GenMassachusetts-L Archives
Archiver > GenMassachusetts > 2007-01 > 1168797767
From:
Subject: [GENMASSACHUSETTS] Henry Bright - Bond's Watertown - Vol. 2 - Part14 of 14 Parts - p.707
Date: Sun, 14 Jan 2007 13:02:47 EST
Subject: Henry Bright
Source: Genealogies of the Families and Descendants of the Early Settlers of
Watertown, Massachusetts, Includes Waltham and Weston - by Henry Bond, M.D.,
Boston,
1860. Volume II.
Part 14 of 14 Parts.
p.706
Since the Bright pedigree was printed (September, 1852) Mr. Somerby has been
prosecuting his antiquarian and genealogical researches in England and has
obtained much additional information respecting the early history of this
family. The additions are so great, that it is deemed advisable to reprint the
pedigree, corrected and enlarged, and to append to it, in the form of notes,
most of the information recently obtained. For the materials of this
information we are chiefly indebted to the personal researches of Mr. Somerby, and for
the condensation and arrangement of them in the following pages, we are much
indebted to Mr. Jonathan B. Bright of Waltham, whose enlightened liberality
has furnished the means for prosecuting these elaborate investigations.
That the Bright family of Suffolk, England, was one of high respectability
among the gentry of that county, is
evident from their many alliances by marriage, with persons of honourable
houses. Although their lineage has been traced back no farther than Walter
Bright of Bury St. Edmunds, yet there are reasons for believing the family to
have related to the Brights who flourished in the County of Kent, England, at a
much earlier period.
Catherine Bright of Royton, in that county, who married Robert Waters, a
gentleman of large estates, was the mother of Mary Waters who after became the
celebrated Mrs. Honeywood of Mark's Hall, in Essex, England. In 1709, her
portrait was bequeathed to Thomas Bright of Bury St. Edmonds, to his cousin,
Fisher; who, he says, was related to the Honeywoods. Some families of the name
of Bright flourished in Essex and Norfolk, England, from a very early period,
and as these counties adjoin Suffolk, it is quite probable that they were of
the same original stock. That Suffolk family of Bright, in the male line, is
believed to be extinct in England.
Henry Bright, the Anglo-American ancestor of the family embraced in this
volume, was evidently the only one of the Suffolk, England family, that came to
New England. It has already been shown (p.96) that he must have come over as
early as 1630, as in that year he became a member of the first church of
Boston, Mass., which was organized in Charlestown. As his name does not afterwards
occur in the Boston Records, nor among those who remained in Charlestown,
after the great removal thence to Boston, it is presumed that he went very
early to Watertown, perhaps in 1630, although not with the very first settlers.
His descendants, in the male line, have continued to reside in Watertown,
and vicinity to the present (1854) time. They have never been numerous; but the
pages of this volume show that those in the female branches who trace their
lineage to him, are very numerous.
Others of the name Bright came early to New England, but there are no
reasons, derived from American records or traditions, for supporting that any of
them were related to Deacon Henry Bright of Watertown; and the result of
extensive investigations in England, seems to clearly prove that they are not. Two
of these were of Watertown viz.:
Henry Bright, Sen. (see p.96) and Thomas Bright, who purchased the house
p.707 and homestall lot of Lieut. Robert Feake (famous for marrying "The
Winthrop Woman") and sold it Dec 17, 1640 for £60, to Col. William Rainborow. It
is probable that this Thomas Bright went to Hampton about the time he sold
his house and land in Watertown. Nothing is known of the origin or the date of
the arrival of either of them. Author's note: May not this Thomas Bright be
the Thomas Brighton who embarked on the ship Truelove, for New England in
Sept. 1635, then aged 31 yrs? Rev. Francis Bright son of Edward Bright of
London, England, came over in 1629, in company with Rev. Mr. Higginson, settled in
Charlestown and returned to England the next year. (see also Frothingham's
History of Charlestown, Mass., p.25.) Samuel Bright, servant of John Sweat,
was admitted full communion in the first church of Boston, Sept. 1644 and was
admitted freeman May, 1645. The name Bright appears in Salem, Mass. in 1636
and in Hampton in 1640, but it is not known what became of those bearing it.
The name occurs frequently in Boston in the
last century, as early as 1724, in church records, and also in Dedham, Mass.
Most of those in the United States, out of New England, are supposed to be
descended from the early settlers of this name in Pennsylvania.
End.
Transcribed by Janice Farnsworth
This thread: