Discussion Forum of the Upper St.John River Valley website / Forum de discussion du site web de la Vallée Supérieure de la Rivière St-Jean

looking for any info on john wright of perth parish born ~ 1801 wife maria

Have you taken a look at the 1851 census of Perth? This family seems to be on this page:

http://www.upperstjohn.com/1851/perth1.htm#1

The fact that Maria is listed as "Dutch" and also as born in NB means it is very likely she is descended from a loyalist family from New York (formerly New Netherlands).

In the 1861 census of Perth (not online), Robison Merrithew is living in the household of John and Maria Wright, and is listed as "father in law," so we know he is Maria's father. He is also listed in 1851, living next door to John and Maria, and listed as "Dutch."

So for them, the place to look would be lists of Loyalist families from New York.

Here's a link to the Wright family genealogy, beginning with William Wright, the grandfather of your John, if you go down a bit you'll see "Descendants of John Wright and Moriah Merrithew", Moriah being an alternate spelling of Maria:

http://corbett27.tripod.com/id53.htm

Hope this helps!

thank you

There's a bit more info on Merrithew on this page of my website:

http://www.upperstjohn.com/madawaska/mi ... t.htm#1822

This is a list of veterans of the War of 1812 who were granted land along the St.John River. "Robinson Merrithew" is one of them. The info indicates that he was a private in the New Brunswick Regiment, and that he settled on the land in 1817, and that he was living alone at that time.

Please be careful when assuming that a person is actually "Dutch" when taking this from the early New Brusnwick census information. A common occurence at this time was to call German speaking/background people "Dutch" based on the German word "Deutch" (or like spelling) which means German.

My DeMerchant ancestors were listed as "Dutch" in the 1851 census of Kent Parish, Carleton County. They were in fact German and were actually listed as such in the 1871 census of the same place.

I don't disagree with Chip about them possibly being Loyalists but they very well could be War of 1812 veterans as well. Several soldiers from the Royal West Indie Rangers were of German origin. If you check Bowmaster and Baker in Perth parish from 1851 and see how they are listed (German or Dutch) this might give you a clue. Both of these surnames are of German origin but have been anglicized.

Good luck.

Norm...

In general, Norm's right about precautions around the word "Dutch."

But in this case I think they were really Dutch. If you check the above link to the 1822 settlers, you see that Robison Merrithew, listed as Dutch, was indeed probably a veteran of the war of 1812. But he served in the New Bruswick Regiment, which was recruited in New Brunswick itself as far as I know.

The 1861 census has him listed as "native," that is, born in New Brunswick, and given his age, he was born about 1784, the year after many Loyalists fled to the province.

Based on these facts, I'd say the probability is quite high that they were descended from Dutch Loyalists, probably from New York...

I am great great great grandson of John Wright and have some descendant info especially around Arthurette, Victoria Co. If interested you can e me.