He was born on April 16, 1806, in Newburgh, Orange County, New York, the son of Samuel Wright.
He lived at Monticello, New York, and was Surrogate of Sullivan County from 1840 to 1844. He was a delegate to the New York State Constitutional Convention of 1846. He was a Whig member of the New York State Assembly (Sullivan Co.) in 1847.
He was a justice of the New York Supreme Court from 1847 to 1861, and removed to Kingston, New York, the seat of the bench of the Third Judicial District. He was an ex officio judge of the Court of Appeals in 1847–48, 1856 and 1860.
In 1861, he was elected to the New York Court of Appeals on the Union ticket nominated by War Democrats and Republicans, and took office on January 1, 1862. He became Chief Judge on January 1, 1868, but died less than two weeks later.
He died on January 12, 1868, at Congress Hall in Albany, New York, of kidney disease; and was buried at Wiltwyck Cemetery in Kingston, New York.