When Waits became Wrights ---- Town records of Hopkinton, R.I., show how a part of the Massachusetts-Rhode Island Wait family became "lost" to genealogists because the name was changed to Wright in the fourth generation.

Thomas Wait came to Massachusetts 1634 and settled in Rhode Island in 1639, first in Portsmouth and later in Tiverton, where his descendants lived for many years. John Cassan Wait, who wrote a history of the family, did not discover the change of name, and missed a substantial branch. Austin's "Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island" traces numerous Waits, but fails to indicate that Thomas Wait (Thomas3, Thomas2, Thomas1), born 6 Sept 1715, removed to the town of Richmond, R.I., in 1749, and thence to Hopkinton. His brother John4 Wait, born 6 Nov 1720, removed to Richmond prior to 1765 (when he cleared away a mortgage on his land), and by 1772 was in (North) Stonington, Conn., so near the Rhode Island line that his records are also at Hopkinton.

G. Andrews Moriarty (The Register, Oct, 1919) listed five children of John4 Wait and his wife, Mary Soule. There appears to have been a sixth child, Thomas, born in Hopkinton about 1767, who married 25 Dec 1787 Sarah Button, and on 28 Dec 1785 joined the Seventh Day Baptist Church, Westerly, as "Thomas son of John".

There are various relevant documents in the Hopkinton Town Hall which show the change of name. There were no other Waits or Wrights in this locality at the time, and the writer has been helped by the fact that he grew up in the region and often had the land owned by the fifth generation identified for him by his grandfather, who was a young man before the members of that generation died.

It will help clarify what follows if it is understood that Thomas1 Wait had a son John5 Wait-Wright, born in March 1751, married 5 Sept 1776 Mary Cottrell. Their son, Daniel W. Wright, born about 1780, died 4 July 1819, married in 1814 Patience Allen. The old home of heir son, Daniel W. Wright, born 3 May 1815, married 17 Jan 1842 Fanny Esther Bromley, still stands.

John4 Wait had a son John5 Wright, born 4 Dec 1762, married 29 June 1788 Sabrina West, daughter of Francis West. Their daughter, Nancy5 Wright, born 2 Dec 1792, married in 1814 Jonathan Allen, the undersigned's great-grandfather.

Thomas4 Wait in his will, 31 May 1758, leaves to wife Bridget (Crandall) and sons Pain(e), Joseph, John, and Job Weight. In the inventory he is called Waite (Probate and Council Records, Vol 1, 1751-1770, pp 23 and 24). Variants of the spelling are frequent. Paine Wait in marriage records is given as Waight, but on North Kingstown church records he is called in 1775, Paine Wright.

The son of Thomas4 Wait, that is, John5 Wright, on 27 Mar 1772 sold land to "my uncle John Wait (4) of Tiverton", and in this deed the nephew is consistently named John Wait. But on 26 Sept 1774, the uncle, John4 Wait, bought land from Joseph Eagleton (near which the writer owns a small parcel), and is referred to as John Rite and "John Right of Richmondton" (Land Evidence, Book 2, p 498). And on 8 Feb 1779, John4 Wait sold land as John Right, the deed, curiously, bearing the signatures of John Wright and Mary Right. The same day John4 Wait bought land of Francis and Mary (Lawton) West, the name consistently appearing as John Wright (Land Evidence, Book 3-4, pp 210 and 215).

The son of John4 Wait-Wright, that is John5 Wright, bought land of Elijah Burdick 25 Feb 1783, and is called in the selfsame document John Right and John Wright (Land Evidence, Book 3-4, p 70). When the same John5 Wright married Sabrina West in 1788, he is set forth as John Wright, Jr. (Book 2, Marriages and Births, 1786-1824, p 47).

John5 Wait-Wright, the undersigned's great-great-grandfather, used the name of Wright, as did his cousin, John5 Wright, son of Thomas4 Wait. The change of name probably came about through the well-known inexactness of country people or town clerks, but may have been facilitated because some of the Waits who accepted the name of Wright were, actually, "wrights" by trade. John5 Wright, of John4 Wait-Wright, was a wheelwright and blacksmith who did horse-shoeing and coach repairing for the New-London-Providence Turnpike after 1820, at the inn where passengers stopped in North Stonington, a stone's throw from the Hopkinton, R.I., border.

My gggrandfather was named John Wright. According to all records we have been able to find, census records, death certificate, military records, etc, we find that he was born about 1820 in New York. Nothing has been found on him or his ancestors prior to 1850. It is possible that his name was spelled different, so we are checking all other spellings of the name as well as the possibility that he was a Wait.

NOTE: It is our regret that it is not known what publication this article came from, but we felt this change of name was important enough that we provide it here, as it can give you an idea of why you may not be able to find your ancestors at times. Many times the variation of spelling the surname has brought research to a halt. Here we find that it is not a variation, but a complete change. If anyone knows the publications this article is from, please let us know.

Although we have many of the surnames that are listed in the article, there are no connections on our database. The family group sheets that were submitted by Elizabeth will be added to the "National" database. Her family group sheets include among other surnames, Borden, Cooke, Sherman, Wait, Wells and Wright.