2. | Thomas WRIGHT, * was born on 19 Nov 1610 in The Moat House, South Weald, Brentwood Borough, Essex, England; was christened on 19 Nov 1610 in of Wethersfield, Conn (son of Lord Sir John Thomas WRIGHT and Lady Grace Swindles GLASCOCK); died on 21 Apr 1670 in Weathersfield, Hartford, Connecticut; was buried in Wethersfield, Hartford County, Connecticut, United States of America. Notes:
"Thomas Wright, Esq., was born 19 November 1610 in England. His first wife's name is unknown. He came first probably to Watertown, Massachusetts. He was of the Massachusetts Court of Assistants before the Colonial Government was established in Boston, and removed to Wethersfield, Connecticut, probably about 1639. He was recognized as a man of influence and high standing. He was deputy to the General Court of Connecticut in 1643; Selectman, 1658; Commissioner on Town Lines, etc. He was made a freeman on 11 May 1654, and his name is on the 1669 list of freeman. He and Enoch Buck were Constables in 1668 to 1669, and he was on court jury at Hartford the same year. He also seems to have been prominent in the church fight which led many to remove to Hadley, Massachusetts.
Thomas had one homestead of three and one-half acres on the west side of High Street, on which his house was built, probably before 1639. His property was bounded by Robert Abbott, north, and Samuel Clark, south. A house lot of three acres was recorded to him in Wethersfield on 11 December 1640. He received another homestead in 1654 consisting of a house, barn and five acres of land, bought of Samuel Hale, on the west side of Back Street, between Luke Hitchcock, north, and land belonging to Matthew Griswold, south. He bought the Richard Belden lot of twenty and one-half acres in west field in 1654. He became, by purchase, the owner of a large part of the Great Island, thereafter known as Wright's Island, and which he mostly gave to his sons Thomas and James, who bought other parcels of the island. Wright's Island, about six or seven miles below Hartford, lay a little north of an east and west line drawn through Wethersfield.
Thomas Wright was given a grant of land which took in a part of the island, and he increased his part of it by purchase. He gave this to his sons Thomas and James. The latter increased his part of it by purchase, and left most of it to his son James, who acquired nearly all of it and built a house there in 1711. He had a ferry of his own, and a dock was built near the north end of the island. There was a noted fishing place there for salmon and shad. As time went on, the stream east of the island filled up, and a division of its bed was made by arbitration between James Wright and adjacent owners. About 1780/1790, what was known as the island was set off from Wethersfield to Glastonbury, which had been made a town in 1696. The river began to wear away the upper part of the island and continued to do so until the dock finally appeared on the other side of the river, and the Wright living there at that time went and claimed the land about it as his own, and received it too. At the present time, the river flows over what was the island -- "A ten thousand dollar farm gone into the river." The house was removed to Glastonbury, and is now occupied.
The island was called by the Indians 'Mannahannock' (Great Laughing Place). The Indians used to meet there and have games and wrestling.
Thomas married second on 2 May 1647, Margaret Elson, widow of John Elson, who had been killed by the Indians in the Wethersfield massacre of 1637. There were no children from the second marriage.
In his will, Thomas also gave to his wife Margaret, "All the linen that I have in my possession that was of her own spinning." Margaret is said to have been before her marriage to Elson, the wife of, possibly, Hugh Hilliard, or Hillier, by whom she had three children, Ben, Job, and John. She died 1670-1.
Her will dated 19 January 1670/1671, mentions her grandson William, son of Job Hillier, deceased, Margaret Woustan and Sarah Holamouth, daughters of her son Benjamin Hillier, and the wife of her step-son Thomas Wright, (she gives her towe [tow] and if that was not enough, for her labor of love, her executors were to give more.) Inventory of her estate amounted to 82-19/8." Wright Lineage at http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~legends/wright.html
Thomas married Mary CRANBROKE, * on 10 Aug 1629 in South Weald, Essex, England. Mary was born on 21 Sep 1609 in Cranbroke, , Kent, England; died in 1641 in Watertown, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, USA; was buried in Watertown, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States of America. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]
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