A couple of years ago several of us (all great great grandchildren)
researching Rev. Richard Wright and his descendants found that our GG grandfather
had been married twice, the first time to Malinda Ann Swayze, a member of the Obediah
Swayze family of Vermillion County, Indiana.
About a year ago Frank Helton, one of the Wright researchers, spotted a photo said to show the Martin Co. Indiana home of a John Swayze with
some members of his family, including a daughter Dovie, dated “About 1889.” Of
course we wondered if the Martin Co. Swayzes and the Vermillion Co. Swayzes
were related. Another fellow Wright researcher, Pat Shade, who is always good with
details has now written us:
“The date on the pic is wrong as Dovie
wasn't born until 1894. So, this pic is probably c: 1900 but hard to tell how
young the girls might be. Father, John Swayze, appears to have died in Martin
Co, IN in 1897. If existing ancestry trees are accurate, it looks like John
Swayze goes back thru a John Drake, Richard, Andrew, etc to Sussex Co., NJ. So,
I suspect there is a distant match between this line and the Obediah Swayze
line that went to Vermillion Co, IN.”
Now if only we could uncover Rev. Richard’s
parentage. But we have found a male Wright descendant of Rev. Richard Wright from
his first marriage whose DNA tests may finally provide the evidence we need.