Myron Benjamin Wright

Myron Benjamin Wright (June 12, 1847 – November 13, 1894) was a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania. He was born at Forest Lake, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, where he spent his early years in a rural community typical of northeastern Pennsylvania in the mid-nineteenth century. He was the brother of Charles Frederick Wright, who would also later serve in Congress, indicating a family deeply engaged in public affairs and civic life.

Wright attended the common schools of his locality and pursued an academic course beyond the basic primary curriculum, reflecting the value his family placed on education. As a young man he taught school, a common occupation for educated men of his generation and region, which provided him with early experience in public service and community leadership. His work as a teacher preceded his entry into the financial sector and helped prepare him for the responsibilities he would later assume in banking and politics.

In 1865 and 1866, Wright worked as a clerk in the First National Bank of Susquehanna, Pennsylvania, marking the beginning of a career in finance that would establish his prominence in local business circles. Demonstrating ability and reliability, he advanced rapidly: in 1867 he was elected assistant cashier of the bank, and in 1869 he became its cashier, a position of significant trust and responsibility in a growing railroad and industrial town. Over time he became interested in several financial, business, and manufacturing enterprises, participating in the broader economic development of Susquehanna County and the surrounding region. His success in these endeavors enhanced his standing in the community and provided a foundation for his later political career.

Wright’s reputation as a banker and businessman, combined with his Republican Party affiliation in a strongly Republican area of Pennsylvania, led to his election to national office. He was elected as a Republican to the Fifty-first Congress and took his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives on March 4, 1889, representing a district in northeastern Pennsylvania. He was subsequently reelected to the Fifty-second Congress, serving from March 4, 1891, and to the Fifty-third Congress, serving from March 4, 1893. During these consecutive terms, he participated in the legislative work of the House at a time when issues of tariff policy, economic development, and industrial regulation were central to national debate, though the specific details of his committee assignments and legislative initiatives are not extensively documented in surviving summaries.

Wright continued to enjoy the confidence of his constituents, and before the close of the Fifty-third Congress he was again reelected, this time to the Fifty-fourth Congress, which was scheduled to convene on March 4, 1895. His reelection underscored his sustained popularity and the trust placed in him to represent Pennsylvania’s interests in Washington. However, he did not live to take his seat in that Congress. While still serving in the Fifty-third Congress, his health declined, and he undertook a trip to Canada in an effort to recuperate.

On November 13, 1894, Myron B. Wright died while on a trip for the benefit of his health in Trenton, Ontario, Canada. His death occurred before the close of the Fifty-third Congress and before he could assume the office to which he had been reelected for the Fifty-fourth Congress. Following his death, his remains were returned to Pennsylvania, and he was interred in the Grand Street Cemetery in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania. His career left a record of advancement from rural schooling and local banking to repeated election to the national legislature, reflecting both his personal abilities and the political and economic currents of late nineteenth-century Pennsylvania.