George Washington Wright (June 4, 1816 – April 7, 1885) was a

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

. He was the leading vote getter in a November 1849 at-large election for California's two seats in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

following California's admission to the Union. He served a partial term in the 31st United States Congress (1850-1851).

Biography

Wright was born in

Concord, Massachusetts Concord () is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. At the 2020 census, the town population was 18,491. The United States Census Bureau considers Concord part of Greater Boston. The town center is near where the confl ...

, on June 4, 1816, a son of Edward and Mary Wright. He was educated in Concord and in 1835 began to work in the business department of the ''Boston Courier'' newspaper. He later became a merchant, and in 1849 moved to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, where he continued his mercantile career and expanded into banking and mining. He was one of the founders of a bank, San Francisco's Palmer, Cook & Co. In September 1850, California attained admission to the Union. Wright won election as an independent to one of the new state's two at-large seats in the U.S. House and served a partial term, September 11, 1850, to March 3, 1851. He declined to run for a full term and resumed his business interests. He then studied law and attained admission to the bar. An ally of John C. Frémont from their time in California, in 1856 Wright joined the new Republican Party and supported Frémont for president. An inventor who worked on improvements to steam engines, during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

, Wright resided in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

, where he took part in construction of a ship for the

United States Revenue Cutter Service ) , colors= , colors_label= , march= , mascot= , equipment= , equipment_label= , battles= , anniversaries=4 August , decorations= , battle_honours= , battle_honours_label= , disbanded=28 January 1915 , flying_hours= , website= , commander1= , co ...

, the USRC '' Commodore Perry''. Wright later moved to

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, where he served as an attorney representing the interests of the Choctaw American Indian tribe. During the administration of President Andrew Johnson, Wright declined Johnson's appointment as

United States Secretary of the Interior The United States secretary of the interior is the head of the United States Department of the Interior. The secretary and the Department of the Interior are responsible for the management and conservation of most federal land along with natur ...

Retirement and death

In 1880, Wright retired to Dorchester, Massachusetts. He died in Dorchester on April 7, 1885, and was buried at

Sleepy Hollow Cemetery Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, New York, is the final resting place of numerous famous figures, including Washington Irving, whose 1820 short story " The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is set in the adjacent burying ground at the Old Dutch ...

in Concord, Massachusetts.

Family

In 1844, Wright married Mary G. Swain of

Nantucket, Massachusetts Nantucket () is an island about south from Cape Cod. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck Island, Tuckernuck and Muskeget, it constitutes the Town and County of Nantucket, a Consolidated city-county, combined county/town government t ...

. They were the parents of a son, William (1849-1849) and a daughter, Emma (1847-1900), the wife of Charles A. Hinckley of Boston.

References

External links

Members of the United States House of Representatives from California 1816 births 1885 deaths California Independents Independent members of the United States House of Representatives 19th-century American politicians California Republicans Lawyers from Washington, D.C. 19th-century American inventors Burials in Massachusetts 19th-century American lawyers {{California-Representative-stub