Laura Maria Sheldon Wright (July 10, 1809January 21, 1886) was an American

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

. Laura Maria Sheldon was born on July 10, 1809, in St. Johnsbury, Vermont. She grew up in St. Johnsbury and in

Barnet, Vermont Barnet is a town in Caledonia County, Vermont, United States. The population was 1,663 at the 2020 census. Barnet contains the locations of Barnet Center, East Barnet, McIndoe Falls, Mosquitoville, Passumpsic and West Barnet. The main settleme ...

, and was educated at the Young Ladies' School. She married Asher Wright on January 21, 1833, and the two moved to

Buffalo Creek Reservation The Buffalo Creek Reservation was a tract of land surrounding Buffalo Creek in the central portion of Erie County, New York. It contained approximately of land and was set aside for the Seneca Nation following negotiations with the United State ...

on February 5, 1833, to begin their mission. As a missionary, Laura wrote a school primer in Seneca and English and worked as a teacher. She also founded an organization called the Iroquois Temperance League. She died of pneumonia on January 21, 1886, in Iroquois, New York, at the home of Nicholson Henry Parker (1819–1892), a Seneca interpreter.

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1809 births 1886 deaths 19th-century American women writers American Christian missionaries People from St. Johnsbury, Vermont 19th-century American non-fiction writers American textbook writers American women textbook writers 19th-century American educators 19th-century American women educators Female Christian missionaries Writers from Vermont Educators from Vermont Deaths from pneumonia in New York (state) {{NewYork-bio-stub