Talk:Early Settlers of Augusta County, Virginia - Surnames U-Z

Jim,

This is an excellent idea discussing the early settlers of Augusta County. As you know I have a high level of interest in William Wright, my immigrant ancestor. I have already mentioned my webpage on William Wright, http://users.hal-pc.org/~wmewrght/wmwright.html. I have a copyright notice on this page. The copyright obviously is inapplicable to the information that is available from public records, but does apply to my discussion and conclusions based on recorded information. Among the recorded information are several references to William Wright's land transactions. The 1749 land transactions were not William Wright's first in Augusta Co.

You also mention the possibility of William Wright having been married twice with both wives named Margaret. This speculation has been discussed at length among his descendants. Most people have picked up on the reference to Margaret Rite with son William named in the will of John Malckom. On my webpage I discuss the problems with this Margaret (Malckom) Rite being the wife of William Wright. I also present a solution. Given this solution, it is probable that Margaret Malckom was the wife of William Wright.

What is the basis for William having been married to a second woman also named Margaret? I know of none and any reference to a second marriage needs to be accompanied by arguments setting forth the basis for thinking he was married twice. I think some of the speculation with respect to two marriages may have arisen trying to the resolve the inconsistencies between John Malckom's will and the known facts related to William Wright and his sons. I wrestled with these considerations at one time. However, I think the two marriages to Margarets speculation actually arose from some comments made on the internet by a now deceased descendant of William Wright, David Caldwell. David mentioned that he descended from William and Margaret (Black) Wright, but his comments did not identify which generation William married Margaret Black. David's line actually goes through William(1) and Margaret Wright, to William(2), to William(3) and Margaret (Black) Wright. I believe that David's comments on various boards refer to this grandson of William Wright of Augusta Co, and others of us picked up on it and applied it to the two marriage speculation surrounding William Wright of Augusta Co.

In summary, William Wright of Augusta married Margaret. She may have been Margaret Malckom, but such a statement needs to be accompanied by an analysis of the inconsistencies presented by the mention in John Malckom's will and the information about William's known sons.--Bill Wright 20:40, 25 May 2009 (EDT)