Philemon Wright was a farmer and entrepreneur who founded the first settlement in the vicinity of what would later become Ottawa.

He was born in Woburn, Massachusetts on September 3, 1760. In 1799, searching for a less crowded place to settle, he came upon the intersection of the Gatineau and Ottawa rivers and found good soil there.

Wright - an impressive figure at six feet tall - used his natural leadership abilities to convince a group of Massachusetts settlers to come north with him. The first community of a few dozen settled on the north side of the Ottawa River in 1800, on the site of what would become the city of Gatineau, Quebec. The group began to clear land, but the process was long and difficult and by 1806 they had nearly exhausted their capital. In an effort to earn money, Wright attempted what was then thought impossible, to build a raft of timber and float it to Quebec City to be sold for export to Britain. Despite taking two months and encountering many hurdles he reached Quebec and sold his 700 logs and 6000 barrel staves. He founded Philemon Wright & Sons and made a great deal of money exporting timber, especially during the Napoleonic Wars when Britain was cut off from its traditional Baltic suppliers. Wright was later elected to the legislature of Lower Canada and he and his settlement both saw great success.

Wright died on June 3, 1839 but was survived by a large family, including his son Ruggles Wright who would go on to invent the timber slide.

Wright is regarded as the founder of the cities of Ottawa and of Gatineau and Philemon Wright High School in Gatineau is named after him.

External links

• Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online