At long last, the results (kit 339737, http://www.danstone.info/wrightdna.htm) have come back of the Y-DNA 12 test of the Oyster Bay Wright family descendant that I and fellow Wright researcher, Diane E. Wright (descendant of Capt. Peter Wright), worked so hard to locate. Even though the current test results are just for twelve markers, it looks like a few long-standing questions can finally start to be answered:
1) Are the direct paternal lines of the Oyster Bay Wright family and the Flushing Wright family closely related, as they are purported to be in some books?
It looks like they are not closely related judging from the DNA evidence. Even at just the most basic test level of twelve markers, the DNA signatures between the Oyster Bay Wright descendants and the Flushing Wright descendants show a difference of four to six steps. According to Family Tree DNA’s information, this difference is simply too great for these two lines to be related within a genealogical timeframe (back to roughly 1400 AD). Instead, the odds greatly favor that the two lines have not shared a common male ancestor within thousands of years.
This does not preclude the possibility of an undocumented adoption or other non-paternity event having taken place in any of the lines tested, nor does it discount the fact that the two lines are related through the many intermarriages which took place between descendants of the two early Long Island Wright families.
Further testing, including upgrading this latest test result to sixty-seven markers, will be helpful to be certain in confirming these results, but the lineage of this latest tester looks to be very solid, so I’d be rather surprised if future testing shows anything different.
2) Is the paternal ancestral line of Gabriel Wright closely related to the Oyster Bay Wright family?
For the same reasons as outlined above in the answer to question one, the paternal ancestral line of Gabriel Wright is not closely related to the Oyster Bay Wright family. Instead, the paternal ancestral line of Gabriel Wright looks to be very closely related to the Flushing Wright family, although the specific connection has not yet been discovered. This will be a great help in my research going forward, as it lets me know I can safely discount the Oyster Bay line from further consideration in trying to determine Gabriel Wright‘s ancestral family.
3) Are Gideon and Hezekiah Wright (brothers who fought with the British in North Carolina during the Revolutionary War) the sons of John Wright (1704 – 1750), and the second great grandsons of Peter Wright of Oyster Bay?
Significant research by Kay Haden has previously called into question the accuracy of Gideon and Hezekiah Wright being attributed as sons of John Wright (1704 – 1750). The DNA evidence now seems to support her conclusion that they are not descended from the Oyster Bay Wright family. Instead, it looks like they may posssibly be descended from the Flushing Wright family, although further testing is needed to confirm this hypothesis.
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The next step will be to refine the current Oyster Bay twelve marker test results to sixty-seven markers to be more certain of the results. If anyone wishes to contribute to this project, or if any documented Oyster Bay Wright direct paternal line descendants or documented Capt. Peter Wright (1740 – 7 Jun 1821 Shaftsbury, Benington County, Vermont) direct paternal line descendants come across this post and are interested in testing, please contact me.
Adventures In Genealogy Research: No Stone Unturned/The Wright Stuff 