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An introduction is necessary to understand the familial context of Capt. Craft Wright, the subject of this memorial. It will also become apparent why this memorial is tied to his wife and St. Michael's Episcopal Church cemetery in Marblehead, Mass.
On Jan. 19, 1797 at Marblehead, Rev. Timothy Alden, Jr. (1771-1839) then of Cambridge, Mass. married Elizabeth Shepherd Wormsted, only child of Capt. Robert Wormsted and Martha Shepherd, bapt. Jan. 30, 1779 at St. Michael's Episcopal church. While Rev. Timothy was of longstanding Congregational church ancestors and a descendant of John Alden of the 1620 Mayflower and Plymouth Colony,...
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An introduction is necessary to understand the familial context of Capt. Craft Wright, the subject of this memorial. It will also become apparent why this memorial is tied to his wife and St. Michael's Episcopal Church cemetery in Marblehead, Mass.
On Jan. 19, 1797 at Marblehead, Rev. Timothy Alden, Jr. (1771-1839) then of Cambridge, Mass. married Elizabeth Shepherd Wormsted, only child of Capt. Robert Wormsted and Martha Shepherd, bapt. Jan. 30, 1779 at St. Michael's Episcopal church. While Rev. Timothy was of longstanding Congregational church ancestors and a descendant of John Alden of the 1620 Mayflower and Plymouth Colony, wife Elizabeth was of longstanding Episcopal church ancestors in Marblehead. Her maternal ancestor, Capt. James Calley Esq., was one of the principal founders in 1714 of St. Michael's church.
In 1814 Rev. Timothy Alden, Jr. published the first of his five volume A Collection of American Epitaphs and Inscriptions, with occasional notes… The first volume contains a substantial number of gravestone epitaphs of his direct Alden surnamed ancestors with copious notes regarding them. The same effort was made regarding all of his wife Elizabeth's ancestors interred in the St. Michael's church cemetery. But he made no apparent effort to trace the ancestry of the man who was wife Elizabeth's maternal great grandfather, Capt. Craft Wright. But, this may have been caused by the circumstances presented below.
Capt. Craft (q.v. Crafts) Wright, a mariner, the sixth child of thirteen children and second of six sons of Sgt. Samuel Wright and Rebecca Craft (q.v. Crafts), was born of record Dec. 19, 1694 in Wethersfield, Connecticut. He was the first of a long line of descendants of his parental family to carry the given or middle name of Craft or Crafts. His mother's younger sister, Abigail Craft, married into the Goodrich family of Wethersfield and Craft as a first male name was also carried forward for many generations in that family.
What made Craft, son of Sgt. Samuel and Rebecca, leave agrarian and Congregational Church oriented Wethersfield and become associated with Marblehead northeast of Boston is unknown. On Dec. 10, 1721 Craft married at St. Michael's Episcopal Church in Marblehead, Elizabeth Calley, daughter of Capt. James Calley, Esq. and his first wife Martha Pitt. Capt. Calley was a significant person at Marblehead. He was extensively involved with his brother Capt. John Calley and with Craft's brother-in-law Edward How in maritime activities including cod-fishing at Canso, Nova Scotia.
On Sept. 6, 1725, Craft Wright, called a mariner, purchased a small parcel of land in Marblehead from John White and his wife Elizabeth (Essex Deeds, 49:12). According to Rev. Allen. in Vol. 1 of his before cited work, at age 33 Capt. Craft Wright died in 1727 in Liverpool, England. Where Alden obtained this date and place, versus perhaps having died at sea, is not presently known; whether there is a corresponding entry of Craft's death in the records of St. Michael's Church is under investigation. Yet, on Mar. 25, 1727 at Wethersfield, Conn. was born Crafts Wright, second child and eldest surviving son of Timothy, Capt. Craft Wright's younger brother. Does this foretell that Capt. Craft Wright actually died sometime during the old calendar year of 1726? The present writer's research suggest that rather than Liverpool, England, Craft may have died at sea near Liverpool, Nova Scotia.
Wife Elizabeth (Calley) Wright died of record Mar. 22, 1727/8 and was buried Mar. 25, 1728 at St. Michael's church cemetery in the 30th year of her age (i.e., Æ 30 and 29 years old.) Her still standing and very readable gravestone indicates she was born on or after Mar. 23, 1697/98.
Craft and Elizabeth had two children, son Calley and daughter Martha. Elizabeth's father, Capt. James Calley, died testate at Marblehead in June 1734 leaving a probate record of 54 pages. The probate record includes a request by his daughter Deborah, wife of Edward How, and endorsed by her father, to reimburse his deceased brother Capt. John Calley with the balance owed on three schooners used between 1710 and 1715, presumably in their Canso, Nova Scotia fishing operations. Capt. Calley's will includes provisions for his two Wright grandchildren, provisions which were carried forward in the extensive number of pages devoted to administration of his estate. Capt. James Calley's second wife Elizabeth survived him and died intestate in 1738. The administration of her estate includes numerous entries for the cost of clothes, shoes, mending of shoes, etc., for the "boy and gal."
In the separate Apr. 8, 1734 will of Crafts' father, Sgt. Samuel Wright of Wethersfield, Conn.:
• Also, to the children of my son Crafts Wright dec'd., viz., Cauly Wright and Martha Wright, to each of them 1 acre of land in Beaver Meadow, bounded west on land above given to Ebenezer Wright (Crafts' 2 year younger brother)…
Following the death of Capt. James Calley's widow Elizabeth, on July 11, 1739 Robert Parimore, mariner, was appointed guardian of Calley Wright and his sister Martha Wright (Parimore was the son-in-law of Capt. James Calley's brother Capr. John Calley). On Aug. 16, 1739 probate of the estate of Crafts Wright was entered into the Essex County probate records with the same Robert Parimore appointed administrator. Except for the administrator's letter and bond the only other record in the estate file is the inventory of the personal property of Craft Wright totaling £76.11.11, which had been valued on July 20, 1734 at the request of the executors of the estate of Crafts Wright's father-in-law. It consisted of "goods and sundry wearing apparel of said Crafts Wright & his wife" which was in the "possession of James Calley, and at his death came into possession of the executors with his goods." No actual administration of the Craft Wright estate is of record.
The two children of Craft Wright and Elizabeth Calley were.
• i. Calley Wright, whose date of birth or baptism are not of record. He personally signed the affidavit of appointment of his guardian on July 11, 1739 saying he was then "upwards of 14 years of age" inferring he was born by mid-1725. On Nov. 3, 1744 at St. Michael's Episcopal Church, Calley married Mary Edgecomb, the eldest surviving daughter of John Edgecomb and Grace Kelley, born of record Aug. 7, 1715 in Marblehead. In limited deeds involving Calley he is called alternately a feltmaker and hatmaker, and died intestate at Marblehead by August 1755 when wife Mary was appointed administratrix of his estate. No children are found of the marriage with Mary upwards of 10 years older than Calley; she was 29 years old and he 19 when they married.
On Mar. 5, 1744/5 Calley Wright and wife Mary (who signed as Mary Edgecomb in the deed) sold to William Dixey of Marblehead, the real estate that his father Craft Wright had purchased in Marblehead in 1725 (Essex Deeds, 87-138 being the resale of 49-12.)
On Apr. 6, 1749, Calley Wright of Marblehead, feltmaker, purchased from his brother-in-law Nicholas Edgecomb of Marblehead, cordwainer, lot or division No. 5 in Marblehead that fell to Nicholas in the 1738 distribution of his father's estate (ibid, 93-50). On May 1, 1758 this property was resold by the widow Mary (Edgecomb) Wright, as administratrix of the Calley Wright estate, to William Broden, shoreman (ibid, 105-83.)
Mary's father died intestate in 1723 with her mother Grace appointed to administer the estate. The widow Grace Edgecomb remarried in 1726 to James Perryman. In 1738 following the death of Mary's mother, the Edgecomb home in Marblehead was divided into five parts, or lots, with Mary receiving lot Number 3, her brother Nicholas lot Number 5. Mary's lot Number 3 becomes important in a deed by her in 1765 in Marblehead verifying she was one and the same as the widow Mary (Edgecomb) Wright. When Mary died cannot be found and no probate record is found for her in Massachusetts probate records.
On Feb. 10, 1763 at Marblehead, the widow Mary (Edgecomb) Wright sold St. Michael's church pew number 22, identified in the deed as adjacent to the widow Shepherd, presumably being her sister-in-law Martha (Wright) Shepherd (Essex Deeds, 112-97). This pew was quite likely the same pew bequeathed to Calley Wright in the 1734 will of his grandfather, Capt. James Calley.
• ii. Martha Wright, whose date of birth or baptism is not of record, but her known gravestone infers she was b. on or after Sept. 23, 1726. On Jan. 16, 1748/49 at St. Michael's Church in Marblehead, Martha married (1) Capt. John Shepherd, a mariner, by whom she had seven children known only by their recorded baptism at St. Michael's Church, viz.: sons John, Craft Wright, Richard, Calley and Thomas along with daughters Elizabeth and Martha. While four of the five sons reached the age of maturity they all died unmarried with only daughters Elizabeth and Martha marrying. However, only Martha left a descendant.
Capt John Shepherd along with his ship and crew perished at sea in November 1761 near Block Island off the coast of Rhode Island while returning from the West Indies. On Aug. 18, 1782 nine creditors petitioned the Essex County probate court for appointment of an administrator with the widow Mary appointed administratrix on Dec. 2, 1762. An inventory of the personal estate was returned the same day totaling £32.15.8. No record of the widow's administration is on file.
The widow Martha (Wright) Shepherd married (2) after Feb. 10, 1763, John Roads, called a shoreman, who died intestate prior to Jan. 7, 1788, with Martha appointed administratrix of Roads' small estate. She died intestate Sept 23, 1792 at Marblehead, Æ 66, with a still readable gravestone at St. Michael's church cemetery. There are no known children of Martha's second marriage. At her own intestate death, on Apr. 3, 1793 Martha (Wright) (Shepherd) Road's daughter Martha (Shepherd) Wormsted was appointed administratrix of the estate.
Of Martha (Wright) Shepherd's two daughters, Elizabeth married Capt. Bartholomew Jackson on June 25, 1774 at Marblehead and died childless four years later on July 26, 1778. Her still standing gravestone is in St. Michael's church cemetery. According to Rev. Timothy Alden, Jr., Capt. Jackson subsequently joined the English Navy and later was active in trade on the British side of the Atlantic Ocean.
Martha's other daughter Martha Shepherd married Capt. Robert Wormsted at Salem, Mass. on Oct. 18, 1778. By this marriage was born one child, daughter Elizabeth Shepherd Wormsted, baptized Jan. 30, 1779 at St. Michael's Church. Capt. Wormsted died at sea with the widow Martha appointed administratrix of his estate on Sept. 3, 1787. His personal estate inventory was valued on Aug. 25, 1787 at the paltry sum of £9.14.6. Whereas no record appears in which Capt. Robert Wormsted ever bought or sold any real estate in Marblehead or in any other town in Essex County, Massachusetts, beginning in October 1787 the widow Martha suddenly became a real estate investor.
On Oct. 1, 1787 the widow Martha Wormsted bought from Stephen Lowrey, merchant of Philadelphia, though his attorney Samuel Sewall, Esq. of Marblehead, a house and land in Marblehead for £210 (Essex Deeds, 147-27). Six years later on June 29, 1793 the widow Martha resold this property to the widow Mary Gale, the adjoining property owner, for £210, the witnesses to the deed being Samuel Sewall, Esq. and Martha's daughter, "Eliza. S. Wormsted" (ibid, 155-275). On the same date the widow Martha purchased from the same Samuel Sewall, a house and property in Marblehead for £425 (ibid, 155-272).
Seven years later on Nov. 8, 1799 the widow Martha resold the latter property for $1,760.66 to Henry Prentice of Marblehead, trader, subject to a mortgage of the same amount, with the second witness being her son-in-law, Timothy Alden, Jr. Previously in 1797, daughter Elizabeth Shepherd Wormsted had married the said Timothy.
In 1802 Martha (Shepherd) Wormsted was residing in Portsmouth, New Hampshire with her daughter and son-in-law and died while residing with them in Boston, Massachusetts on Sept. 25, 1809. On Oct. 23, 1809 son-in-law Timothy Alden was appointed administrator of Martha's estate, his father, Rev. Timothy Alden, Sr. of Yarmouth, Massachusetts being one of his sureties. The widow Martha's estate was inventoried at $2,132.93 consisting chiefly of a note of $1,713.94. The net estate of $1,910.26, with daughter Elizabeth the sole heir, was finalized on Jan. 9, 1815 while Timothy and Elizabeth were residing in New York City.
Rev. Timothy Allen, Jr. and wife Elizabeth Shepherd Wormsted would have five children, two sons and three daughters before they respectively died in 1839 and 1820. In 1817 Timothy founded Allegheny College in Meadville in northwest Pennsylvania some 90 miles north of Pittsburgh. One of the sons became a prominent attorney in Pittsburg, the other son went to sea and was lost, while the three daughters married Pittsburgh businessmen.
What began as a search for a brother of my ancestor with only a mere footnote in the genealogy of the Wright family of Wethersfield, Conn., resulted in uncovering a family associated with colonial maritime activities along the coast of Massachusetts northeast of Boston and at Canso, Nova Scotia. Although the lives of Craft Wright and wife Elizabeth Calley were short, the writer has traced many of the descendants of granddaughter Martha (Shepherd) Wormsted to the mid-20th century.
1/11/2019 |
