A New Branch on the Tree

On 12 Mar 2017 I received an email from Patrick Shade, a third cousin. We are both gg grandsons of Rev. Richard Wright of Cass and Clark counties, Illinois. Like many of us, Pat has had an interest in determining Rev. Wright’s origins. We knew that Rev. Richard had been born in Maryland, but that was the limit of our knowledge of his history prior to Illinois, where he married Joanna Ruth Paschal, our gg grandmother. We did, however, believe that we knew almost everything about Rev. Richard after he left Maryland. We were wrong.

Pat’s email let me and others know that he had found an autosomal DNA match linking him to someone with a William Wesley Wright in their tree. And he found related matches for other known Rev. Wright descendants. But we knew of no descendant of Rev. Wright named “William Wesley.” Pat, with a huge amount of perseverance and skill, proceeded to develop a paper trail from William Wesley Wright, to William's father, Charles X. Wright, to his grandfather, Richard Wesley Wright, and finally to his great grandfather, Richard Wright, husband of Malinda Ann Swayze of Helt Township, Vermillion County, Indiana.

Not only had a Richard Wright and Malinda Swayze married in Indiana on 2 Jun 1840, but their child, Richard Wesley Wright, stated in censuses that his father had been born in Maryland. Moreover, Rev. Richard Wright of Clark County, Illinois, had a daughter with the middle name “Malinda.” And one of Rev. Wright’s children, Virginia, had married Thomas Skidmore, of Helt Township, in Vermillion County. But autosomal DNA results are often misleading and “Richard Wright” is a rather common name. So when Pat stated that “there are all kinds of indications that this family ties into ours, but it's not quite a certainty,” I couldn’t agree with him more. As far as I was concerned, not only was there no certainty, but the whole thing was highly doubtful. I was far too pessimistic.

James Wright’s 26 Aug 1889 deposition with the list of heirs.

On 19 Apr 2017, Frank Helton, another gg grandson of Rev. Wright and a highly active Wright researcher, pointed out a 26 Aug 1889 deposition for letters of administration by James Wright, one of Rev. Wright’s sons, following Rev. Wright’s death. Submitted in Clark County, Illinois, the deposition listed Rev. Wright’s heirs, his living children. But the list showed seven children, not six as it should have, with the first being a Richard Wesley Wright, a previously unknown child. This was the smoking gun, for Pat Shade’s research had shown that Richard Wright and Malinda Ann Swayze had a son named "Richard Wesley." There was now no doubt. Joanna Paschal was not Rev. Richard’s first wife. Malinda Ann Swayze was. And there is now a whole new branch on Rev. Wright's tree.

But our story of discovery does not end there. We were not really the first to find an earlier marriage. Following the recent "breakthrough," Pat Shade found among the records of his uncle Sylvester Shade a Family Group Sheet for Richard with the statements "Other wives Name unknown - had a son Wesley" and "Joann Paschal Richard's second wife." Then Gail Schenck, another Rev. Wright descendant and researcher, uncovered a letter from Sylvester Shade stating that Doug Williams, husband of Opal Hooper, Rev. Richard's gg granddaughter, claimed that "Richard Wright's first wife was a Swayzey [sic]." But these findings were never published, posted, or proclaimed. And Sylvester, Doug, and Opal are long deceased. Our story resembles that of Columbus's "discovery" of America. Columbus was not the first to make the discovery, but he was the first to make it known. Here, thanks to Pat Shade's diligence, with contributions by others, we are making the discovery known.

A Wright Gathering, 1922

On another internet site, http://tapscottfamilyhistory.blogspot.com, I published a photo, which I first claimed to be that of a gathering of Tapscotts (Tuesday, April 18, 2017). It does indeed include some Tapscotts – my dad, Glenn; my aunts Alta and Lillie; my uncle Lloyd; my grandmother Edna Wright, but it is actually a 1922 photo of a Wright reunion, rather than a Tapscott reunion. Those present are descendants of Rev. Richard and Joanna Paschal Wright and their spouses.

Appearing in the photo as an eleven-year-old boy is Sylvester Shade (1911-1985), a grandson of Mary Malinda Wright, daughter of Rev. Richard Wright. Over thirty years ago Sylvester created a list of names and photo locations of those pictured. Because of Sylvester and his brother Edgar, who kept the document safe, we can now identify people. We thank Sylvester and Edgar’s nephew Pat Shade for passing the list on. I was going to retype the record, but at least for the time being, it is being posted in its original form. Unfortunately there are far too many people present to place names or other identifiers in the photo itself.

Gathering of descendants of Richard and Joanna Wright, home of Nicholas and Mary Malinda (Wright) Reed, 1922.

Rev. Richard Wright

On 13 Feb 1829 the first Illinois meeting on Methodist reform (government, not doctrine, was the issue) was held in the home of James Ross in Morgan County, Illinois. Attendees included “I. Paschal.” Isaiah Paschal’s role in the reform is unknown; however, his son-in-law Richard Wright would become a major Illinois figure in the newly formed Methodist Protestant Church (MPC).

Born 24 Mar 1816 in Maryland, the center of the Methodist reformation movement. Richard may have been influenced by what he saw and heard as a boy, but being only 12 at the time of the 1828 schism, he played no active role.

Having moved to Illinois, Rev. Wright, called by most “Uncle Dickie,” became an Illinois circuit rider at least as early as 1839 and was the District Superintendent when the Auburn, Illinois, MPC was organized and made part of the Mill Creek Circuit in 1842. He was also Superintendent in 1845, 1852, 1853, and 1856. On 23 Jul 1844 in Virginia, Illinois, while still a circuit rider, Rev. Richard married Joanna Ruth Paschal, daughter of Isaiah and Agnes (Freeman) Paschal, though, as we will soon see, this was not Richard's first marriage.

In 1853, the South Illinois Conference of the MPC was formed and Rev. Wright, no longer an itinerate preacher, was selected as its first President. He attended General Conferences of the MPC in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1862; and in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1880. On 5 Jun 1887 he dedicated the newly built Auburn Methodist Church.

Markers for Joanna and Richard
in Auburn Cemetery (2014).

Joanna passed away in Auburn Twp, Clark County, Illinois, on 9 Jan 1885; Richard, on 13 Jul 1889. The reverend left no will, but a petition for letters of administration by his son, James, gives as his estate “Land in Auburn Township and Town Lots in the Town of Auburn and personal property consisting of House Hold goods a buggy and one Note” amounting to “One Hundred and Sixty five” dollars. Even in those days, this was not a large estate. 

Impressive markers for Joanna (inscribed “Joan”) and Rev. Richard Wright stand in Auburn Cemetery. On the back of the latter marker, simulating a lectern with a Bible, is written: “I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the lord the righteous judge will give me on that day and not to me also but to all those also who loved his appearing.”