Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/571

Rh WILLIAMSON, Isaac Halsted, jurist, b. in Elizabethtown, N. J., in 1769 ; d. there, 10 July, 1844. He was educated at the local schools in his birthplace, studied law with tais brother Matthias, and was admitted to the bar in 1791. Soon after- ward he became prosecuting attorney for Morris county, and rose to a high rank at the bar of New Jersey. In 1817 he was elected to the assembly, and he was governor and chancellor of the state from 6 Feb., 1817, till October, 1830, as, previous to the adoption of the constitution in 1844, the governor was, ex-officio, chancellor. He was presi- dent of the convention that was called to revise the state constitution in 1844, and died soon after the convention adjourned.

WILLIAMSON, James, Canadian educator, b. in Edinburgh, Scotland, 19 Oct., 1806. He was one of the founders of the " Edinburgh Presby- terian Review," and was ordained as a Presby- terian minister in 1845. In 1842 he became pro- fessor of mathematics and natural philosophy in Queen's college, Kingston, Canada, and he was afterward vice-principal, professor of astronomy, and for many years director of the Kingston Ob- servatory. He has been given the degree of LL. D. by Glasgow university. Dr. Williamson has pub- lished " Inland Seas of North America " (Kingston, 1854), and abstracts of meteorological observations at Kingston. Canada.

WILLIAMSON, James Alexander, soldier, b. in Adair county, Ky., 8 Feb., 1829. He was edu- cated at Knox college, 111., but was not graduated, studied law, and was admitted to the bar, but was mustered into the military service of the United States, 8 Aug., 1861, as 1st lieutenant and adju- tant of the 4th Iowa infantry. After the battle of Pea Ridge, where he was wounded, he was pro- moted to lieutenant-colonel of the regiment and immediately afterward he was made its colonel. At the battle of Chickasaw Bayou, near Vicksburg, on 28 Dec, 1862, he led the assault of Thayer's brigade on the enemy's lines and was seriously wounded. By order of Gen. Grant he was allowed to inscribe on the colors of his regiment " First at Chickasaw Bayou." He was present at the siege of Vicksburg, and immediately after the sur- render was given command of the 2d brigade of the 1st division of the 15th army corps. Col. Will- iamson continued in command of a brigade or di- vision until the capture of Savannah, when he was made a full brigadier-general of volunteers, 13 Jan., 1865, having previously been promoted by brevet on 19 Dec, 1864. He was also brevetted major-general of volunteers, 13 March, 1865. After the capture of Savannah he was ordered to St. Louis, Mo., to take command of the district of Missouri, where he remained until some time after the surrender of the armies of the Confederacy, when he was ordered to report to Gen. Grenville M. Dodge for duty in a military and inspecting ex- pedition of posts in the northwest, on Laramie, Pow- der, and Bighorn rivers. While on this duty he was mustered out of the military service ; but he did not receive the order until his return to St. Louis in October, 1865. Gen. Williamson then re- sumed his profession, and was commissioner of the general land-office from June, 1876, till June, 1881, and chairman of the public lands commission created by act of congress, 3 March, 1879. He was elected chairman of the Iowa delegation to the Na- tional Republican convention at Baltimore in 1864, but did not attend in consequence of his military duties, and he was again elected chairman of the delegation in 1868. He is now general solicitor for the Atlantic and Pacific railroad company.

WILLIAMSON, John, artist, b. in Toll Cross, near Glasgow, Scotland, 10 April, 1826 ; d. in Glen- wood-on-the-Hudson, 28 May, 1885. His parents removed to this country when he was a child. For several years he followed his profession in Brook- lyn, N. Y., where he was a member and secretary of the Art association. He was also one of the original members of the Artists' fund society, and in 1861 was elected an associate of the National academy. Many of his paintings are scenes near Hudson river and in the Catskills. They include "Trout Fishing"; "American Trout"; "Summit of Chocorua " ; " Autumn in the Adirondacks " ; "A Passing Shower, Connecticut Valley " (1869) ; "Af- ter the Storm, Blue Ridge " (1877) ; " In the Mo- hawk Valley " and " Sugar-Loaf Mountain " (1878) ; and " The Palisades " (1879).

WILLIAMSON, John, British physician, lived in the 18th and 19th centuries. He was a fellow of the Royal college of physicians of Edinburgh, and at one time surgeon to the Caithness High- landers. In 1798 he went with his family to Jamaica, W. I., where he practised nearly fourteen years near Spanish Town, returning to his native country in 1812. During his absence he kept a journal of his cases and other topics of interest, which he utilized in the preparation of his "Medical and Miscellaneous Observations relative to the West India Islands " (2 vols., Edinburgh, 1817).

WILLIAMSON, Peter, Scottish author, d. in Edinburgh, Scotland, 19 Jan., 1799. He was kid- napped when a boy at Aberdeen, and sent to this country, but he afterward returned to Scotland, where he recovered damages from his captors. He passed much time among the Cherokees, and on his return amused the public with descriptions of their manners, assuming the dress of a chief and imitating a war-whoop. He instituted a penny- post at Edinburgh, for which, when it was assumed by the government, he received a pension, and he was also the first to publish a city directory. He was the author of " French and Indian Cruelty Exemplified" (Glasgow, 1758), and "A Brief Ac- count of the War in North America " (1760).

WILLIAMSON, Robert Stockton, soldier, b. in New York in 1824 ; d. in San Francisco, Cal., 10 Nov., 1882. He was graduated at the U. S. military academy in 1848, assigned to the topographical engineers, and took part in various surveys on the Pacific coast till 1856, when he became 1st lieutenant. From that time till the civil war he was on the staff of the commanding general of the Department of the Pacific, and in charge of military roads in southern Oregon, with meteorological observations on that coast. On 6 Aug., 1861, he was promoted captain, and, after reconnoissances on the lower Potomac till March, 1862, he was chief topographical engineer in the operations in North Carolina, being brevetted major, 14 March, 1862, for services at New Berne, and lieutenant-colonel on 26 April for the siege of Fort Macon. He then served with the Army of the Potomac, of which he was chief topographical engineer, from 21 Nov. till 21 Dec, 1862, and held that post in the Department of the Pacific from 9 Feb. till 3 March, 1863, when he was transferred to the corps of engineers, in which he was made major on 7 May. Afterward he served on the Pacific coast as superintending engineer of various surveys of rivers, harbors, and sites for fortifications. On 22 Feb., 1869, he was promoted lieutenant-colonel. Col. Williamson published " Report of a Reconnoissance and Survey in California in Connection with Explorations for a Railway Route to the Pacific " in vol. lii. of " Pacific Railway Re-