Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 10.djvu/449

 WILLIAMSON

WILLIS

Edenton, N.C., where he also practised medicine. He was medical director-general of the North Carolina militia, 1779-82 : a member of the house of commons in 1782 ; a delegate to the Continen- tal congress, 1782-85 and 1787-88 ; a member of the convention that framed the Constitution of the United States, and a signer of the instrument, Sept. 17, 1786 ; a member of the North Carolina ratification convention of Nov. 21, 1788, and a representative from North Carolinia in the 2d congress, 1791-93. On March 2, 1793, he removed to New York city, where he was married to Maria, daughter of Charles Ward of Apthorpe, N.Y. He was a member of the American Phil- osophical society in 1768 : was associated with DeWitt Clinton in organizing the Literarj^ and Philosophical society of New York in 1814 ; and contributed frequently to the Transactions of learned societies in Europe and the United States. The honorary degree of M.D. was conferred on him by the University of Utreclit in 1772 and that of LL.D. by the University of the State of Penn- sylvania in 1787. He is the author of : Paper Currency (1786); Discourse on the Benefits of Civil History (1810); Observations on the Climate of America (1811) ; History of North Carolina (1812). He died in New York city. May 22, 1819.

WILLIAMSON, Isaac Halsted, governor of New Jersey, was born in Elizabethtown^ N.J., Sept. 27, 1768 ; son of Gen. Matthias (d. Jan. 10, 1734-5) and Susannah (Halsted) Williamson ; grandson of William and Margaret (De Harte) Williamson, and of Capt. Matthias De Harte. He received a liberal education, studied law with his elder brother Matthias, was admitted to the bar as an attorney in 1791, and as counsellor in 1796. and practised in Elizabethtown, N. J. He was married. Aug. 6, 1808, to Anne Crossdale, daughter of the Rev. Cavalier and Mary (Hamp- ton) Jouet, and had two sons, Benjamin Wil- liamson, chancellor (q.v.), and Isaac Halsted Williamson, Jr. Isaac H. Williamson, Sr., was a representative in the state legislature, 1816-17, resigning in February of the latter year to be- come governor and chancellor of the state, which office he held until 1829. when he resumed the practice of law. He was a member of the state council, 1831-32; mayor of the borough, 1830- 33 ; declined re-election as governor of the state, and was a delegate to the state constitutional convention at Trenton, N.J., May 14, 1844, serv- ing as president of the same. The honorary de- gree of LL.D. was conferred upon him by the College of New Jersey (Princeton) in 1839. He died in Elizabethtown, N.J., July 10, 1844.

WILLING, Thomas, delegate, was born in Philadelphia, Pa., Dec. 19, 1731. He studied law in the Temple and became the business partner of Robert Morris, delegate (q.v.). He was a mem-

ber of the common council of Philadelphia in 1755 ; an associate- justice of the city court, 1759-61 ; an alderman in 1761 ; mayor in 1763, and an associate-justice of the supreme court of Pennsylvania, 1767-74. He wius vigorously op- posed to the Stamp Act, openly favored the confederation of the colonies, and was per.sonally active in arranging for a Con- tinental congress. He served as a member of the committee of safety ; was presi- dent of the Provin- cial congress, and a / /f delegate to the '"^'^ Continental congrt 1775-76, succeeding Joseph Gallowa}'. He was one of the con- servative delegates to the Continental congress, where he considered the adoption of the Dec- laration of Independence to be too radical a step, and during the British occupation of Phila- delphia tried to bring about peace without inde- pendence. During the Revolution, he furnished the army and navy supplies and in the crisis of 1780 he subscribed £5.000 to enable the Ameri- cans to continue the war. When the Bank of North America was formed in 1781, Willing was elected president, and continued in office until 1792, when he resigned, having accepted the pre- vious year the presidency of the Bank of the United States, the national bank, instituted by Alexander Hamilton. Thomas Willing died in Philadelphia, Pa., Jan. 19, 1821.

WILLIS, Bailey, geologist, was born at Idle- wild-on-the-Hudson, N.Y., May 31, 1857; son of Nathaniel P. (q.v.) and Cornelia (Grinnell) Willis. After his father's death he removed with his mother, in 1867, to Cambridge, Mass., where he attended a private school ; was graduated from the Oberrealschule, Ludwigsburg, Germany, in 1874, and from the Columbia School of Mines, M.E., 1878, C.E., 1879. Under appointment on the U.S. geological survey, 1879, he served as special agent of iron ores of the Tenth U.S. cen- sus, 1879-81 ; was in charge of the western di- vision of the Northern Ti-anscontinental survey, 1881-84 ; served as geologist in the U.S. geological survey, 1884-89, as geologist in charge of the Appalachian division of the survey, 1889-93, and of the Cascade division, Washington, 1895-1900, and was editor of the U.S. Geologic Atlas, 1891- 1903. He was married, March 5, 1882, to Altona H., daughter of Frank and Marion (Johnson) Grinnel of Yellow Springs, Ohio (who died April,