Elizur Wright (1804-1885) was an American reformer whose interests ranged from abolition to woman's suffrage and to conservation. He was also an intensely practical man as much at home in a government bureau as on the speaker's stump.

Elizur Wright, born in Connecticut on Feb. 12, 1804, was descended from moderately prosperous and typical New England Yankees. His parents moved to Tallmadge, Ohio, when Elizur was six, clearing a farm from the forest and gradually prospering as farmers. After attending a local school, Wright entered Yale University. In 1829 he returned to Ohio to teach at Western Reserve College.

Under the influence of William Lloyd Garrison and Theodore Weld, Wright became a leading abolitionist at Western Reserve. With several others, he lost his job, for abolitionism was still regarded as a dangerous heterodoxy, even in the North.

Weld secured a position for Wright as secretary to the New York Antislavery Society...