Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Wheildon, William Willder

WHEILDON, William Willder, author, b. in Boston, Mass., 17 Oct., 1805. His father was a native of Birmingham, England. The son was apprenticed to Nathaniel Greene, a printer, at Haverhill, Mass., in 1820, and in the next year removed with Greene to Boston, where he became foreman in the office of his newspaper, the “American Statesman.” and its assistant editor. In May, 1827, he established at Charlestown the “Bunker Hill Aurora,” of which he continued as editor and publisher till September, 1870. Since 1850 he has resided in Concord, Mass. Mr. Wheildon has held various local public offices. His paper, the “Aurora,” was begun under the favor of Edward Everett, whose personal friend the editor was for many years. Besides occasional poems, Mr. Wheildon's publications include “Letters from Nahant” (Charlestown, 1848); “Memoir of Solomon Willard, Architect and Superintendent of the Bunker Hill Monument,” which he prepared as chairman of a committee of the Monument association (Boston, 1865); “Contributions to Thought,” a volume of lectures and essays (Concord, 1874); “New History of the Battle of Bunker Hill” (1875); “Siege and Evacuation of Boston and Charlestown” (1876); “Sentry or Beacon Hill: the Beacon and the Monument of 1635 and 1790” (Concord, 1877); “Paul Revere's Signal Lanterns” (1878); and “Curiosities of History” (1880). He made the climate of the arctic regions a subject of special study, and in 1860 read a paper before the American association for the advancement of science on an “Atmospheric Theory of the Open Polar Sea,” which was followed by others on the subject, the last being “Remarks on the Last Circular of Dr. Peterman” (Portland, 1873).