Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/305

Rh and republished in Ensjland. — Benjamin Woolsey's son, Benjamin Woodbridge, educator, b. in New Haven, Conn., 5 April, 181(5, was graduated at Hamilton college, Clinton, N. Y., in 1835, and at Yale theological seminary in 1838. He was tutor at Hamilton in 1839-'42, founded the 1st Congre- gational church at Joliet, 111., in 1844, but gave up pastoral work on account of failing health, and established a private school in Brooklyn, which he removed in 1858 to Clinton, N. Y., and in 1863 Mr. Dwight removed to New York city. In 1867 he returned to Clinton and devoted himself to lit- erary work, having educated over 2,000 pupils. For five months in 1873 he was editor of the Chicago " Interior." He received the degree of Ph. D. from New York university in 1862. Dr. Dwight has contributed largely to the literature of education, theology, philology, and genealogy, and has published " Higher Christian Education " (New York, 1859); "Modern Philology" (2 vols., 1864) ; " History of the Strong Family " (2 vols., Albany, 1871) ; and " History of the Dwight Fam- ily " (2 vols., New York, 1874) ; and has ready for publication (1887) "Higher Culture of Woman" and " The True Doctrine of Divine Providence." — Another son of Benjamin Woolsey, Tlieodore William, jurist, b. in Catskill, N. Y., 18 July, 1822 ; d. in Clinton, N. Y., 28 June, 1892, was gradu- ated in 1840, and studied at Yale law-school in 1841-'2. He was tutor at Hamilton in 1842-'6, and in 1846-'58 held there the chair of law, history, civil polity, and political economy. In connection with his professorship he also established a depart- ment of law, and in 1858 was elected professor of nnmieipal law in Columbia college, New York. On the organization of Columbia law-school, he became its warden. Prof. Dwight had made a reputation as one of the most successful living teachers of law. He gave courses of lectures on law at Cornell in 1869-"71, and at Amherst in 1870-2. He was a member of the State constitutional convention of 1867 and of its judiciary committee, vice-president of the State board of public charities in 1873, presi- dent of the State prison association in 1874, and an active member of the New York " Committee of Seventy." On 30 Dec, 1873, Gov. Dix appoint- ed him a member of the commission of appeals, which in 1874-'5 aided the court of appeals to clear its docket. He was an associate editor of the "American Law Register," pub- lished in Philadel- phia, and several of his contribu- tions have been published sepa- rately, including " Trial by Im- peachment"(1867). In 1886 he was counsel for five professors of An- dover theological seminary, against whom complaints of heterodoxy had been made before the board of visitors, and his argument was published (Boston, 1887). He also published " Charitable Uses," em- bodying his researches in the Rose will case, argued in New York in 1863 (2 vols., 1863). and other legal arguments, and wrote the first elab- orate report of the State board of chaiities, ex- liibiting the abuses oi' the poor-law system at that time in force. He was the author of a pam- phlet on the " Influence of the Writings of James Harrington on American Political Institutions" (Boston, 1887), and edited Ilenrv Sumner Maine's " Ancient Law " (New York, 1864). — President Dwight's third son, James (1784-1863), was a suc- cessful merchant ; and his son, Timothy, educa- tor, b. in Norwich, Conn., 16 Nov., 1828, was gradu- ated at Yale in 1849, studied theology there in 1850-'3, was a tu- tor in the college in 1851-'5, and studied at Bonn and Berlin. Ger- manv, in 1856- '8. 'In the lat- ter year he was chosen professor of sacred litera- ture and New Testament Greek in Yale theo- logical seminary. He has taken an active inter- est in the affairs of Yale universi- ty, and its finan- cial growth has been largely due to his personal efforts. In 1886 he was chosen the successor of Noah Porter as president, and was formally installed into the olfice on 1 July, delivering an inaugural address, which was published, with an account of the cere- monies at his induction, in pamphlet-form (New Haven, 1886). President Dwight has been one of the editors of the " New Englander " since 1856, and in 1870-'l published a series of articles in it: on " The True Ideal of an American University," which was afterward issued separately, and at- tracted much attention. He was a member of the American committee for the revision of the English version of the Bible, from 1878 till its conifjletion in 1885. — The elder President Dwight's fifth son, Sereno Edwards, educator, b. in Greenfield Hill, Conn., 18 May, 1786: d. in Philadelphia, Pa., 30 Nov., 1850, was 'gradu- ated at Yale in 1803, and after teaching in Litch- field, Conn., and acting as his father's amanuensis, was tutor at Yale in 1806-'10. He studied law at the same time, and practised in New Haven with success in 1810-'16. In 1812, a dose of mercury, given him during a fever, caused a painful erup- tion, from which he suffered all his life. Deciding to become a clergyman, he was licensed to preach in 1816, and was chaplain of the U. S. senate in 1816-7. He was then ordained pastor of the Park street church, Boston, and continued there till 1826, when he resigned on account of failing health and returned to New Haven, where he engaged in liter- ary work, and conducted, with his brother Henry, in 1828-'31, the New Haven gymnasium, a board- ing-school for boys. He was chosen president of Hamilton college, Clinton, N. Y., in 1833, but ill- ness and pecuniary considerations forced him to resign in 1835. He was agent for the Pennsylvania colonization society in 1838, and in the same year removed to New York, where he spent his remain- ing years " among books by day, and in a lonely boarding-house by night," a prey to the distressing malady that finally ended his life. Yale gave him .the degree of D. D. in 1835. Dr. Dwight published " Life of David Brainerd " (1822) ; " Life and Works of Jonathan Edwards," his great-grandfather (New York, 10 vols., 1830); "The Hebrew Wife," de-