Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 10.djvu/389

 WHARTON

WHARTON

school in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., and in South Car- olina ; married a daughter of David Johnson, governor of South Carolina ; practised law in Texas prior to the civil war, and in 1861 was com- missioned captain in Terry's rangers, C.S.A. After the death of the colonel in 1861 and of the lieutenant-colonel in 1862, Wharton was pro- moted colonel. He fought in Kentucky in the spring of 1862, was attached to Hardee's com- mand at Shiloh, April 6-7, 1862, where hy dis- mounting his command he caused great annoy- ance to the Union flank, and whei'e he was wounded. In June, 1862, his regiment became the 8th Texas cavalry regiment. He accom- panied Bragg on his raid into Kentuckj' in the fall of 1862, fighting near Bardstown, Ky., and on Nov. 18, 1862. was promoted brigadier-general. He commanded a brigade of cavalry at Murfrees- boro, Tenn., Dec. 31, 1862, a division at Chicka- mauga, Sept. 13, 1863, and was promoted major- general. In the spring of 1864 he obtained a leave of absence because of poor health, and later com- manded a brigade of cavalry in the District of AVest Louisiana, opposing Banks in his Red River expedition and fighting at Yellow Bayou,
 * May 18, 1864. He was killed by General Baylor,

•C.S.A., dying at Houston, Texas, April 6, 1865.

WHARTON, Joseph, manufacturer, was born in Philadelphia, Pa., March 3, 1826 ; son of Wil- liam and Deborah (Fisher) Wharton ; grandson of Charles and Hannah (Redwood) Wharton, and of Samuel Rowland and Hannah (Rodman) Fisher ; great-grandson of Joseph and Hannah (Carpenter) Wharton, and great-grandson of Thomas Wharton, the immigrant. He studied xinder private tutors, was commercially educated in a mercantile house, 1845—47, and engaged in the manufacture of white lead. He was manager of the Lehigh Zinc Co., 1853-63, and built the first successful spelter works in the United States in 1860. He established, in 1861, the first successful nickel and cobalt works in America, which he .sold in 1901 to the International Nickel com- pany. He was married, June 15, 1854, to Anna Corbit, daughter of Joseph S. and Ann (Corbit) Levering of Philadelphia, Pa. He was one of the founders of the Bethleliem Iron company, and established extensive nickel works in Cam- den, N.J. He was president of the board of man- agers of Swarthmore college, and endowed its chair of historj- and economics. He founded in 1881, the Wharton School of Finance and Econ- omy, University of Pennsylvania, and subse- quently increased his endowment of it to §500,- 000. He wrote many treatises on financial and scientific subjects ; owned and carried on many industrial businesses, principal among them sundry blast furnaces, iron mines, coal mines and coke ovens. He received the honorary de- X. — 2i

grees of Sc.D. from the University of Pennsyl- vania, and LL.D. from Swarthmore. He was a member of the Religious Society of Friends.

WHARTON, Robert, mayor of Philadelphia, was born at "Walnut Grove," Southwark Pa., (where the Meschianza was lield by the British in May, 1795) ; son of Joseph and Hannah (Car- penter) Wharton and grandson of Thomas Wharton, who came from Westmorelandshire, England, prior to 1688, and married Rachel Thomas at Bank Meeting in Philadelphia. At the age of fourteen he was apprenticed to a hatter, and after serving his term he entered the counting-house of his half brother Charles. He appears in the Philadelphia Directory of 1785 as a flour merchant. He was married, Dec. 17, 1789, to Salome, daughter of William and Salome (Wistar) Chancellor of Philadelphia. He was a member of the city councils, 1792-95 ; alderman, 1796-98 ; and during the absence of Mayor Hil- lary Baker he was acting mayor and succeeded in quelling a formidable riot, which threatened the commercial interests of the city in 1796. In 1798, when the j-ellow fever epidemic occurred in the Walnut Street prison and the jailors resigned their positions. Alderman Wharton acted as jailor, and with a few selected men as assistants suppressed a mutiny of the prisoners by firing upon the mob, which act was commended by the grand jury as deserving the thanks of the citizens. He was un- animously elected mayor as successor to mayor Baker, who had died of the yellow fever, Sept. 25, 1798, and he was in office, 1798-99, 1806-07, 1809-10, 1814-19, 1820-24. His record establishes his place as one of the most useful mayors of the city. He was a Federalist in politics ; was a mem- ber of the city troop from June 19, 1798 ; captain from Aug. 15, 1803 ; colonel from June 14, 1870, and was placed on the honorary roll of the troop. In 1811 he was elected brigadier-general of the 1st brigade, Pennsylvania militia, and in 1814 he served in the field as a private soldier under Cap- tain Ross, his former lieutenant, and while in camp he was notified of his re-election as mayor. He was a charter member and vice-president of the Washington Benevolent society. He died in Philadelphia, Pa., March 7, 1834.

WHARTON, Samuel, delegate, was born in Philadelphia, Pa., May 3, 1732 ; son of Joseph, a prominent merchant of Philadelphia and Hannah (Carpenter )Wharton ; grandson of Thomas Whar- ton, who emigrated to Pennsjdvania prior to 1688, from Westmoreland, England, and married Rachel Thomas of Monmouthshire, Wales. He en- gaged in the mercantile business, and owing to the destruction of £40.000 worth of goods by the In- dians, the chiefs of the Six Nations indemnified the firm of Baynton, Wharton and Morgan by niaking over a large tract of land bordering on the