Richard Wesley's Inheritance

Obediah's Will

Our previous posting told of Obediah Swayze of Helt Twp, Vermillion County, Indiana, and his heir Richard Wesley Wright. Richard was the only known child of Rev. Richard Wright and Obediah’s daughter Malinda. (We are using the designation “Rev” to help distinguish between the two Richard Wrights, even though the older Richard may not have been a “Reverend” at the time.) Born between 1821 and 1825, Malinda died around age twenty, between 1841 and 1844, soon after the birth of her son in 1841 (in Illinois). Following Malinda’s early death, a very young Richard Wesley Wright was left by his father, Rev. Richard, with his grandparents, Obediah and Lydia Swayze, and when Obediah died, Richard Wesley was the sole heir to a very large estate.

In 1872, Obediah’s will was probated. Part of the estate was eighty acres (E½ NW¼ S21 T15N R9W) acquired by Obediah in 1825. It was there that Richard Wesley already had his farm, which was less than a half mile north west of Helts Prairie Cemetery, where Richard’s mother, grandfather, grandmother, and other Swayzes are said to rest.

Another portion of Richard’s inheritance were three hundred twenty acres of Section 27 land near the Wabash River. Valued at $15,000 in 1882, the property was eventually used, in part, for the Helt Twp community of Summit Grove. But the land had a “bad title.” All of Richard’s inherited real estate was entailed. Properties had to pass to his descendants. Richard could only sell his “life dower.” His children would have claim to the lands upon his death. By 1882 purchasers were worried about what would ensue when Richard Wesley died. Would his children come after the property? We know nothing of the outcome, but the unincorporated community of Summit Grove still exists today. Perhaps Richard’s descendants were unaware of their “opportunity.”

With the probate of Obediah’s will, 1872 was an important year in Richard Wesley Wright’s life. But it was important for another reason. In that year Richard was immersed in a nasty divorce, the subject of a future posting.

Obediah Swayze

Vermillion County, 2010 (Omnedon, Wikimedia Commons).

The last post, 10 May 2017, told of the “discovery” that Rev. Richard Wright was married twice. His first wife (married 2 Jun 1840 in Vermillion County, Indiana) was Malinda Ann Swayze, born to Obediah and Lydia Swayze between 1821 and 1825.

Obediah (the spelling in most records) and Lydia, natives of New Jersey, were among the mass of settlers who poured into Indiana in the early 1800s. In 1820 Obediah appeared in the Vigo County, Indiana, census. Then in 1830, he was found in the census for Helt Twp in  Vermillion County, Indiana. It is likely he and Lydia never moved, for a portion of Vigo County, formed in 1818, became Parke County in 1821, and part of Parke County became Vermillion County in 1824.

Helt Twp, red (Omnedon,
Wikimedia Commons).

Immediately north of today’s Vigo County, Vermillion County occupies a narrow strip (at most, 10 miles wide) bounded on the west by the Indiana/Illinois state line and on the east by the Wabash River. Named after Daniel Helt, an early pioneer who settled there in 1818, Helt Twp is one of five Vermillion County townships laid out in a line from north to south. A 1913 history claims that “In the winter of 1817-18 came Obadiah Swayze, who occupied, as a ‘squatter,’ one of the three cabins just built by the Helts.” The “squatter” Obediah soon became a well-off landowner, acquiring large amounts of Helt Twp farmland – 320 acres in 1819 (SW¼ S27 T15N R9W and NE¼ S27 T15N R9W), 80 acres in 1825 (E½ NW¼ S21 T15N R9W), 126 acres in 1839 (N½ S26 T15N R9W), and 68 acres in 1840 (N½ S½ W S28 T15N R9W).

Portion of map of Vermillion County, Indiana, James Tarrance, 1872 (Library of Congress). Red boundaries show land once owned by Obediah Swayze, 80 acres of which was owned by Richard Wesley in 1872. Also shown is the location of Helts Prairie Cemetery, resting place of the Swayzes. We'll hear about Summit Grove in a future post.

But to whom would Obediah’s wealth go when he passed on, as he did in 1871? His wife, Lydia, died around 1859 or 1860 and was buried in Helts Prairie Cemetery along with his daughter, Malinda, who died by 1844, and his two sons, both apparently dying unmarried and prior to Obediah’s death. Only one descendant remained – Obediah’s grandson, Richard Wesley Wright, the subject of a future post.