I know, from his tombstone as one instance, that he was John T Wright. Becky Curry says he was John Talbott Wright, but I have yet to see his middle name given in any document. I also know that Bloyce Wright married Mary Talbott and from his will and a land record I found after Bloyce’s death that they had a son John. I am confident that our ancestor was John Talbott Wright and that he was the son of Bloyce and Mary Talbott.

John T Wright and his wife are buried near their daughter in West Liberty, Baltimore County, MD. He sold his land in Harford County in 1842 and died in 1845. My guess would be that perhaps he became infirmed and moved to live with his daughter sometime between 1842 and 1845.

He was 16 in 1790, his father has died. So he is probably with his mother, but I’m not sure she was still alive and in any event she is not to be found in 1790.

In 1800, there are two men named John Right in Harford Co. Ours I believe is the one age 26-44, the other is older.

In 1810, there is a John Wright in Havre de Grace but he is 45+ while ours is 36.

In 1820, there are two men named John Wright in Harford County. One is in District 4 and he is age 26-45, the other is in District 5 and he is 45+. Ours is just barely 46, so he really could be either.

In 1830, there are quite a number of men named John Wright in Harford and Baltimore Counties, but none fit the age profile that would match our John Wright and his known family. It is quite puzzling.

In 1840, there is a John Wright in District 4, Harford County and he does match the expected age profile.

His tombstone, which I have seen, gives his date of death (10 Jul 1845) and his age (70y 11m 26d) from which I have computed his birth date. His marriage date and the event of his marriage to Margaret Wilgis, who is buried beside him, and they next to their daughter, has been documented.

But it turns out that John T was married first to Maacha Lowe (as shown in Becky Curry’s family tree) and that her name was Mackey is proven by that land document I found where the heirs of Bloyce sold his land. But in any event, his later marriage to Margaret was documented by Robert W Barnes, ”John Wright and Margaret Wilgis 5 Dec 1827 Harford County.” Note that he was about 52 at the time of this marriage — but also note that his daughter Elizabeth Ann Wright was born in 1829. So it is still clear that it was Margaret Wilgis who was our ancestor and mother of Elizabeth Ann.

The proximity of the tombstones of John T and Margaret Wright and Elizabeth Ann and Josiah Pearce strongly suggest the relationship, coupled with the documented marriage of John T Wright and Margaret Wilgis and then the 1850 Census showing Margaret Wright and daughter Elizabeth Ann. It couldn’t be clearer.

The will of John Wright of Harford County dated 17 Mar 1838 proved 8 Oct 1845 in Baltimore County mentions wife Margaret and his “three youngest children” Elizabeth Ann, Cassandra, Henry Slicer Wright. His wife Margaret was his Executor.

In 1842, John and Margaret Wright deeded part of “Wright’s Prospect” to Robert Kirkwood. Earlier, in 1828, John Wright had similarly deeded part of Wright’s Prospects to John Wright Jr. and Caleb Wright. I think John Jr. and Caleb were his sons by his first marriage. According to the 1850 Census, Caleb was born about 1800.

Becky’s original chart showed Maacha Lowe and Margaret Wilgis as two wives of John T Wright. The very first evidence of Maacha I found was that 1811 deed where John’s wife was named “Mackey”, clearly a reference to Maacha.

She was the daughter of John Low of Shrewsbury Township, York County. In his will, as transcribed, she was named Mariah -- which probably was a typographical error in the transcription by someone not familiar with the name Maacha. And record of her marriage to John Wright is found among the records of Rev. George Moore of Delaware who apparently occasionally found his way to York County.

Mary Barnes Wright found record of a court case whereby a Dr. Forwood of Harford County sought payment from John Wright for medical services rendered by Dr. Forwood to John’s wife Maacha near the time of her 1826 death and then to Margaret Wilgis both in the time before and after her 1827 marriage to John.

Dr. Forwood was the physician responsible for the poor house of Harford County of which John Wright was an overseer. In normal circumstances, the poor house doctor would also provide medical care to the family of the overseer, but the substance of this court case was that the medical care required by the John Wright household was above and beyond “normal.”

John and Maacha had two sons named John and Caleb. John, of course, could have been named for John Wright or Maacha’s father John -- or both -- but I suspect Caleb was named for her brother.

I cannot prove beyond all shadow of a doubt that Margaret’s father was William Wilgis -- but I would bet a lot of money on it.

The 1827 marriage of John Wright to Margaret Wilgis was documented. But Margaret was born in 1801, meaning she was a little older than was typical for a woman marrying back in those days. I have seen cases where a marriage record for a woman only gave her (first) married name and made no mention of a maiden name -- when it was her second marriage. So, since I could not find absolute proof that her father was William Wilgis, I pondered the question of whether Margaret had married some Mr. Wilgis first and then John Wright as her second husband.

During that period of doubt, I came to focus on the name John and Margaret gave their first son -- Henry Slicer Wright. Could that be a clue to Margaret’s maiden name? Was she born maybe Margaret Slicer, daughter of Henry and named her son after her father? It wasn’t hard to find a man named Henry Slicer who it turns out John Wright and Margaret must have known -- he was probably their pastor at some point in time -- but it soon became obvious he was Margaret’s age so could not have been her father and once I realized he was born just a few weeks prior to she, the idea was ruled out that he was her brother.

But I did go ahead and order the death certificate of Henry Slicer Wright just to leave no stone unturned and it then confirmed that indeed his mother was Margaret Welgess. Case closed.

Now, one of the “tricks” I have used to try to identify some of my other problematic ancestors is to study early Census listings to try to see who might have been in the right place at the right time and had a child of the right gender and age to be a candidate -- and then to try to learn more about that candidate person.

In this case, since we know Margaret was born in 1801 and married in 1827 in Harford County, my idea was to examine the 1810 and 1820 Censuses for that place. Remember, those early Censuses only named the head of household and then counted up other family members by tick marks according to gender and age bracket. Using this technique, William Wilgis was in the right place at the right time with the right name and the right Census headcounts in 1810 to be her possible father. In 1820, either Margaret was the daughter reported as just 10-16 or perhaps was already living in the John Wright household.
But in point of fact, there really is no other candidate. If not William, who?

I am not sure who her father was, so I did not expect to find her until she would show up with her husband. But in looking for her husband in 1820, I found someone named William Wilgus — an unusual surname. If he’s her father, she can be accounted for in 1810 but not 1820 in his household. Here is his Census history:

1790. I’ve not found him.

1800. William Wilgess, age 26-44 lives in District 4, Harford County. Living with him are his wife (presumably) of the same age, a son 10-15 and 4 daughters under 10. I don’t think Margaret was born yet, so she will be daughter number 5. A neighbor is James Wilgess 45+. James is also present in 1790.

1810. William Wilgess, age 45+ lives in Harford County. Living with him are a male and female both 26-44, 2 younger males and 2 young females under 10. One of these might well be Margaret, age 9.

1820. William Wilgus, age 45+ lives in 4th Election District, Harford County — the same place as John Wright. Living with him are 2 young males and 3 females: ages under 10, 10-16 and 26-45. I believe Margaret was born in 1801 (based on her tombstone) and married in 1827, so she should be 19 and living here, if this is her father. But there are any number of plausible explanations as to why she might not be there or possibly has been misreported as to age bracket.

1830. William Wilgess, age 60-70, lives in Election District 3, Harford County. Living with him are 2 younger males and three females: ages 10-15, 20-30 and 40-50.

As for Margaret, in 1830 and 1840, she would be with the elusive John Wright. After he dies, by 1850 she is head of household and I have found her and also in 1860 — but not in 1870.

1850. Margaret Wright, 45, is living in the Second District, Baltimore County. Living with her is Elizabeth A 20, so she has not yet married, and several younger children.

1860. Margaret Wright, 56, is living in the Seventh District, Parkton, Baltimore County. Living with her is Henry age 22. He is no doubt Henry L of the 1850 Census.

I do not know how to reconcile her birth date as computed from her age at death as given on her tombstone with the lower age she consistently gave the Census taker.

Margaret Wright age 70 in 1870 in Frederick County with Cynthia Duvall -- who are these people?

There is an Ann Wilgess buried at McKendree died 19 Feb 1877 in her 79th year. She may be a sister or sister-in-law of Margaret. I can only find her in 1850, not 1860 or 1870 -- in 1850 she lives with James Norris 49 ad his wife Sarah 28.

Margaret’s tombstone, which I have seen, gives her date of death (25 Jan 1875) and her age (73y 9m 11d) from which I have computed her birth date. All I know about her is that she was the wife, the second wife, of John Talbott Wright, but I am certain our 2g-grandmother, Elizabeth Ann Wright, was born after Margaret’s marriage to John.

As was often the case with a second wife, Margaret was much younger than her husband and survived him by thirty years.

The Wrights and their related families are a pretty complete lineage. Most every line goes back to the immigrant, in most cases in the 1600’s. The main dead end is Margaret Wilgis. Other than a guess of who her father might have been based on Census listings, I know no other ancestors for her for certain.

In addition to his three “youngest children” actually named by John in his 1838 will, the 1850 Census adds Emory P 9 and John W 5. His wording was meant to specify his children by Margaret and exclude those he had by first wife Maacha Low but curiously John never updated his will to then mention his two even younger children born after 1838.

Of their known children, the most interesting to me is Henry Slicer Wright. His death certificate rules out that Margaret may have been Margaret Slicer, daughter of Henry, as I did suspect at least for a short time.

But his is still a curious name. Clearly, Henry Slicer was obviously someone who was very important to Margaret and/or John, probably both of them.

Henry Slicer was a Methodist minister whose first assignment was the parishes of Harford County, this around the time that Margaret Wilgis came into contact with John Wright first as the aide to his ailing wife and then after she died, as his second wife. Did Henry marry them? Was there more to it? It’s an interesting mystery to ponder.

Rev. Edward Talbott, an early Methodist minister, was, I believe, John’s first cousin. John was a devout Methodist. He named a son after another Methodist minister. It is Methodism which I believe helps solidify the case of who John’s mother’s ancestors were.