Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/664

628 3 March, 1847, and in the latter year was a defeated candidate for governor of New Jersey. He was twice elected to the U. S. senate as a Democrat, and served from 4 March, 1853, till 4 March, 1859, and from 7 Dec, 1863, till his death. He was chairman of the committee on manufactures and of that on the contingent expenses of the senate, and served also on the committees on public lands and Revolutionary claims.

WRIGHT, William, journalist, b. in Ireland in 1824; d. in Paterson, N. J., 13 March, 1866. He came to this country about 1841 and settled near Paterson, N. J., where he engaged in teaching. In 1854 he founded in that town "The Press," a Republican journal. He took an active part in the canvass for the presidency in 1856, advocating the election of John C. Fremont, and chiefly through his exertions Paterson for the first time in its history gave a majority against the Democratic party. In 1858 he was interested in a paper called the "Republican," afterward merged into the "Daily Guardian." In 1860 Mr. Wright removed to New York, where he was connected with the "Evening Post" and the "Commercial Advertiser" and contributed to other journals; but in 1864 he returned to Paterson and engaged in journalism there. Shortly before his death he es- tablished the "Monthly Review." He published "The Oil Regions of Pennsylvania, showing where Petroleum is Found, how it is obtained, and at what Cost, with Hints for Whom it may Concern" (New York, 1865).

WRIGHT, William Bull, poet, b. in Orange county, N. Y., 29 Sept., 1840 : d. in Atlanta, Ga., 29 March, 1880. After graduation at Princeton in 1859 he taught in Buffalo until 1862, when he entered the 5th New York artillery as a private. While his regiment was stationed at Fort McHenry, Md., he was prostrated by typhoid fever, but after his recovery he rejoined his regiment, and participated in Sheridan's campaign in the Shenandoah valley. He served until the end of the war, part of the time as judge-advocate, and was mustered out as lieutenant with the brevet of major. He was graduated at the New York college of physicians and surgeons, practised medicine in Orange county until 1871, and was professor of ancient languages in the normal school at Buffalo, N. Y., from that year until 1878, when he resigned, owing to impaired health. He was the author of "Highland Rambles, a Poem" (Boston, 1868), and "The Brook, and other Poems" (New York, 1873).

WRIGHT, William Henry, engineer, b. in Wilmington, N. C, in 1814; d. there, 29 Dec, 1845. He was a grandson of Judge Joshua Granger Wright (1768-1811), who served in the legislature from 1792 till 1800, and was speaker in the latter year. After graduation at William and Mary college William studied law, which he abandoned to enter the U. S. military academy. He was graduated there in 1834, promoted 2d lieutenant in the 1st artillery, was transferred to the engineer corps on 1 July, 1838, and became 1st lieutenant on 7 Dec. of that year. He served as assistant engineer in the construction of Fort Warren, Boston harbor, and as superintending engineer on the sea wall for the protection of Lovell's island in that harbor in 1844-'5. Lieut. Wright was the author of a "Brief Practical Treatise on Mortars, with an Account of the Processes at the Public Works in Boston Harbor" (Boston, 1845).

WRIGHT, William Janes, mathematician, b. in Weybridge, Vt., 3 Aug., 1831. He was graduated at Union college in 1857, and studied at Union and Princeton theological seminaries. He was ordained to the ministry of the Presbyterian church in 1863, was a chaplain in the National army in 1863-'5. and. besides holding various pastorates and spending two years in European study, has been professor of mathematics at Wilson college, Pa., in 1876-'7. and of metaphysics at Westminster college, Mo., since 1887. He received the degree of Ph. D. from Union in 1876, and that of LL. D. from Westminster college in 1882. Dr. Wright has published " Tracts on Higher Mathematics," including treatises on determinants, trilinear co-ordinates, and invariants (London, 1875-'9). — His wife, Julia McNair, author, b. in Oswego, N. Y., 1 May, 1840, was the daughter of John McNair, a well-known civil engineer, whose father emigrated from Scotland in 1798. She was educated at private schools and academies, married Dr. Wright in 1859, and has devoted her life mainly to literary work. Her books are mostly religious stories, anti-Catholic Many of them have been republished in Europe and several have been translated into Arabic Her works include "Priest and Nun" (1869); "Jug-or-Not" (New York, 1870); "Saints and Sinners" (Philadelphia, 1873); "The Early Church in Britain " (1874); "Bricks from Babel," a manual of ethnography (1876); "The Complete Home " (1879); "A Wife Hard Won." a novel (1882); and "The Nature Readers " (3 vols., Boston, 1887-8).

WURTELE, Jonathan Saxton Campbell, Canadian jurist, b. in Quebec, 27 Jan., 1828. He is the son of Jonathan Wurtele, seignior of River David, and was the last Canadian seignior to render homage, 3 Feb., 1854. He was educated at Quebec high-school and privately studied law, and was called to the bar of Lower Canada in 1850. He became professor of commercial law in McGill university in 1869, received the degree of B. C. L. from that institution in 1870, and of D. C. L. in 1882, and is now an emeritus professor. He became queen's counsel in 1873. In 1875 he was elected to the legislature of Quebec, re-elected in 1878 and in 1881, and again in 1882 on his being appointed provincial treasurer. He was speaker of the Quebec assembly in 1884-'6, and in the latter year was appointed judge of the superior court of the province. He was made an officer of public instruction in 1880 and an officer of the Legion of honor in France in 1882. Mr. Wurtele negotiated a loan in France for the province of Quebec in 1880, and organized at the same time the Credit foncier Franco Canadien, of which he is a director. He has been counsel of the German society of Montreal, and has held the offices of chief clerk of the seignioral commission, mayor of St. David, and president of the school commissioners of that place. He is a Liberal-Conservative in politics, and is the author of a &ldquo;Manual of the Legislative Assembly of Quebec&rdquo; (Quebec, 1885).

WURTZ, Henry, chemist, b. in Easton, Pa., 5 June, 1828. He was graduated at Princeton in 1848, and then studied chemistry at the Lawrence scientific school of Harvard. In 1851 he became instructor at the Yale (now Sheffield) scientific school, and in 1853-'5 he was chemist to the geological survey of New Jersey. He was chosen professor of chemistry at the Medical college in Kingston, Canada, in 1857, and a year later accepted a similar chair at the National medical college in Washington, D. C., while at the same time he was examiner in the chemical division of the U. S. patent-office until 1861. Prof. Wurtz then removed to New York. His original work has included the discovery of the mineral hisingerite in America (1850); the invention of methods for the production of alum from greensand marl and