Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 10.djvu/434

 WILKINSON

WILLARD

Henry Dearborn in 1S12. In 1S03, as ranking of- ficer of the army, lie received the transfer of Lousiana Territory from the French, and became the military governor of the newly acquired ter- ritory, as well as of the recently formed Missis- sippi deiv\rtment in 1S08. In 1811 he was ac- quitted by court-martial of complicity iu the treiusonable projects of Aaron Burr, and not till ISoO was liis continuous service to Spain while simultaneously holding the liighest military i)Osi- tion in the United States army, sliowji by docu- ments from the Spanish archives containing his corresi)ondence with that government between 1787 and 1806. He was commissioned major-gen- eral. U.S.A., and ordered to the northwest fron- tier in 1813, but. owing to the failure of his opera- tions, was brought before a court of inquiry in 1815. which however, acquitted him of any blame. He was dropped from the service' upon the dis- bandment of the army, and removed to his large estate near the City of Mexico. He is the author of: Memoirs of My Own Times (1816). His por- trait in oil is on the walls of Independence Hall, Philadelpliia. He died on his estate near the City of Mexico. Mexico, Dec. t28. 1825.

WILKINSON, John, naval officer, was born in Norfolk, Va., Nov. 6, 1821; son of Com. Jesse "Wilkinson (1790-1861), U.S.N. He was warranted midsliipman,U.S.N.; advanced to passed midship- man, June 29, 1843; attached to the Oregon and Portsmouth, 184-1-45, and 1845-46, respectively, and to the Saratoga, Gulf of Mexico station, being commissioned master, June 25, 1850, and promoted lieutenant, Nov 5, 1850. He served on the Southern Star, Paraguay expedition, 1858- 59; on coast survey duty, 1860-61, and resigned his commission, April 20, 1861, to become lieu- tenant in the Confederate navy. He was sta- tioned at Fort Powhatan. Va.; commanded a bat- tery at Acquia creek, and served as executive of- ficer on the Louisiana, in the defenses of the Mississippi river forts and New Orleans, becom- ing prisoner upon the capture of the Louisianahy Farragut ami the fall of New Orleans, April 24, 1862. He was exchanged the following August; purchased for the Confederate States the Giraffe in England, re-naming it R. E. Lee; successfully pa.ssed the blockade at Wilmington, N.C., on his return, and was afterward engaged in conveying cotton to Bermuda, and returning to Wilming- ton with military sujiplies. He was attaclied to the Albemarle in 1864; commanded the Cliick- amauga later in the same year, and in 1865 took the blockade-runner Chameleon to Liverpool. He wrote: Narratii'e of a Blockade-Runner (1877). He died in Annapolis, Md., Tu-r. 29, isni.

WILKINSON, Morton Smith, s-nitor, was born in Skaneateles, N.Y., Jan. 22, 1819. He at- tended the common schools; engaged in railroad-

ing in Illinois, 1837-39; subsequently studied law in Skaneateles; was admitted to the bar in Syra- cuse, N.Y., 1842; practised in Eaton Rapids, Mich., 1843-47, and subsequently in St. Paul. Minnesota Territory. He was a representative from the second council district in the first ter- ritorial legislature of Minnesota, 1849, and draughted the code of laws adopted by the ter- ritory; removed to Mankato; acted with the Republican party and was elected to the U.S. senate in 1859, as successor to James Shields, serving, 1859-65. He was chairman of the com- mittee on Revolutionary claims, and was defeated for re-election by David S. Norton. He served as a delegate to the Republican national conven- tion of 1864, and the Loyalists' convention at Philadelphia, Pa., 1866; was a Republican repre- sentative from the first district of Minnesota, in the 41st congress, 1869-71; became a Liberal Republican in 1872, and a Democrat in 1876, and served as state senator, 1874-77. He died in St. Paul.:Minn., Feb. 4, 1894.

WILLARD, Ashbel Parsons, governor of Indiana, was born in Vernon, Oneida count}", N.Y., Oct. 31, 1820; son of Col. Eiastusand Sarah (Parsons) Willard. He was graduated from Hamilton college in 1842; studied law, and set- tled in Indiana about 1844. He was married. May 31, 1817, to Caroline C. Cook, of Haddam, Conn. In 1850 he was elected a Democratic rep- resentative in the state legislature, and became a leader of the house and chairman of the commit- tee on ways and means. In 1852 he was elected lieutenant-governor of the state, with Joseph A. Wright for governor, and in the canvass preced- ing the election won high praise as a stump speaker. As president of the senate his casting vote in 1855 prevented the election of a U.S. sen- ator. He was the Democratic candidate for gov- ernor in 1856, when his opponent was Oliver P. Morton, who in 1854 had been '• i-ead out of" the Democratic party, and the two candidates met in a joint debate in several of the larger cities of the state. Willard was elected and served as gov- ernor, 1857-60. In 1857 the Republican senate refused to meet the Democratic house in conven- tion to elect two U.S. senators. Consequent!}' the house, which constituted a majority of the legislature, met and elected Jesse D. Bright and Graham Newell Fitch, Democrats, who were promptly commissioned by Governor Willard and allowed to take their seats in the senate. Gover- nor Willar.l died in St. Paul, Minn., Oct. 4, 1800. WILLARD, Emma, educator, was born in Berlin, Conn., Feb. 23. 1787; daughter of Capt. Samuel and Lydia (Hinsdale) Hart; grand- daughter of Lieut. Samuel and ^lary (Hooker) Hart and of Capt. John and Elizabeth (Cole) Hinsdale, and a descendant of Stephen Hart of