The American Cyclopædia (1879)/Wright, Elizur

WRIGHT, Elizur, an American abolitionist, born in South Canaan, Litchfield co., Conn., Feb. 12, 1804. He graduated at Yale college in 1826, and for two years was a teacher at Groton, Mass. From 1829 to 1833 he was professor of mathematics and natural philosophy in Western Reserve college, Hudson, Ohio. He removed to New York in 1833, and was for five years secretary of the American anti-slavery society, editing in 1834-'5 a paper called “Human Rights,” and in 1835-'8 the “Quarterly Anti-Slavery Magazine.” He removed to Boston in 1838, and in April, 1839, became editor of the “Massachusetts Abolitionist.” In 1846 he established the “Chronotype” newspaper, which he conducted till it was merged in the “Commonwealth” (1850), of which also he was for a time the editor. From 1858 to 1866 he was insurance commissioner of Massachusetts. Mr. Wright has published a translation in verse of La Fontaine's “Fables” (2 vols. 8vo, Boston, 1841), “A Curiosity of Law” (1866), and many pamphlets and reports.