Wright, William

From: An Island Refuge- Loyalists and Disbanded Troops on The Island of Saint John, The Abegweit Branch of UELAC, 1983

  • WILLIAM WRIGHT, progenitor of the Wrights of Bedeque, was a Loyalist refugee who came from Westchester County, New York, to the Island of Saint John in July, 1784. He brought his wife and children and settled in North Bedeque. Little is known, but the few references that were made to him in old records have been pieced together to give a general outline of his life.
  • When the American Rebellion began, William and his family were living about twenty-five; miles from what is now New York City, near where Westchester County borders Connecticut. We do not know the names of his wife or of his father, but we do know that his wife was a Presbyterian and that his father, a Quaker like William, lived in the same general area. William had two sons, Nathaniel and Stephen, and four daughters: Hannah, Sarah, Lydia, and another who married Solomon Dibble.
  • Though a Quaker, and therefore a pacifist, William openly identified himself with the Loyalist cause, and for this was imprisoned for twelve months. His elder son joined the Loyalist militia and took an active part in the skirmishes between the rebels and Loyalists in that area. William’s wife and younger children who were left at home, were an easy prey for those on the rebel side who made their way to the farms of known Loyalists or Tories, as they were called, to confiscate the crops, livestock, food, clothing and personal possessions or all that could be seized and taken. Testifying before the Committee on Loyalists in 1833, William’s younger son stated under oath: “My father and family were deprived of all their property to a considerable amount by the Rebels, except one bed for the whole family, which included seven persons”.