Francis Wright

Francis Wright was born August 1, 1660 on the estate of Colonel John Mottrom in Coan, Northumberland County, Virginia to Richard Wright and Ann Mottram.

He married Ann Washington sometime before 1682, the daughter of Colonel John Washington and Anne Pope. Ann's brother Lawrence Washington was the grandfather of President George Washington.

Francis Wright was a "gentleman, sea captain, major, surveyor, attorney, hight sheriff, and Chief Justice of Westmoreland County, Virginia colony. He received a royal commission as a Justice by Royal Warrant on September 13, 1700 from William, King of England. In 1703, Queen Anne of England named Francis "first citizen" of Westmoreland County and President of the Justices. He was also named as founder, vestryman, and communicant of the Yeocomico Church, built in 1706, which is still in use today.

After Ann Washington died, Francis married Martha Cox in 1709.

He died June 23, 1713 at 52 years of age in Westmoreland County, Virginia. It is assumed he was buried at the George Washington National Monument in crypt with many other unnamed early members of Washington's family.

Source: Find A Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/102792802/francis-wright

Charles Hoppins’ account of Maj. Wright starts: "Mr. Francis Wright, gentleman, captain, major, surveyor, attorney, sheriff, and justice of Westmoreland County, is abundantly of record as having increased the excellence of the social position and material independence of his father, Captain Richard Wright...”

“The long intimate friendship between the Wrights and Washington’s suffered a mutual loss in the death of Capt. Lawrence Washington in March, 1698, whose will, naming his deceased sister Anne and her husband Francis Wright, conveys an esteemed impression of the social and intellectual position and material independence of these allied families. The Washington’s at this time resided along Pope's and Mattox (Appomattox) creeks in the northern part of Westmoreland near where the national memorial to the family:

Montross, Westmoreland County, Virginia Deeds & Wills No. 2 pg. 133, etc: "Item I give and bequeath to my sister Anne Wright's children, one man Servant a piece of four or five years to serve or Three Thousand pounds of Tobacco to purchase the same, to be delivered or paid to them when they arrive to the age of twenty years old Item I give that land which I bought of my Brother Francis Wright, being 200 acres lying near Storke's Quarter, to my son John Washington (etc) 11th day of March, 1697-8."

"The Pulpett cloth of velvet bequeathed to Appomattox church by Lawrence Washington was stolen in 1715 and made into breeches, as was related in full by the present author in the William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine, Vol. XXVII, No. 1.

Anne (Washington) Wright had died before the date of his will, March 11, 1697-8, hence no bequest to her, and hence the reference of the testator to being buried by the side of my Father and Mother & neare my Brother and Sisters, in the family burying ground on the original Washington estate near Pope's Creek in Washington parish, Westmoreland, where now stands the tall granite shaft erected by an act of Congress.

The death of Anne (Washington)Wright, when aged under thirty-eight, is also established the deed of sale, executed by her only son John Wright and his father, of land she had inherited from her father Col. John Washington, viz: (Montross, Westmoreland county, Virginia. Book entitled Deeds & Wills No. 4 Page. 175).

Daughter, Anne, supposed to be Francis Wright’s daughter by his second wife, Martha Cox, whom he married about 1709. I have also seen another son, Richard, but haven’t studied this carefully.

Source: from My Southern Cousins at http://oursoutherncousins.com/washington.html