Philemon Wright

Philemon Wright
Philemon Wright Esq. by John James-LAC
Member of the Legistlaive Assembly of Lower Canada
In office
1830–1834
Personal details
Born(1760-09-03)September 3, 1760
Woburn, Massachusetts, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, British America
DiedJune 3, 1839(1839-06-03) (aged 79)
Wright's Town, Lower Canada
NationalityBorn and died a British subject (55 years); (An American from 1776-1800; 24 years)
Spouse
Abigail Wyman
​
​
(m. 1782; died 1829)​
Children
  • Philemon Jr.
  • Tiberius
  • Abigail (Nabby)
  • Mary (Polly)
  • Ruggles
  • Abigail
  • Christopher Columbus
  • Christiana
Parent(s)Thomas Wright, Elizabeth Chandler
ResidenceWright's Town, Lower Canada
OccupationFarmer, Founder of Ottawa River timber trade
Signature

Philemon Wright (September 3, 1760 – June 3, 1839) was a farmer, lumberman and entrepreneur who founded the Ottawa River timber trade in 1806.[1] He was also founder of what he named Columbia Falls Village,[2] mostly known as Wright's Town, Lower Canada (or Wrightstown) and Wright's Village to others, the first permanent settlement in the National Capital Region of Canada. Wright's Town, later became incorporated in 1875 and renamed Hull, Quebec, and then in 2002, as a result of a municipal amalgamation, it acquired its present name of the City of Gatineau.

  1. ^ Woods Jr., Shirley E. (1980). Ottawa, the Capital of Canada. Toronto: Doubleday. p. 24. ISBN 0-385-14722-8
  2. ^ The Famous Township of Hull, Image and Aspirations of a Pioneer Quebec Community, Bruce S. Elliot, Social History, 12, 1979, pg. 348