Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/473

Rh the death of his brother Mortimer on 1 Oct., 1888, he succeeded as second Baron Sackville. During the presidential canyass of 1888 he wrote a letter in answer to one that purported to come from an English-born citizen of the United States, resident in California, who asked his advice with regard to voting, having reference to England's interest in a reduction of the tariff. This letter, being published, created much feeling in both countries, and caused his dismissal in November.

WEST, Mary Allen, educator, b. in Galesburg, 111., 31 July, 1837. She was graduated at Knox seminary, Galesburg, in 1854, and taught till 1873, when she was elected county superintendent. She took an active part in all educational and reforma- tory movements, was for two years editor of " Our Home Monthly " in Philadelphia, and frequently contributed articles to educational and temperance journals. Miss West's reputation has been estab- lished chiefly by her connection with the National and state woman's Christian temperance union, of which she was one of the founders. Miss West has held in the State union the highest posts, and is editor-in-chief of the " Union Signal " in Chi- cago. She has published " Childhood : its Care and Culture " (Chicago, 1887).

WEST, Nathaniel, clergyman, b. in Ulster, Ireland, in September, 1794; d. in Philadelphia, Pa., 2 Sept., 1864. He studied theology in Edin- burgh, Scotland, was ordained in 1820, labored there for several years as a missionary, and was one of the founders of the first temperance society in that city. He came to this country in 1834, was installed as pastor of the Presbyterian church at Meadville, Pa., 11 May, 1836, and after 1838 was pastor successively of churches in Monroe, Mich., and Northeast, Pittsburg, McKeesport, and Phila- delphia, Pa. In 1853 he received the degree of D. D. from Jefferson college, Pa., and he was elected a corresponding member of numerous literary and scientific societies. At the opening of the civil war he resigned his pastoral charge in Philadel- phia, and in May, 1862, was appointed chaplain of the Satterlee U. S. general hospital at West Phila- delphia, one of the largest military hospitals in the country, where he served till his death. He pub- lished " The Ark of God the Safety of the Nation " (Pittsburg, 1850) ; " Popery the Prop of European Despotisms " (1852) ; "The Fugitive-Slave Law" (1852) : " Babylon the Great " (1882) ; " Right- and Left-Hand Blessings of God " (Philadelphia, 1852) ; " Complete Analysis of the Holy Bible, containing the Whole of the New and Old Testaments " (New York, 1853) ; " The Overturning of Tyrannical Governments," a sermon preached before Louis Kossuth when he was in the United States, which, by his order and at his expense, was translated and published in Magyar ; " Lecture on the Causes of the Ruin of Republican Liberty in the Ancient Roman Republic " (Philadelphia, 1861) ; and " History of the U. S. Army General Hospital, West Philadelphia" (1863).

WEST, Samuel, clergyman, b. in Yarmouth, Mass., 3 March, 1730; d. in Tiverton, R. I., 24 Sept., 1807. His father, Sackville West, a physi- cian, removed soon after his son's birth to Barn- stable, Mass., where the boy labored on a farm and Srepared himself for college. He was graduated at [arvard in 1754, entered the ministry, was settled over the congregation in New Bedford in 1761, and taught the doctrine that afterward became known as Unitarian. Immediately after the bat- tle of Bunker Hill he joined the American army as a chaplain, remained several months with it, and deciphered for Gen. Washington a treasonable letter from Dr. Benjamin Church to an officer in the British army. He was a member of the con- vention that formed the constitution of the state of Massachusetts, and also of the convention for the adoption of the constitution of the United States. Among his publications are a sermon that was delivered, 29 May, 1776, being the anniversary for the election of the honorable council for the colony (Boston, 1776) ; " A Sermon on the Anni- versary of the Landing of the F'athers at Plym- outh " (1777) ; and " Essays on Liberty and Ne- cessity," in reply to Jonathan Edwards " On the Will" (2 parts, l'793-'5).— His brother, Benjamin, lawyer, b. in Plymouth county, Mass., 8 April, 1746; d. in Charlestown, N. H., 27 July, 1817, was educated at Princeton and at Harvard, where he was graduated in 1768.- He afterward taught for two years, then studied theology with his brother Samuel at Needham, Mass., and began to preach at Wrentham, Mass., in January, 1771. He soon abandoned divinity for law, which he pursued at Lancaster, was admitted to the bar in 1773, and began practice at Charlestown. He was chosen a delegate from New Hampshire to the Continental congress, was elected a member of the convention that framed the Federal constitution, and also a representative from New Hampshire to the first congress, but he declined in each instance. He was distinguished for amiability, modesty, uprightness, and piety, and was universally esteemed and loved.

WEST, Stephen, clergyman, b. in Tolland, Conn., 13 Nov., 1735 ; d. in Stockbridge, Mass., 15 May, 1819. His father, Zebulon West, was a judge of the court of Hartford county. The son was graduated at Harvard in 1755, and afterward taught school at Hatfield, Mass., where he began the study of theology. He became chaplain at Hoosick fort in 1757, succeeded Jonathan Ed- wards in the Indian mission at Stockbridge in 1758, and was ordained as minister of the Congre- gational church there in 1759. In 1770 he re- signed charge of the Indian mission, and about the same time he adopted Calvinistic theological opinions in opposition to his former views, which were Arminian. He was one of the original trus- tees of Williams college, was chosen vice-president at the first meeting of the board, and held this office for nineteen years. The degree of D. D. was conferred on him in 1792 by Dartmouth. In ad- dition to many theological treatises and sermons, and essays in the " Theological Magazine " and " Connecticut Evangelical Magazine," he published " Essay on Moral Agency : Remarks on Edwards's ' Inquiry on the Freedom of the Will ' " (New Haven, 1772) ; " Duty and Obligation of Chris- tians to Marry only in the Lord" (1779); "An Essay on the Scripture Doctrine of the Atone- ment" (1785); "An Inquiry into the Ground and Import of Infant Baptism" (1794); "Life of Samuel Hopkins, D. D. ' (1806) : " Three Sermons on the Mosaic Account of the Creation" (1809); and "Evidence of the Divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ collected from the Scriptures " (1816).

WEST, William, clergyman, b. in Fairfax county, Va., in 1739; d. near Baltimore, Md., 30 March, 1791. His birthplace was near Mount Vernon, and he became intimate with Washington. He went to England for orders, which he received from the bishop of London, 24 Nov., 1761. He served two years in his native province, in 1761-'63 was incumbent of St. Margaret's, Westminster parish, Ann Arundel co., Md., in 1763-'7, of St. Andrew's, St. Mary's county, in 1767-72, of St. George's parish, Harford co., in 1772-'9, and of St. Paul's, Baltimore county, in 1779-'91,