George William WRIGHT, SA

[Ande]

Hi Gil
Sorry, I only just saw that you had posted here. We've been in contact via email and through LostCousins, I think it was.
You have exactly the same information as me. I don't know if Mary Jane or Catherine died before 1905. I don't have death information for either of them.
I have a living relative who is not convinced that the George Wright married to Mary Ann Crooks was the father of George William Wright who married Catherine Moran. She said:

"I’ve been searching through the “Ships List” & the Genealogy sites for George Wright and I am yet to be convinced about him coming out on the “Stag”.
I found another George Wright who arrived with his family on the “Sea Park” in 1852, his son George was 15 therefore born c1837.
The ship lists are so incomplete, I believe there is only about 25% that survived. Our George seemed to use his full name of George William Wright on most of the official documents, eg his marriage,
his death, most of his children’s marriage certificates. I don’t know why but I just think he made the trip on his own!??
The other thing I noticed when looking at the Ships List was the ship “Saltana” made many trips to Australia around those years, so the William you found could have come on it. There are just so many George or even William Wrights that it is almost impossible to trace them through."

The William I was referring to was this one: "George William Wright [son of George Wright and Mary Ann Crooks] had a brother William born 1847 in Wakefield, York, and his obit from 1909 in Broken Hill says "The deceased arrived in Australia with his parents 60 years ago from Yorkshire in the ship Sultana [Should be Stag]. Shortly after his arrival he settled with his parents at Goolwa, where he resided for many years; being one of the pioneers"."

So...I'm still inclined to go with us being descendants of the "Stag" Wrights, but I'm definitely not certain about it!

[Ande]

I just remembered that the afore mentioned relative also said that Mary Jane Wright, who married Robert Ambrose Dowdy, was in an asylum for the last 30 years of her life.

From genealogysa.org.au (I don't have full access)
Hospital, Asylum and Lying-in Home Admissions 
Surname   Given Names   Age   Admission Year   Action
DOWDY   MARY JANE   30   1892   View Details
DOWDY   MARY JANE   27   1889   View Details



Adelaide Observer (SA : 1843 - 1904) (about)
Saturday 1 June 1889
Page 20 of 48
POLICE COURTS.
ADELAIDE : THURSDAY, MAY 30.
[Before Meters. S Beddome, P.M., and T. Brown, J. P.)
Mary Jane Dowdy and Elizabeth Dowdy; charged with being destitute children,. were sent to the Industrial School until eighteen years of age. The mother - on the previous day was referred to - Dr. Mayo For medical examination, and the father was at Kingston.



I also found this, which may be her death record
DOWDY   Mary Jane   F   Norwood   285/406   1902
So she may have died before 1905, in which case there would be 3 daughters and 3 sons remaining, as you said, Gil.

[Gil Wright]

Hmmmm. Ok. I would like to advance a hypothesis....

I have DNA matches to GW, JA and KA. According to their ancestry trees, all three are descended from Emma Wright (~1860-1883) who married Charles Wells (~1854-1898). I found their marriage (SA BDM 126/223) and Emma's father is just "George WRIGHT" and her age (21) suggests she was born about 1860. This George (and the fact that it needs to be a DNA connection) matches George (1834-1905) who immigrated on the Stag in 1850 with his family. There is no Emma Wright born in SA in 1860 but there is one just over the border in Balranald (NSW 5097/1860). The parents are listed as George WRIGHT and Agnes. Agnes who? Well there is a George WRIGHT (no parents listed) who married an Agnes CLAYTON (no parents listed) in Adelaide in 1855, both aged ~20 (which fits our George).

The more I read, the more I get to thinking that George Jnr here is not the same as George William that married Catherine Moran.

My problem is trying to reconcile the records with the DNA results. From Ancestry DNA, I haver links to the Stag family via: Jane (3 matches), John (2), Frank (1 - me), Jesse (15), Harry (5).
Jane actually came on the Fatima...

I also have 17 matches allegedly with George, looking at the next generation, I see these are divided as: Eliza Ann (4, married name LEES), Emma (3, married name WELLS), Alexander (2) and George W (. It is possible that these people are as confused as I am :-) If only people would respond to "DNA match" emails...

[Ande]

That is a lot to take in!

I don't even have an Emma Wright or Alexander Wright in my tree so I'm finding it very difficult to get things straight in my mind.

Are you suggesting that George's parents (of which you are descended from his brother Frank) might be George Wright and Agnes Clayton? Where did you get the name Emma from?


Actually, I've just been looking at my DNA matches through Ancestry. Emma and Alexander appear as half-3rd-great aunt and uncle to me, which would indicate that one of their parents married twice...? 

I think I might need to look at this again with fresh eyes tomorrow.

I know it's frustrating when people don't respond to DNA matches or when they don't have even a partial tree uploaded to Ancestry!