Maria Watson Wright (1832-1863)
I want to first share the story of Maria Watson Wright (1832-1863), my Paternal Great Great Grandmother. You see, I inherited a huge amount of completed Genealogy from my Dad's father. He had never shared this with any of the family but when he died, in 1975, we discovered that he had spent many years researching our Wright and affiliated families at the St Louis, Missouri Library. Grandpa worked as a US Mail Clerk on the Chicago Burlington and Quincy Railroad throughout the 1920's, '30's, '40's and '50's. He would usually have a three day layover in St. Louis and if the Cardinals were not playing, he went to the Library. He did an awesome job; one Family line, the Boynton family, he had documented back to 1064!! Amazing, especially considering that there was no ancestry.com back then!
Anyway, I inherited all his work and there, of course, were many dead ends-Brick Walls-ancestors that he was unable to find record of. For me, the most glaring and poignant was Maria Watson who married my Great Great Grandfather, James Monroe Wright (1834-1912), had a son, Traverse Rock Wright ( 1859-1940) and then died at age 31. James and his 3 year old son moved to Illinois from their home in Bucks County PA; James remarried and had 2 more children. Grandpa had been unable to find anything more about Maria, his grandmother; he never discovered who her parents were, where she was born or where she was buried. All we really had of her were two pictures, one holding her son at about age one year and one of her alone. She was very pretty with a lovely, gentle smile and dark hair worn in a Victorian style. I really wanted to know more about this young woman.
James Monroe Wright (1834-1912)
Maria was the 1st "Brick Wall that I broke down. For years, I had nothing more of her than those pictures. Then one day in about 2008 or so, I was reading the abstract of the Last Will and Testament of Joshua Wright (1791-1863), father of James Monroe and therefore Maria's Father-in-law.. Reading through the list of Joshua's heirs, I noticed a Margaret Watson. Margaret Wright was a sister of James Monroe-she was 5 years older...and she married a Watson!? I then found a marriage record for Margaret Wright to one Rueben Watson. So..my next step was to pull up the 1850 Census for Bucks County on which I had previously found 2 Maria Watsons of the approximate correct age. Well what do you know...one of the Maria's had a brother Rueben. Bingo!! I now knew which Watson family she belonged with, where they lived ( in Bensalem, Bucks County, PA) what her father's first name was (Samuel), the fact that her mother had already died and the names and approximate birth years of her siblings! Finding the 1870 Census for this family also gave me a clue to the maiden name of her mother; the father Samuel had died but there was an elderly man named Joseph Wiley living in the family home with 2 of Maria's and Rueben's siblings. Maybe an uncle? After investigating the Wiley name in Bucks, I found a sister of Joseph. named Rachel Wiley and her will mentioned another brother, Henry. The name, Rachel Wiley, came up on a court document involving the child of James Monroe Wright and Maria Watson-my Great Gramps Traverse Rock Wright. His father was petitioning for guardianship involving the boy's claim to his deceased mother's portion of the inheritance from her Aunt Rachel Wiley. This pretty much clinched it for me-but it was still all rather circumstantial evidence; I needed a Primary source. Recently, I found a Death Certificate for another of Maria's brothers, George, on which his parents were listed as Samuel and Ann Wiley Watson.
So I now have this young Grandmother of mine fleshed out a bit. I have reconnected her with her parents and brothers and sisters. Another interesting piece that was uncovered involves the name of her only child Traverse Rock Wright-a bit unusual. My younger brother, Jim, while "googling" Traverse Rock Wright stumbled upon a serial novel published in 1859 in a magazine rather like the Sherlock Holmes short stories by A. Conan Doyle. The story in question was written by E.D.E.N. Southworth and was published in the "New York Ledger". It was entitled "The Hidden Hand: Or, Capitola the Madcap". One of the main male characters of the story was a young man devoted to his mother-his name Traverse Rocke!!! Maria must have read this book in the final months of her pregnancy, as Traverse Rock (TR to most) was born in April of the year 1859. Maybe I am being sentimental but I think the fact that her husband indulged her by allowing her to name his son after a literary character in an early feminist novel, instead of following traditional naming patterns of the day, speaks volumes of his love for her.
Three Grandfathers Wright...My Grandfather Robert Burns Wright ( 1898-1975), My Great Great Grandfather James Monroe Wright ( 1834-1912) and my Great Grandfather Traverse Rock Wright (1859-1940)
While I feel more at peace with Maria now, having found out a great deal about her-there are still questions that I may never answer. I do not know her cause of death-one would assume that as a young married woman with proven fertility, she died in childbirth but it could have as easily been anything from appendicitis to tuberculosis, diphtheria to cellulitis to any number of illnesses or accidents. I also do not know where she is buried. Her father-in-law who died several months later is buried at the St. James Episcopal Church in Bristol PA. I cannot find any record of Maria; perhaps she was buried in an unmarked grave on the Wright Farm.
As it almost always happens in Genealogy, there is always another Brick Wall behind the one you have broken down. I now am hunting for Maria's and Rueben's mother., Ann Wiley I thought I had found her Mother's parents John Wiley and Semiramus DeBree, (I wish everyone had such distinct names...makes my job so much easier!!) however, I cannot find a daughter of theirs named Ann. They do have a Rachel but the other daughter is Esther, not Ann (may be Ann Esther or Esther Ann??) There also is no Joseph or Henry, but a John and James. I still feel this is the right family but will need more information.
From pa-roots.com
Rueben Watson (1823-1890) Brother of Maria . He, along with his wife Margaret Wright, gave me the clues to find his sister and reconnect her with her family.
