George Washington WRIGHT, Congress, CA (1816-1885)

WRIGHT, George Washington, a Representative from California; was born in Concord, Mass., on June 4, 1816; attended the public schools; employed in the business department of the Boston Courier in 1835 and later engaged in mercantile pursuits in Boston; moved to California and settled in San Francisco in 1849; again engaged in mercantile pursuits and also became interested in banking and mining; one of the founders of the banking house of Palmer, Cook & Co. in San Francisco; upon the admission of California as a State into the Union was elected as an Independent to the Thirty-first Congress and served from September 11, 1850, to March 3, 1851; declined to be a candidate for renomination; affiliated with the Republican Party; moved to Washington, D.C., and served as attorney of the Choctaw Indians; engaged in private scientific work; moved to Dorchester, Mass., in 1880 and retired from active pursuits; died in Dorchester, Mass., April 7, 1885; interment in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Concord, Middlesex County, Mass.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present