from 1822 as principal of the Pennsylvania insti- tution for the deaf and dumb, at Philadelphia. His success in these offices gave him a wide impu- tation in his own field. For the last few years of his life he was a sufferer from a chronic disease.
WELD, Theodore Dwight, reformer, b. in
Hampton, Conn., 23 Nov., 1803. He entered Phillips
Andover academy in 1819, but was not graduated,
on account of failing eyesight. In 1830 he
became general agent of the Society for the promotion
of manual labor in literary institutions,
publishing afterward a valuable report (New York,
1833). He entered Lane theological seminary,
Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1833, but left that institution on
the suppression of the Anti-slavery society of the
seminary by the trustees. Mr. Weld then became
well known as an anti-slavery lecturer, but in 1836
he lost his voice, and was appointed by the American
anti-slavery society editor of its books and
pamphlets. In 1841-'3 he labored in Washington
in aid of the anti-slavery members of congress,
and in 1854 he established at Eagleswood, N. J., a
school in which he received pupils irrespective of
sex and color. In 1864 he removed to Hyde Park,
near Boston, and devoted himself to teaching and
lecturing. Mr. Weld is the author of many
pamphlets, and of “The Power of Congress over the
District of Columbia” (New York, 1837); “The
Bible against Slavery” (1837); “American Slavery
as it Is: Testimony of a Thousand Witnesses”
(1839); and “Slavery and the Internal Slave Trade
in the United States” (London, 1841). — His wife,
Angelina Emily Grimké, reformer, b. in Charleston,
S. C., 20 Feb., 1805, is the daughter of Judge
John F. Grimké, of South Carolina, but in 1828,
with her sister, Sarah M. Grimke (q. v.), she joined
the Society of Friends in Philadelphia, afterward
emancipating the slaves that she inherited from
her parents in 1836. She was the author of an
“Appeal to the Christian Women of the South,”
which was republished in England with an
introduction by George Thompson, and was associated
with her sister in delivering public addresses under
the auspices of the American anti-slavery society,
winning a reputation for eloquence. The controversy
that the appearance of the sisters as public
speakers caused was the beginning of the woman's
rights agitation in this country. She married Mr.
Weld on 14 May, 1838, and was afterward
associated with him in educational and reformatory
work. Besides the work noticed above, she wrote
“Letters to Catherine E. Beecher,” a review of the
slavery question (Boston, 1837).
WELDE, Thomas, b. in England about 1590 ;
d. there, 23 March, 1662. He was graduated at
Cambridge in 1613, became a minister of the es-
tablished church, and had charge for some time
of a parish in Terling, Essex; but his Puritan
opinions caused him to emigrate to Boston, where
he arrived on 5 June, 1632. In July he became
minister of the 1st church in Roxbury, Mass.,
where, after the following November, John Eliot,
the "apostle," was associated with him. He was
active in opposition to Anne Hutchinson and her
doctrines, took a conspicuous part in her trial,
and afterward wrote " A Short Story of the Rise,
Reign, and Ruin of the Antinomians, Familists,
and Libertines that infested the Churches of New
England " (London, 1644 ; 2d ed., 1692). A shorter
version, entitled " Antinomians and Familists Con-
demned," which appeared about the same time,
may be the original ; and some authorities maintain that Gov. John Winthrop was the chief author. The book was answered by Rev. John
Wheelwright in his " Mercurius Americanus " (1645). Welde was also associated with John Eliot and Richard Mather in preparing, by request of
the authorities, the translation of the Psalms in
metre that is usually called the " Bay Psalm-Book,"
and is entitled " The Whole Book of Psalms Faith-
fully translated into English Metre " (Cambridge,
1640). This was the first volume that was printed
in New England. Welde was sent with Hugh
Peters to England in 1641 as an agent of the
colony, but was dismissed in 1646, and requested
to return. He did not comply, but remained in
England, and was minister of a church at Gates-
head, near Newcastle-upon-Tyne. He accompa-
nied Lord Forbes to Ireland, and, after residing
there for some time, returned to England, where
he was ejected from his living for non-conformity
in 1662. Besides the. works already noticed, Welde
was the author of " An Answer to W. R„ his Nar-
ration of Opinions and Practices of the New Eng-
land Churches " (1644). With three other cler-
gymen he wrote " The Perfect Pharisee under
Monkish Holiness," an attack on the Quakers (1654),
and " The False Jew Detected." — One of his sons,
Thomas, remained in New England, and was in
the general court in 1676-'7.
WELDON, Charles Wesley, Canadian member
of parliament, b. in Richibucto, New Brunswick,
27 Feb., 1830. He was the eldest son of John W.
Weldon, judge of the supreme court of New Bruns-
wick. He was graduated at King's college, Wind-
sor, Nova Scotia, in 1847, was admitted to the
bar of New Brunswick in 1852, became a queen's
counsel in 1852, and was elected to the Dominion
parliament in 1878, 1882, and 1887. He opposed
the confederation of the provinces, and is opposed
to the national policy and the present (1889) ad-
ministration. He is president of the Law society
of St. John, a governor of King's college, and
president of the New Brunswick electric telegraph
company, and is connected with several other
financial corporations.
WELDON, Richard Chapman, educator, b. in
Sussex, New Brunswick, 19 Jan., 1849. He was
graduated at Wesleyan college, Sackville, New
Brunswick, and received the degree of Ph. D. at
Yale in 1872. He afterward studied international
law at Heidelberg, and was called to the bar of
New Brunswick. He was a professor in the Wes-
leyan college, 1875-83, and since the latter date
has been professor of constitutional law in Dal-
housie university, Halifax, and is also dean of the
law faculty there. He was elected to the Domin-
ion parliament in February, 1887, for Albert coun-
ty, New Brunswick.
WELLBOON, Marshall Johnson, lawyer, b. in Putnam county, Ga., 29 May, 1808 ; d. in Columbus, Ga., 16 Oct., 1874. After passing through the junior year in the University of Georgia, he studied law and was admitted to the bar at nineteen years of age by special act of the legislature. At twenty-one he was elected to the legislature of Georgia, and in 1842 he became judge of the superior court of the Chattahoochee circuit. Subsequently, after a prolonged trip in Europe, he served one term in congress in 1849-'51, having been chosen as a Democrat. In 1858 he began to think seriously on religious subjects, and in 1864 was ordained to the Baptist ministry at Columbus, Ga. From that time until his death he was pastor of various churches, serving them without compensation. In the earlier part of his life he was a brilliant, accomplished, and successful man of the world, and in his later years, by the consent of all who knew him, a man of truly apostolic devoutness and zeal.