Book of Memoranda

       You are welcome to listen to the podcast about Ann Hagerty to the right. It tells a little more about her youth.
        In answer to Abby Black's question about the Book of Memoranda...The Book of Memoranda is a title which some of the descendants of Robert Wright gave to the composition book that was kept by him. The first date in it was 1839 before he was baptized (in 1841). Most of the pages contained mathematical word  problems that he worked on. Poems and song lyrics were also recorded in it. As he crossed the plains with his wife and children on the trek to Nauvoo in 1846, he penned short sentences about the route they took. About 1850, Robert included family information about his parents and siblings with their birth dates and his wife's parents and siblings with their birth dates. He also noted the deaths of both sets of parents and a sister to Ann named Lydia. His children's names and birth dates are also recorded. This book still exists and has a black cover with white mottling on it similar to the old-fashioned composition books that are sold today.

Marriage

Robert married Ann Hagerty who was also from Chester County, Pennsylvania. Ann was born on November 28, 1819 in Toughkenamon, New Garden Township, Chester, Pennsylvania, to William and Ann Hagerty.[1]  

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[1] “Book of Memoranda,” 1839, In this book, Robert gives Ann’s parents as William and Ann Hagerty, Ann’s place of birth is not mentioned. Toughkenamon was identified as Ann’s probable birthplace because her father was the proprietor of the The Hammer and Trowel Inn there from 1815-1825.

A Neighbor and Friend, Edward Hunter

Edward Hunter of Chester County befriended these missionaries because of the persecution they were experiencing from trying to preach. Mr. Hunter had been taught by his father to belong to no religious sect, but to keep sacred that all men have the right to worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences. He had previously agreed to give a corner of his land for 99 years and help build a house for education and religious purposes. However, the agreement was that all persons and persuasions must be allowed to meet in it to worship God. This was particularly stated in the articles of the agreement and the building was called West Nantmeal Seminary. So, when some of the leading residents wished to prevent the preaching of the LDS missionaries in the West Nantmeal Seminary, Edward Hunter threatened to repossess it. No further objection was raised. https://www.lds.org/ensign/2004/07/edward-hunter-generous-pioneer-presiding-bishop?lang=eng. Edward Hunter would later bring Robert’s eldest son into his home in Utah.

Robert Wright was baptized on his birthday, February 10, 1840 by Elder Elisha H. Davis. Imagine the joy he felt knowing that he would see his mother once again! Then on January 1, 1841 in West Nantmeal Township, Robert Wright was ordained a Priest by Elder Lorenzo Barnes.[1] By April 6th, 1841 Elder L.D. Barnes reported at a conference in Nauvoo that the Chester County branch had 150 members.[2]

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[1] “Book of Memoranda,” 1839
[2] R.C. Wetherbee, “Conference Minutes,” Times and Seasons, 14 May 1841, online archives (http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/NCMP1820-1846/id/9099/rec/3: accessed 5 February 2013), para. 11; citing original p. 412.

A New Faith

Missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints arrived in Chester County in 1839, preaching the gospel when Robert was age twenty-three. Elders Sagers, Edwin Woolly, Elisha Davis, and Lorenzo Barnes had come to preach to Elder Woolly’s friends and acquaintances. Lorenzo Barnes left an account of their experience in a letter to D.C. Smith dated September 8, 1839. He related in the letter that doors opened all around and soon “whole neighborhoods were in an uproar, on account of the strange doctrine, as they called it, which had come to their ears…the dust was brushed from many a bible...”.[1] Elders Barnes and Woolly visited West Chester, the county seat with a population of about 2,000 and held several meetings there. The Methodists became very much alarmed but had no answer to the missionaries’ doctrine. At this time, Elder Barnes stated that the church in Chester County consisted of 30 members and thought that many more would be baptized soon. See pages 27-29. http://www.centerplace.org/history/ts/v1n02.htm

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[1] Times and Seasons, Vol. 1 No. 2 (December 1839): 27- 29; digital images (http://www.centerplace.org/history/ts/v1n02.htm: 22 January 2013)

Beginnings

Robert Wright was born in Oxford Village, East Nottingham Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, to Alexander and Sarah Wright on February 10, 1816.[1] He never knew his older sister, Leah, who died about six weeks after her January 8, 1814 birth.[2] Unfortunately, his little brother Peter who was born on October 18, 1819[3] died sometime before 1828.[4] Robert grew up, probably in Chester County with his younger sister, Elizabeth Ann, who was six years younger.

 Robert’s father, Alexander, died after the conception of his youngest daughter, Elizabeth, between late 1827 and May 1828. In May 1828 his wife, Sarah, requested the court for a guardian for her two children, Robert and Eliza.[5] My records give a death date for Alexander on April 18, 1825, when Robert was nine years old and Elizabeth Ann was three but the date is unsubstantiated at this time. Sarah Wright was left to care for her two children alone. She lived long enough to raise them to maturity. Then, she too, passed away on January 18, 1837[6] before either Robert or Elizabeth was married. Robert was now twenty years old and Elizabeth was fourteen.

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[1] “Book of Memoranda,” 1845, a journal belonging to Robert Wright, a copy of ‘Record of Robert Wright’ pages from this workbook in possession of Margaret Murphy [address for private use] Provo, Utah, USA, 2013.

[2]  Ibid.

[3]  Ibid.

[4] Chester County, Pennsylvania, Orphans’ Court Record Book 15:309, Petition for Guardian for Robert and Eliza Write, 1828; Clerk of Orphans’ Court, West Chester, Pennsylvania. Peter was not listed as a surviving child of Alexander’s in this 1828 petition for guardianship of his children.

[5] Ibid.
[6] “Book of Memoranda,”1845, Record of Robert Wright, Murphy family papers.