OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. (\VIXGARD-\VOOD.) 



507 



the place of assistant librarian, and where he 

 spent thirteen years. At the end of that time 

 he entered the house of Charles Scribner's Sons 

 as an expert at the head of the library depart- 

 ment. Here he carried 

 on an extensive system 

 . of correspondence with 

 the managers of small 

 libraries in all parts of 

 the country, who con- 

 stantly sought his ad- 

 vice as to the choice 

 and purchase of books. 

 His knowledge of books 

 was extensive, inti- 

 mate, and accurate, not 

 of the titles only, but 

 of the character and 

 contents as well, and 

 of their rank as au- 

 thorities. On one oc- 

 casion the proprietor 

 of a large publishing 

 house told him that a customer had asked for the 

 best books on a certain subject, but neither he nor 

 any of his clerks could tell what they \vere or where 

 they were to be had. Mr. Wing immediately gave 

 the titles of the books required, and added, " You 

 published them yourself, in such and such a 

 year," mentioning the exact dates. In May, 

 1899, he was appointed chief librarian of the I ree 

 Circulating Libraries of New York city. He was 

 a founder of the Booksellers' League, and was 

 active in the work of the Good Government clubs 

 and the Citizens' Union. He lived and died in the 

 house that was the home of Mrs. Parton (Fanny 

 Fern) in her last years. 



Wingard, Henry S., theologian, born in 1844; 

 died in Springfield, Ga., Dec. 1, 1899. He was 

 educated at Newberry, S. C., and labored for 

 many years in various Lutheran parishes in 

 South Carolina and Georgia. Newberry College 

 conferred on him the degree of D. D. He was a 

 contributor to the Church periodicals and held 

 many places of honor and trust in the synods to 

 which he belonged. At the time of his death he 

 was vice-president of the United Synod of the 

 South and president of the Board of Directors of 

 the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Mount 

 Pleasant, Charleston, S. C. 



Wise, Isaac Mayer, rabbi, born in Steingrub, 

 Bohemia, April 3, 1819; died in Cincinnati, Ohio, 

 March 26, 1900. He was graduated at the Uni- 

 versity of Prague and at the Jewish Theological 

 Seminary there, and took charge of a congrega- 

 tion in Radnitz, Bohemia. He came to the United 

 Stales in 1846. His first charge was the Congre- 

 gation Beth El, at Albany, N. Y. He also opened 

 a school in that city for the purpose of American- 

 izing the Jews. He attempted to reform Judaism, 

 and, on account of his utterances, was compelled 

 by the orthodox element to withdraw from his 

 Albany charge. He then founded an independent 

 congregation. In April, 1854, he removed to Cin- 

 cinnati to take charge of the Congregation B'nai 

 Jeshurun, which place he held until his death. 

 In July, 1854, he established the Israelite, now 

 called the American Israelite, a weekly paper, 

 and in 1855 Die Deborah, a German weekly. In 

 187,'J lie was largely instrumental in the organiza- 

 tion of the Union of American Hebrew Congre- 

 gations. He established the Hebrew Union Col- 

 lego, from which the first class was graduated 

 in 1883. After many vain efforts to establish a 

 synod, he finally succeeded in 1889 in organizing 

 the Central Conference of American Rabbis, 

 which meets annually. He served six years on 



the Cincinnati school board. His published 

 works include Combat of the People; First of the 

 Maccabees ; History of the Jews of the First Com- 

 monwealth; Essence of Judaism (1860); Prayer- 

 book and Book of Hymns (1868); Origin of 

 Christianity (1870); Judaism, its Doctrines and 

 Duties (1872) ; The Martyrdom of Jesus of Naza- 

 reth (1874); The Cosmic God (187(5); The His- 

 tory of the Hebrews' Second Commonwealth 

 (1880); Moses, the Man and the Statesman 

 (1883); Judaism and Christianity: Their Agree- 

 ments and Disagreements (1883); A Defense of 

 Judaism versus Proselytizing Christianity 

 (1889) ; and Pronaos to Holy Writ (1891). 



Wittenmyer, Annie (Turner), reformer, born 

 in Sandy Springs, Ohio, Aug. 26, 1827; died in 

 Sanatoga, Pa., Feb. 2, 1900. She was the daugh- 

 ter of John G. Turner, and in 1847 married Wil- 

 liam Wittenmyer. In 1850 she removed to Keo- 

 kuk, Iowa, where she engaged in charity work 

 and opened a free school. When the civil war 

 broke out she became Iowa's volunteer agent to 

 distribute supplies, and she was the first sani- 

 tary agent of the State elected by its Legislature. 

 She was under fire at Pittsburg Landing and 

 Vicksburg. She introduced a special diet kitchen 

 in army hospitals, for which she was commended 

 by President Lincoln. In 1863 she established 

 the Soldiers' Orphans' Home in Davenport, Iowa, 

 and later was a promoter of the Pennsylvania 

 Memorial Home for Soldiers. She was the first 

 president of the Woman's Christian Temperance 

 Union, and also a prominent member of the 

 Woman's Relief Corps. She was the founder of 

 the Christian Woman, and also the Christian 

 Child, and served for a time as associate editor 

 of Home and Country. She published Handbook 

 of the Woman's National Christian Temperance 

 Union (1878) ; History of the Woman's Christian 

 Temperance Crusade (1882); Women of the Ref- 

 ormation (1885) ; and Under the Guns (1895). 



Wolcott, Roger, lawyer, born in Boston, 

 Mass., July 13, 1847; died there, Dec. 21, 1900. 

 He was a great-grandson of Oliver Wolcott, one 

 of the signers of the Declaration of Independence 

 and a Governor of Connecticut. He was gradu- 

 ated at Harvard University in 1870, being the 

 orator of his class, and at Harvard Law School 

 in 1874. The same year he was admitted to the 

 bar. He practiced law but little, his time being 

 chiefly occupied with his duties as trustee of 

 various estates. He was a member of the city 

 council from 1877 till 1879. In 1882 he was 

 elected to the Legislature, serving three terms, 

 and there he won distinction both for his con- 

 structive ability and his oratorical talents. He 

 w r as a Republican in politics, but in 1884 he sup- 

 ported the nomination of Grover Cleveland for 

 the presidency. In 1885, however, he was recog- 

 nized by the Boston Republicans and sent as a 

 delegate to the State convention. From 1893 till 

 1896 he was Lieutenant Governor of Massachu- 

 setts, and he became Governor after the death of 

 Gov. Greenhalge, March 5, 1896. In November, 

 1896, he was elected Governor, and in 1897 and 

 1898 was re-elected. In 1899 he was offered the 

 ambassadorship to Italy, but declined it. He 

 was the first president of the Massachusetts Re- 

 publican Club, an overseer of Harvard University, 

 and a trustee of the Massachusetts General Hos- 

 pital. He received the degree of LL. D. from 

 Williams College. See portrait in the Annual 

 Cyclopaedia for 1897, page 501. 



Wood, Benjamin, journalist, born in Shelby- 

 ville, Ky., Oct. 13, 1820; died in New York city, 

 Feb. 21, 1900. He received a common-school edu- 

 cation. When a young man ne shipped as a sailor 





