John C. Wright

Who was John C. Wright?

John Crafts Wright was a U.S. Representative from Ohio and a journalist. He was the brother-in-law of Benjamin Tappan, U.S. Senator from Ohio from 1839-1845.

Born in Wethersfield, Connecticut, Wright completed preparatory studies and then learned the trade of printer. He moved to Troy, New York, and edited the Troy Gazette for several years. He studied law at Litchfield Law School. He was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Steubenville, Ohio, in 1809. United States district attorney in 1817.

Wright was elected to the Seventeenth Congress, but resigned on March 3, 1821, before the beginning of the congressional term. Elected again to the Eighteenth Congress, he began his service in that body as a National Republican, and continued to serve in the Nineteenth, and Twentieth Congresses, his three terms running from March 4, 1823 through March 4, 1829. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1828 to the Twenty-first Congress.

Wright was elected to the Ohio Supreme Court in 1831 and served until February 2, 1835, when he resigned. In 1833, Wright, along with Edward King and Timothy Walker founded the Cincinnati Law School, the first law school in the West.