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DOCUMENTARY.

Letters of Elihu Wright to his brother, Samuel Wright. INTRODUCTORY NOTE.

By GEO. H. HIMES.

(Elihu Wright, the son of Elihu and Sally (Lewis) Wright, was born on a farm near Saybrook, Conn., April 12, 1801. Like nearly all the recruits that manned the big fleet of whalers that fared forth from New England on three-, four- and five- year cruises, young Wright had found the limited area of the Connecticut farm too small for the large family it sheltered. On his second cruise he was injured so badly in a tussle with a whale that he was a cripple for the rest of his life. He died Sept. 30, 1840.

Students of hereditary traits will find something of interest in the fact that four of the Wright brothers, grandsons of Elihu Wright the whaler, are residing in Portland, and are directly and indirectly interested in shipping and maritime business. E. W. Wright, at present manager for the Port of Portland, was a sailor and a steamboat man before he broke into the newspaper game. Capt. Walter H. is in command of a Can- adian Pacific steamer on Arrow lakes. Fred B. was purser on the lakes for a long time, and for the past ten years has been chief clerk for the San Francisco and Portland Steamship Company. C. L. Wright for the past fifteen years has been dispatching grain cargoes for a large exporting house in this city.)

I.

Bunavista, Oct. 3d, 1822. Dear Brother:

With pleasure I snatch my pen in haste to inform you how and where I am. My health is almost perfectly recovered. I hope these few lines will find you with your little family well,