mitted to the bar and began practice in Dover; member of the legislature in 177680; was made judge of probate of Stratford county, which office he held till his death; member of the Continental Congress in 1778-79; member of the State council in 1780-84; and of the State Senate in 1784-87. He died in Dover, N. H., Jan. 10. 1787.

Wentworth, JOSHUA, soldier; born in Portsmouth, N. H., in 1742. He was colonel of the 1st New Hampshire Regiment in 1776; and, after being elected to the legislature, served as State Senator for four years. He was appointed a delegate to the Continental Congress, although he failed to attend. He died in the town of his birth, Oct. 19, 1809.

Hampshire, Sir John, the last royal gov- uated at Harvard College in 1768; was adernor, seeing his power depart, and fearing popular indignation, shut himself up in the fort at Portsmouth, and his house was pillaged by a mob. He prorogued the Assembly (July, 1775), retired to Boston, soon afterwards sailed to England, and remained there until 1792, when he was made lieutenant-governor of Nova Scotia. He died in Halifax, N. S., April 8, 1820. Wentworth, JOHN, journalist; born in Sandwich, N. H., March 5, 1815; graduated at Dartmouth College in 1836; removed to Illinois the same year; was present at the first meeting for the incorporation of Chicago as a city; admitted to the bar in 1841; and member of Congress in 1843-51, and 1853-55. The day after the repeal of the Missouri Compromise was adopted in the House he determined to form an anti-slavery party, and out of his organization sprang the Republican party. He was elected mayor of Chicago in 1857 and re-elected in 1860; and was the first mayor to urge his fellowcitizens to hasten recruiting for the National army. His publications include Wentworth, WILLIAM, colonist; born Genealogical. Bibliographical, and Bio- in Alford, England, in 1615; accompanied graphical Account of the Descendants of the Rev. John Wheelwright to MassaElder William Wentworth, and History of chusetts in 1636 and was associated with the Wentworth Family (3 volumes). He him during his troubles with the Massadied in Chicago, Ill., Oct. 16, 1888.

Wentworth, JOHN, lawyer; born in
Somersworth, N. H., July 17, 1745; grad-

Wentworth, TAPPAN, lawyer: born in Dover, N. H.. Sept. 24, 1802; admitted to the bar in 1828. In 1851 he served in the legislature as a Whig, and, later, as a Republican. He was elected to Congress, serving from 1853 to 1855. He died in Boston, Mass., June 12, 1895.

chusetts government owing to his Antinomian beliefs. Later he settled in Dover, N. H., and afterwards preached in the

church there. He was instrumental in rescuing a garrison from massacre by the Indians in 1689. It is said that all the Wentworths in the United States are his descendants. He died in Dover, N. H., March 16, 1697.

draft beneath the coal, he succeeded in producing combustion. Later he invented a stove in which he burned coal in his own home. He died in Harper's Ferry, Va., Aug. 12, 1843.

Wesley, JOHN, founder of the MethWerden, REED, naval officer; born in odist Church; born in Epworth, LincolnDelaware county, Pa., Feb. 28, 1818; shire, June 17, 1703; was educated at Oxentered the navy as midshipman in 1834 ford University, and ordained deacon in and the Naval School at Philadelphia in 1725. In 1730 he and his brother Charles, 1840, and served in the war against with a few other students, formed a society Mexico. At the capture of Roanoke Island on principles of greater austerity and mehe commanded the steamer Stars and thodical religious life than then prevailed Stripes; was fleet captain of the East in the university. They obtained the Gulf Squadron in 1864-65; and was pro- name of Methodists, and Wesley became moted commodore in 1871, and rear-ad- the leader of the association. In 1735 the miral in 1875. He died in Newport R. I., celebrated Whitefield joined the society, July 13, 1886. and he and Wesley accompanied Oglethorpe to Georgia to preach the Gospel to the Indians in 1736. Through the arts and falsehoods of two women Charles fell into temporary disgrace. Oglethorpe, satisfied with his explanation, sent him

Wereat, JOHN, patriot; born about 1730; was an advocate of colonial rights; a member of the Provincial Congress in 1775; its speaker in 1776; and president of the executive council in 1779. He was president of the Georgia convention that ratified the Constitution of the United States; and did much to relieve the sufferings of the people west of Augusta in 1782. He died in Bryan county, Ga., in 1798.

a

Wernwag, LEWIS, civil engineer; born in Alteburg, Germany, Dec. 4, 1769; settled in Philadelphia in 1786. Not long afterwards he constructed machine for manufacturing whetstones. He next became a builder of bridges and powermills. In 1809 he laid the keel of the first United States frigate built in the Philadelphia navy-yard; in 1812 he built a wooden bridge across the Schuylkill River at Philadelphia, which became known as the "Colossus of Fairmount and which was till that time the longest bridge ever constructed, having a single arch with a span of 340 feet. About 1813, when he settled in Phoenixville, Pa., he began experiments for the purpose of utilizing

JOHN WESLEY.

anthracite coal. For a time he found to England as bearer of despatches to the it most difficult to ignite it, but later, by trustees. John remained and became closing the furnace doors and making a pastor of the church at Savannah.

He

was a strict constructionist of the rubrics Methodist Episcopal Church, who could

not agree with the whole polity and the attitude of that Church towards slavery. In doctrine it is similar to other branches of Methodism. There is a general conference, which is the principal legislative body, and meets every four years. It also has annual conferences. In 1900 the official reports furnished the following statistics: Ministers, 587; churches, 506; members, 17,201.

Wesleyan University, a co-educational institution in Middletown, Conn.; founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1830; the oldest college of that denomination in the country. Since 1872 it has been open to students of both sexes. It contains the buildings of North and South colleges, Memorial, Rich, and Judd halls, Observatory Hall, and a gymnasium. It reported in 1900: Professors and instructors, thirty-five: students, 340; number of volumes in the library, 57,000; productive funds, $1,370,840: grounds and buildings valued at $531,300: benefactions, $100,000; income, $99,540; number of graduates, 2.186: president, B. P. Raymond, D.D., LL.D.

of the prayer-book, for he had not then begun his labors as the founder of a new sect. His zeal and exactions at length gave offence, and he soon got into other trouble by becoming the lover of a young woman, who, as he suggests in his journal, made pretensions to great piety to entrap him. By the advice of friends he broke the engagement. She immediately married another. Becoming less attentive to her religious duties, Wesley, according to the strict rule he had laid down, after several public reproofs, which she resented, refused to admit her to the Lord's Supper. Her husband, regarding this as an attack upon her religious character, claimed damages to the amount of $5,000. The grand jury found two bills against Wesley, charging him with this and eight other abuses of his ecclesiastical authority, and also of speaking and writing to the woman without her husband's consent. The quarrel grew hot, and finally, by advice of the Moravians, he gave notice of his intention to go to England and lay the matter before the trustees. The magistrates demanded a bond for his appearance to answer to the suit against him. He refused to give it, and they forbade his departure. As soon as evening prayer was over he fled to Charleston, whence he returned to England, and never went back to Georgia. He had stayed six months there, and on his return to England he began itinerant preaching, often in the open air, and attracted many followers. distinguished himself by his services. The churches of the Establishment were closed against him, and he had large chapels built in London, Bristol, and other places; and he and Whitefield labored in unison in building up Methodism. Differences in doctrine finally separated them, and they labored separately for the same great end. Wesley travelled almost West, BENJAMIN, painter; born near continually over the United Kingdom Springfield, Pa., Oct. 10, 1738. His in promoting his mission, and was the most successful preacher of modern times. He died in London, March 2,

1791.

Wessels, HENRY WALTON, military officer; born in Litchfield, Conn., Feb. 20, 1809; graduated at West Point in 1833; was engaged in the Seminole War and in the war with Mexico. He became a brigadier-general of volunteers in 1862, serving in the campaign on the Peninsula, and was wounded at Fair Oaks. He

on the coast of North Carolina, and was in command of Plymouth in 1863-64, where he was made a prisoner in April, 1864. He was brevetted brigadier-general, United States army, in 1865; retired Jan. 1, 1871. He died in Dover, Del., Jan. 12, 1889.

parents were Friends. He served as a private soldier under General Forbes for a short time, when, having displayed a decided talent for art, he went to PhilaWesleyan Methodists, the name usu- delphia and engaged in portrait-painting. ally applied to a religious body in the In 1760 he visited Italy, and afterwards United States, officially known as the remained some time in France. In 1763 WESLEYAN METHODIST CONNECTION OF he went to England, and there, meeting AMERICA. This sect was formed in 1843 with much encouragement in his art, by 6,000 members of the New York State made his permanent residence. He be

came a favorite of King George III., ships appeared on the New England
was a member of the Royal Academy at coasts.

its foundation in 1768, and in 1792 suc- West, LIONEL SACKVILLE. See SACK-
ceeded Sir Joshua Reynolds as its presi- VILLE, BARON LIONEL SACKVILLE SACK-
dent. In his picture of the Death of Gen- VILLE-WEST.
eral Wolfe he first departed from custom,
and depicted the characters in proper

BENJAMIN WEST.

West, NATHANIEL, clergyman; born in Ulster, Ireland, in September, 1794; studied theology; ordained in 1820; and labored for many years as a missionary. He came to the United States in 1834, and held pastorates in Meadville, Northeast, Pittsburg, McKeesport, and Philadelphia, Pa., and in Monroe, Mich. At the beginning of the Civil War he was appointed chaplain of the Satterlee United States General Hospital in Philadelphia, where he served till his death, which took place Sept. 2, 1864. He wrote The Fugitive Slave-law, and History of the United States Army General Hospital, West Philadelphia.

West, SAMUEL, clergyman; born in Yarmouth, Mass., March 3, 1730; graduated at Harvard College in 1754; settled as a minister over a congregation in New Bedford in 1761; and preached the doctrine that later became known as Unitarianism. He became a chaplain in the American army directly after the battle at Bunker Hill; and interpreted to Washington a treasonable letter written by Dr. Benjamin Church to a British army officer. He was a delegate to the constitutional

to the convention which adopted the national Constitution. His publications include A Sermon on the Anniversary of the Landing of the Fathers at Plymouth, etc.

costume; and from that time forward convention of Massachusetts, and also
there was more realism in historical
painting. West received large prices for
his paintings. For his Christ Healing
the Sick the British Institution gave him
$15,000. One of his latest works, Death
on the Pale Horse, is in the Academy of
Fine Arts in Philadelphia. He died in
London, March 11, 1820.

West, FRANCIS, naval officer; born in England; was commissioned admiral of New England in 1623, with power to restrain such ships as came upon that coast to fish without the consent of the council of Plymouth; but finding the fishermen too stubborn and numerous to be controlled, on his arrival in June, 1623, he sailed to Virginia. This interference with the New England fisheries called forth a petition to Parliament from the owners of the fishing-vessels, and an order was issued that the business should be free. In the spring of 1624 about fifty English fishing

1807.

He died in Tiverton, R. I., Sept. 24,

West Indies, islands discovered by Columbus; form a long archipelago reaching from Florida and Yucatan to the shores of Venezuela, South America, separating the open Atlantic from the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. Three great divisions are recognized in this archipelago:

I. Greater Antilles: Cuba, Haiti, Porto Rica, and Jamaica.

II Bahamas: Extending from about lat. 20° to 27° N, forming a British colonial possession, few inhabited; Nassau, on Providence Island, the capital. They form a barrier which throws the Gulf Stream upon the Atlantic coast of the United States, thus greatly modifying the climate of the Eastern United States and Northern Europe.

Omitting the insignificant islets the formation of a new one, composed of the Lesser Antilles are: forty or fifty counties of the mountain region, the inhabitants of which owned

Names.

Virgin Islands...

Anguilla.

St. Christopher (St.
Kitt's)

St. Martin.

Possessors.

Spanish.
British.

French, Dutch.
French.
Dutch.

British.

(British, Danish, very few slaves, and were enterprising and thrifty. These counties were controlled by, and for the interests of, the great slave-holding region in eastern Virginia. There was remarkable unanimity of sentiment in the convention against longer submitting to this control, and in love for the Union. The convention was too informal to take action on the momentous question of the dismemberment of the State. By resolution, it condemned the ordinance of secession, and called a provisional convention to assemble at the same place on June 11 following, if the ordinance should be ratified by the people.

French.

British.

Martinique

French.

St. Lucia..

British.

66

West Indies, DANISH. See DANISH troops at Grafton to seize arms at WheelWEST INDIES.

ing, arm such men as might rally to his See camp, and cut off telegraphic communication between Wheeling and Washington. He was ordered to destroy the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad if troops from Ohio or Pennsylvania should attempt to pass over it.

West Point Military Academy. MILITARY ACADEMY, UNITED STATES. West Virgina, STATE OF. In the Virginia Secession Convention the members from the western or mountainous districts were nearly all Unionists. Before the adjournment of that convention the inhabitants of the mountain region had met at various places to consult upon public affairs. At the first of these, at Clarksburg, April 22, 1861, John S. Carlile, a member of the convention, offered a series of resolutions calling an assembly of delegates of the people at Wheeling, on May 13. They were adopted. At a meeting at Kingwood, in Preston county (May 4), it was declared that the separation of western from eastern Virginia was essential to the maintenance of their liberties. They also resolved to so far defy the Confederate authorities of the State as to elect a representative in the national Congress. Similar sentiments were expressed at other meetings. The convention of delegates met at Wheeling on the appointed day. A large number of counties were represent ed by almost 400 delegates.

The chief topic discussed in the convention was the division of the State and the

The convention met June 11, with Arthur J. Boreman president. A commit tee was appointed to draw up a bill of rights. All allegiance to the Southern Confederacy was totally denied, and it was declared that all officers in Virginia who adhered to it were suspended and their offices vacated. They condemned the ordinance of secession, and called upon all citizens who had taken up arms for the Confederacy to lay them down. Measures were adopted for a provisional government and for the election of officers for a period of six months. This was not secession from Virginia, but purely revolutionary.

On June 17 a declaration of independence of the old government of Virginia was adopted, and was signed by the fifty-six members present. On the 20th there was a unanimous vote in favor of the separation of western from eastern Virginia, and on that day the provisional government was organized by the appointment of