Elizabeth Wright Esslinger


 Matriarch of the Madison County Esslingers

Born:1785, Amherst Co., VA
Died:Between 1850 & 1855, Madison County, AL
Mother of:Andrew Jackson Esslinger (b1814)
Mother of:William Wright Esslinger

Notes:

•  "Elizabeth Wright Esslinger was the great-grandmother of the Esslinger family in Madison County, Alabama. Her husband, Andrew Esslinger II died in 1837. His property was sold and in 1838, at the urging of her father and her son, (both her father and her son had already established themselves in Madison County, AL) Elizabeth and her children arranged for a barge and departed from Dandridge, Tennessee, down the French Broad river and on down the Tennessee river to their future in Alabama. The barge was at least thirty feet in length and the central part of the barge was covered over with a good wooden roof. The prow of the boat was left uncovered for a look-out, or pilot, who had charge of two long poles, one of which was tipped with an iron point and hook. These poles were used for moving the boat where the current would not carry the boat, or to fend off floating logs or to push away from dangerous banks. The rear of the boat was uncovered and here stood the man who managed the steering oar. Rains and winds had to be considered and her household goods carefully loaded, and packed under the shelter.
     The trading post at Ross' landing was now called Chattanooga. At Ross' landing a guide was usually engaged by the boatmen for a passage through the 'Suck', 'The Boiling Pot', the 'Skillet" and the 'Frying Pan'. This was where the Tennessee river cut through the Cumberland mountains to what was the Indian town called 'Nickajack' and the beginning of the broad lands of the Tennessee Valley in Alabama. At Chattanooga a guide was secured to conduct the voyagers through the perils of the 'Suck'.
     After days of travel they passed Gunters Landing and about six miles down the river came to the bluff on the north side called Honeycomb Bluff. At Deposit a messenger was secured to send by horseback, over the Jackson trial, to (Elizabeth's brother, William Wright, and her son, Jack Esslinger) with the message that their barge would soon be in the Paint Rock River and for them to send transportation to Vienna to take them to Little Cove. Soon they were enjoying the reunion with their other family members." - Heritage

•  Daughter of Robert Wright Sr. (born March 7, 1762 in Amhurst County Virginia) and Kesiah Bibb (1763-1806) also of Amhurst County Virginia. They were married in 1784. Robert was a Revolutionary War soldier (present at the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown)and purchased land near the Flint River (AL) in 1813. - Heritage

•  Married Andrew Esslinger II, on Jan 6, 1808 in Greene County, TN - Ancestry.com #3

•  Mother of:
     1. Robert Esslinger, born 1802 and died after 1880 Married 1.) on January 31, 1842 Nancy Harless (1825-1855) 2.) in 1885 Nancy C. Jenkins.
     2. Polly Esslinger born 1806 in Greene, TN and died after 1880 in Madison County, AL
     3. Mary Esslinger, 1808 in Greene, TN and died after 1870 in Madison County
     4. Sarah "Sally" Esslinger, 1809 in Greene, Tennessee and died after 1870 in Madison County, AL
     5. Andrew Jackson Esslinger, May 24, 1814 in Jefferson, TN and died Feb. 20, 1906 in Sevier TN. He married Sarah C. Hunt in Madison County, AL on March 4, 1841
     6. William Wright Esslinger born Nov. 19, 1815 in Eastern Tennessee and died Sept. 17, 1889 in Madison County, AL
     7. John Esslinger born in 1819 in Tennessee and died in Burleson, TX      8. James Esslinger born in 1820 in Tennessee and died in Burleson, Texas
     9. Jane Esslinger born in 1822 in Tennessee
     10. Thomas S Esslinger born in Jefferson, Tennessee August 1827 and died May 12, 1866 in Madison County, AL
     11. Elizabeth Bowman Esslinger born in 1828 in Tennessee and died in Berkley, AL - Ancestry.com #1 & Heritage

•  Elizabeth was one of fourteen children. Robert Wright (1847 ) of Madison County, Alabama, and his first wife Keziah (Bibb) Wright as follows:
     1. Elizabeth (Wright) Esslinger, born about 1785
     2. Susan (Wright) Love, born about 1788
     3. Mary (Wright) Hallmark, born about 1790
     4. John Wright, born Feb 3, 1791, and married Sarah Moon
     5. Robert Wright, Jr., born about 1793, and married Nancy Calvert,      6. William Wright, born about 1795, and married Jerusha Connally
     7. Sarah (Wright) Calvert, born about 1797
     8. Augustine Wright, born about 1799, and married Mary Collier
     9. Thomas Wright, born about 1800 and married Rachael Carr
     10. James Wright, born about 1802 and married Obedience Connally, and      11. Jane (Wright) Jenkins, born about 1804.

The children of 1847 Robert Wright and his second wife Peggy (Calvert) Wright were the following:
     1. Eunice (Wright) Connally, born about 1812 and married Charles Connally
     2. Alsey Ball (Wright) Potts, born Feb 22, 1823
     3. Jonathan R. Wright, born about 1825 and married Sarah Ann Potts - Ancestry.com #2

•  Last name sometimes spelled Eslinger (with only one "s") - Editor's Note

•  "There is a legend that few men could excel her, her daughters or her sisters, in the use of the ax, in getting wood or timber for the farm; that one of them accomplished the feat of standing a half-bushel measure and raising to her shoulder, a stack containing two bushels of corn, a feat seldom performed by a man. All of her family were of above average size." - Two Hundred Years


Related Links:

•  Ancestry.com #1 - Information provided by Gayl Miller Alexander (behind an ancestry.com membership fee wall)

•  Ancestry.com #2 - Information provided by Glenn Hunter (behind an ancestry.com membership fee wall)

•  Eslinger.org - Family blog (Originally found at http://www.eslinger.org/Home_Page.html.)

•  Heritage - The Heritage of Madison County, AL by Madison County Heritage Book Committee, submitted by the grandchildren of Benjamin Franklin Esslinger printed in 1998, p. 180-1. Noted here as source of information is a booklet called "Two Hundred Years of the Esslinger Family" by W.F. Esslinger, written in 1965.

•  Roberts-Hubbard Ancestry - Genealogy compiled by Kathryn Bassett & Marilyn Roberts,

•  Roots Web - She is found in a list of Descendants of Augustine Wright

•  Two Hundred Years - Book titled "Two Hundred Years of the Esslinger Family," by W. F. Esslinger


The Following Pages Link to this Page:
•  Andrew Jackson Esslinger (b1814)
•  William Wright Esslinger