Thomas Wright

Life

Thomas Wright, of Berlin New Jersey, was born in Ireland, the great-grandson of George Wright of Banbridge, who emigrated to Ireland around 1709 from Gateshead, County Durham, England.

While Thomas could well have been born near Banbridge, County Down on September 22, 1770 to any one of a number of Wright families there, it now appears that he was in fact born to George Wright of Clones, County Monaghan, who was the eldest son of Samuel Wright of Ematris Parish, County Monaghan, in turn eldest son of George Wright of Banbridge. His mother was Isabella McKee, a daughter of Thomas McKee, who Thomas was named after. Isabella was born near Clogher, County Tyrone, as was George. Thomas was born in Clones Parish, County Monaghan.

Thomas emigrated to Philadelphia (ship unknown) in early February of 1798, along with a brothers Francis, Malcom, and John, first cousin John Johnson, first cousin James McLain, first cousin James Alfred Cameron, of Philadelphia, uncle William McKee, four sons of William's (it is not known if the mother accompanied them), and many others. All told, at least 36 cousins, uncles, and aunts by blood or marriage accompanied Thomas to the New World from County Monaghan and nearby County Fermanagh. See this project for further details.

Thomas was a blacksmith by trade. In May of 1798, he married Rebecca Inskeep, daughter of a well-known Evesham family. The couple established themselves on a tract of land purchased from Rebecca's family in what is now Berlin, New Jersey, purchasing 200 acres from Rebecca's brother in 1807. He founded a tavern that year, which finally became licensed in 1812. In 1812, he was appointed the first postmaster general for the town. Later, he started a charcoal business, which his son Thomas took over when he died.

Rebecca Inskeep was a prominent Presbyterian, daughter of a (deceased) judge and a large landholder in the region. The implication is that he, too, was Presbyterian or Episcopal, which is interesting because Thomas's claimed ancestors were Quakers.

The charcoal business Thomas founded harks back to his Ireland origins, because Ireland was forced to use charcoal rather than true coal due to a complete lack of the latter.

Thomas's signature on his Intent to Naturalize document shows that he was an educated and literate man when he arrived in Philadelphia.

Thomas and Rebecca's children include:

1. William Inskeep Wright, b. 1800
2. Thomas Buckman Wright, b. 1802
3. Richard Wright, b. 1804
4. Joseph Edward Wright, b. 1808
5. Elizabeth Johnson, b. 1810
6. John Wright, b. 1813 (sometimes given as 1817)

Note that Joseph Edward Wright is a late addition to this list; it appears that by moving to Philadelphia his affiliation with the Berlin Wrights was lost to later genealogists. There is still a possibility of another child born 1806 that moved away that we know nothing about.

Thomas died in 1839.

Immigration and relatives

Thomas and his brother Francis declared their intention to naturalize on February 20, 1798. Their first cousin James Alfred Cameron, of Philadelphia had apparently taken ship with them on the same boat - and declared his intent to naturalize on February 19, 1798. DNA evidence has shown for a long time that these persons were related, but this makes it very clear, and solidifies the relationship back in Ireland.

SImilarly, Thomas's daughter Elizabeth married John Rogers Johnson, the son of fellow Irish immigrant John Johnson and his wife Sarah Rogers. I now believe John Johnson was Thomas's first cousin, likely because John's mother was Louisa Wright, a sister of Thomas's father George.

Ancestry

There is zero doubt that Thomas Wright was genetically an Armstrong, and was clearly descended from the Armstrongs of County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. A brief summary of Clan Armstrong history is here.

By chromosome-level DNA analysis, and by building the trees of DNA matches, I've been able to determine that Thomas Wright is unquestionably the grandson of Samuel Wright, of Ematris and Mary, his Armstrong wife.

Through Y-DNA testing, it was also determined that a direct male line descendant, Karl David Wright, had no relationship with the Quaker Yorkshire Wrights who arrived in 1679.

There is also no question that grandfather Samuel Wright was also not one of the other "ancient" Yorkshire Wrights who settled in Gola, County Monaghan, in the mid 1600's. This too was confirmed with a negative Y-DNA test against a known Gola Wright descendant living in modern Minnesota. Instead, it appears that Samuel was the eldest son of George Wright of Banbridge, who arrived in northern Ireland from Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, some time around 1709, and the Y-DNA lineage ties Thomas back from there into Staffordshire and can be traced through records to the mid 1500s. A distant Y-DNA match for a London cardiologist with origins in Staffordshire tie together the who lineage beautifully.

The Wrights in Staffordshire and in Newcastle were coal miners and sellers, so it ties together Thomas's New Jersey charcoal business with the family means of income for at least five generations.

A History of Long-A-Coming

A descendant, Charles W Wright wrote a book titled A History of Long-A-Coming, which states incorrectly that Thomas was the descendant of the Quaker Wright brothers from Kingston upon Hull, as quote below from Johnson/Williams site:

pg 244 of book on History of Long-A-Coming: His father [actually ancestor] Thomas came to America in 1679 with brothers, Joshua and Samuel from Kingston Upon Hull 160 miles north of London, England. In 1807, purchased 200 acres from father-in-law at Long-A-Coming, including the Long-A-Coming Tavern (now Stafford Museum at 161 S White Horse Pike.) He ran the tavern from 1812 to 1821. Appointed Postmaster by President James Madison on August 28, 1812. In 1815 purchased 22 acres from Benjamin B Cooper. Residence and blacksmith shop at present site of 7-11 store at Washington Ave and Tansboro Rd. In 1816 he started the first charcoal mill in the village. A larger mill was built by his son Thomas B Wright in 1838.

From this site:

WRIGHT’S CHARCOAL WORKS is the only manufacturing interest in the village aside from the ordinary mechanic pursuits. This business was begun about seventy years ago by Thomas Wright, the grandfather of the present proprietor, in the upper end of the village, near the public-house which he was at that time keeping. His mill was small, the grinding being done by a single horse. About 1839, Thomas B. Wright, his son, established the present works on a scale much greater than the old mill, which has been abandoned. After his death, in 1847, his son Charles took charge of the business and has since successfully carried on the same. About twenty years ago he began using steam-power, whereby he was enabled to greatly increase the capacity of the works. In 1886 there were seventeen retorts, capable of refining six hundred bushels of daily. The demands of trade require the preparation of the coal in various forms, the principal ones being pulverized and granulated. These works have been useful in converting the surplus timber supply of this section into a commodity whose shipment is easily made and has furnished steady employment to a number of men. In late years nearly all the crude coal has been brought to the works from outside the county by the railroad, which has here a convenient side-track.

About the claim that Thomas Wright came from Moorestown, NJ

I've contacted the Moorestown Historical Society to see if they would have a contemporaneous record of which Wrights lived in their town on or around 1770. Their response is interesting:

Joseph Wright comes up fairly frequently on Ancestry’s US Reconstructed Census Records and NJ State Tax Ratables Lists in the years 1770, 1774, 1780.

Thomas Wright came up also in 1793 and 1800. He was also listed as township committee member in 1809-1810.

In The History of Burlington County by Woodward and Hageman, Joshua Wright’s name comes up for Chester Township as an Assessor in 1738-1742 and 1749-1750. Also listed in the NJ Calendar of Wills in 1773.

Good luck in your research,
Stephanie Herz
Librarian, Historical Society of Moorestown

The implication is that the Moorestown Wrights indeed had a Thomas Wright descendant who was active in Town politics in 1809 and 1810, which means he was NOT the same Thomas as Thomas Wright of Berlin NJ.

I therefore am skeptical that Thomas was in fact born in Moorestown. I believe that the author of "A History..." did some basic genealogical research and made a mistaken connection with another Thomas in the area, which I've created here: Thomas Wright.

DNA analysis

Y-DNA tests for a known descendant of Thomas show no match to tests done for descendants of brother Joshua of supposed ancestor Thomas Wright, of Burlington, born 1630 in Howden, East Riding of Yorkshire. This could be due to only three possibilities:

• Thomas of Burlington is not, in fact, an ancestor of Thomas of Berlin NJ, despite claims made in 'A History of Long-A-Coming' included below; or
• Thomas of Burlington was not, in fact, a true brother of Joshua Wright
• The male lineage from Moses Wright to Thomas Wright of Burlington is incorrect

We received testing from another claimed descendant of Thomas of Burlington to resolve this question. This is a supposedly a male-line descendant of Thomas's son Benjamin. However, the following is true:

• Y-DNA from the individual matched neither the known descendant of Thomas of Berlin, nor the known descendants of Joshua, supposed brother of Thomas of Burlington.
• The individual also submitted an autosomal test, which did not match the autosomal test of the known descendant of Thomas of Long-a-Coming.
• Autosomal DNA shows a match to a descendant of the Brodwells, who married into the Philadelphia Gillingham family, making it supported that Thomas of Burlington and his wife Grace Gillingham really were the parents of Thomas of Burlington. But a better path to this person (at seventh cousin level) was found, so the autosomal match is not meaningful in determining the parentage of Thomas of Long-a-Coming.

The conclusion is that we still can't tell whether Thomas of Burlington is in fact a brother of Joshua. But other lines of evidence do lead to the conclusion that Thomas of Berlin is not in fact a descendant of the Yorkshire Wrights.

Origins vs. 'the book'

How did the book "History of Long-a-Coming", and indeed Thomas's family, come to believe he was a descendant of Thomas Wright of Burlington? It was likely that the tale of the arrival of the Wright Brothers in New Jersey was well circulated at that time, and Thomas clearly got wind of it. When he decided to propose marriage, given that he was marrying into the wealthiest family in the area, he obviously felt the need to claim more elevated origins than he in fact possessed. It is possible that his to-be-wife Rebecca knew about this mild chicanery as well. Once started, a rumor like that would be very hard to kill, until DNA testing proved it false.

Reasons for immigration

One of the reasons for the immigration to New Jersey becomes clear when one considers that Thomas started a charcoal business in Berlin NJ shortly after arrival. From AncestryIreland:

Ireland was unfortunate in that it could not compensate for the diminishing woodland with alternative mineral discoveries and developments. This created a particular problem for the small iron-smelting industries. In the seventeenth century charcoal furnaces had been founded throughout the country, but these had virtually vanished by the late 1780s. As early as 1699 the House of Commons was considering a petition from the Dublin smiths on the scarcity of iron 'by reason of the small quantity thereof that is made here, but also that the little that is made is so extraordinary dear, and so very bad'. The blacksmiths were the jacks-of-all-trades, from shoeing horses to making pans. They requested an act to encourage the importation of pig-iron, pointing out that this would benefit not only them but the kingdom at large, by preventing the destruction of the remaining woods. Later in the century the Royal Dublin Society (founded in 1731 and incorporated in 1750), which was the channel for many parliamentary grants, offered premiums for both charcoal and bark substitutes, but satisfactory alternatives eluded them.

It has also been pointed out that a few months after the Wright brothers arrived in Philadelphia, an insurrection broke out in Ireland. It may be that the County Monaghan immigrants knew what was coming and wanted nothing to do with it.

Note about relationship with fellow immigrant John Rogers

Thomas certainly settled immediately in Berlin, New Jersey, after getting off the 1798 Monaghan boat. He had many first cousins aboard that boat but only a few of them (both Wright cousins) settled in Berlin alongside him - James McLain, possibly Matthew McLain, John Johnson, and the younger Johnson siblings as well. And then there was John Rogers, who also picked Berlin instead of Philadelphia. This argues that there was a close relationship between John Rogers, or Eve his wife, and Thomas Wright. But genealogically this is hard to find; Eve's parents were named Hugh and Eve, and they were of the same generation as Samuel Wright of Clogher and his two wives. So why did Thomas and John Rogers choose to settle in the same town? They were practically unrelated by Irish standards.

The only possible close relationship I can come up with requires noting that Thomas married Rebecca Inskeep quite late even by Irish standards, and that most of the immigrants of his age had already married by the time they left Ireland. John Rogers, on the other hand, has large holes in his tree, probably representing daughters we know nothing about. If Thomas had a Rogers first wife, it might answer another question: why Thomas never seemed to have named any of his children "George", after his father. If Thomas, a Rogers first wife, and a first son George who had later died, what better place to settle than alongside his in-laws? Of course it did not work out; this hypothetical first wife had died by May, and Thomas had remarried. Probably George didn't survive many years either - or maybe I can find evidence for him in adulthood.