society, and was its president for several years. He founded, in connection with the State university of Wisconsin, the Washburn observatory, which, with its instruments, cost more than $50,000. The legislature of the state made him a life regent of the university, which in 1873 conferred upon him the degree of LL. D. His country-house of Edgewood, near Madison, worth $20,000, he presented to the Dominican Sisters for use as a school for girls. In his will he bequeathed $50,000 to found a public library at La Crosse, and $375,000 for the establishment of an orphans' home in Minneapolis. — Another brother, Charles Ames, editor, b. in Livermore, Me., 16 March, 1822, was graduated at Bowdoin in 1848, and after studying law was admitted to practice in Mineral Point, Wis. In 1850 he went to California and connected himself with the press, settling in San Francisco in 1853, where he became editor and then proprietor of the " Alta California." Mr. Washburn took an active part in the foundation of the Republican party, and his journal was the first on the Pacific coast to advocate the distinctive principles of that organization. Prom 1858 till 1860 he edited and owned the San Francisco " Daily Times." In 1860 he was an elector-at-large from California, and in 1861 he was appointed by President Lincoln commissioner to Paraguay, where he was afterward minister-resident from 1863 till 1868. His term of office included the period of the war between Paraguay and Brazil, and in 1868, when the foreign residents were accused of conspiring against President Francisco S. Lopez, Mr. Washburn escaped through the opportune arrival of the U. S. war-steamer "Wasp," while two of his subordinates, unable to escape, were seized and tortured. (See Lopez.) His action in trying to save the lives of those that were supposed to be connected with the conspiracy brought im into collision with officers of the U. S. navy, but a congressional committee exonerated him. On his return to this country he settled at first in Oakland, Cal., but ultimately made Morristown, N. J., his home. He has devoted his attention to the invention of several ingenious machines, notably the typograph, a form of type-writer. In addition to various contributions to periodicals, he has published two works of fiction, "Philip Thaxter" (New York, 1861) and "Gomery of Montgomery" (1865) ; a "History of Paraguay" (2 vols., Boston, 1870); "Political Evolution" (Philadelphia, 1887), and " From Poverty to Competence " (1887). — Another brother, William Drew, b. in Livermore, Me., 14 Jan., 1831, was graduated at Bowdoin in 1854, admitted to the bar in 1857, and began practice in Minnesota. In 1861-'5 he was surveyor-general of that state. Subsequently he settled in Minneapolis and engaged in manufacturing. He became president of the Minneapolis and St. Louis railroad, and in 1878 was elected to congress, where he served for-three terms, ending on 3 March, 1885.
WASHBURN, Peter Thacher, lawyer, b. in Lynn, Mass., 7 Sept., 1814 ; d. in Woodstock, Vt., 7 Feb., 1870. He was graduated at Dartmouth in 1835, studied law at Harvard, was admitted to the bar in 1838, and practised in Ludlow, Vt., till 1844. Removing then to Woodstock, he was reporter of the state supreme court for eight vears. and for several terms a member of the legislature, serving as chairman of the judiciary committee. In 1861 he was a member of the Chicago convention, and was the first to give the vote of his state to Lincoln. He was adjutant- and inspector-general of the state in 1861-6, and his records show only 75 men unaccounted for out of more than 34,000. He served in the field as a lieutenant, and afterward as acting colonel of the 1st Vermont volunteers, which, with the Massachusetts troops, he commanded at the battle of Big Bethel. In 1869 he was elected governor by the Republicans, and died in office. He was trustee of the University of Vermont, and president of the Woodstock railroad. He was the author of " Digest of all Cases in the Supreme Court of Vermont, including the First Fifteen Volumes of Vermont Reports" (Woodstock, 1845); supplement to " Aiken's Forms " (Claremont, N. H., 1847) ; " Digest of Cases in the Supreme Court of Vermont," vols, xvi.-xxii. (1852); and "Reports of the Supreme Court of Vermont," vols, xvi.-xxiii. (1845-52).
WASHBURN, William Barrett, senator, b. in Winchendon, Mass., 31 Jan., 1820 ; d. in Springfield, Mass., 5 Oct., 1887. He was graduated at Yale in 1844, and became a manufacturer at Greenfield, Mass., where he was for many years president of the National bank, and which he represented in both branches of the legislature in 1850-'4. He was identified with the Republican party from its organization in 1856. and at the beginning of the civil war contributed liberally to the National cause. In 1862 he was sent to congress as a Republican, and he was returned biennially till on 1 Jan., 1872, he resigned his seat to become governor of Massachusetts. This office he resigned also during his third term to fill the vacancy that was made in the U. S. senate by the death of Charles Sumner, serving from 1 May, 1874, till 3 March, 1875, when he withdrew from public affairs. Besides holding many offices of trust under corporate societies, he was a trustee of Yale, of the Massachusetts agricultural college, and of Smith college, of which he was also a benefactor, and a member of the board of overseers of Amherst from 1864 till 1877. Harvard conferred the degree of LL. D. upon him in 1872. By his will he made the American board, the American home missionary society, and the American missionary association residuary legatees, leaving to each society about $50,000. He was also a great benefactor of the Greenfield public library. He died suddenly while attending a session of the American board of commissioners for foreign missions, of which he was a member.
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WASHINGTON, Booker Taliaferro, educator, b. in Hale's Ford, Franklin co., Va., 18 April, 1856. He is of African descent, and early removed to West Virginia. He was graduated at Hampton institute in 1875, and in the same year entered Wayland seminary, whence he was called to fill the chair of a teacher at Hampton. There he was elected by the Alabama state authorities to the presidency of Tuskegee institute, which he organized in 1881. Under his management it has grown from an institution with one teacher and thirty students to one with twenty teachers and 300 students. The property consists of 540 acres, a blacksmith's shop, saw-mill, carpenter's shop, brick-yard, printing-office, and several large school-buildings, one of which, shown in the vignette, was built by the students. It is valued at $68,000, and is out of debt.
