Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/523

Rh from 1800 till his death, and published various discourses.—The second Peter's son, George, clergyman, b. in Quincy, Mass., 2 July, 1804; d. in Jamaica Plain, Mass., 2 April, 1842, was graduated at Harvard in 1824 and at the divinity-school in 1828, and from 1831 till his death was pastor of churches in Roxbury. He published &ldquo;Some Account of the Early History and Present State of the Town of Quincy, Mass.&rdquo; (Boston, 1827), of which he was preparing an enlarged edition at the time of his death.—George's brother, Frederic Augustus, clergyman, b. in Quincy, Mass., 13 Sept., 1812; d. in Brighton, Mass., 21 Oct., 1880, was graduated at Harvard in 1833 and at the divinity-school in 1838, teaching in the mean time. After doing missionary work, he was pastor at Brighton, Mass., in 1843-'59, and afterward lived in that town without a pastoral charge. He issued thirteen annual reports as chairman of the town school committee, and nine as president of the trustees of the Public library. Besides these, and various sermons, addresses, and contributions to current literature, he published &ldquo;Historical Sketch of the Old Church at Quincy&rdquo; (Albany, 1864), and &ldquo;Biography of James Holton,&rdquo; founder of the Holton library, Brighton (Boston, 1865). He was also the author of various hymns, some of which are collected in Rev. Alfred P. Putnam's &ldquo;Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith&rdquo; (Boston, 1875).

WHITNEY, Thomas Richard, author, b. in New York city in 1804; d. there, 12 April, 1858. He served two years in the assembly of the state in 1854-'5, and one term in congress in 1855-'7, having been elected by the American party. Mr. Whitney was editorially connected with the New York &ldquo;Sunday Times&rdquo; and other papers, and published &ldquo;The Ambuscade,&rdquo; a poem (New York, 1845), and &ldquo;Defence of the American Policy as opposed to the Encroachments of Foreign Influence, and especially to the Interference of the Papacy&rdquo; (1856).

WHITNEY, William Collins, secretary of the navy, b. in Conway, Mass., 15 July, 1841. His father, James S. Whitney, was at one time collector of the port of Boston, and in 1860 was a delegate to the Charleston convention. The son was graduated at Yale in 1863 and at Harvard law-school in 1865, and continued the study of law under Abraham R. Lawrence, in New York city, where he was admitted to the bar and practised his profession. In 1871 he assisted in the organization of the Young men's Democratic club, and was subsequently brought into notice by his active measures in the movement against the Tweed ring. He was made inspector of the city schools in 1872, and was defeated the same year as the candidate of the reformed Democracy for district attorney. In the following year he took an active part in the Tilden canvass. He was appointed corporation counsel of New York city in 1875, 1876, and 1880, and is credited with having saved the city several minions of dollars by his opposition to claims against the city treasury. He also put in practice a system for the protection of the legal rights of the corporation, which has proved of permanent value. He resigned this office in 1882, and on 5 March, 1885, was appointed secretary of the navy. Yale conferred the degree of LL. D. upon him in 1888. His administration has been marked by the completion of several vessels that form the nucleus of a new U. S. navy, in whose development he has taken much interest. Secretary Whitney's residence, at the corner of 5th avenue and 57th street, New York, is one of the finest in the city.

WHITON, John Milton, clergyman, b. in Winchendon, Mass., 1 Aug., 1785 ; d. in Antrim, N. H., Sept., 1856. He was graduated at Yale in 1805, and was pastor of the Presbyterian church in Antrim, N. H., from 28 Sept., 1808. till 1 Jan., 1853, and then of the Congregational church in the neighboring town of Bennington till his death. He received the degree of D. D. from Princeton in 1848. Dr. Whiton wrote "Brief Notices of the Town of Antrim," in the " Collections of the New Hampshire Historical Society" (vol. iv., 1852); "Sketches of the Early History of New Hampshire, 1623-1833 " (Concord, 1834) ; also statistical account of the Congregational and Presbyterian ministers of Hillsborough county, in the "New Hampshire Repository" for 1846. At the time of his death he was preparing a " History of Presbyterianism in New Hampshire."— His grandson, James Morris, clergyman, b. in Boston, Mass., 11 April, 1833. was educated at the Boston Latin-school and at Yale, where he was graduated in 1853. He was rector of Hopkins grammar-school, New Haven, Conn., from 1854 till 1864, pastor of the 1st Congregational church, Lynn, Mass., 1865-'69, and of the North Congregational church, Lynn, 1869-75. In 1876-'8 he was principal of Williston seminary, Easthampton, Mass., and pastor of the 1st Congregational church, Newark, N. J., in 1879-85, and became pastor of Trinity Congregational church, Tremont, New York city, in 1886. He is regarded as a Christian evolutionist. His views regarding endless punishment were made the subject of an inquiry by a council of Congregational churches at Newark in 1879, the result being a vote of confidence and fellowship, notwithstanding his disavowal of that tenet. He has been a frequent contributor to religious journals, and, in addition to various school-books, has published "Select Orations of Lysias " (Boston, 1875); "Is Eternal Punishment Endless?" in which he maintains that endless punishment is not decisively revealed in the New Testament (1876); "Essay on the Gospel according to Matthew " (1880); "The Gospel of the Resurrection" (1881); "Early Pupils of the Spirit" (London, 1884); "The Evolution of Revelation " (New York, 1885); "The Divine Satisfaction" (London, 1886); and two series of dis- courses given in Congregational churches in England, entitled "Turning of Thought and Conduct" (London, 1887) and "The Law of Liberty" (1888). — His daughter, Mary Bartlett, educator, b. in New Haven, Conn., 17 Aug., 1857, was graduated at Smith college in 1879, taught in Newark high-school in 1881-'3, and has since been a teacher in Packer institute, Brooklyn, N. Y. She was the author with her father of "Six Months' Preparation for Reading Xenophon " (New York, 1885).

WHITSITT, William Heth, clergyman, b. near Nashville, Tenn., 25 Nov., 1841. He was graduated at Union university, Tenn., in 1861, and at the Southern Baptist theological seminary in 1869, meanwhile spending a year at the University of Virginia. He studied in 1869-70 at the University of Leipsic, and in 1870-1 at the University of Berlin, served for a short time as pastor of the Baptist church in Albany, Ga., and in 1872 was elected professor of ecclesiastical history in the Southern Baptist theological seminary, Louisville, Ky., which place he still holds. Mercer university gave him the degree of D. D. in 1874. Besides various contributions to reviews and other periodicals, he is the author of " History of the Rise of Infant Baptism" (Louisville, 1878); "History of Communion among Baptists " (1880) ; and " Origin of the Disciples of Christ, a Contribution to the Hundredth Anniversary of the Birth of Alexander Campbell " (New York, 1888).