About us
This DNA project was begun by a fourth generation descendant of a Sewright family that emigrated from Seawright's Hill in County Derry, Northern Ireland to Wisconsin in 1847.
An 1893 book by James A. Searight,"Searight Family in America," gives limited information on various immigrant families (including the family of the administrator of this project) but made no effort to find common origins in Northern Ireland, England or Scotland. In fact, his book states that the families listed are not related to each other "unless they have a common ancestor in Northern Ireland."
More information is becoming available all the time on family genealogy in Northern Ireland, and after 20+ years of research, the author of this DNA project has been able to find more definitive documentation back to 1812 on her Sewright family in Northern Ireland, as well as land documentation to 1734.
Research from name books, as well as the 1893 book by James A. Searight, has indicated that the name Sewright may have originated from Sivewright, Sievwright or Sievewright in Scotland and that the spelling was anglicized generally to Seawright in Northern Ireland, with variant spellings after immigration to the U.S. (Seright, Searight, and Sewright--though those spellings appear in Northern Ireland as well).
Research cited in Nell Seawright Reeves' book "The Saga of the Seawrights" (primarily the South Carolina branch of a family from Northern Ireland) shows that the origins of the name may be of Norman origins ("Seric"), Old English ("Saeric"meaning "sea-ruler"), or Old Norse ("Sigkrikr" meaning "victory-powerful").
I've always wanted to believe that the "sea" in Seawright is not just an anglicized spelling but that the family origins must have had some connection with sea-faring. The Old English name "Saeric" would seem to suggest so, as well as one meaning of Sievewright in Scotland to be the moniker of a family that was a maker of fishing nets--and not of grain sifters as I imagined for so many years after learning of the "sieve" origins.
~Linda Sewright
An 1893 book by James A. Searight,"Searight Family in America," gives limited information on various immigrant families (including the family of the administrator of this project) but made no effort to find common origins in Northern Ireland, England or Scotland. In fact, his book states that the families listed are not related to each other "unless they have a common ancestor in Northern Ireland."
More information is becoming available all the time on family genealogy in Northern Ireland, and after 20+ years of research, the author of this DNA project has been able to find more definitive documentation back to 1812 on her Sewright family in Northern Ireland, as well as land documentation to 1734.
Research from name books, as well as the 1893 book by James A. Searight, has indicated that the name Sewright may have originated from Sivewright, Sievwright or Sievewright in Scotland and that the spelling was anglicized generally to Seawright in Northern Ireland, with variant spellings after immigration to the U.S. (Seright, Searight, and Sewright--though those spellings appear in Northern Ireland as well).
Research cited in Nell Seawright Reeves' book "The Saga of the Seawrights" (primarily the South Carolina branch of a family from Northern Ireland) shows that the origins of the name may be of Norman origins ("Seric"), Old English ("Saeric"meaning "sea-ruler"), or Old Norse ("Sigkrikr" meaning "victory-powerful").
I've always wanted to believe that the "sea" in Seawright is not just an anglicized spelling but that the family origins must have had some connection with sea-faring. The Old English name "Saeric" would seem to suggest so, as well as one meaning of Sievewright in Scotland to be the moniker of a family that was a maker of fishing nets--and not of grain sifters as I imagined for so many years after learning of the "sieve" origins.
~Linda Sewright