History of the Wright Clan
Sometime during slavery in Wentworth Country, North Carolina, David Lee Wright was born to white parents and had four white brothers and two black half-sisters. David’s father was the master of the Wright Plantation where he had his family was born. David’s mother died and his father married a black woman.
At the end of slavery, David, though white, chose to move to and remain in Winston with his black half-sisters, Alice and Betty. Two of David’s white brothers migrated to Connecticut. The third white brother lived in Old Salem (Winston-Salem) and the fourth brother, Will, who also chose to be black, live in High Point and had 1 daughter. At this time, there is no knowledge of any of the other brothers having survivors.
David was previously married and had six children from that marriage. The last known traceable survivor was Lillie Wright Bridgett, the daughter of one of the children.
David was a tobacco worker and traveled from East to West North Carolina and Tennessee making chewing tobacco. In his travels to Morristown, Tennessee, he met Sally Simpson and married her in 1889.
Sally Simpson was one daughter from the first marriage of Mattie Carriger. Mattie Carriger was a Mohawk/Maliglaspi Indian who was raised by the Wilkins family (a white family) in Morristown, Tennessee. Sally had one brother who died at the age 17 and 1 sister, Emma Hardy, whose relatives are dead or we have no knowledge of any survivors.
To the union of David and Sally were born 12 children, 6 boys, and 6 girls:
1) Hubert Walter
2) Mattie Josephine
3) William Conqueror
4) Isadore
5) Deemster Prevoid
6) Turner Lee
7) Mildren Lenora
8) Esther Mae
9) Bertha Aldonia
10) Ernest Samuel
11) John Edward
12) Connie Geneva
(Listed in the order of their birth.)
The branches of the Wright Clan spread as named:
1) Hubert married Sallie Martin of Reidsville and bore:
Catherine
Rebecca – 2 children, 1 grandchild
Walter – 5 children, 2 grandchildren
David – 5 children
Mary
Henrietta – 1 child, 4 grandchildren
Frances – 3 children, 2 grandchildren
Louella – 2 children, 4 grandchildren
Elizabeth – 2 children, 7 grandchildren
2) Mattie married Will Beatty and had no offspring.
3) William married Thomasina Morrison and bore:
Earline
Willie, Jr. – 5 children
Vernell
William is the father of Brownlee McCullough – 5 children
4) Isadore died at an early age.
5) Deemster married Ethel Sawyer and bore:
Willie
James – 7 children, 13 grandchildren
Deemster later married Marjorie Payne and bore:
Carolyn – 1 child
6) Turner married Annie Pearl King and bore:
Esther – 2 children, 5 grandchildren
Turner, Jr. – 4 children, 9 grandchildren, 3 great grandchildren
7) Mildred Lenora married Horace Love and bore:
Samuel
Robina – 7 children
8) Esther Mae has never married but is still looking.
9) Bertha Aldonia married Odell Kirby and bore:
Charles – 9 children, 12 grandchildren
Bertha later married Maceo Goode after the passing of Odell.
10) Ernst died at the age of 10.
11) John married Arrie Nelson and have a son
Vecue – 3 children
12) Connie Geneva married James Greene and has no offspring.
As told by Turner Lee Wright, Sr., oldest member of the original Wright Clan and family Historian.