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502 erection of commercial buildings to the value of nearly $2,000,000. Among the latter was the American express building, in executing which he was associated with Henry H. Richardson. In 1878 he retired partially from the more active pur- suit of his profession, and practised mainly as a consulting architect, devoting his time to con- structive engineering, and sanitary matters con- nected with building. In 1880 he organized the Wight fire-proofing company for the construction of fire-proof buildings, of which he is still the gen- eral manager and principal stockholder. In 1868 he invented the first improvement in the construc- tion of fire-proof buildings. In 1874 he took out a patent for his method of rendering iron col- umns fire-proof, and he has since been granted three others for the same purpose. Other patents of his are for the construction of fire-proof ceil- ings in buildings in which wooden joists are used for floor - construc- tion ; for making iron floor -beams fire - proof when flat, hollow, tile floor - arches are used ; for devices for automatical- ly closing gates to swing-bridges ; and for making terra-cot ta coping for brick walls. Mr.Wight,besides frequently con- tributing articles on subjects con- nected with his specialty to various periodicals, has published a monograph on the " National Academy of Design Building," with photographic illustrations (New York, 1865), and "One Phase in the Revival of the Fine Arts in America" (Chicago, 1886).

WIGHTMAN, Valentine, clergyman, b. in North Kingston, R. I., in 1681 ; d. in Groton, Conn., 9 June, 1747. He was a descendant of Ed- ward Wightman, the Baptist, who was burned for heresy in Lichfield, England, in 1612. After his ordination to the ministry in Rhode Island he re- moved in 1705 to Groton, Conn. He was the first Baptist minister in Connecticut, planted in Groton" the first church of that denomination, and was active in establishing other churches throughoat the state and in the city and state of New York. He was a scholarly man, as was evinced in a famous debate that he held at Lynn in 1727 with the Rev. John Bulkley, a minister of the standing order. The discussion was subsequently published. Mr. Wightman was also the author of a "Letter on singing Psalms" (1725).

WIGHTMAN, William May, M. E. bishop, b. in Charleston, S. C, 29 Jan., 1808 ; d. there, 15 Feb., 1882. He became an active Christian in April, 1825, began to preach in the same year, in 1828 was received on trial into the South Caro- lina conference, and ordained deacon by Bishop Soule, and elder by Bishop Hedding. From 1828 till 1833 he filled stations in South Carolina, then for two years was agent for Randolph Macon col- lege, and for one year was professor of English literature in that institution. In 1839-'40 he was presiding elder of the Cokesbury district. He was a member of the general conference of the Meth- odist Episcopal church in 1840, and also of the famous conference of 1844, which resulted in the division of the church. From 1840 till 1854 he was editor of the " Southern Christian Advocate " in Charleston, and for the next five years he was president of Woodford college, S. C. In 1859 he was transferred to the Alabama conference, and became chancellor of the Southern university, which post he filled until July, 1867. In May, 1866, he was elected and ordained bishop at the general conference that met in New Orleans. He received the degree of D. D. from Randolph Macon college, and that of LL. D. from the College of Charleston. He edited the autobiography of Bish- op William Capers, with an interesting memoir (Nashville, Tenn., 1858).

WIKOFF, Henry, author, b. in Philadelphia in 1813; d. in Brighton, England, 2 May, 1884. His father, a physician of Philadelphia, was owner of the township of Blocklev, on Schuylkill river, and left a large fortune. The son was graduated at Union college in 1831, admitted to the Phila- delphia bar, and in 1834 sailed for Europe, where his career was made notable by intimacy with many of the foremost men of his time, and he had the reputation of being better acquainted with important unwritten history than any other man of his day. In- 1837 he was appointed at- tache to the U. S. legation at London. He visited Paris soon afterward, and carried back to Lon- don to Joseph Bonaparte the jewelry and per- sonal effects of Napoleon I., for which he received one of the first consul's silver drinking-cups. He received the cross of the Legion of honor from Napoleon III., whom he had visited in 1845, when the prince was imprisoned at Ham, and he also rendered valuable service during the days that followed the defeat at Sedan in 1870. Mr. Wi- koff's title of " chevalier," by which he was com- monly known, belonged to him as a knight-com- mander of the Spanish order of Ysabel la Catolica, which was conferred by Queen Isabella of Spain. In 1849 he was editor of the " Democratic Review." In 1855 he was employed by Lord Palmerston as a secret agent of the British government in Paris. No man had a brighter diplomatic career before him, and no one ever threw it away so lightly. He last visited this country in 1880 to arrange for the publication of an autobiography, under the title of " Reminiscences of an Idler. He published " Na- poleon Louis Bonaparte, First President of France : Biographical and Personal Sketches, including a Visit to the Prince at the Castle of Ham " (New York, 1849); "Life of Alfred, Count d'Oreay" (1849); "My Courtship and its Consequences," which is said to have been published first in Lon- don, and there " suppressed by the foreign office " (1855) ; " Adventures of a Roving Diplomatist " (1856) : " A New-Yorker in the Foreign Office, and his Adventures in Paris" (London, 1858); and "The Four Civilizations" (1870).

WILBOUR, Charles Edwin, Egyptologist, b. in Little Compton, Newport co., R. I., 17 March, 1833. He received a classical education, and en- tered Brown, where he took a prize for proficiency in Greek, and was noted for his thorough acquaintance with the ancient and modern languages, but was not graduated, owing to delicate health, Having taught himself short-hand, when he had sufficiently recovered he went to New York city in 1854 and became connected with the "Tribune" as a reporter. He also studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1859. The following eighteen years were devoted to literary and journalistic work. In 1872 he began the study of Egyptian antiquities and visited the principal libraries of the United