WILLIAMS COLLEGE 



6295 



WILLIS 



the persecuted of several nations. The Mf 

 chusetts colonists opposed him in many ways, 

 and upon their denial of his right to establish 

 such a haven he went to England in 1743 and 

 secured a charter early in the next year. He 

 held numerous offices in Rhode Island until 

 H77, and was so careful in his dealings with 

 the Indians that his only equal in their confi- 

 dence was William Penn. He was a keen, vig- 

 orous writer, and his pamphlets against the 

 New England Puritans, such as The Bloudy 

 Tenent oj Persecution for Cause of Conscience 

 Discussed and The Bloudy Tenent Made Yet 

 More Bloudy by Mr. Cotton's Endeavor to 

 Wash It White in the Blood of the Lambe, are 

 sharp and sarcastic specimens of argument. 

 Williams died at Providence and was buried 

 there. A statue in his honor stands in the 

 Capitol at Washington. 



Consult Carpenter's Roger Williams; Knowles' 

 Memoirs of Roger Williams. 



WILLIAMS COLLEGE, a school for men, 

 located at Williamstown, Mass. It grew out of 

 a "free school" founded by Colonel Ephraim 

 Williams, who was killed in ambush at Lake 

 George in 1755. The funds were allowed to 

 accumulate until 1793, when the school was 

 chartered and opened. Its greatest period of 

 development was during the presidency of 

 Mark Hopkins (1836-1872), a Williams gradu- 

 ate and one of the ablest educators of his cen- 

 tury. To his splendid influence is largely due 

 the high rank of the college. During his ad- 

 ministration two famous Americans, President 

 Garfield and William Cullen Bryant, were stu- 

 dents at Williams. 



To this school is due the organization of the 

 oldest foreign missionary society in the United 

 States (1806), the earliest alumni association 

 (1817), a natural history society (1825), an 

 antislavery society (1826) and a scientific ex- 

 pedition to Labrador (1835). The course of 

 study is arranged in what is known as the 

 group system. There are five groups, and the 

 purpose is "to concentrate part of the student's 

 work in one well-defined field, and to distribute 

 another part among different subjects." The 

 faculty numbers about sixty, and the student 

 enrolment exceeds 500. The library contains 

 over 85,600 volumes. 



WILLIAMSPORT, wd'yumtport, PA. th. 

 county seat ot Of County, is an impor- 



tant luinlx r market, situated north and east 

 of tl (.1" tli.' -tat., MiiHty-four miles 



northwest of ilam-l>um It has a beautiful 

 site in the Allcghuny Mountains, on the West 



Branch of the Susquehanna River, and enjoys 

 some fame as a summer resort. The city is 

 served by the New York Central, the Penn- 

 sylvania and the Philadelphia & Reading rail- 

 roads, and by interurban lines. In 1910 the 

 population was 31360; it was 33309 in 1916 

 (Federal estimate). 



Williamsport has Dickinson Seminary, a Fed- 

 eral building completed in 1885 at a cost of 

 $250,000, a city hall, Masonic Temple, the 

 James V. Brown Library, built by a bequest of 

 $400,000, and two hospitals. Brandon Park 

 (forty-five acres) is an attractive city play- 

 ground, and in the vicinity are Starr Island and 

 Sylvan Dell. In addition to the lumber indus- 

 tries, Williamsport has foundries, steel mills, 

 iron plants, silk mills, furniture factories, dye 

 works and manufactories of glass and mirrors, 

 woodworking machinery, pumps, valves and 

 motors. Coal mining is of some importance. 



The town was founded in 1795 by Michael 

 Ross. It became the county seat the year of 

 its founding, was incorporated as a borough in 

 1806 and became a city in 1866. In 1913 the 

 commission plan of government was adopted. 



WILLIMANTIC, ml i man'tik, CONN., 

 known locally as the Thread City, is situated 

 in Windham County, of which it is one of thr 

 county seats, in the eastern part of the state. 

 It is about midway between the northern and 

 southern state borders, where the waters of the 

 Willimantic and Natchaug rivers meet. Hart- 

 ford, the state capital, is thirty-two miles north- 

 west, and Providence is fifty-nine miles north- 

 east. Transportation is provided by the New 

 York, New Haven A Hartford and the Central 

 Vermont railways; electric lines operate to 

 towns northwest and southeast. Willimantic 

 was incorporated as a borough in 1833 and was 

 chartered as a city in 1893. In 1910 the popu- 

 lation was 11,230; in 1916 it was 12,670 (Fed- 

 eral estimate). French-Canadians and Irish 

 predominate in the foreign element. 



Besides its thread factories, which employ 

 about 2300 people, Willimantic has large plants 

 for making cotton prints and twills, and it is 

 brrominK noted for its manufacture of silk. 

 Willimantic haa a state armory, a state normal 

 school, a high, school, built in 1914 at a cost of 

 $175,000, a public library with about 6.000 

 volumes, and Dunham Hill Library. 

 State Agricultural College is located a few 

 miles north of tin- city. w.< 



WILLIS, inl'i*, NATHANIEL PACKER (1806- 

 1867), an American writer, born in Portlan.l. 

 Maine, the son of the founder of the Youth's 



