658 



OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. 



the " Galena" in the Gulf squadron under Farragut, 

 having the k 'Oneida" also under his orders at the 

 battle of Mobile Bay in 18(54. Subsequently he was 

 attached to Admiral Porter's fleet in the James river 

 till the close of the war. He was commissioned com- 

 mander July 25, 186(5, captain June 19, 1871, commo- 

 dore Jan. 22, 1880, and rear-admiral April 1, 1884. 

 He was authorized to accept the French decoration of 

 the Legion of Honor from President Thiers, by act of 

 Congress March 3, 1875. 



Welles, Edward Randolph, clergyman, born in Water- 

 loo, N. Y., Jan. 10, 1830; died there, Oct. 19, 1888. 

 He was graduated at Hobart College in 1850, was or- 

 dained deacon in the Protestant Episcopal Church, 

 Dec. 20, 1857, taught in De Veaux College, and was 

 ordained pric.st Sept. 12, 1858. In the following month 

 he entered upon pastoral work at Red Wing, Minn., 

 organized the parish of Christ Church there, and was 

 its rector till his elevation to the episcopate in 1874. 

 He was consecrated in New York city, Oct. 24, 1874, 

 and received the degree of S. T. D. from Racine Col- 

 lege, Wisconsin, the same year. In 1875, when the 

 diocese of Fond du Lac was erected from the northern 

 portion of his jurisdiction, he was continued in his 

 old field by his own choice. 



Wentworth, John, lawyer, born in Sandwich, N. H., 

 March 5, 1815; died in Chicago, 111., Oct. 10, 1888. 

 He was graduated at Dartmouth College in 1836, set- 

 tled in Chicago, studied law, and in 1S41 was admit- 

 ted to the bar. 

 He was elected to 

 Congress in 1843, 

 and was re-elected 

 four times. In 

 1857 and 1860 he 

 was elected Mayor 

 of Chicago. In 

 1861 he was a 

 member of the 

 board of educa- 

 tion and of the 

 committee to re- 

 vise the State Con- 

 stitution ; in 1863 

 -'64 was a police 

 commissioner ; in 

 1 865-' 67 was again 

 a representative in 

 Congress ; and in 

 1880 was a vice- 

 president of the 

 Republican National Convention, but was declared in- 

 eligible by the majority report, which confirmed the 

 rule of representation by congressional districts. He 

 gave Dartmouth Colle?e 10,000, received the degree 

 of LL. D. from it in 1867, and was elected president 

 of its alumni association in 1882 and 1883. His height, 

 six and a half feet, made him a conspicuous figure in 

 Chicago, and he was familiarly spoken of as " Long 

 John Wentworth." 



Westcott, Thompson, iournalist, born in Philadelphia, 

 Pa., June 5, 1820 ; died there. May 9, 1888. He began 

 his career as law reporter on the " Public Ledger," 

 where he remained until May, 1851 ; was editor-in- 

 chief of the " Philadelphia Inquirer " from December, 

 1863, till May, 1869 ; was contributing editor of the 

 same paper from May, 1869, till September, 1876 ; and 

 was an editorial writer on the " Philadelphia Record " 

 from 1884 till within a few months of his death. He 

 was the oldest journalist in continuous work in Phila- 

 delphia, and was the author of a popular history of 

 that city and other works. 



Wight, Orlando Williams, physician, born in Center- 

 ville, N. Y,, Feb. 19, 1824;' died in Detroit, Mich., 

 Oct. 19, 1888. He was educated at the Westfielcl 

 Academy and the Rochester Collegiate Institute, 

 taught Latin and Greek in Genoa Academy, and 

 mathematics and languages in Aurora Academy, and 

 when twenty-three years old removed to New York 

 city. There he studied theology and was ordained, 



f 



but never connected himself with any religious de- 

 nomination. He afterward studied medicine and 

 qualified to practice. He removed to Milwaukee, 

 Mich., became health officer of that city in 1877, and, 

 on the reorganization of the health board of Detroit 

 in 1882, accepted a similar office there, serving till 

 1888. He was an accomplished linguist, received the 

 degree of LL. D. from Yale University, and published 

 a large number of works, including " L'.ves and Let- 

 ters of Abelard and Heloise," " The Philosophy of 

 Sir William Hamilton," translations of Cousin's 

 '' Course of the History of Modern Philosophy " and 

 " Lectures on the True, the Beautiful, and the Good," 

 and twelve volumes of " Standard French Classics." 

 lie was also associated with Mary L. Booth in trans- 

 lating Ilunri Martin's " History of France." 



Wilson, Allen Benjamin, inventor, born in Willett, 

 Cortland County, N. Y., Oct. 18, 1824 ; died in Wood- 

 mont, Conn., April 29j 1888. He learned the cabinet- 

 making trade, and while \vorkinginPittsfield, Mass., 

 perfected the sewing-machine that was afterward 

 known as the Wheeler and Wilson. The most impor- 

 tant of his inventions were the rotary hook and bob- 

 bin and the four-motion feed, and the latter has since 

 been adopted in some form in all sewing-machines. 

 His principal patents were granted Nov. 12, 1850; 

 Aug. 12, 1851; June 15, 1852; and Dee. 19, 1854. 

 While perfecting his machine in Pittstield, he had a 

 small workshop in a room that he imd the late Will- 

 iam D. Axtell used jointly. Mr. Axtell was his only 

 confidant during his experimenting days and an im- 

 portant witness in court in the case subsequently 

 brought to establish the validity of his claim to the 

 invention. Mr. Wilson proposed locating in Pitts- 

 tield to manufacture the machine, but, as the town 

 would render him no assistance by abatement of taxes, 

 he removed to Bridgeport. Conn., where the Wheeler 

 and Wilson Manufacturing Company wa> organized 

 and began working under his patents. 



Wister, Casper, physician, born in Germantown, Pa., 

 in 1817; died in Philadelphia, Pa., Dec. 20, 1888. 

 lie was a great-grandson of John Wister, who emi- 

 trrated from Heidelberg, Germany, and built the old 

 \Vister homestead in Germantown. While still a 

 minor, he went to Texas and served under Samuel 

 Houston in the State's war for independence. In 

 1-47 lie was graduated at the Medical Department of 

 the University of Pennsylvania, and had since prac- 

 ticed with success in Philadelphia. His widow, the 

 daughter of William H. Fiirness, has attained wide 

 repute by her translations of popular German novels. 



Worthen, Amos Henry, geologist, born in Bradford, 

 Vt., Oct. 31, 1813 ; died 'in Warsaw, 111., May 6, 1888. 

 He was educated at common schools and at Bradford 

 Academy. In 1834 he went to Harrison County, Ky.. 

 whflre he taught for a year, and in June, 1836, settled. 

 in Warsaw, 111., which thereafter became his perma- 

 nent home. At first he engaged in the forwarding 

 and commission business, but subsequently became a 

 dry-goods merchant. The Mormon difficulties of 

 1842 caused a depression of business, and, disposing 

 of his interests, he went to Boston where he remained 

 until 1844, when lie returned to Warsaw. Meanwhile 

 his attention had been directed to the geological feat- 

 ures of the country in the vicinity of ms home, and 

 he studied especially the fossil remains preserved in 

 the sedimentary rocks, and he also investigated the 

 peode-beds in 'that vicinity. When he removed to 

 Boston he took with him several barrels of specimens, 

 chiefly geodes, which he exchanged there for a cabi- 

 net ol sea-shells that he carried back to Warsaw. Ho 

 found similar forms to these shells everywhere pre- 

 served in the limestone rocks of that locality, and he 

 devoted his leisure to the exploration of the ravines 

 and bluffs and every exposure of the subjacent rocks 

 that could be reached. His collection grew rapidly, 

 and he soon began that system of exchanges that 

 made his cabinet of such value as to command the at- 

 tention of James Hall, who secured from him many 

 of the specimens with which he illustrated the first 



