Catharine Merritt Wright (1830-1845)

The badly deteriorating tombstone of Catharine Merritt Wright in Victoria Lawn Cemetery, 2020.

Catharine Merritt Wright was one of three daughters born to Gershom and Elizabeth Wright in 1830.  She died on 6 March 1845 at the age of 15 years.    Very little is known of the young life of Catharine Wright.  

Catharine's father, Gershom Wright, played a prominent role in the early town of St. Catharines.   A native of Massachusetts and by 1813 residing in St. Catharines,  he and his brother Rufus were staunch Methodists.  They were instrumental in the creation of the St. Paul Street Methodist/United Church, today known as the Silver Spire United Church. 

A little known fact is that the notorious Lincoln assassin, John Wilkes Booth, occupied the former home of Gershom Wright when he was living in St. Catharines.  In the mid-1860s, St. Catharines was a well-known centre for Confederate activity north of the border.