Genealogy Report: Descendants of William Wright
Descendants of William Wright
1.WILLIAM1 WRIGHTHe married FRANCIS TAYLOR.
Notes for WILLIAM WRIGHT:
(1.) Many thanks to Ed Domangue on his information on this family and his
essay below.
(2.) I would also like to thank Sandra D. Kelly for input and help on this family.
Essay by Ed Domangue on William Wright
In 1803/4, a party from Sumpter Co., SC, led by Robert Tanner, a surveyor,
immigrated to the region that is today Wilkinson and Amite Co.'s, MS, and W.
and E. Feliciana Parishes, LA. The group included the descendants of Robert
TAYLOR of Edgecombe Co., NC, who squatted on land along Clear Creek in what is
now T1S-R3E of E. Feliciana PAr., La. At least two of these, Nimrod and
Richard TAYLOR, lived in Lincoln Co., GA, prior to immigration. I believe that
one of these men is the parent of Frances, or "Frankie" TAYLOR, who m. William
WRIGHT ca. 1805 at the estimated age of 16 years in Lincoln Co., GA. However,
the Taylor family was large, and the entire tribe came to Feliciana. I
discovered these facts using the clue, Billington TAYLOR. His name was so
unusual that I traced it to his progenitor. All of these people were members
of the Hephzibah Baptist Church.
On 4 Dec 1810, 6 days before the U.S. annexed the region, already
"liberated' in September from Spain by revolution of the inhabitants, William
Wright and David Jones were granted permission to cross Indian Territory at
Lincoln Co., GA. William had a wife and 3 children: William H., who died in
the 1830's without issue; Mary, who left 2 children, Miranda m. Wm. FINLEY of
Catahoula Par., LA, and Wade POOLE of Jackson Par, LA; and Burrell, who lived
in both Jackson and Catahoula Parishes, but had only daughters. Lankford was
born in 1812 in Feliciana, probably at the home of one of the members of the
Taylor family. All the unoccupied land was taken by the earlier settlers to
this region, and it wan't until several years later that Wright got a place of
his own. But, what a settlement pattern! I'm certain that it was logical to
Robert Tanner, but it looks totally illogical on the map! Each family was
separated from one another by about 0.75 miles. There are two major water
sources in the region, Beaver Creek and the Amite River. This land was under
title to Bernard Marginy, a weathy French Creole in New Orleans. Marginy got
this property as a Spanish grant, but never improved or occupied it. After
annexation by the U.S., congress decided to treat the Spanish grants the same
way in feliciana as it did in Louisiana; ie, all titles null and void;
settlers must establish habitation or cultivation to obtain new titles. So,
Marginy sued to remove the squatters and lost. Wright, however, arrived too
late to get free land, so he purchased land, using the money he undoubtedly
obtained from the sale of properties in Lincoln Co., GA.
In 1818, William WRIGHT, like all the other Feliciana inhabitants, claimed
habitation on the property in Amite Co., stating that he resided there since
Dec. 1816. This is the last date that I have for him being alive. His wife,
Frances, remarried in 1822 to David POOLE. POOLE was also an older man, with
many grown sons. He lived on Section 38 of T1S-R3E of e. Feliciana Par., LA,
immediately east of the taylor families and about 6.5 air miles from the land
that William WRIGHT purchased. I recently traveled to both of these
properties. My observation was that William WRIGHT could not have possibly
cleared more than a small portion, probably his homestead and a vegetable
plot, during the short period that he lived on it. The soil is of marginal
fertility, having access to water, but insufficent to be considered reliable
for cotton production. Futhermore, the terrain is hilly, and altogether seems
unsuitable for most agriculture other than timber production. This is the
present-day economy of the region. One of the first consequences of the
joining of the Wright and Poole families in 1822 was the pregancy of daughter
Mary by david's son, Coldwell POOLE. They later married in W. Felicana Par.,
and had another child, Wade. I believe that Frances TAYLOR reared both
children of Mary WRIGHT, as Mary died immediately following the birth of the
second child, and Coldwell remarried. There is no question that the 1822
marriage of David P. POOLE and Frances TAYLOR resulted in a life-long
parntership between the descendants of both families. I am still puzzled
however, about the curious naming of children after ancestor surnames. Burrell
POOLE b. 1801 and Burrell WRIGHT b. 1810. This just can't be coincidence, yet
I have found no prior relationship between these families.
I want to stop at this point and digress to say that the LA/MS frontier,
the 31st parallel, arbitrarily divided the community. At first, there was no
impact, as there is no natural topigraphical feature within the region to
identify the demarkation. Clear Creek runs east-west, through the present
community of Felixville, LA, about 3 or 4 miles south of the frontier.
Although Louisiana achieved statehood in 1812, the inhabitants in the region
of which I speak of identied with the government formed at Liberty, MS, in
1817 (Amite Co., MS). It wasn't until the early 1830's that these families
began the exclusive use of the E. Feliciana government. The early civil
records of these families are therefore to be found in the Amite Co.
courthouse. These is a folio there on Lankford WRIGHT et al,estate, minors,
dated 1830, in file no. 213, case 4643. These original documents date from the
period when their step father, David P. POOLE, and later their (possible)
grandfather, Richard TAYLOR, were seeking guardianship for the purpose of
liquidating their inheritance, a parcel of land, specically the NE quarter of
T1S-R2E, Amite Co., MS, purchased by William WRIGHT in 1817 at Washington, MS.
It was this information that allowed Dr. Sam Poole of Houston, TX, to
reconstruct the William WRIGHT family, specifically for the purpose of
determining the parents of his ancestor, Wade POOL, of Jackson Parish.
David POOLE died in 1830 and his property was divided. Frances TAYLOR,
together with son Lankford and Mary's two children, remained in East Feliciana
Parish until after 1845. However, Burrell WRIGHT and many of the POOLE sons
went to Jackson Parish in 1834 and lived near the present community of Eros,
LA. It was until the 1850 census, however, that we find Lankford WRIGHT and
his nephew, Wade POOLE, living next to brother Burrell. Frances TAYLOR lived
many more years, but she moved to Catahoula Parish where she lived with her
grandaughter, Miranda, and her husband, William FINLEY. The last census to
identify Frances is the 1860, where she states that she was born in Virgina.
Burrell WRIGHT left Jackson Parish in 1859 and bought land in Catahoula.
Lankford never left Jackson. His widow and his family are in the 1870 census
of Jackson Parish. However, two sons, Geroge W. and Marshall WRIGHT, are found
in the 1880 census of Catahoula Parish, along with many families bearing the
POOLE and TAYLOR names, some named for Lankford and Richard.
On the origins of William Wright:
Between 1800 and 1805, there are several places in the civil records of
Lincoln Co., GA, where William WRIGHT was either taxed or involved in property
conveyances. One of these land sales was between William WRIGHT and Richard
TAYLOR. It appears that both men lived on the Little River that forms the
present southern boundary of the County. So, I am confident that William
WRIGHT moved to Feliciana in 1811 for the purpose of joining his in-laws, the
Taylors, who were already established in the region. However, what I am not
confident about is the heritage of this man. There was one land sale, in 1800,
in which William WRIGHT had a wife named Lydia. 1800 preceded the time when I
believe that he married Frances TAYLOR. So, he either had a first marriage,
and was therefore much older than Frances, or we are taking about two William
Wright's in Lincoln Co. at the same time.
In 1784, William WRIGHT received a land bounty of about 300 acres in
Georgia for his particiption the the Revolutionary War, having "remained to
defend the State." This implies to me that he was at least a teenager during
the war, which places the probable birthdate around 1765. William Wright was
therefore at or around age 45 years when he left Georgia. In association with
William Wright in Lincoln Co., is an Issac Wright. In 1817, Issac Wright
marries in Amite Co., MS. In addition, Susan WRIGHT of Lincoln Co., GA, made a
will in 1811 naming Willam and Issac, her brothers, as executors. All of this
circumstantial evidence leads me to the conclusion that William WRIGHT, the
ancestor whom I seek, was a long-term resident of the west bank of the
Savannah River, and was maybe even born there. Clearly, he was a frontiersman,
for Gerogia was largely unoccupied prior to 1783. But who were his parents?
Regards,
Ed Domangue
[email protected]
8126 Cheno Cortina Tr.
Austin, TX78749
Children of WILLIAM WRIGHT and FRANCIS TAYLOR are:
| i. | WILLIAM H.2 WRIGHT, d. Aft. 1830. | ||
| 2. | ii. | MARY WRIGHT. | |
| 3. | iii. | BURRELL WRIGHT, b. Abt. 1810. | |
| 4. | iv. | LANKFORD WRIGHT, b. 1815, Mississippi. |