Isaac Wright (1760–1832) was an American

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

investor who established the first scheduled trans-Atlantic shipping service between New York and England, and was a president of City National Bank from 1827 to 1832. Wright was born in East Norwich,

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

on March 2, 1760, to John Wright, a blacksmith, and Phoebe Seaman (7 March 1733/34 – April 18, 1828), the daughter of Thomas Seaman. (An article in ''Harper's'' incorrectly identified him as English.) In 1817 Isaac and his son William founded the Black Ball Line along with merchants Francis Thompson (who married Isaac's daughter Mary) and Benjamin Marshall. The line, which had ships sailing once a month between

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, was the first regularly scheduled shipping route in the United States. Up until that time ships sailed when they pleased. The advent of the regular schedule contributed heavily to New York becoming the dominant port in the United States. At the time, he lived at 8th Street and Third, and walked back and forth to the

South Street Seaport The South Street Seaport is a historic area in the New York City borough of Manhattan, centered where Fulton Street meets the East River, and adjacent to the Financial District, in Lower Manhattan. The Seaport is a designated historic district ...

. Wright speculated on

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...

and ended up losing the company to Jeremiah Thompson. In 1825 he was among the new owners of City National Bank. Other Quaker merchants at the bank were William W. Fox, who would later become president of

New York Gas Light Company Consolidated Edison, Inc., commonly known as Con Edison (stylized as conEdison) or ConEd, is one of the largest investor-owned energy companies in the United States, with approximately $12 billion in annual revenues as of 2017, and over $62 ...

, and Black Ball founder Benjamin Marshall.http://www.danbyrnes.com.au/merchants/merchants10.htm http://www.danbyrnes.com.au/merchants/merchants10.htm He died of

cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...

on August 9, 1832, in the bank.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Isaac People from Long Island Citigroup people American businesspeople in shipping American Quakers 1760 births 1832 deaths