Janet and Robert Wolfe Genealogy --- Go to Genealogy Page for Alice Wright

Notes for Alice Wright

1694 On 4 of month 2, Joseph Steward proposed, to the Falls meeting, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, his intention to marry Alice Wright. [1]

1694/95 On 3 of month 11, at the women's meeting at Chesterfield, Joseph Steward, of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and Alice, the daughter of Mary Wright widow declared their intention to marry. [2] [3]

1694/95 on 6 of month 12, Joseph Steward produced a certificate to the Chesterfield meeting, from Falls Monthly Meeting in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, to marry Alice Wright, daughter of Mary Wright. [4] [5] [6]

1694/95 On 7 of month 12 (February), Joseph Stewart (son of Joseph Steward of Lancashire, England) and Ales [Alice] Wright, daughter of widow Mary Wright, made their second declaration of intention to marry, as recorded in the Chesterfield, Burlington County, monthly meeting minutes. [7] Alice Wright's mother gave consent to the marriage. [8] [9]

1712 On December 18, Joseph Lawrence and Rachel Curtis married at Chesterfield with consent of parents and relatives. Witnesses: Joseph Steward, Alice Steward, and others. [10]

1715 The will of Joseph Steward, dated July 3, 1715 and proved October 20, 1715, named children John, Joseph, Josiah, Elizabeth, and Ellen. Richard Herrison was a witness to the will. [11]

Richard Harrison married, first, Ruth Buckman and, second, Alice (Wright) Steward, widow. [12]

1720 Widow Alice Wright Steward married Richard Harrison, as his second wife, on 5 of month 3, 1720. [13] [14]

1739 The will of Richard Harrison, dated December 20, 1739 and proved October 5, 1742, named wife Alse and children William, Peter, George, Richard, Ruth Starkey, Sarah Rogers, and granddaughter Rebeckah Harrison. The file has receipts from the widow, from Sarah Rogers, Richard Harrison, Ruth Starkey, and William Harrison. [15]

1759 The will of Alice Harrison, of Hanover Twp, Burlington County, dated 24 April 1759, probated 11 Feb. 1761, named son John and his sons William and John; son Josiah's two sons Joseph and Josiah; granddaughter Martha Chapman; son Joseph Steward, Elizabeth Reckless, Alice Fowler, Alice Feagins, Elizabeth Parent, and Susannah Steward.

A biosketch of Alice Wright's second husband, Richard Harrison, reports [16]:

Richard Harrison, the progenitor of this family in West Jersey, came from Burlington, Yorkshire, in the flie-boat "Martha," and arrived in the Delaware during the fall of 1677. He probably at that time was not much past the age of manhood. He remained in Burlington for some time, and removed thence to this township. He was married. His first wife was named Alse, of whom nothing more is known. In the Crosswicks Monthly Meeting records we find the following: "3d mo. 4th, 1687. These are to signify to all whom it may concern that Richard Harrison, late of Chesterfield, in the province of New Jersey, and Ruth Buckman, late of Nottingham, in the said province, etc., were married." About this time he settled near Crosswicks Creek,- not far from the present village of that name. On the sixth and twentieth day of March, 1690, " he purchased of Thomas Wright, Yeoman," a large tract of land near Jacobstown, Burlington County, which still remains in the possession of the family, and is now occupied by Richard Harrison, of the seventh generation. In the deed his place of residence is given as Crosswicks Creek. In 1691, Governor Daniel Coxe conveyed the government of West Jersey and territories to the West Jersey Society, comprising among other persons Edward Harrison (who this Edward was we have no knowledge). Richard Harrison at the time was not a member of the West Jersey Society. In Smith's " History of New Jersey," page 218, however, we find him as one of the proprietors of West Jersey, a signer of the surrender of the governments to Queen Anne, April 17, 1702. Whether he succeeded Edward as proprietor, or purchased a proprietor's interest of some other person we cannot say. Richard died in 1743. By his will we find he left children named Peter, George, Richard, Ruth, Sarah, and William. Peter married Sarah Starky, and died in 1747. He had children, — Mary, Ruth, Deborah, Sarah, Isaac, Joseph, and Thomas. Richard married Alice Steward, widow of Joseph Steward, the 7th of the 12th mo., 1720. Ruth married on the 7th of the 8th mo., 1714, to James Starky. Sarah married Joseph Rogers in 1721. William and George we have no account of. The Harrison family are very numerous,- and many of them have held important offices in the township. In the journal and votes of the House of Representatives of the province of Nova Csesarea, or New Jersey, in their first sessions of Assembly, began at Perth Amboy the 18th day of November, i., 703, 1872, printed by order of the Legislature of New Jersey, we find John Harrison a member of the General Assembly of the Eastern Division of the colony. He continued a member of said Assembly up to the close of 1709, when the records end. He resided at Perth Amboy, and in 1709, on page 191, occurs the minute: 'That the board did agree to conference with the committee of this hos in the great room of Harrison at four of the clock in the afternoon.' He was frequently styled captain. In 1709, during the expedition against Port Royal, Nova Scotia, he was by recommendation of the Assembly commissioned captain by the lieutenant and Governor, and a few days afterwards is spoken of as mayor.

Research Notes:

Alice Wright, spouse of Joseph Steward, has been named, by different researchers, as the daughter of both Thomas Wright [17], whose spouse was Ann, and Joshua Wright [18], whose spouse was Elizabeth. Since Alice was the daughter of widow Mary Wright when she married Joseph Steward in 1694, Alice could not have been the daughter of either Joshua or Thomas Wright. We suspect that Alice was the daughter of Samuel Wright (died 1690) and his wife Mary.

A biosketch discusses evidence about the father of Alice Wright and proves that she was not the daughter of Joshua Wright, and suggests (incorrectly) that she may have been the daughter of Thomas Wright. We seek a copy of the 1694 marriage certificate of Alice Wright and Joseph Steward, which was witnessed by both Thomas and Joshua Wright according to these notes [19]:

This Elizabeth Fowler-Reckless was a daughter of Joseph Steward, a native of Scotland, who settled first in Makefield, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, and was a member of Falls Monthly Meeting of Friends, from which he took a certificate. 1694, to Chesterfield Monthly Meeting, Burlington county, New Jersey, and married at the latter meeting February 7, 1694-5, Alice Wright, born circa 1674. Joshua and Thomas Wright, brothers, were among the earliest English settlers about Burlington, New Jersey. The latter came in the "Flie-Boat Martha," 1677, and took up large tracts of land about Burlington, having purchased 'war the first 10 shares" in West Jersey lands. It has been stated that he had no children, but we know he had at least one daughter, Ann, who married Henry Scott. He died March, 1705-6.

... The will of Joshua Wright, of Nottingham. "neare ye Ffalls of ye Delawayr," written March 25, 1690, but signed and acknowledged by him three days before his death. to wit, October 7, 1695, mentions his wife Elizabeth and the six children named in the account of the family written many years after by his son Joshua; the daughter Elizabeth, being the wife of Peter Fretwell. It also mentions Mary, widow of his brother Samuel, and her son Samuel. Alice Wright, who married Joseph Steward, 1694, has generally been accredited a daughter of Joshua and Elizabeth (Empson) Wright. but since neither his will nor his son's account of the family make any mention of her, this could not have been so. She was, however, of the same family and probably a daughter of Thomas, and accompanied him to America. Both were witnesses to her marriage.

Joseph Steward died 1715; his will, dated July 3, was proved October 20 of that year, and the inventory of his estate was made July 28, 1715. The will mentions children, John, Joseph, Josiah, Elizabeth and Ellen, and was witnessed by Richard Harrison and Joshua Wright. The widow Alice married Richard Harrison, 1720.

Richard Harrison, Sr., came in the "Flie-Boat Martha" in the fall of 1677, with Thomas Wright, and in 1690 purchased 200 acres of land on Crosswicks Creek. He married. May 4, 1687, at Chesterfield Friends" Meeting, Ruth Buckman, who had come to Philadelphia in October, 1682, with her mother, the widow Buckman, in the "Welcome," with William Penn. Whether it was Richard Harrison Sr., or his son Richard Harrison Jr., who married the widow Alice (Wright) Steward, we are not able to determine. It was probably the former, as Richard, Jr., must have been many years her junior.


Footnotes:

[1] Quaker Meeting Records, Falls Monthly Meeting Bucks County, PA, Minutes, 1731-1767, 33, [AncestryRecord], [AncestryImage].

[2] Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1935, Chesterfield Monthly Meeting, Book of Records, 1684-1756, 40, [AncestryRecord], [AncestryImage].

[3] Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1935, Chesterfield Monthly Meeting, Minutes, 1688-1809, 12, [AncestryRecord], [AncestryImage].

[4] Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1935, Chesterfield Monthly Meeting, Certificates received, 1694-1836, [AncestryRecord], [AncestryImage].

[5] Charlotte D. Meldrum, Early Church Records of Burlington County, New Jersey, Vol. 2 (1995), 42.

[6] "Marriages at Chesterfield, New Jersey, 1685-1730," The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 9 (1885), 347-352, at 347, [GoogleBooks].

[7] Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1935, Chesterfield Monthly Meeting, Book of Records, 1684-1756, 41, [AncestryRecord], [AncestryImage].

[8] Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1935, Chesterfield Monthly Meeting, Minutes, 1688-1809, 12, [AncestryRecord], [AncestryImage].

[9] Lewis D. Cook, "Marriage Intentions, 1685-1730, Burlington County, New Jersey," National Genealogical Society Quarterly 53 (1965), 129-32, at 129.

[10] Chesterfield Monthly Meeting, Burlington, New Jersey, Births and Deaths, 1675-1750, Vol. K, Marriages, 1684-1724, [AncestryRecord], [AncestryImage].

[11] George E. McCracken, The Welcome Claimants Proved, Disproved and Doubtful (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1970), 73.

[12] Chesterfield Township Tercentenary Committee, Chesterfield Township Heritage: Burlington County, New Jersey (1964), 27, [GoogleBooks].

[13] George E. McCracken, The Welcome Claimants Proved, Disproved and Doubtful (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1970), 73.

[14] Chesterfield Township Tercentenary Committee, Chesterfield Township Heritage: Burlington County, New Jersey (1964), 27, [GoogleBooks].

[15] George E. McCracken, The Welcome Claimants Proved, Disproved and Doubtful (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1970), 73.

[16] Major E. M. Woodward and John Hageman, History of Burlington and Mercer Counties, New Jersey (Philadelphia: Everts & Peck, 1883), 276, [HathiTrust].

[17] Janet and Robert Wolfe, Genealogy Page for Thomas Wright, married to Ann, [JRWolfeGenealogy].

[18] Janet and Robert Wolfe, Genealogy Page for Joshua Wright, married to Elizabeth, [JRWolfeGenealogy].

[19] John W. Jordan, Colonial Families of Philadelphia, Vol. 1 (New York: Lewis Publishing Company, 1911), 811-812, [HathiTrust], [InternetArchive].