Naum Veqilharxhi was born Naum Bredhi in 1797 in the village of Vithkuq, near Korçë, southern Albania. His father, Panajot Bredhi, was a steward of Ali Pashë Tepelena, the ruler of the Pashalik of Janina. After the destruction of Vithkuq in 1819, he sought a better life in Romania. As a student he took part in the Wallachian uprising of 1821. A few years later he worked in Brăila as a lawyer, became wealthy and used his money to promote the ideas of the Albanian National Awakening. In Brăila he joined an intellectual organization of Albanians, who considered the development of Albanian language and culture necessary for the Albanian National Awakening.