{{Short description|Canadian lumber merchant (1793–1863)}} '''Ruggles Wright''' (1793 – August 18, 1863) was a Canadian lumber merchant, the second youngest son of Philemon Wright.<ref name=gard/>
He was born in Woburn, Massachusetts but moved to Canada with his parents while still young. He later joined the family business in the timber trade. Wright also served as justice of the peace and postmaster during the 1820s.<ref name=rpcq>{{cite web |url=http://www.patrimoine-culturel.gouv.qc.ca/rpcq/detail.do?methode=consulter&id=9381&type=pge |title=Wright, Ruggles |work=Répertoire du patrimoine culturel du Québec |publisher=Culture et des Communications Quebec|language=fr}}</ref> In 1829, he built the first timber slide on the Ottawa River to transport logs past the Chaudière Falls, creating Philemon Island. However, by 1840, a competing slide built on the opposite (Ontario) side of the river had won over most of the business.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3ZLSf-I0XgIC&pg=PA48 |title=Lumber Kings and Shantymen: Logging and Lumbering in the Ottawa Valley |last=Lee |first=David |pages=48–51 |year=2006 |isbn=1550289225}}</ref> He also took on management of the family cement manufactory and greatly expanded it during the construction of the Rideau Canal.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jeOMfpYMOtYC&pg=PA199 |title=A Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers in Great Britain and Ireland: 1500-1830 |page=199 |last=Skempton |first=A. W |year=2002 |isbn=072772939X}}</ref>
Wright was married twice: first to Hannah Chamberlain and later to Rosina McDowell. His daughter Hannah, married Joseph Merrill Currier, a lumber baron, in 1868. His son William McKay Wright served in the Canadian House of Commons.<ref name=gard>{{cite book |url=http://www.ourroots.ca/page.aspx?id=887015 |title=Pioneers of the Upper Ottawa and the humors of the valley |pages=73–74 |year=1906 |last=Gard |first=Anson Albert}}</ref>
In partnership with John Egan, he operated steamships transporting goods on the Ottawa River.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xwmvAwAAQBAJ&pg=PR67 |title=Upper Ottawa Valley to 1855 |page=lxvi |year=1990 |isbn=0773584080 |publisher=McGill-Queen's Press}}</ref>
==External links== * [http://www.wrightfamily.ca/ the Wright Family]
==References== {{Reflist}} ;Bibliography {{refbegin}} *{{Citation |last = Laberge |first = Edward P. |title = Philemon Wright, a Yankee who helped build Canada. Bytown pamphlet series. |year = 1989 |publisher = The Historical Society of Ottawa |location =Ottawa, Ontario |isbn = }}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Ruggles}} Category:1793 births Category:1863 deaths Category:19th-century Canadian merchants Category:Settlers of the National Capital Region (Canada) Category:American emigrants to pre-Confederation Quebec Category:People from Woburn, Massachusetts Category:Canadian people of English descent Category:Immigrants to Lower Canada Category:Canadian justices of the peace Category:Canadian merchants