Asahel Wright (1757 - 1834)

Born 26 Feb 1757 in Lebanon, New London, Connecticut Colony

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 16 Feb 1834 at age 76 in Windsor, Berkshire, Massachusetts, United States

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Biography

Asahel Wright was born in Lebanon, Connecticut, on February 26, 1757, the son of Seth Wright.^[1][2][3]

He attended Dartmouth college, where early records show that his father paid for some of his tuition with "2 Saddles & Bridles & 1 horsewhip." However, the death of his father necessitated his leaving college after his Junior year. He then studied medicine and was a surgeon in the U.S. Navy during the American Revolutionary war. In about 1781 he settled in Windsor, Massachusetts, practicing medicine there as well as in Dalton, Peru, Hinsdale and other towns.^[3][4]

He married first, Mary "Poley" Worthington, in 1780. They had ten children, all born in Windsor:^[2][3]

1. Asahel Wright, born March 27, 1782; became a lawyer; died December 2, 1830.^[5]
2. Worthington Wright, born June 16, 1785; became a minister; died October 28, 1873.
3. Orrin Wright, December 17, 1787; married 1st, December 25, 1818, Frances Jeanette Gold, 2nd, Mrs. Frances Pease; became a Pittsfield, Massachusetts physician; died July 28, 1836.^[6]
4. Uriel Wright, born May 13, 1790; became a Mt. Pleasant, Pennsylvania physician; died September 30, 1866.^[7]
5. Erastus Wright, born May 18, 1794; became a Salem, Pennsylvania physician; died 1858 or 1859.^[8]
6. Mary "Polly" Wright, born June 29, 1796; died, unmarried, July 29, 1878.^[9]
7. Eliza Wright, born April 20, 1798; married, September 13, 1814, Isaac Crocker; died September 10, 1839.^[10]
8. Clark Wright, born December 20, 1799; became a physician; married and had several children.^[11]
9. Philo Wright, born May 3, 1801; married, September 27, 1826, Harriet Wells; died September 17, 1867.^[12]
10. Julius Caesar Wright, born November 9, 1802; became a physician; married Elizabeth Ann Powell, died January 26, 1874.^[13]

Mary died in Winsted, Connecticut, on January 18, 1807.^[2]

He married second, in Windsor on May 17, 1807, the cousin of his first wife, Mrs. Lydia (Worthington) Dutton, daughter of William and Sarah (Welles) Worthington, and widow of William Dutton of Boston, Massachusetts. Children:^[2][14]

1. Sarah Maria, born about 1814; married, January 25, 1835, Henry Herrick; died September 9, 1905.^[15][16][17]

His daughter, Sarah Maria, would later write of her father:^[3]

My father was a man of remarkable energy and fine health. I have heard him speak of riding to these places on horseback guided by marked trees. He freely gave his services to the poor. … He was genial, enjoying a joke, dealing them out to his patients when he thought they needed no medicine. Highly respected and beloved and eminently useful, he spent a long life honorably.^[3]

Dr. Asahel Wright died, probably in Windsor, on February 16, 1834, at the age of 76.^[2][3]

Research Notes

• Parents: Sources provide conflicting information on Ashael's parentage. The referenced birth source gives his father's name as "Seth,"^[1] while the "Berkshire" source says his father was "Asa," an architect, who "superintended the erection of Dartmouth College buildings."^[3] However, a third source cites Capt. Seth Wright of Lebanon as the person who helped the Rev. Eleazer Wheelock move his school from Lebanon to Hanover, New Hampshire.^[18] Further, early Dartmouth records cite: "Seth Wright paid most of the bill with '2 Saddles & Bridles & 1 horsewhip.'" ^[4] Therefore, evidence suggests that Asahel's father and Capt. Seth Wright must be one and the same.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} "Connecticut Births and Christenings, 1649-1906," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/F74B-XVG : 3 December 2014), Asahel Wright, 26 Feb 1757; citing ; FHL microfilm unknown.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4} Worthington, George. The Genealogy of the Worthington Family. (George Worthington, 1894). Pages 128-133. Citing: "Husband of 114. Mary, Child of 43. Jacob Worthington."
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6} Smith, A.M. Medicine in Berkshire. Collections of the Berkshire Historical and Scientific Society (The Society, Pittsfield, Mass., 1892). Vol. 1. Part 9. Pages 138-139.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} Dartmouth College Library Bulletin. https://www.dartmouth.edu/. Eleazer Wheelock's Two Schools. November 1999. Accessed 23 Sep 2018. Citing: "Some fathers settled part of the bills in the form of 'country pay'–that is, by providing services, produce, or goods. ... Seth Wright paid most of the bill with '2 Saddles & Bridles & 1 horsewhip.'"
5. ↑ "Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FZSD-CNP : 4 December 2014), Asahel Wright, 27 Mar 1782; citing WINDSOR,BERKSHIRE,MASSACHUSETTS, ; FHL microfilm 0982307 IT 1.
6. ↑ "Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FZSZ-K7Q : 4 December 2014), Oren Wright, 17 Dec 1787; citing WINDSOR,BERKSHIRE,MASSACHUSETTS, ; FHL microfilm 0982307 IT 1.
7. ↑ "Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915," database, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FZSD-FD9 : 4 December 2014), Urial Wright, 13 May 1790; citing WINDSOR,BERKSHIRE,MASSACHUSETTS, ; FHL microfilm 0982307 IT 1.
8. ↑ "Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FZS6-9V5 : 4 December 2014), Erastus Wright, 18 May 1794; citing WINDSOR,BERKSHIRE,MASSACHUSETTS, ; FHL microfilm 0982307 IT 1.
9. ↑ "Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915," database, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FZSZ-3FM : 4 December 2014), Polly Wright, 29 Jun 1796; citing WINDSOR,BERKSHIRE,MASSACHUSETTS, ; FHL microfilm 0982307 IT 1.
10. ↑ "Massachusetts Marriages, 1695-1910," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FCDV-6QK : 4 December 2014), Isaac Crocker and Eliza Wright, 13 Sep 1814; citing reference ; FHL microfilm 0982307 IT 1.
11. ↑ "Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FZSZ-X7K : 4 December 2014), Clark Wright, 20 Dec 1799; citing WINDSOR,BERKSHIRE,MASSACHUSETTS, ; FHL microfilm 0982307 IT 1.
12. ↑ "Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FZSZ-6XP : 4 December 2014), Philo Wright, 03 May 1801; citing WINDSOR,BERKSHIRE,MASSACHUSETTS, ; FHL microfilm 0982307 IT 1.
13. ↑ "Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FZSZ-KJT : 4 December 2014), Julius Wright, 09 Nov 1802; citing WINDSOR,BERKSHIRE,MASSACHUSETTS, ; FHL microfilm 0982307 IT 1.
14. ↑ "Massachusetts Marriages, 1695-1910," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FC68-98Q : 4 December 2014), Asahel Wright and Lydia Dutton, 17 May 1807; citing reference ; FHL microfilm 0982307 IT 1.
15. ↑ "Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FZSZ-W9V : 4 December 2014), Asahel Wright in entry for Sarah Maria Wright, ; citing , ; FHL microfilm 0982307 IT 1.
16. ↑ "Massachusetts Marriages, 1695-1910," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FC68-9ZR : 4 December 2014), Henry Herrick and Sarah Mariah Wright, 25 Jan 1835; citing reference ; FHL microfilm 0982307 IT 1.
17. ↑ "Massachusetts Deaths, 1841-1915," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/N7FH-V6B : 10 December 2014), Ashel Wright in entry for Sarah Maria Wright Herrick, 09 Sep 1905; citing Wellesley, Norfolk, Massachusetts, v 93 cn 528, State Archives, Boston; FHL microfilm 2,025,940
18. ↑ Allen, John, et. al. Images of America, Columbia. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing, For the Columbia Historical Society Inc., 2013. Page 9. Citing: "In 1735, Pastor Eleazer Wheelock established a preparatory school for young boys entering Yale and Harvard. ... During the American Revolution, Lebanon Crank [Now Columbia], became a center for Lebanon's Sons of Liberty, led by Capt. Seth Wright. In 1769, he helped Wheelock move his school to the safe frontier in Hanover, New Hampshire."