There is a book by Emerson B Roberts titled Wainwright and Related Families which purports to trace the paternal ancestry of Mary Wainwright who was born in Somerset County in 1818. The Bloyce family was one branch of her family tree and in discussing the Bloyce family, Roberts makes mention of the Wright family who were closely associated with them. This book could also have been titled Early Somerset County Families.

I have long been aware of our connection to the Bloyce family because William Wright, who I thought was probably our immigrant ancestor of his family, married Frances Bloyce. They named a son Bloyce and it seemed obvious that the origin of his name was her maiden name.

Emerson Roberts adds an interesting twist to this story. He makes mention of an earlier Bloyce Wright, says he was the father of William, and that “it seems probable that Bloyce Wright was a close relative to Thomas Bloyce, he [Bloyce] also appears in the Virginia records as early as 1636.” In other words, this much earlier Bloyce Wright, who would have been born in England, was given his name because of the familial connection to the Bloyce family there.

Roberts does not say exactly what that 1636 mention of Bloyce Wright was. But he traced Thomas Bloyce from his presence in Accomack and neighboring Northampton County, Virginia to his “immigration” into Somerset County, Maryland in 1662. Roberts then cites a whole series of land patents in Somerset County dated 1679 surveyed for Thomas Bloyce and assigned to William Wright.

This all makes for interesting reading and, especially as it relates to those land patents, includes plenty of documented facts -- but Roberts actually never does list any documented fact associated with this earlier man named Bloyce Wright, who he says died by 5 Jun 1688, which again is stated without supporting documentation. So, did Bloyce exist? I’m not sure.

So my story of this family really begins with William Wright.