Joshua Wright and Charity Sauns Harris

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Husband Joshua Wright ^{1 2 3 4}

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 1783 - near Sandusky, Erie Co, OH 2
         Buried: 

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         Father: [Father] Wright (      -      )
         Mother: 

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       Marriage:  - Harrisburg, Dauphin Co, PA

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Wife Charity Sauns Harris ^{2 4 5}

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            AKA: Charity Sawens 6
           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

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         Father: John Harris (      -      ) 2
         Mother: 

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   Other Spouse: [Unk] Colvin (      -      ) 7

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Children

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1 F Lydia Wright ^{1 2 4}

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died:  - Nottingham Twp, Washington Co, PA
         Buried: 

         Spouse: John Laird (      -      ) 7

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2 M Enoch Wright ^{1 2 4 8}

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           Born: 10 Mar 1776 - Peters Twp, Washington Co, PA 2 9
     Christened: 
           Died: 1846 - Peters Twp, Washington Co, PA 10 11
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Rachel James (Abt 1770-1860) 2 8 11

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3 F Agnes Wright ^{1 2 4}

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Wyllys Barris (      -      ) 9

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General Notes: Husband - Joshua Wright

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About 1765 two brothers of Scotch-Irish descent, named Joshua and James Wright, came from the Cumberland valley and settled on Peters Creek, in Nottingham township, Washington County, Pennsylvania. The brothers went resolutely to work, and cleared a sufficient amount of their land to put in a crop. Joshua then returned to their home in the East and married, and soon returned with his bride to his forest home. Sept. 16, 1779, Joshua Wright purchased from his brother James all his share of their joint purchase. After this sale James Wright went to live in Kentucky, where he was killed by the Indians.
Joshua sold to Daniel Townsend, his brother-in-law, four hundred acres of the original eight-hundred-acre tract purchased by himself and brother James. [HWC 1882, 888]

About 1765 he came with his brother James from the Cumberland Valley, Pennsylvania, and settled in Nottingham township, Washington County, on Peters creek. They obtained a tract of land containing over 800 acres (near what later became Finleyville) from Indians, part of which land was still in the family in 1893, Joshua, a great-grandson, having 210 acres of it. In 1779 he bought of his brother James all his share of their joint purchase. After he had part of this land cleared and a crop put in, he returned to Harrisburgh and married.
In October, 1776, Joshua Wright was one of the justices of the peace in Youghiogheny County, [Virginia,?] and ex-officio judge of the court. He presided over the court in April, 1777, and was also with the Crawford expedition in 1782.
In the spring of 1783, he started with two other men in a flat bottomed, square prowed boat, to take produce to New Orleans. They were decoyed ashore by a white man and attacked by the Indians, who shot the two companions, and Wright, defending himself to the last, shot several of the attackers with his own musket and those of his slain companions. Overpowered by numbers, however, he was finally captured, and taken to a point near Sandusky, Ohio, where he was made to "run the gauntlet," and was burned at the stake. It was supposed he was decoyed to this tragical fate by Simon Gerty, the white renegade from Fort Pitt.

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General Notes: Wife - Charity Sauns Harris

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She was a descendant of John Harris, the founder of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Sources disagree as to whether she was a daughter or granddaughter. Dates would suggest she was a sister or cousin.

1 Boyd Crumrine, History of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: L. H. Everts & Co., 1882), Pg 888.

2 —, Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893), Pg 976.

3 Joseph F. McFarland, 20th Century History of Washington and Washington County, Pennsylvania and Representative Citizens (Chicago, IL: Richmond-Arnold Publishing Co., 1910), Pg 1285.

4 Unknown, History of the Joseph Wright Family (Privately published, 1914), Pg 1.

5 F. S. Reader, Some Pioneers of Washington County, Pa. - A Family History (New Brighton, PA: F. S. Reader & Son, 1902), Pg 26.

6 Compiler's Speculation.

7 Boyd Crumrine, History of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: L. H. Everts & Co., 1882), Pg 889.

8 F. S. Reader, Some Pioneers of Washington County, Pa. - A Family History (New Brighton, PA: F. S. Reader & Son, 1902), Pg 27.

9 Unknown, History of the Joseph Wright Family (Privately published, 1914), Pg 2.

10 —, Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893), Pg 979.

11 Unknown, History of the Joseph Wright Family (Privately published, 1914), Pg 3.