The Wright way

In 1100 Norwich was a major metropolis, rivalling London in importance. It was still significant though diminished in 1600. Today its name is synonymous with boondocks.

Nicholas Wright and Margaret Nelson, living in Norwich in the second half of the 1500s, had five sons. In 1636 three of them, Peter, Anthony, and Nicholas, emigrated to Massachusetts, to seed communities a few miles north of Boston. Were they Puritans? Probably.

Norwich is in a section of England called East Anglia. Sixty percent of the English settlers in Massachusetts came from there. If you toured East Anglia today looking only at place names you’d think you were in Massachusetts: Lynn, Newton, Hingham, Woburn, Medford, Dorchester, Weymouth, and, of course, Boston. They came for one reason—to set up what they believed would be ideal communities adhering to the Puritan way. Between 1630 and 1640 more than 20,000 Puritans crossed the North Atlantic to settle in Massachusetts.

So the Wrights likely were Puritans, but it seems that they didn’t stay Puritans for long. A few years after they landed in Lynn, the brothers moved to Sandwich on Cape Cod and then to Oyster Bay, Long Island. There they became involved in an active Quaker community that is still a source of great local pride. They probably joined the Society of Friends some time in the 1660s. George Fox, founder of the Friends, began proselytizing in England in 1647, ten years after the Wrights left. But his message spread quickly and leapt the ocean. By the time Fox traveled to the New World, there were several Quaker communities here to meet with. In May of 1672 he spent several days with Quakers in Oyster Bay.

Why do we care? Peter Wright, one of the three brothers, married and had seven children, one of whom, Gideon, is a direct ancestor of Mabel Muldrow. But the story gets really interesting with Gideon’s sisters, our multi-great aunts.

Backward through the ages

About 60 years before the ancestors of Preston Thames fled the west coast of France to escape the persecution and massacre of Huguenots, Mabel Muldrow’s ancestors sailed from the east coast of England, headed for Massachusetts and what they believed would be religious freedom.

Ha!

The Huguenots settled in South Carolina, which was founded by entitled if not titled second sons of aristocrats whose main goal was to get filthy rich and rule over vast estates. This mentality is preserved to a large extent today among certain folks I’ll refrain from naming. But the upside was that nobody in authority cared about the religious ideas of some Frenchies setting up housekeeping in the Santee swamp.

Massachusetts was founded by do-gooders who believe there was one way and one way only to do good—their way. That is also still somewhat true today. But I get ahead of myself.

When I say “we” and “our” I refer to the descendents of Preston B. Thames (b.1894) and Mable C. Muldrow (b. 1898), which as of 2009 total 21—two children, five grandchildren, nine great grandchildren, and five great-great grandchildren. But the first person plural may also refer to descendents of Preston’s and Mabel’s siblings, second and third cousins and beyond, depending on which side they are on.

First I’m going to go back, way way back, to 1088, when a person by the name of Eudo de Arsik appeared in the Domesday Book, where William the Conqueror recorded the names of the conquered, probably the better to tax them. Family Search website traces the line of Mabel Muldrow back to this name in 1088. (This also means that we have among our cousins one or more Mormons.) The Internet reveals that the current royal family of England, and probably Michael Jackson and Hillary Clinton, are also related to Arsik.

I did the math, counting back the generations to see how many direct ancestors I have: 4 grandparents, 8 great-grandparents, 16 great-greats and on. By the time I got to the 1700s I had thousands. By 1100 I had a billion, but there were no where near a billion people alive in 1100.

That means that I am related to everyone who was alive in 1100, which means everyone alive today is related to Arsik, from my next-door neighbour to a child born yesterday in the rainforests of Kenya to Prince William, Michelle Obama, and Mark Sanford.

So chew on that a bit and then come forward to 600 years to 1596. I was related to thousands of people alive then but I’m going to zero in on one family that some distant Mormon cousin has identified as related to me through my grandmother Mabel: the Wrights of Norwich.

Bama

Bama was what Daddy called his grandmother, Inez. Bama lived to see her son Preston turn 42 and her grandchildren become teenagers. She died in 1938. Two things come down from her: 1) a decorative ewer and 2) the scrapbook she kept for her son (grand)Pop Thames, from his birth in 1896.

Let us dispense with the ewer. Mom gave this to me a while back. I can't decide if it is hideous or not. But I brought it out for company once and said, "Here is something that has been handed down from generation to generation..." and someone, possibly Aaron, said, "because no one has had the nerve to throw it away."

The namesake

The name Thames first appears in the ancestors in the 1880 census, where we find a J.T.L. Thames, age 49, and his wife Sarah A. Thames, and their 11 children, ranging from Preston B. Thames, 23, to an unnamed 4-month-old baby girl. Preston is the right age and has the right name to be the man who married Inez Clark.

J.T.L. was a carpenter and architect, Preston was a farmer, and Sarah was "Keeping House," according to the census. J.T.L. Thames' parents were both born in S.C.; Sarah's mother was born in S.C., but her father came from Scotland. Their named children after Preston were Jacolin, Mary, Maxey G. (Maxey Gregg was a noted Confederate general), John, James Q., Peter P., Sirell D., Fanne S., and Dottie V.

Was Preston Brooks Thames named to honor the Preston S. Brooks who beat up Charles Sumner? The Sumner assault was 1856 and the first Preston Brooks Thames was named 1857 so it's highly likely. The fact that J.T.L named another son for rebel general indicates a propensity. Sumner said vile things but it's a real stretch to believe he deserved to be beaten bloody, and kind of embarrassing how proud S.C. was of the man who did the deed. I pass Sumner's statue in the Public Garden from time to time and apologize.

Preston S. Brooks is buried in the Willow Brook Cemetery in Edgefield, where our old friend Strom Thurmond also rests.

Letter from Sullivan's Island

Camp of the 23rd S.C. R. Sullivan's Island, S.C. Nov. 27 1863
Mr. L. M. Jones
My Dear Friend:
Pardon me for troubling you with this. This leaves me quite well at present though I have been suffering sometime from diarrhea, it is due to the water we have to drink on this Island. George is quite well, they and he with the rest are having very hard duty to do now. Guard picket and fatague duty that is gives them very little rest time.

Hope this may find you in good health. News is rather dull about here the enemy keep up a steady fire upon Fort Sumter, and occasionally they give Fort Moultrie and the city a touching up. Rather discouraging news from Braggs army. Grant has driven him back to Chickamauga and report is also that Longstreet has captured Brunside and seven thousand men.

Well what about my election can you give me any idea how I will run in your company. I want to soon send a short address to each company in service, get the commanding officer to read it to each company when our company drill. I have some very encouraging reports from some parts, and of course I hear some things that are just the contrary--that of course I must expect. I want you to stir up matters not only in your company but at home.

Capt. Lesesne will be with us on next Sunday or Monday, we are all anxiously looking for him, it has been some time since he has been with us.

Well as my time is short you must excuse this. Give by best responcts to Capt. McKnight and to all my friends and acquaintances--and accept the best regards for youself. From you friend,
Lovingly and Sincerely,
Wm. J. Clark, Co. I 23rd, S.C.R. Evans Brigade, Charleston, S.C.

Cold Water and the other Army

As a young teen growing up in Sumter, S.C., William James Clark was caught up in a religious revival sweeping the nation in the 1840s. That revival fired up two reform movements, one for the abolition of slavery and the other for the abolition of drink. The antislavery forces didn't get much traction among white Southerners (the Grimke sisters excepted) but the anti-drink folk set in motion laws and attitudes that still reverberate in South Carolina (and Massachusetts).

Young WJ Clark was at the forefront. In 1849 he was elected president of the Order of Temperance, also known as the Cold Water Army. Here is its theme song, to the tune of Yankee Doodle:

"Cold water is the drink for me,
Of all the drinks, the best sir;
Your grog, of whate’er name it be
I dare not for to taste, sir.

Give me dame nature’s only drink,
And I can make it do, sir;
Then what care I what other think,—
The best that ever grew, sir."

WJ was born in Charleston in 1835 to a grocer also named William James Clark and his wife Anne LaComb Perdreau, a great great great granddaughter of the Remberts who fled France. In 1838, when the little boy was 3, a great fire swept through Charleston, destroying the Clarks' property. They picked up and moved to Sumter.

In 1854 the younger WJ moved to Manning and married Margeret Ann Stukes, then 16. They lived on a farm, part of Stukes family lands, on what became known as Clark's Hill, just west of Clark's Branch, which flowed through the western part of the town.

WJ enlisted in the Confederate Army in 1853, two weeks after his son Sam was born, joining Company I, 23rd regiment, under the command of Colonel Henry L. Benbow.

Who is Maggie?

"August 5, 1967
W. Palm Beach

"My Dear Gladys: If he were living my precious Archie would be 61 today. The first time in 60 years I can’t say 'Happy Birthday Son.' It hurts just as much now as when he left us six months ago—I must do something to pass the time.
"Last fall, while I was madly working to finish the UDC 'Real Daughter’s' record which I had been working on for six years, the newspapers here heard about it, and that a special place (a handsome case) was being prepared to house them for safe keeping in our Headquarters Building and museum in Richmond, so they sent a reporter and photographer over to get a picture of me and the books.(I sent you one, didn’t I?) Just before that I had a letter from Chovine and Lola Clark. They were interested in researching into the Clark Ancestry and wanted anything I had that might help."

--photocopied letter that goes on for several pages about people I don't know and ends with several pages of begats, including the Clarks that also appear in the Remberts of South Carolina book published by Allsobrooks McCall and Sallie Rembert. Letter is signed "Maggie." Who is Maggie, who is Archie? Who the heck is Chovine?

Who was Archie?

Obviously Archie was her son, who died six months earlier at age 60. Maggie must have been in her 80s, poor dear, and her grief at outliving her son was poignant and fresh. In another letter later that August to "My Dear Gladys" she wrote, "I have had a long hot, and very sad summer. I miss my precious Archie more, not less, as time passes, tho I try hard to be reconciled. Just can't have enthusiasm for anything anymore."

But who was Archie to me? Who was Maggie to me? Gladys was Great Aunt Gladys, sister to Pop Thames. Daddy referred to her as Aunt Happy-Tail, much to the delight of us children and the irritation of Mamoo. The letters to Gladys were in an envelop addressed to John and Sylvia Thames from Mel Ingram, son of Aunt Gladys.

I searched the Rembert book for a Margaret Clark and found one. But this was a daughter of William Clark, the ancester who fought for the Confederacy, which would explain her "Real Daughters" activity. But she was writing in 1967. How could a daughter of the Confederacy still be alive in 1967? The Rembert book didn't carry forward to list the offspring so that I could confirm the Margaret Clark was Maggie by seeing a son named Archie.

The busy busy wives of WJ Clark

Maggie in 1967 was just a little older than my grandparents; my grandfather Pres would have been 71 then. He was a grandchild of William J. Clark, CSA. So I went off on a wild goose chase looking for a grandchild named Margaret or Maggie, someone who would be first cousin to Pres (Pop), Gladys (Happy-tail), and Helen (Boobie's wife). WJ had 11 children, so looking was a quite a headache, especially since the Rembert book seemed to give out of steam listing all those progeny. Only after spinning wheels for a while, studying Maggie's handwritten geneology and scratching my head, I realized Maggie was the daughter of the old CSAer himself.
William James Clark was born in 1835. In 1854, at the age of 19, he married Margaret Ann Stukes, who was only 16. Their first child, William J., was born in 1855. Their second, Martha, in 1857, and their third in 1859. When Margaret Stukes turned 21 she was minding three babies under the age of 3. She had a fourth, Samuel, in 1864, when she was 24. Then the war came, WJ joined the cause, and Margaret caught a break, maybe. Who was around to help her with the little ones? We don't know.

WJ managed to survive the war, otherwise I wouldn't be here to write this. Great-grandmother Leila Inez Clark, the wife of one Preston Thames, the mother of another, and the grandmother of yet another, was born in 1867. Henry came along in 1869, and Margaret Stukes had no more pregnancies for 14 years. We can guess little Inez and Henry got much more attention than their older siblings had had. It ain't over till it's over, though, and in 1881 WJ and Margaret had their last baby , a boy they named Plummer. Two years later, at 45, Margaret died.

WJ married the next year, to 31-year-old Mary Capers McKagen. She became stepmother to seven children between the ages of 2 and 29, but probably other than baby Plummer only the post-war kids, Inez and Henry, 17 and 15, were still at home.

Why was Mary unmarried at 31? Had she been a spinster school teacher? Taking care of a widowed father? Had she been married before, as her double last name suggests? Whatever her circumstances, she was soon pregnant, and gave birth to Margaret in 1885. I like to think she was a sweet generous woman to name her first daughter after her husband's first wife. Sarah followed in 1887, then Walter in 1888.

Then in February of 1890, at the age of 55, WJ died. From the Manning Times: "After the grave was filled there was a sad and beautiful sight as two little girls named Margaret, one his daughter, the other his granddaughter, came forward and laid the kind and lovely floral offerings on the tomb."

One of the little girls would have been Maggie, who was 5 when her father died. Two of WJ's first batch of children had given the name Margaret to their daughters. I can't find birth dates for them, but I believe it was likely the granddaughter Margaret was close in age to her 5-year-old Aunt Maggie.

September after burying her husband Mary gave birth to a fourth child, Elvira.

How did Mary manage, a widow with four tiny children and 9-year-old Plummer? Did she move in with a stepchild--the oldest should have been well settled then at 35. Did WJ leave her enough property to provide for herself and the children? We don't know how Mary managed. We do know she outlived Elvira, who lived only to the age of 12.We do know that Mary managed well enough to live to the age of 87. And she seemed to have had a loving relationship with WJ and to have endeavored to bring him to life in the eyes of their children. In her letter to Gladys, Maggie wrote this about "Papa":
"I always knew he was of French Huguenot ancestry on his mother’s side. Mama said when she praised his beautiful skin, he would laugh and say, 'that’s my French blood, Mary'."