This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: MichaelCharlesWight Surnames: Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.wright/15400.2.2/mb.ashx Message Board Post: Donna, There may be an opportunity here to settle a long standing controversy if you know of a direct male descendant of Lt. Abel Wright of Springfield who would be willing to join the Wright Y-DNA testing program. The parentage and place of birth for Lt. Abel Wright who married Martha KICTHEREL has never been established by suitable documentation and the proposal that he is the son of a Kelvedon Hatch Wright is a hypothetical proposal based largely on the nearby residence of Deacon Samuel Wright in Springfield, MA and the Deacon's 3rd cousin, Thomas Wright, in Wethersfield, CT. Abel's birth date is arrived at through death records, but, to my knowledge, no baptismal or birth record for him in England or in New England has ever been found to show who his parents were and no immigration record has ever been found to show when he immigrated to New England prior to 1655, hence the presumption that he came to the colony about that time. So, what we have is a speculation that Abel Wright was of the Kelvedon Hatch line of Wrights, but not a single piece of documentation to back that up. The opportunity I see here is that if we could find a proven patrilineal descendant of Lt. Abel Wright among your relatives who was willing to join the Y-DNA testing program, we could at long last, develop some sort of credible evidence for or against this hypothesis. Either way, it would focus further research in a more fruitful direction than we currently have found going on with the search for Lt. Abel's parentage. If you know of such a relative, please get in touch and lets see if he can solve this long-standing mystery for us! With regards to other matters mentioned in your rendition of the Kelvedon Hatch lineage, there were a few other details I thought I should mention as follows: 1. Rev. John Wright was born in Dagenhams prior to 27 Oct. 1450 because that was the date of his Christening, not his birth date. 2. The Reverand's son, John Wright, was Christened in Dagenham on 12 July 1488 not in Kelvedon Hall. In 1488 the Kelvedon Hatch estate was held by John Bolles from the owners, Westminster Abby. 3. Marriage place of John Wright and Olive Hubbard was also Dagenham not Kelvedon Hatch or the Kelvedon Manor, which at the time of their marriage was still owned by Westminster Abby and leased to the Bolles family. John Wright did not gain tenancy of the property until 1538 when he bought the tenancy for 493 pounds and change from Richard Bolles, a grandson of the former John Bolles. Two years later Henry VIII divested the church of all its monastaries and leased properties and ownership of the Kelvedon Hatch estate reverted to Sir Richard Rich, Lord of the Ongar Hundred (the Hundred within which all the property lay) and John Wright, yeoman, continued to hold tenancy of the property of Sir Rich instead of Westminster Abby. It was only after 1538 that John Wright occupied the Kelvedon Hatch estate, enlarged the home and improved the estate in a manner that led to it becoming known as "Kelvedon Hall". This property passed to his eldest son, John the Elder, in 1551 whose de! scendants held the estate in the family until 1922. 4. The manor and estates bequeathed by John Wright to his son, Robert, were termed in his will as follows: ..."To Robert Wright and his heirs, Ropers in Brook Street, and house meadow and orchard in Brook Street, Smythes Land, Powres wherein now gladden dwelleth with Fyners, Burnecks Land and Webbs." This included the estates of Great & Little Ropers, the Moat House and its lands as well as four other lesser properties. The Ropers estate still exists in much altered form as does the Moat House, which now operates as an Inn and restaurant called the Mary Green Manor. My wife and I have stayed at the Mary Green Manor a couple of times in the last few years and it is being kept up very nicely by the proprietors. Many of the original architectual features of the Old Moat Houst are still quite evident and the property retains much of its old country Inn charm, even while sitting right on a busy thoroughfare. There is much more to know about this family connection and I am hoping you can help us discover some of it. Please, if you know of any male cousins bearing the Wright name, please put us in touch with them so that we can explore the possibilities that are now open to us for tracking family lineages with Y-DNA testing. This issue of Abel Wright's parents has been debated for over 150 years without satisfactory resolution. In any case, I do wish you the best of luck in fleshing out your Wright ancestry. Best Regards, Mike Wright Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.