Robert Barnes only provides the information that her name was Sarah. That she was Sarah Holbrook is a fact gleaned from the will of Thomas Holbrook, which not only mentions his daughter, Sarah Wright, but also her son Thomas.

Robert Barnes says Sarah was named in her husband’s will and therefore died after 1737. But she wasn’t named in that will which actually was written in 1733, so I have stated her date of death as before 1733. (But the fact that he disavowed her apparently in 1722 may suggest that her absence from his will may not have meant she pre-deceased him.)

The records of Somerset Parish show the births of son Thomas and daughter Sarah to Bloyce Wright and his wife Sarah (Holbrook). Sarah was born 5 Jul 1706.

Bloyce was the son of William and Frances (Bloyce) Wright. His name strongly suggests his mother’s maiden name, and it is confirmed by two Somerset County land records. In one, Bloyce passed three tracts of land inherited from his father William to his brothers Solomon and William. In the other, Frances, widow of William Wright, passed two tracts of land to her son Bloyce which she obtained from her father Thomas Bloyce.

Bloyce and his wife Sarah sold the lands he received from his mother in 1718 and deeds show that he first bought land in 1719 in Baltimore County in the northern reaches of the Chesapeake Bay at the mouths of Gunpowder River and Middle River. When he bought that first land in Baltimore County, he was said to be of Somerset County. He subsequently bought and sold more land at and near the head of Gunpowder River and in those later transactions was said to be of Baltimore County.

I always worry when a man shows up in a new place and I want to believe he is the same man of that name from some other place that maybe there were several men of the same name and I may be confusing them. In this case, the uniqueness of Bloyce’s name gives me some comfort that I have not confused two men of the same name and then the fact that in 1719, when buying land in Baltimore County, he was said to be of Somerset County seals the deal for me.

One of the leases by Thomas Brerewood was to William Wright then 26 [1716], Sarah his wife 23 and daughter Mary 4 months.

The will of Bloice (Bloys) Wright of BAL Co was dated 20 Jun 1733 and proved 31 Jan 1737. He leaves 150a "Swallow Fork" on Seneca Creek, Middle River to eldest son Thomas also 150a variously called "Gunpowder Islands", "Phillip's Islands" or "Carvell’s Island". To son William dwelling plantation at mouth of Gunpowder River. Note -- the abstract I have does not mention Sarah, though Barnes says she is mentioned in some form. He also leaves personal items to Joan Penny.

Robert Barnes says: “Bloyce Wright, son of William and Frances, was born 5 Mar 1681 in Somerset County, MD. He died before 31 Jan 1737 in Baltimore County. In Nov 1722, he stated he would not pay the debts of his wife Sarah who had deserted him. His will named widow Sarah and sons Thomas and William.” Barnes adds that he also had a daughter named Sarah.

I have a copy of Bloyce’s will and it makes no mention of either a widow nor daughter named Sarah, however both people did exist. His will mentioned eldest son Thomas to whom he bequeathed 150 acre Swallow Fork and 150 acre Carvells Islands (which went by several names). He also left land to son William and he left various items to Jean (or Joan) Penny but does not indicate his relationship to her.

I don’t know who Jean Penny was or what the relationship, if any, may have been to Bloyce Wright. I find it curious that one of the tracts of land he owned was called Pennywise and another called Little Mony (which I’ve always assumed was just a bad spelling of Little Money). So did Bloyce own two tracts whose names had something to do with money or was one of them more associated with some family named Penny? Note that at the time, the base unit of coinage would have been the shilling or pence -- not the penny.

The lands that Bloyce Wright was associated with in Baltimore County are variously described as being at the head of Middle River, Bird River and/or Gunpowder River and had names including Lee’s Island, Phillip’s Island, Carvell’s Island and/or Carroll’s Island -- some of these just different names for the same place. The “rivers” mentioned really were estuaries in the Northern Chesapeake Bay. There is today a place called Carroll’s Island -- it is an island but more like the tip of the peninsula extending into those estuaries.