Wright b 1833 NC (Mothers maiden name on Sarah Paralee's death certificate.)
James F. (Franklin) b. 1850 NC
Louisa E. (Ellen) b. 1852 NC

There is a 3 year gap between these two siblings. The next two children are born in Mississippi  so perhaps Elvina died in second 
childbirth in 1852, Thomas then married CelomaLutonabt 1853 (there is a Zephathat Luton in the 1850 Anson Co census who later moved 
to Madison Co Tn.) I believe he and Celoma are related since they are in same area. A Jesse Luton is listed in the 1840 census for 
Anson Co. Thomas must have stayed in MS  until after William Calvin was born and moved on to McNairy Co, TN. (Sarah) Paralee b. 1855 
MS Married William Holmes, a son of Theopholis Holmes

(William) Calvin b. 1857 MS - Married Mary Jane Holmes, a daughter of Theopholis Holmes, sister to William 
Mary A b. 1860 TN
1860 Mud Crk, McNairy Co TN census:
Sarah Wright b 1808 VA (In NC she gave her birthplace as NC and birth as 1805)
Joel W. Wright b 1835 NC
James (N) Wright b 1839 NC
Mahala Wright b. 1845 NC.

According to the Wright History there is also a sister Martha.  I can't find any censuses with them in it until 1880. Martha (Nuton) 
is listed with her children and is widowed. I've found death certificates of the children listing Lytle Newton as father and Martha 
Wright as mothers. They could have moved out of TN after they were married and she moved back when widowed. Also the censuses are 
goofed up for 1870 in that area, so possible they were missed. I can't find Thomas and family nor Theopholis Holmes and his family 
but are still in the same area in 1880.

In the 1860 Distr 12, Henderson Co
Ann Preslar Wright b 1817 NC
Arledge Wright b. 1853 NC
Marshall Wright b. 1856 TN

Joshua died after 1856 and before 1870. He is buried on the farm he owned, that in 1965 was still owned by his descendents. He is
 buried there along with Steve Caudle and 3 other Caudles and a man named Gladis.
I have followed all the alternate lines down in most of them to the 1940 census.

Thomas Wright and Celoma lived with their son James Franklin in the 1880 census.  Cannot find James after 1880 and no death record. 
Celoma died after 1880 and before 1900. Thomas is living in the 1900 census with his daughter Sarah Paralee Holmes' family and gives 
his age as 89. He does not show up after that.

Of his siblings Joel W. was thought to have moved to Kentucky. I did find a Joel W. in 1870 in Graves Co, KY with his wife Frances 
and a Franklin Wright, too old to be his son but possibly Thomas's son James Franklin. Joel married a Mary Frances (Fannie) and appears 
in the same area until the 1900 census. In one census he is listed "Jael" and another as "Joseph". He has one son, 
John Logan Wright. He must have died after 1900 as he does not appear in the 1910 census but Mary Frances is living with their son, John Logan.

James N Wright, sibling of Thomas and Joel married Jephatate Luten's daughter Flora Luten in 1867. She was born in NC. In the  1850 
Anson Co census she is listed in the household of her father Jephatate.  The Lutens followed the Wrights to Tennessee. In the 1870 
census James N and Flora are in Henderson Co, TN where they were married.  In the 1880 census they are in Clay Co, Ark and were joined 
by Jephatate and family. I believe that they moved to Clay Co, Ark because his neice, Louisa Ellen, Thomas daughter was living there. 
James and Flora had a large family and Flora died in Clay Co. James N moved on to Carroll Co, Ark and remarried but did not have any 
more children. One researcher gives his death date as 1928 but I can't find any record.

Mahala, sibling of Joshua, Thomas, Joel, James and Martha only shows up in the 1860 McNairy Co, TN census. I have read in some of the 
history of west Tennessee where many people died of diphtheria in those times. Could be what happened to her.



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