The American Geologist. juiy.ieoi. 
I'bc' subject of this sketch, the reverend Augustus Wing, 
was born at Rochester, Vermont, November 19, 1808. 
We n-ie-d not go far back to estabHsh the character of the 
stock'. ' Jatnes Wing, of Hardwick, Mass., the grandfather, v^^as 
a' itie'iibe.- of the "Committee of Correspondence" in the early 
clays of the American revolution. The father, also James, was 
a volunteer from Hardwick in the second war with Great 
Britain. 
To the home of tiie first James, the grandfather, came thir- 
teen children. The third son, the sixth of the family, named 
for his father, grew to early manhood in Hardwick. He was 
noted for great ingenuity and sturdy self-reliance, qualities 
much needed in those days of pioneer life. This James, with 
other enterprising men. found his way to Rochester, where for 
a little he spent his summers. When, however, the place at 
Rochester had in part been prepared as a home, he with his 
voung w^ife, Hannah Wetherbee, in the spring of 1804, left 
Hardwick for a permanent place in Rochester. It was a horse- 
back journey they had. Blazed trees marked the way to what 
was to be their home nest, husband and wife each carrying a 
fledgling perched on the saddle. 
To the two sons brought from Hardwick was added the 
third, Augustus, at the above-mentioned date, Noveuiber 19, 
1808. Other children, sons and daughters came to the family, 
until the number in all was eleven. 
The children enjoyed such school privileges as Puritan 
pioneers were always and early accustomed to give. The 
father of Augustus prized the advantages of higher schools of 
which he had been deprived in part, and he looked with favor 
on the plan of the son when he proposed to carry his studies 
beyond the range which the home school afforded. On the 
other side of the Green mountains, to the west, settlements had 
been made, earlier than that at Rochester ; the comforts and 
privileges of such life had outrun those of the eastern side. 
High schools and academies had already been founded. So 
when young Augustus wished to pursue his studies further he 
had to cross the mountain range. A school of past and present 
high repute, the Burr and Burton Seminary, at Manchester, Vt., 
attracted him. and here witli his father's approval, he entered 
upon college preparatory studies. In 1835 ^''^ "^^'•^^'^ admitted to 
