Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/477

Rh several of the Quakers who had been disowned for similar causes joining with him, he founded an in- dependent Friends' meeting, called the Society of Free Quakers, which is a society believing in de- fensive war, hence sometimes called "Fighting" Quakers. This society, which still exists, denies the right of excommunication for any cause. Mr. Wetherill was clerk or presiding officer of this meeting from its foundation until 1810, was a popular preacher until his death, and numbered among his audience many persons of distinction. He was instrumental in raising a large sum of money for building the Free Quaker meeting-house, obtaining the subscriptions of Benjamin Franklin, Robert Morris, John Cadwalader, and others of note. He published several short theological tracts in defence of the society. These are remarkable for their ability and forcible expression, but have long been out of print, and are extremely rare. The principal one is "An Apology for the Relig- ious Society of Free Quakers in the City of Phila- delphia, showing that all Churches who excommu- nicate act inconsistently with the Gospel of Jesus." — nis great-grandson, Samuel, inventor, b. in Philadelphia, Pa., 27 May, 1821, is the son of John Price Wetherill, who was vice-president of the Academy of natural sciences in his native city in 1834-'53. In 1850 Samuel began to experiment with the newly discovered product of zinc ores, and to determine whether this could be substituted, for white lead as a paint. His experiments led to his engagement with the New Jersey zinc company in 1850-'2, and in the latter year he invented the " furnace process," which consists in reducing mixed coal and ore by the direct action of heat and a cold blast upon a furnace-bed having small holes, each producing the reducing flame. Subsequently he invented the tower process of separating the solid impurities, in which the velocity of the fan-attach- ment, which impels the products into the collecting bags, lifts the white zinc seventy feet into a tower, leaving the ashes at the base. This was afterward improved by Mr. Wetherill by causing the products thus treated to pass through a film of water. In March, 1853, with Charles J. Gilbert and several New York capitalists, he entered into a contract for forming the Pennsylvania and Lehigh zinc company, and he erected works under his patents, in Bethlehem, Pa., to reduce the zinc ores in Le- high county. These works went into operation on 13 Oct., 1853, when the first " zinc white " made in the United States was manufactured by Weth- erill's process in combination with the bag process of collecting that was previously invented by Samu- el T. Jones. The works were conducted by Gilbert and Wetherill in 1853-7, and in that time deliv- ered 4,725 tons of white oxide of zinc. In 1854-'9 he conducted a series of experiments for the manu- facture of spelter, the first spelter from the Lehigh ores being made by him in 1854 by passing the vapor of oxide of zinc through a bed of incandes- cent coal in a muffle-furnace. Afterward he ex- perimented with vertical retorts, which he patented, and his services were procured for the manufacture of metallic zinc at Bethlehem under the Pennsyl- vania and Lehigh zinc company. In 1857 he sent an ingot of his spelter to a firm of sheet-iron rollers, and they returned to him the first sheet of zinc that was rolled from metal extracted from Pennsylvania ores. At the beginning of the civil war Mr. Weth- erill recruited a squadron for the 11th Pennsylvania cavalry, and entered service as captain on 19 Aug., 1861. He became major on 1 Oct., 1861, and was mustered out on 30 Sept., 1864. He was brevetted lieutenant-colonel, U. S. volunteers, on 13 March, . — The second Samuel's brother, John Price, manufacturer, b. in Philadelphia, Pa., 4 Aug., 1824 ; d. there. 17 Sept., 1888, was graduated at the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania in 1844. and engaged in the manufacture of white lead until 1878. He was identified with the commercial interests of Phila- delphia, was one of the oldest members of the board of trade, of which he was for several years president, was a member of the Centennial board of finance, and a director of the American steam- ship company and of the Pennsylvania railroad company from 1874 till 1888. Mr. Wetherill was a member of the Constitutional convention of Pennsylvania in 1872, and was instrumental in introducing manv reforms.

WETMORE, James, clergyman, b. in Middle- town, Conn., 25 Dec, 1695 ; d. in Rye, N. Y., 15 May, 1760. After graduation at Yale in 1714 he studied theology, and in November, 1718, was or- dained minister over the 1st Congregational society in New Haven. In September, 1722, he declared himself converted to the Episcopal church, but re- tained his office for several months. He went to England in 1723, was ordained in the Chapel royal, St. James's, London, on 25 July of that year, was appointed a missionary of the Society for propa- gating the gospel in foreign parts, and, returning to New York, was catechist and assistant to the Rev. William Vesey in Trinity church. Afterward he became missionary to Rye, a charge that in- cluded the villages of White Plains, Mamaroneck, North Castle, and Bedford, besides missionary la- bors in Connecticut. Here he served from 1726 until his death. He was spoken of as " a gentle- man of extensive usefulness ; a father and exem- plary pattern to the clergy in those parts." He published several pamphlets, including "A Letter to a Parishioner " (New York, 1730) ; " Quakerism, a Judicial Infatuation represented in Three Dia- logues" (1731) ; "A Letter from a Minister of the Church of England to his Dissenting Parishioners, showing the Necessity of Unity and Peace and the Dangerous Consequences of separating from the Established Episcopal Church " (1732); "Eleuthe- rius Enervatus: or an Answer to a Pamphlet by Jonathan Dickinson intituled 'The Divine Right of Presbyterian Ordination '" (1733); "A Vindica- tion of the Professors of the Church of England in Connecticut against the Invectives contained in a Sermon by Noah Hobart " (Boston, 1747) ; and other polemical discourses. — His son, Timothy, be- came attorney-general of New Brunswick.

WETMORE, Prosper Montgomery, author, b. in Stratford, Conn., 14 Feb., 1798; d. in Great Neck, Long Island, N. Y., 16 Maich, 1876. He removed with his parents to New York city, and after the death of his father was placed in a counting-house. Afterward he engaged in business and entered into partnership with his brother Robert in the dry-goods trade. He joined the 11th regiment of state militia in 1819, was made major in 1824, and colonel in 1826, held several posts on the staff of the governor, and at one time was brigade-inspector. In 1845-9 he was navy-agent, and for many years he was paymaster-general of the state militia. In 1834-5 he served in the legislature, was chairman of the committee on colleges and academies, and advocated the bill to establish the school-district libraries. He became a regent of the University of New York in 1833, was president of the American art union until 1850, was chosen secretary of the New York chamber of commerce in 1843, and vice-president in 1849. He also aided in establishing a line of steamships to Nicaragua. He was a founder of the Union