Born in Queen Anne's County in 1752 and educated at Washington College, Robert Wright rose to the rank of captain in the Revolutionary War, served in the State Assembly, was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1801, became Maryland's 13th governor in 1806 and was twice re-elected, later served as a member of the U.S. Congress and of the Maryland Court of Appeals, and died in 1826, buried at Cheston on the Wye.