482 



OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. (WARREN WHIPPLE.) 



he was organist in several Protestant Episcopal 

 churches. He composed a book of chants which 

 attained considerable popularity, and also the 

 music for many patriotic songs that were sung 

 by both armies during the civil war, among them 

 The Flag's come back to Tennessee. He also 

 wrote the words and music of Mother, Don't 

 Weep for your Boy, and music for Tell me, ye 

 Winged Winds. 



Warren, George William, organist and com- 

 poser, born in Racine, Wis., in 1829; died in New 

 York, March 16, 1902. He showed great ability 

 in music from an early age, and when he was 

 twenty-three years old he obtained the place of 

 organist at St. Peter's Protestant Episcopal 

 Church in Albany, N. Y. Later he became the 

 organist at St. Paul's Church, in the same city. 

 He went to New York in 1870, and soon entered 

 St. Thomas's Protestant Episcopal Church as or- 

 ganist, remaining there until 1900. He was a 

 composer of hymns and anthems that came into 

 wide use in churches of many denominations, be- 

 sides considerable secular music that also won 

 popularity. In 1887 he received the degree of 

 doctor of music from the University of Leipsic. 

 A special commemorative service was held in his 

 honor at St. Thomas's on the completion of his 

 twenty-fifth year as organist of that church, and 

 in 1900, after thirty years' service, he retired 

 , as " organist emeritus " from the place he had 

 held so long. He was also Professor of Music 

 at Columbia University, New York, for many 

 years. 



Wenckebach, Carla, educator, born in Hildes- 

 heim, Germany, Feb. 14, 1853; died in Boston, 

 Mass., Dec. 29, 1902. She was educated at the 

 Girls' High School in Hildesheim, the Normal 

 School at Hanover, and the universities of Zurich 

 and Leipsic; taught in England, Belgium, Russia, 

 and New York; and became Professor of German 

 in Wellesley College in 1883, which post she held 

 till her death. She was one of the most distin- 

 guished German instructors in the United States, 

 and had won a high reputation as teacher, edi- 

 tor, and author. With her sister, the late Helen 

 W. Wenckebach, she was author of several edu- 

 cational books on the German language, and was 

 editor of German literary works, including a col- 

 lection of the best German songs. Among her 

 works were Deutsche Grammatik (with Josepha 

 Schrakamp, 1884) ; Deutscher Anschauungs-Un- 

 terricht (with her sister, 1886) ; Deutsches Lese- 

 buch (with her sister, 1887); Deutsche Litera- 

 turgeschichte (1890) ; Deutsche Sprachlehre 

 (1896); German Composition (1899); etc. She 

 was editor of Die schb'nsten deutschen Lieder 

 (with her sister, 1885) ; Meissner's Aus meiner 

 Welt (1889); Die Meisterwerke des Mittelalters 

 (1893); Scheffel's Ekkehard (1893); Scheffel's 

 Ttompeter von Sakkingen (1895) ; Dahn's Ein 

 Kampf um Rom (1900); and Schiller's Maria 

 Stuart (with Margarethe Muller, 1900). 



Wernle, Henry, inventor, born in Germany 

 about 1831; died in Philadelphia, Pa., May 20, 

 1902. He was educated in Germany; came to the 

 United States in 1852; and entered the Govern- 

 ment service at the Frankford arsenal as an in- 

 ventor and maker of delicate mathematical in- 

 struments. During the civil war his services were 

 of great value on account of the many inventions 

 of gun-sights that he perfected. The manner of 

 tempering his instruments was a secret that Mr. 

 Wernle carefully guarded. Although often urged 

 to impart the information to others, he never did 

 so, and the secret died with him. 



West, William H., actor and minstrel per- 

 former, born in Syracuse, N. Y., June 18, 1853; 



died in Chicago, Feb. 15, 1902. He made his first 

 appearance when a boy as a singer and dancer 

 in a Buffalo concert-hall. His cleverness attracted 

 attention, and he was soon engaged to travel 

 with P. T. Barnura's circus, and after that with 

 Skiff and Gaylord's Minstrels. In 1869 he 

 formed a partnership with George H. Primrose, 

 another well-known minstrel performer, whom 

 he had known as a boy, and this business con- 

 tract lasted thirty years. Together they ap- 

 peared in Simmons and Slocum's Minstrels in 

 Philadelphia, and in 1873 the partners went to 

 New York, and first appeared there at the old 

 Olympic Theater, Broadway, near Houston Street. 

 In the season of 1874-'75 they became members 

 of J. H. Haverly's Minstrels, and traveled with 

 that company three seasons. At the end of this 

 engagement they organized a minstrel company 

 of their own, calling it Barlow, Wilson, Prim- 

 rose, and West's Minstrels. In 1882 the per- 

 sonnel of the management changed, and the 

 company took the name of Thatcher, Primrose, 

 and West, appearing under that title for seven 

 years, after which Mr. Thatcher left the com- 

 pany, which was thereafter managed by the two 

 original partners under the name of Primrose 

 and West's Minstrels. The organization was for 

 a long time the finest and most popular in the 

 business, and drew immense audiences all over 

 the country. In 1898 the long partnership was 

 dissolved. Mr. West desired to have his com- 

 pany appear without blackened faces, and to add 

 many accessories and stage settings before un- 

 known in minstrel performances ; while Mr. Prim- 

 rose clung to " black-face " minstrelsy, with all 

 its old traditions. They parted amicably, and 

 Mr. West organized another company, calling it 

 West's Big Minstrel Jubilee, and to it devoted the 

 later years of his life, with great success. He 

 usually appeared on the stage as " middleman " 

 or interlocutor, but occasionally acted as " end- 

 man." His -oice was remarkably sweet, and he 

 was tall, well-built, and a graceful dancer. He 

 accumulated a handsome fortune and owned a 

 fine property at Bensonhurst, Long Island. Mr. 

 West was married three times, his first wife being 

 Fay Templeton, the popular actress, from whom 

 he was divorced; his second wife was Lizctte 

 Morris, who died soon after their marriage; and 

 his third was Emma Hanley, also an actress. 



Whipple, William Denison, military officer, 

 born in Nelson, N. Y., Aug. 2, 1826 ; died in New 

 York, April 1, 1902. He was graduated at West 

 Point and commissioned brevet 2d lieutenant in 

 the 3d Infantry, July, 1851; was promoted 1st 

 lieutenant, Dec. 31, 1856; captain and assistant 

 adjutant-general, Aug. 3, 1861; major, July 17, 

 1862; lieutenant-colonel, March 3, 1875; and 

 colonel, Feb. 28, 1887; and was retired Aug. 2, 

 1890. In 1851 he was assigned to duty on the 

 Indian frontier, and took part in the Navajo and 

 Gila expeditions, and also in the defense of Fort 

 Defiance, New Mexico. On Feb. 10, 1862, he was 

 commissioned a lieutenant-colonel in the volun- 

 teer service; on Sept. 6, 1864, was promoted 

 brigadier-general; and on Jan. 15, 1866, \\a- 

 honorably mustered out of that service. He took 

 part in the battles of Bull Run, Chattanooga, Mi>- 

 sionary Ridge, Resaca, Kenesavv Mountain, and 

 Nashville and the siege of Atlanta; and was 

 brevetted brigadier-general and major-general, 

 U. S. A., for gallant and meritorious services dur- 

 ing the war. After the war he was on duty as 

 assistant adjutant-general at the headquarters 

 of the principal military divisions, and in 1873- 

 '81 as aide-de-camp on the staff of the general 

 commanding the army. 



