Wright family
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Dr Geoffrey Mann |
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5 Richard WRIGHT 1767-1841 |
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m Mary HARRY 1792 |
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Richard WRIGHT was born in 1767 in Mousehole and became a fisherman, probably like his father before him.
He married a Mary HARRY at the parish church when he was 25, and they had six children including twins.
Mary died in 1832, but Richard outlived her for nine years. Richard’s death was attributed simply to old age, and the death was registered by his son John.
Both Mary and Richard were buried in Paul churchyard
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age DATE RW MH |
EVENT |
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1Jny1832 65 65 |
Richard baptised at Paul, son of Martin and Anne Richard married Mary HARRY at Paul son Rd baptised at Paul – died young son Richard baptised at Paul son Benjamin baptised at Paul son John baptised at Paul dau Mary baptised at Paul twin sons Charles and Frederick baptised at Paul wife Mary buried at Paul with son Charles and his family at Mousehole; Richard was a fisherman Richard died “of old age” at Mousehole; his son John present at death Richard buried at Paul |
b=born m=married d=died
C=Christened B=Buried
Richard was married in 1792, so a birth date around 1770 or before is expected and from the 1841 census he was born c1769. His age at burial however gives a birth year of around 1757, but as discussed below, this is considered to be unreliable. Moreover, there are no suitable baptisms at Paul for Richard c1757, but there are two possible baptisms c1769:
C 3Mar1767 Richard s Martin & Anne WRIGHT
C18Feb1771 Richard s Thomas & Phillis
WRIGHT; B
C
Richard did not name any of his children Martin, Anne, Thomas or Phillis, so a birth outside Paul has to be considered. However, there are no suitable baptisms in the Cornwall IGI other than the three listed above, so it will be assumed at present that Richard was born to Martin & Anne or to Thomas & Phillis. There is only one suitable marriage at Paul for these two Richards, and the other Richard probably died in 1787: B28Dec1787 Rd WRIGHT.
The only guide to the correct baptism at present available is the name of the witness to Richard’s marriage: Martin WRIGHT. His handwriting appeared similar to the witness of the same name to the marriages of Martin WRIGHT and Sarah WRIGHT:
m
m
m
It is probable that this Martin WRIGHT was the father of the groom or bride in each case and therefore Sarah, Martin and Richard were siblings; it gives considerable confidence to this analysis that there are in fact suitable baptisms for Sarah, Martin and Richard, all children of Martin and Anne. The other witness to the last marriage, Benjamin HARRY, was Mary’s father
the records of the family of Thomas & Phillis are as follows:
C
m
C
C
?m29Dec1798 Phillis WRIGHT otp & John HUMPHRY otp bb w:Joseph BEADEN William HARRY
C
?m 1Jny1799 Elizabeth WRIGHT otp & Richard PENTREATH otp bb w:John WRIGHT Samuel WRIGHT
B
m
Unfortunately, Thomas died before any of his children were married, so there is no confirmation of these marriages by his name as witness
In the absence of further evidence, it will be assumed, on the basis of Martin’s signature as a witness to the three marriages, that Richard-5 was the son of Martin & Anne, baptised 1767
John Richard-4 was baptised at Paul in 1800, son of Richard & Mary. A series of baptisms to these parents is preceded by the following marriage:
m
Richard is a less common name in the WRIGHT family at Mousehole, and there is no reason to doubt that this is the correct marriage. There is no other Richard WRIGHT/Mary marriage at Paul before 1800 and John-4 named two of his children Richard and Mary
C
C
C
C
C
C
C 24Apr1808 Frederick twin s Richard & Mary WRIGHT
m
From his marriage and last baptism date, Richard must have been born before c1775, probably around 1770, and died after 1800; there are only two possible burials of Richard WRIGHT in the Paul register meeting these criteria:
B
B
however the death certificate for the Richard buried in 1841 gives a different age:
d
r
the first burial gives a marriage age of 49, whereas the death certificate age gives a far more likely marriage age of 26. The only possible entry for this Richard in the 1841 census for Mousehole gives him an age of 72 in line with the death certificate and he is living with Charles and Elizabeth who are almost certainly his son and daughter-in-law, as there is a suitable Charles/Elizabeth marriage at Paul: m 6Feb1831 Charles WRIGHT otp & Elizabeth Ellis BOYENS otp by banns; w Peter HOLARTH{?}, Rich PENTREATH. This supports the census and death certificate as referring to Richard-5. The informant on the death certificate is probably Richards’ son.
There is a suitable baptism for the Richard buried in 1801: C 6Nov1743 Richard s Martin jun & Mary WRIGHT
Mary HARRY was baptised in 1767, and there is only one burial of Mary WRIGHT at Paul which gives this birth date:
B 1Jny1832 Mary WRIGHT Mousehole 65 [b1767]
Richard WRIGHT 72 1769 fisherman y
Charles WRIGHT 30 1811 fisherman y
Elizabeth WRIGHT 30 1811 y
Elinor WRIGHT 6 1835 y
Mary WRIGHT 4 1837 y