Last spring, I wrote about the search being undertaken by Wright family genealogists who have long been trying to determine whether there was a connection between the Wrights who settled in Oyster Bay and those who settled nearby in Flushing (April 4, 2014 edition of the Oyster Bay Enterprise-Pilot). I also wrote about my personal search for evidence to determine whether my ancestor Captain Peter Wright, who was born in 1740 in Hempstead, and who served in the Revolution, was a descendant of the Oyster Bay Wrights.
As no written records have been found to help researchers with either of these problems, the more recently used tool of DNA has come into play to assist. As previously explained, the Y-DNA test given to men with the same surname can determine whether and how closely they are related. In the case of the Wright ancestry it can determine whether the Wrights who settled in Oyster Bay and those who settled in Flushing are related. For my family of Wrights, it can tell us whether or not Captain Peter Wright was from either of these families.
A few years ago a male member of my family took the Y-DNA test to try to answer the question of where our surname came from. Unfortunately, a lack of other tests to compare with left this question unanswered. Previously, Gilbert Wright, a genealogist cousin, had taken our Wright lineage back as far as 1802 to Luther G. Wright, the man who was my three-time great-grandfather living in Oneida, NY. With the aid of the Internet I was able to find two pieces of evidence which took our Wrights back a further two generations to Captain Peter Wright. However, no written records saying who his parents were had been found. Hence, another “brick wall” was reached. What was needed was a documented male Oyster Bay Wright to take the Y-DNA test. This would tell whether Captain Peter Wright was from the Wrights of Oyster Bay. It would also provide a benchmark for the Oyster Bay Wrights which would determine whether or not they were related to the Flushing Wrights.
A few months after the first article appeared in this newspaper, a male Wright descended from the Wrights of Oyster Bay came forward and agreed to test. His results proved the genetic signature of the Oyster Bay Wrights and they appear in test 339737 in the pink section of the Wright DNA Project at www.wright-dna.org/assets/css/R1b1Results.html. His test results also proved that Captain Peter Wright was an Oyster Bay Wright as my family’s results are test 235938 in the same pink section.
Hence, two questions of great interest to genealogists have been answered through DNA testing, furthering our knowledge of the early settlement of Long Island and Oyster Bay in particular. There is always more to be discovered, however, and tests from additional male Wrights of documented descent from both Captain Peter Wright and Nicholas and Peter Wright who originally settled in Oyster Bay are welcome.
If you or a family member are interested in participating, please email me on dewrightct@gmail.com to discuss how to go about it. The test is easy to take and sponsorships are available.
