Three members of the Wright family, all named Samuel, came to Australia in the nineteenth century. Captain Samuel Wright James WRIGHT (1758-1816), the son of James WRIGHT (1758-1816) and Jane (nee LEET) (1760-1826), arrived in Hobart in May 1822 with the Third Regiment of the British Army. Two of his nephews Samuel (referred here as Samuel II) and Samuel William (referred to as Willy) left Shercock in County Cavan in November 1847 to join there uncle in New South Wales.

Wrights in Ireland

The parish of Shercock in the barony of Clonkee lies in the north of Co. Cavan and adjoins Co. Monaghan. (see Google map)

Map of ShercockShercock
Prior to the famine the parish had almost 500 inhabitants and the village 82 houses. In the town land of Carrickacrenay, immediately west of the village and along the northern shore of Lough Sillan, the tithe aplotment book of 1825 records a James Wright as owning just over six acres of land and the adjacent property of a widow Wright of 3 rods. Together they paid tithes of some 16 shillings to the rector Rev. Frederick Fitzpatrick JP. whose rectory, Glebe House, was situated on the banks of the lough close to the Wright's property. From a plaque in the Church of Ireland village church dates and, from two memorial stones in the church grave yard it appears that the James Wright referred in the tithe aplotment book was the son of James WRIGHT (1758-1816) and the widow Wright was his mother Jane (nee LEET?) (1760-1826). James and Jane had four sons - Thomas, James II, Edward William Leet and Samuel. The family lived as farmers on the northern shore of Lough Sillan in the parish of Shercock at the beginning of the nineteenth century.

Family records in Ireland are very limited but a strong family story maintains that the "original Wright" came to Ireland with Cromwell. I believe that the original Wright was Captain John Wright who arrived with Cromwell's army in Dublin in 1649 and was later granted the estates of Gola and Carrachor in western Co., Monaghan by King James II in 1689. The Captain, James Wright I, was born in Royston, Yorkshire in 1615 and first married Jane Owen in 1638 and had one son, William in 1640. After Jane's her death he married Mary Slacke and had six more children. The second son of that marriage was Thomas who in his marriage had sixteen children. Joseph Wright, the second son of that family, became a Church of Ireland parson with an estate at Carrachor . James Wright of Shercock is believed to be a grandson of Rev. Joseph Wright, being one of the children of James Wright III who inherited Carrachor Hall. His descendants sold the property and some moved to Cork.

One of the headstones in the Shercock church-yard are somewhat worn but the inscriptions appear to state that -

Sacred to the Memory
of Mr. JAMES WRIGHT of Shercock
who dep........ed his maker the 24th February
1816 Aged 58 years
Here also lies the mortal remains
of THOMAS WRIGHT eldest son
of the above James who died 20th March
1816 Aged 33 (?) years.
And here also lies the Remains of his
wife Jane who died January 6th 1826
Aged 66 years

*******************

The second stone relates to the youngest son of James and Jane and brother of Thomas. Edward William Leet WRIGHT, married Jane WIMP daughter of a prominent Shercock family. Their daughters Sophia, Amelia and Mary Jane appear to have died as children, son Samuel William migrated to New South Wales with his cousin Samuel II. The surviving daughter Caroline remained in Shercock, unmarried, until her death in 1889 aged 73. In the record of Landowners in Ireland for 1876 she is probably the Miss Wright in County Cavan who owned 510 acres.

This Stone
has been erected by
CAROLINE WRIGHT
in loving remembrance of her mother
JANE widow of EDWARD WILLIAM LEET WRIGHT
of Shercock
who slept in Jesus 22nd October 1877

Also as a tribute of affection to her late sisters
Amelia, Sophia and Mary Jane
Moreover to the memory of her grandparents
WILLIAM and CAROLINE WIMP


The Griffith Valuation of County Cavan in 1856 refers only to Edward William WRIGHT living in the town land of Shinan on the south eastern shore of the lough in a house leased from Captain Benjamin Adams.


The plaque in the church records the death of Caroline's brother who was known as William.

ERECTED
by his affectionate sister
CAROLINE
in memory of
her dearly beloved brother
SAMUEL WILLIAM WRIGHT
who died in 1876
at Stanley Australia

Also to the memory of her beloved uncle
RICHARD WIMP
who died in Peterborough
Canada West


It seems that Edward and James II inherited the farm in Shercock on the death of their father and older brother. Edward and Jane and had one son, Samuel William and four daughters Caroline, Amelia, Sophia and Mary Jane. James and Elizabeth and had three children Samuel II, Martha and Charlotte. It seems James II died about 1842 possibly in the aftermath of the famine while Samuel II was attending King William College on the Isle of Man, as a consequence Samuel II joined his uncle Captain Samuel and his mother and sisters migrated to North America.

Thus the descendants of James and Jane Wright are