Robert Wright
United States Senator
from Maryland
In office
November 19, 1801 – November 12, 1806
Preceded byWilliam Hindman
Succeeded byPhilip Reed
12th Governor of Maryland
In office
November 12, 1806 – June 9, 1809
Preceded byRobert Bowie
Succeeded byEdward Lloyd
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Maryland's 7th district
In office
November 29, 1810 – March 3, 1817
Preceded byJohn Brown
Succeeded byThomas Culbreth
In office
March 4, 1821 – March 3, 1823
Preceded byThomas Culbreth
Succeeded byWilliam Hayward Jr.
Member of the Maryland Senate
In office
1801
Personal details
Born(1752-11-20)November 20, 1752
Chestertown, Province of Maryland, British America
DiedSeptember 7, 1826(1826-09-07) (aged 73)
Queen Anne's County, Maryland, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic-Republican
SpouseSarah De Courcy

Robert Wright (November 20, 1752 – September 7, 1826) was an American politician and soldier who fought in the American Revolutionary War.

Early life

Wright was born at Narborough, near Chestertown, Maryland, and attended the Kent Free School (later Washington College) of Chestertown. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1773, and commenced practice in Chestertown.

Career

He served in the Maryland militia during the American Revolutionary War as private, lieutenant, and later as captain. After the war, he served as a member of the Maryland House of Delegates from 1784 to 1786, and as a member of the Maryland State Senate in 1801.

In 1800, Wright was elected as a Democratic Republican to the United States Senate on November 19, 1801, for the term commencing March 4, 1801. In the Senate, Wright served as delegate to the Farmers’ National Convention in 1803. He resigned from the Senate on November 12, 1806, having been elected the 12th Governor of Maryland, a position he served in from 1806 to 1809.

After his tenure as governor, Wright served as clerk of Queen Anne's County, Maryland, in 1810, and was elected to the Eleventh and Twelfth Congresses to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of John Brown. He was re-elected to the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Congresses and served from November 29, 1810, to March 3, 1817. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1816 to the Fifteenth Congress, but was elected to the Seventeenth Congress, serving from March 4, 1821, to March 3, 1823. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1822.

In his later life, Wright served as district judge of the lower Eastern Shore district of Maryland from 1823 until his death.

Wright owned slaves.[1]

Personal life

Wright was married to Sarah De Courcy.[2] Together, they were the parents of:

Wright died on September 7, 1826, at Blakeford in Queen Anne's County. He is interred in the private burying ground of the DeCourcy family at Cheston-on-Wye in Queen Anne's County.

See also

  • Widehall (1769-1770), a mansion in Chestertown, Maryland. Wright's home from 1801 to 1822.

References

  1. ↑ Weil, Julie Zauzmer; Blanco, Adrian; Dominguez, Leo. "More than 1,800 congressmen once enslaved Black people. This is who they were, and how they shaped the nation". Washington Post. Retrieved February 20, 2023.
  2. 1 2 Hardy, Stella Pickett (1911). Colonial Families of the Southern States of America: A History and Genealogy of Colonial Families who Settled in the Colonies Prior to the Revolution. Wright. p. 537. Retrieved July 18, 2018.
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