William Westwood Wright (April 28, 1813 in Adams,

Jefferson County, New York Jefferson County is a county on the northern border of the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 116,721. Its county seat is Watertown. The county is named after Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United St ...

– June 12, 1889 in

Geneva , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...

Ontario County, New York Ontario County is a county in the U.S. State of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 112,458. The county seat is Canandaigua. Ontario County is part of the Rochester, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area. In 2006, ''Progressive ...

) was an American politician from New York.

Life

He married Mary L. Ryker (1822–1900). He was a delegate to the

1860 Democratic National Convention The 1860 Democratic National Conventions were a series of presidential nominating conventions held to nominate the Democratic Party's candidates for president and vice president in the 1860 election. The first convention, held from April 23 t ...

at Charleston, South Carolina. In

1860 Events January–March * January 2 – The discovery of a hypothetical planet Vulcan is announced at a meeting of the French Academy of Sciences in Paris, France. * January 10 – The Pemberton Mill in Lawrence, Massachusett ...

, he ran for

Canal Commissioner The Commission to Explore a Route for a Canal to Lake Erie and Report, known as the Erie Canal Commission, was a body created by the New York State Legislature in 1810 to plan the Erie Canal. In 1817 a ''Canal Fund'' led by ''Commissioners of the C ...

on the Douglas Democratic ticket, but was defeated by Republican Samuel H. Barnes. Barnes died a week after the election, and the vacancy was filled temporarily by the

New York State Legislature The New York State Legislature consists of the two houses that act as the state legislature of the U.S. state of New York: The New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly. The Constitution of New York does not designate an officia ...

in January 1861. Wright was the Democratic candidate, but was defeated by

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

Benjamin F. Bruce. In November

1861 Statistically, this year is considered the end of the whale oil industry and (in replacement) the beginning of the petroleum oil industry. Events January–March * January 1 ** Benito Juárez captures Mexico City. ** The first stea ...

he ran again, for the remaining two years of Barnes's term, and this time was elected defeating Bruce and

War Democrat War Democrats in American politics of the 1860s were members of the Democratic Party who supported the Union and rejected the policies of the Copperheads (or Peace Democrats). The War Democrats demanded a more aggressive policy toward the Con ...

Frederick A. Tallmadge. He was in office from 1862 to 1863. In

1863 Events January–March * January 1 – Abraham Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation during the third year of the American Civil War, making the abolition of slavery in the Confederate states an official war goal. It proclaim ...

, he ran for re-election, but was this time was defeated again by Bruce. In

1866 Events January–March * January 1 ** Fisk University, a historically black university, is established in Nashville, Tennessee. ** The last issue of the abolitionist magazine '' The Liberator'' is published. * January 6 – Ottoman t ...

, he ran again but was defeated by Republican Stephen T. Hayt. In

1869 Events January–March * January 3 – Abdur Rahman Khan is defeated at Tinah Khan, and exiled from Afghanistan. * January 5 – Scotland's oldest professional Soccer, football team, Kilmarnock F.C., is founded. * January 20 & ...

, he was elected again a Canal Commissioner, and was in office from 1870 to 1872. In 1886, he was chosen Vice President of the Buffalo and Geneva Railroad. He was buried at the Glenwood Cemetery in Geneva, NY.

Sources

''Journal of the New York State Senate 1861''
(pages 68ff)
''The New York Civil List''
compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough, Stephen C. Hutchins and Edgar Albert Werner (1867; page 406)

Political Graveyard *The Buffalo and Geneva Railroad i
''ELECTING ITS FIRST OFFICERS''
in NYT on January 22, 1882

The tickets for the state election, in NYT on November 1, 1869

His wife's death notice, in NYT on August 22, 1900 ives wrong middle initial "A."br>
Burial records transcribed at RootsWeb {{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, William Westwood 1813 births 1889 deaths Erie Canal Commissioners 19th-century American railroad executives People from Ontario County, New York People from Adams, New York