| Notes |
- (from Michael Wright email)
As for the Wrights of Kelvedon Hatch being Catholic, it needs to be understood that almost all Englishmen were Catholics until Henry VIII broke with the Catholic Church and established the Anglican church. After that, Catholics were essentially outlawed, so one had to make choices; toe the Royal line, or go underground. The original John Wright of Kelvedon Hatch (1488 - 1551) was firmly attached to Henry VIII and so it is no doubt that, despite being raised a Catholic, he had no problems becoming an 'Anglican' Catholic when Henry VIII required it. Likewise his sons all appear to have had no problem becoming Anglicans in their own generation and appeared NOT to have taken the Catholic side during Mary's brief reign. This unity behind the Anglican Church did not last indefinitely, however. It was the next generation where all the religious and political fracturing of the Kelvedon Hatch Wright family group occurred. Out of that fracturing there emerged members of the Kelvedon Hatch Wright family who were everything from staunch Catholics (Papists) to staunch Puritan Calvinists. The period between 1550 and 1644 saw tremendous upheaval in almost every facet of English life & religion led the way. So, to study what happened to the Kelvedon Hatch Wright family in this period of time is to see an excellent reflection of what was happening all over the England of this period.
(snip)
While two branches of the Kelvedon Hatch family (from Robert Wright of Brookstreet & from Myddle John Wright of Wrightsbridge) were moving in the direction of embracing a more Puritan view of religion, the elder line of John Wright the Elder, of Kelvedon Hall whose line held the manor estate of Kelvedon Hall in Kelvedon Hatch were being wooed by noted Catholic Papists, William Byrd and Gabriel Colford. In 1605 it appears that these twp were successful in converting both John Wright, Lord of Kelvedon Hall and his sister Ann to the Catholic faith. Their Elder line of Wrights remained Catholic from 1605 onward for as long as they held the estate and manor of Kelvedon Hall (to 1922). Not much is known about the religious inclinations of the youngest of John Wright's (1488-1551) sons, Young John Wright. We suspect that we do not know much about that branch of the family because they were devout in their attendance to the Anglican church, and thus avoided being recorded in the ecclesiastical and quarter session court records as recusants or papists as was true for those in the other three male branches of the family.
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John bought the manor of Kelvedon Hall at Kelvedon Hatch, Essex Co. in 1538 from Richard Bolles and is said to have built the handsome manor house still owned by descendents in 1914. He also acquired Brook hall, or Moat house, a handsome property known as Great and Little Ropers, and many other lands. Gave 2070 acres to St. Mary's church - where he is buried. Placque on door inscribes this. Wrightsbridge Coat of Arms.
His will was written September 25, 1551.
Info: Visitation of Essex, 1634. The Visitation of London, Vol. II, page 371. Curtis Wright 1915 genealogy - held in typescript by the County records office Ehelmsford, Essex, Eng. Also the original Gen. records of Bishop Milton Wright with add. by Orville Wright - deposited at Wright State University and indexed.
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Regarding his parentage:
----- Original Message -----
From: hardmba@aol.com (Michael Wright)
To: erbaker35@gmail.com ; lumoto@aol.com
Sent: Tuesday, July 03, 2012 1:15 AM
Subject: Re: thoughts on Hampden Wrights
(snip)
The only disagreement I have with the chart is that I do not believe Henry Wright (1424 - before 1468) was the first ancestor. I believe this is a misunderstanding/misinterpretation of the entry in Morant's "History and Antiquities of the County of Essex..." (1768). The Henry Wright Morant refers to in his discussion of this family lived in the 1590s and married Anna Whitebread in White Notely (marriage record found there) and was of the Elder John Wright line, which is how the Kelvedon Hatch Wright family came into possession of White Notely Hall later in the 17th century. A number of other researchers have tried to conclude from Morant's rather vague remarks, that this Henry Wright and Anna Whitebread (dau. of Thomas) both lived nearly 100 years before they actually did. It is hard to argue with a marriage record that is clearly dated in the next century as well as birth records for them and their children. It simply was not so that Anna Whitebread married Henry Wright in 'ca. 1446. As a result, I believe the first solid record we have for the Kelvedon Hatch Wright family is that of John Wright, 1488-1551 of South Weald and Kelvedon Hatch. I would wipe Henry Wright and John Wright (1450 - 1509) off that chart and replace them with question marks. I have seen no evidence that there are any records anywhere in England for these two men as progenitors of this Wright family.
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1488 - 1551 (63 years)
