OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. (WATTS WHITK.) 



581 



. and in New York, and at intervals 



tadiea medicine at homo and in the medical depart- 

 ment ot'tlid'imersity of the City New of York. .\!M> 



M-I! as a tutor in Iowa College, Grinnell, Iowa, 



hut ri-liii<|uislifil tcaehiiiL' to complete his medical 



studies under his brother, Dr. Louis Watson, in 



Quiiiey. 111., whore he spent tin- years 1853-'55. For 



time he practiced medicine, but in January, 



; . accepted the appointment, of Secretary of the 

 I'lanteiV Insurance Company in Greensboro, Ala., 

 which place he held until April, 1861. The breaking 

 out of tlie civil war led to his return to tlie. North, 

 where he ensured in various literary pursuits, and for 

 several years was associated with Dr. Henry Barnard 

 in the publication of the "Journal of Education " in 

 Hart lord, Conn. During his appointment in Alabama 

 lie became, interested in botany, and in 1867 went to 

 California, where ho met Clarence King, who, when 

 the United States Geological Exploration of the 

 Fortieth Parallel was organized, appointed Dr. Watson 

 as a volunteer aid to the exploration, and in March, 

 l-^S he succeeded Prof. William W. Bailey in the 

 office of botanist. Ho continued in the field until 

 1869, when he settled in New Haven and began 

 the examination of the material which he had 

 accumulated in the herbarium of Prof. Daniel C. 

 Eaton, but a year later removed to Cambridge, where, 

 in the herbarium of Prof. Asa Gray, he completed his 

 work, the results of which were published as vol. v, 

 on " Botany," in the " Reports of the Geological Ex- 

 ploration of the Fortieth Parallel" (Washington, 

 1871). Subsequently much of the botanical work of 

 the " Geographical and Geological Explorations and 

 Surveys West of the One Hundredth Meridian " was 

 sent to him by Prof. Ferdinand V. Hayden, and in 

 1880 his services were again sought by the Govern- 

 ment, and he was assigned to the procuring of special 

 information for the forest department of the United 

 States census of that year. The results of these 

 labors were published in" various Government reports 

 and in specially reprinted monographs. Meanwnile, 

 in 1874, when the work of Prof. Gray was divided 

 among his assistants, the office of curator of the her- 

 barium was given to Dr. Watson, which place he 

 then held until his death. During 1881-'84 he was 

 instructor of phytography, and subsequent to the 

 death of Prof. Gray, in 1888, the systematic work at 

 the herbarium was conducted by Dr. Watson. He 

 also took up the editing of the unpublished " Synop- 

 tical Flora of North America," and with Prof. John M. 

 Coulter he prepared a revised edition of Dr. Gray's 

 u Manual of the Botany of the Northern United 

 States." His own work included a " Bibliographical 

 Index to North American Botany ; Parti, Polypetala" 

 (Washington, 1878), and with William H. Brewer and 

 Asa Grav he prepared the "Botany of California" 

 (S Tola., Cambridge, 1876, 1880), forming part of the 

 series of the geological survey of California. The re- 

 rMDff and editing of the " Manual of the Mosses of 

 North America "( Boston, 1880), originally prepared 

 by I .eo Lesquercux and Thomas P. James, was in- 

 trusted to him. Also, under the title of " Contribu- 

 tions to American Botany," he published the results 

 of special studies made by him, perhaps the most im- 

 portant of which was that on the plants collected by 

 I)r. Edward Palmer in southwestern Texas and 

 northern Mexico. These appeared chiefly in the 

 " Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and 

 Sciences." and he also contributed to the "American 

 Naturalist," as well as to other scientific periodicals. 

 He was an assistant editor of the " Century Diction- 

 ary," in charge of the botany. In 1878 Iowa College 

 conferred on him the degree of Ph.D., and in 1889 he 



iiosen to the National Academy of Sciences. 

 He was a member of scientific societies, and a fellow 

 of the American Association for the Advancement of 

 Science, and of the, American Academy of Arto and 

 Beienc 



Watts, Thomas H., lawyer, born in Montgomery, Ala., 

 in 1820; died there, Sept. It',, 1892. He was gradu- 

 ated at the University of Virginia in 1840, and ad- 



mitted to the bar in his native city. Ho wan elected 

 to the Legislature in 1842, and to tne State Senate in 

 1858, and represented Montgomery County in the 

 secession convention. Ho entered' the Confederate 

 armv as colonel of the 17th Alabama Kci/iment. In 

 1862 i he was appointed Attorney-General in the Con- 

 federate Cabinet, and in 1863 wwdtactod Governor of 

 Alabama. 



Wells, William, military officer, born in Waterbury, 

 Vt., Dec. 14, 1837; died in New York citv, April 29, 

 1892. He received an academical education in Ver- 

 mont and New Hampshire, and engaged in commer- 

 cial business. In September, 1801, he enlisted in the 

 1st Vermont Cavalry as a private, and was chosen iBt 

 lieutenant Oct. 14, and captain Nov. 18, of the same 

 year. On Oct. 80, 1862, ho was promoted major, and 

 he took part in the Shenandoah campaign with Gen. 

 Banks, and in the Virginia campaign with Gen. Pope, 

 after which he served in the cavalry corps of the 

 Army of the Potomac till August, 1864, when he was 

 detailed to duty in the Shenandoah valley under 

 Gen. Sheridan, whence ho returned to the Army of 

 the Potomac in March, 1865. During his connection 

 with the latter army he commanded the 2d brigade* of 

 the 3d Cavalry Division, and for some time the divi- 

 sion itself. From June, 1865, till he was mustered 

 out of the service, on Jan. 15, 1866, he commanded the 

 1st Separate Brigade of the 2d Army Corps at Fair- 

 fax Courthouse. He was promoted colonel of his 

 regiment June 4, 1864, brevetted brigadier-general of 

 Volunteers Feb. 22, 1865, and major-general March 

 30 following, and was promoted full brisradier-general 

 May 14, of the same year. He was Adjutant-General 

 of Vermont in 1866-72, collector of internal revenue 

 1872-'85, and State Senator 1886-'87. 



West, Mary Allen, philanthropist, born in Galesburg, 

 111., in 1837 ; died in Tokio, Japan, Dec. 1, 1892. She 

 received a common-school education, prepared herself 

 for teaching, and prior to the civil war was superin- 

 tendent of schools in Knox County, 111., for nine 

 years. During the war she was Secretary of the Sol- 

 diers' Aid Society, and accomplished great good by 

 providing support for the widows and children of 

 soldiers. In the early part of the temperance crusade 

 in the West she became actively interested in the cause 

 and was elected President of the Illinois Woman's 

 Christian Temperance Union. In 1885 she succeeded 

 Mrs. Mary B. Willard as editor in chief of the 

 " Union Signal." Soon after this she removed to 

 Chicago, and was elected President of the Illinois 

 Woman's Press Association. At the time of her 

 death Miss West was taking a trip to recuperate her 

 health, and was spending a few months in Japan, 

 working in the temperance cause, lecturing, and 

 establishing temperance organizations. She was en- 

 gaged as special correspondent of the il Inter-Ocean " 

 of Chicago, and the first of her letters was published 

 after her death. 



Wheildon, William Wilder, journalist, born in Boston, 

 Oct. 17, 1800 ; died in Concord, Mass., Jan. 7, 1892. 

 In 1825 he became a legislative reporter on the Boston 

 "Statesman," and in 1827 established the "Bunker 

 Hill Aurora" in Charlestown, which he published 

 for forty-four years. In 1828-'29 he studied law, but 

 he never sought admission to the bar, and in 184*5 re- 

 moved to Concord. His publications include : " Curi- 

 osities of History," " Siege and Evacuation of Boston 

 and Charlestown, with a Brief Account of Pro- Revolu- 

 tionary Buildings," " Sentry or Beacon Hill, its Bea- 

 con and Monument," u Paul Keverc's Signal Lan- 

 terns," and a " New History of the Battle of Bunker 

 Hill," in which he undertook to correct several al- 

 leged errors in Frothingham's and Lewis's accounts. 



White, Charles A., soiur writer, born in Taunton, 

 Mass., in 1830 ; died in Boston, Mass., Jan. 18, 1892. 

 He was brought up on a farm, had a natural liking 

 for music, and made his first violin out of a cigar box, 

 when he was twelve years old. When sixteen years 

 old he became acquainted with an English teacher of 

 daneiiiir, who taught him both to dance and to play 

 the violin, and when the United States Naval Acad- 



