1621-'2 was busy in London gathering his com- pany, which was made of the roughest material. Before sending out the main body he despatched a small party in the "Sparrow" to the fishing- grounds off the coast of Maine, whence they skirt- ed the shore to Cape Ann, crossed to Boston har- bor, and thence to Plymouth. The main body of sixty men, described by Weston as being M rude and profane," arrived in the " Charity," of 100 tons, and the " Swan," of 30 tons, landed at Plym- outh in June, 1622, and remained there for two months, consuming the scanty stores, which they did nothing to increase. Weston's brother-in-law, Richard Greene, the leader of this party, died during the summer, and was succeeded in com- mand by one Saunders. Finally this body deter- mined to establish a separate colony at Wichagus- cussett, or Wessagussett (now Weymouth), near Boston, Mass. The colonists became almost at once idle, profligate, and corrupt, and in the ex- tremity of want were objects of contempt for the Indians, whose aggressions they dared not resent, and who determined to exterminate them. Fear- ful that such an act would be avenged by the Plymouth colonists, the savages decided to fall upon that settlement also ; but, before this plan was executed. Miles Standish marched to Wessa- gussett, killed the chiefs Pecksnut and Wituwa- mat, and took with him to Plymouth part of the wretched colony, which was then broken up. Weston arrived soon after its dispersion, and a few months later, in 1623, Robert Gorges, who had been commissioned lieutenant-governor, came to Plymouth to look after his grant of land. After exercising his authority, he left suddenly for the coast of Maine in search of Weston, whom he proposed to call to account for his various trad- ing misdemeanors, and, meeting him on the way thither, engaged in a heated discussion. Return- ing to Wessagussett. Gorges sent a warrant to Plymouth for the seizure of Weston's vessel and his immediate arrest, proposing to put him upon trial to answer for the ill conduct of his men at the settlement, whereby the peace of the whole country had been endangered. Weston argued that he could not be held responsible for acts done by others in his absence, and could not answer the other charges against him. Gov. Bradford and his associates, remembering the service that Weston had rendered them, convinced Gorges that nothing could be gained by prosecuting him. His vessel was then restored to him, with some compensation for its seizure, and, being allowed to depart in peace, he went to Virginia. The patent of Gorges gave him a vague title to all the main-land known as Massachusetts, and he therefore absorbed Wes- sagussett, landed his stores, and built warehouses on the site chosen by Weston in September, 1623. In the following spring he returned to England, and the people dispersed, but it is thought that a few colonists remained in Wevmouth.
WETHERALL, Sir George Augustus, British
soldier, b. in Penton, Hampshire, England, in 1788 ;
d. in Sandhurst, England, 8 April, 1868. He was
the son of Gen. Sir Frederick Wetherall, was edu-
cated in the senior department of the Royal mili-
tary college, and entered the army in 1803. He
served as brigade-major at the Cape of Good Hope
in 1807, took part in the conquest of Java as
aide-de-camp to his father, from 1822 till 1825 was
military secretary to the commander-in-chief of
Madras, and in 1826 was appointed deputy judge-
advocate-general in India. He served in Canada
during the insurrection of 1837-'8, defeated the
rebels at St. Charles and Point Oliver, and for his
services was made a companion of the Order of the
Bath. He was deputy adjutant-general in Canada
from 1843 till 1850, when he was appointed to
that office at the Horse Guards, London. In 1854
he was made adjutant-general, which post he held
till in 1860 he took command of the northern dis-
trict. At the expiration of his services in 1865 he
was appointed governor of the Royal military col-
lege at Sandhurst. He became colonel of the 84th
regiment in 1854, was knighted in 1856, made a lieu-
tenant-general in 1857, and a G. C. B. in 1865. In
recognition of his services in suppressing the re-
bellion the inhabitants of Montreal presented Gen.
Wetherall with a piece of plate.
WETHERILL, Charles Mayer, chemist, b. in
Philadelphia, Pa., 4 Nov., 1825; d. in South Beth-
lehem, Pa., 5 March, 1871. He was graduated at
the University of Pennsylvania in 1845, and then
worked for a year at practical chemistry in the
laboratory of James C. Booth in Philadelphia. In
1847 he went abroad and studied for eight months
at the College de France in Paris, after which he
followed organic chemistry under Justus von Lie-
big at the University of Giessen, where he received
the degree of Ph. D. in 184a During 1849-52 he
was occupied in chemical investigations at his pri-
vate laboratory in Philadelphia, and gave a course
of lectures on chemistry before the Franklin insti-
tute. Subsequently he held no public office until
his appointment as chemist to the agricultural de-
partment in Washington, where he remained for
about a year. In 1866 he was chosen to the pro-
fessorship of chemistry in Lehigh university, which
chair he filled until his death. His chemical books
were bequeathed to the library of that institution.
The honorary degree of M. D. was conferred on
him by the New York medical college in 1853. Dr.
Wetherill was a member of the American philo-
sophical society and other scientific bodies here and
abroad. His investigations are described in forty
papers in the " Journal of the Franklin Institute,
" American Journal of Science," and in the trans-
actions of societies of which he was a member.
His only systematic treatise was on " The Manu-
facture of Vinegar" (Philadelphia, 1860).
WETHERILL, Samuel, manufacturer, b. in Burlington, N. J., 12 Oct., 1736; d. in Philadelphia, Pa., 24 Sept., 1816. His family came to New Jersey from England in 1682, and his ancestor, Christopher, gave to the Quakers the land on which their first meeting-house in Burlington, N. J., was erected. In early life Samuel settled in Philadelphia as a house-carpenter and builder, but afterward he entered business, and was the first manufacturer of cloth, jean, and fustian in Philadelphia. He also engaged in dyeing, fulling, and in the manufacture of chemicals, and subsequently was the first in the United States to make white lead. Toward the close of his life he abandoned his business, except the manufacture of drugs and chemicals. During the war of 1812 his firm determined to undersell foreign merchants whose goods were imported to the ruin of its business. In this it was successful ; but in 1813 the establishment on Twelfth near Race street, Philadelphia, was burned, it is believed, by enemies to the manufactory. At the time of the Revolution he actively supported the cause of independence, supplying clothing gratuitously to Washington's army at Valley Forge when it was most needed ; he joined with some other Quakers in military service in the defence of Philadelphia. For these actions and for taking the oath of allegiance to the United States he was disowned or excommunicated by the Quaker meeting of which he was a member. In February, 1781,
