Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 10.djvu/418

 WHITNEY

WHITNEY

the universal benefit derived from tiie invention, tliis wjis but small recompense. He established a fund of $500 at Yale college, the interest to be de- voted to the purchase of books on mechanical and physical science. He was married in 1817, to a daughter of Judge Pierpont Edwards. His " Me- moir" was publislied by Denison Olmsted in 1S4G. He died in New Haven. Conn., Jan. 8, 1825.

WHITNEY, Henry Mitchell, librarian and educator, was born in Nortliampton, Mass., Jan. IG. 1843 : son of Josiah Dwight and Clarissa (James) Whitney ; grandson of Abel and Clarissa (Dwiglit) Whitney, and of Malaciii and Elizabeth (Lyman) James, and a descendant of John Whit- ney of Watertown, Mass., lGOO-73, Kichard Ly- man (1580-1610), and Joim Dwight. He was ser- geant-major of the 53 Massachusetts volunteer in- fantry in the civil war ; was graduated from Y^ale, A.B., 1864, A.M., 1867; served as agent of tlie U.S. Christian commission. 1864-65 ; was a stu- dent at Princeton Theological seminary, 1865-GO, and was graduated from Andover. 18G8, being ordained May 12, 1869. He was married. Aug. 3, 1869, to Frances, daughter of Alfred and Sarah Elizabeth (Smith) Wurts, then of Geneva, 111. He was pastor at Geneva, 1868-71 ; stated supply, Beloit, Wis., 1871-72 ; professor of rhetoric and English literature at Beloit college, 1871-99. serv- ing also as acting pastor of Roscoe, 111., 1876-83, and as a member of the board of aldermen, 1876- 83 ; and was made librarian of tlie James Black- .<itone ^lemorial library, Branford, Conn., in 1899. He received the degree of Litt.D. from Beloit in 1900. He was made an honorary mem- ber of the British Association for the Advance- ment of Science in 1881. He was an editorial contributor to the " Century Dictionary," 1888- 91, his work including the synonymy, considered by scholars one of the best features of that work. He is tiie author of frequent contributions to periodicals, including a series of articles in the Bihliotheca Sacra (1902-03) on " The Latest Translation of the Bible," subsequently pub- lished in book form.

WHITNEY, James Lyman, librarian, was born in Nortliampton, Mass.. Nov. 28, 1835 ; son of Jo- siah Dvviglit and Clarissa (James) Whitney, and brother of Josiah Dwight, Jr., Henry Mitchell, and William Dwight Whitney (q. v.). He was graduated from Yale, A.B., 18.56, A.M., 1865 ; was chief of the catalogue department of the Boston Public library, 1874-99, editing the " Ticknor Cata- logue of Spanish literature " and other publica- tions of the library ; was appointed librarian in 1899 as successor to Herbert Putnam, and upon re- signing the position in 1903, he was made chief of the departments of documents and statistics, and manuscripts. lie seiwed as chairman of the school-committee of Concord, Mass., 1879-87;

chairman of the book committee of the Bostonian society for many years, and chairman of the finance committee of the American Library asso- ciation.

WHITNEY, Josiah Dwight, Jr., geologist, was born in Northampton, Mass., Nov. 23, 1819; sou of Josiah Dwight and Sarah (Williston) Whitney ; grandson of Abel and Clarissa (Dwight) Whitney, and of the Rev. Payson and Sarah (Birdseye) Williston, and a descendant of John and Elinor Whitney, who came from London to Watertown, Mass., in 1635. He attended the famous Round Hill school at Northam])ton, taught by Joseph G. Cogswell and George Ban- croft, and other private schools at New Haven, Andover, and elsewhere ; was graduated from Yale, A.B., 1839 ; spent the following six months in Dr. Robert Hare's chemical laboratory, Phila- delphia ; was assistant geologist in the survey of New Hampshire, 1840-41 ; and sul)sequently con- tinued his scientific studies in Europe under Elie de Beaumont. Rammelsburg, Liebig and others, until 1847. He was employed in the U.S. geo- logical survey of Lake Superior, 1847-51, and sub- sequentlj^ investigated the metallic resources of the country east of the Mississippi. He was mar- ried, July 5, 1854, to Louisa, daughter of Samuel and Mehitable (May) Goddard of Brookline, Mass. Mrs. Whitney published: '"The Burning of the Convent : a Narrative of the Destruction by a mob of the Ui'suline School on Mount Bene- dict, Charlestown, as remenilwred by One of the Pupils" (1877), and "Peasy's Ciiildliood : An Autobiography" (1878). She died. May 13. 1883. Mr, Whitney was state chemist of Iowa, 1855-57, and simultaneously engaged in the geological survey of the state ; was professor of ciiemistry and mineralogy in the State Univei-sity of Iowa, 1855-57 ; was associated with the geological sur- vey' of the lead region of upper Missouri to- gether with the official surveys of Wisconsin and Illinois, 1858-60, and was state geologist of Cali- fornia, 18G0-74. Ho was Sturgis-IIooper profes- sor of geology at Harvard in the School of Mining and Practical Geology, 1865-75 ; and subsequently held the separate chair of the same until 1896 ; was university lecturer, 1868-69, and dean of the School of Mining and Practical Engineering, 1868-75. In 1869 he conducted an exploration party to Colorado for the purpose of determining the exact height of the principal peaks of the Rocky Mountains, naming two of them Mt. Hai'- vard and Mt. Yale. A still higher peak in Inyo county, Cal. (the highest peak in the United States, excluding Alaska), is named Mt. Whitney in his honor. He received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Yale in 1870; was named by con- gress an original member of the National Acad- emy of Sciences in 1863, and was a member of