young ladies, 23,340 children in the parochial schools, and fourteen asylums and hospitals. Bishop Wigger received the degree of D. D. from the University of Sapienza, Rome, Italy, in 1869.
WIGGINS, Ezekiel Stone, Canadian meteor-
ologist, b. in Queen's county, New Brunswick, 4
Dec, 1839. He became a teacher in Ontario, and
in 1866 was appointed superintendent of schools
for Prince Edward county. He was graduated at
the Philadelphia college of medicine and surgery
in 1868 and at Albert college, Ontario, in 1869,
and in 1871 was appointed principal of the new
institution for the education of the blind at Brant-
ford, which post he resigned in 1874. From that
year till 1878 he was principal of the Church of
England college at St. John. He was an unsuc-
cessful candidate for the Dominion parliament in
1878, and the same year was appointed to a perma-
nent post in the civil service of Canada. In
1866-'7 he became involved in a controversy with
the Universalists, and in the latter year published
at Napanee his " Universalism Unfounded." He
owes his notoriety chiefly to his predictions of
storms, which for many years have been published
by newspapers throughout the world. Occasion-
ally his prognostications have been verified, but in
the great majority of cases it has been otherwise.
At best his successes in this department of meteor-
ology were simply fortunate conjectures. His basis
for the prediction of storms, the juxtaposition of
planets, is not regarded by men of science as hav-
ing any appreciable effect upon the atmospheric
condition of the earth. He has published " Archi-
tecture of the Heavens" (Montreal, 1864). — His
wife, Susan Anna Gunhilda, b. in Lakeside,
Queens co., New Brunswick, 6 April, 1846, greatly
aided by her writings and personal appeals in se-
curing the passage of the bill to legalize marriage
with a deceased wife's sister, through the Canadian
senate. In recognition of her services in this par-
ticular her bust has been placed in the parliament-
ary librarv at Ottawa, Canada.
WIGGLESWORTH, Michael, clergyman, b. in
England, 18 Oct., 1631 ; d. in Maiden, Mass., 10 June,
1705. His father, Edward, arrived in New Eng-
land with his family in 1638, and in October of
that year removed from Charlestown to New Haven,
where he resided until his death, in October, 1653.
Michael was graduated at Harvard in 1651, and
from 1652 till 1654 was a tutor there and studied
theology, supplying the pulpit of Charlestown dur-
ing the winter of 1653-'4; in 1655 he began to
preach in Maiden, where he was settled as the
faster in 1657 and remained there till his death,
n 1663 he made a voyage to Bermuda in search of
health, and during his absence an associate minis-
ter was ordained at Maiden. His health prevented
him from officiating in the pulpit for about twen-
ty years, during which time he studied medicine
and became a skilful physician. In 1686 he re-
sumed his pulpit labors, continuing to practise as
a physician. Cotton Mather delivered his funeral
sermon. In it he says : " It was a Surprize unto us
to see a Little, Feeble Shadow of a Man, beyond
Seventy, Preaching usually Twice or Thrice in a
Week ; Visiting and Comforting the Afflicted ;
Encouraging the Private Meetings; Catechising
the Children of the Flock; and managing the
Government of the Church ; and attending the
Sick, not only in his own Town, but also in all
those of the Vicinity." In 1662 Mr. Wigglesworth
completed and published a poem entitled " The
Day of Doom, or a Description of the Great and
Last Judgment," in which he pictured in vivid
colors the terrors of the judgment-day and the
awful wrath of an offended God. Thus the poem
recommended itself to the sternest of the Calvin-
ists as well as to their children. The first edition
consisted of eighteen hundred copies, which were
disposed of in a little more than a year. In view
of the small number of the population at that
time, and its sparseness, this indicated a great suc-
cess. The poem maintained its popularity, in the
rural districts at least, till the time of the Revo-
lution. It was twice reprinted in England (in
1671 in London, and in 1711 at Newcastle-upon-
Tyne). Ten editions have been printed in this
country, the last, with other poems and a memoir,
edited by William Henry Burr (New York, 1867).
In the same year when the •* Day of Doom " was
published, Mr. Wigglesworth wrote a poem en-
titled " God's Controversy with New England,
written in the Time of the Great Drought, anno
1662, by a Lover of New England's Prosperity."
This was not published till 1871, when it was print-
ed in the " Proceedings of the Massachusetts His-
torical Society." Afterward he issued a new poem,
" Meat out of the Eater, or Meditations concern-
ing the Necessitv, End, and Usefulness of Afflic-
tion to God's Children" (1669 ; 6th ed., 1770). In
1670 he wrote an elegy on the death of his col-
league, the Rev. Benjamin Bunker (printed in
1872, in the " New England Historical and Genea-
logical Register"). See a sketch of his life by
John Ward Dean, with a fragment of his auto-
biography, some of his letters, and a catalogue
of his library (Albany, 1871). — His son, Samuel,
clergyman, b. in Maiden, Mass., 15 Feb., 1689 ; d.
in Ipswich Hamlet (now Hamilton), Mass^ 3 Sept.,
1768, was graduated at Harvard in 1707, studied
medicine, and in March, 1710, began to practise in
Ipswich Hamlet. The following December he re-
turned to his native town and studied divinity.
After preaching at Dracut and Groton for the
next two years, he accepted a call at Ipswich Ham-
let, and was ordained 27 Oct., 1714. There he re-
mained until his death. He published, between
1727 and 1765. nine occasional discourses, besides
" A Short Account of the Rev. Mr. Hale, of New-
bury," in the "Christian History "(1744); a"Dud-
leian Lecture" (1760); and an account of a con-
troversy " with the Fourth Church, about Admit-
ting Persons from Neighboring Churches" (1765).
— His son, Edward, educator, b. in Maiden, Mass.,
in 1693; d. in Cambridge, Mass., 16 Jan., 1765,
was graduated at
Harvard in 1710,
and studied theol-
ogy. When Thom-
as Hollis, of Lon-
don, established a
professorship of
theology at Har-
vard, Mr. Wiggles-
worth was chosen
to occupy it, 24
Jan., 1722, and
held the office
during the rest of
his life. In 1724
he was elected a
member of the cor-
poration of Har-
vard. Dr. Wig-
glesworth was one
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of the chief writers in the Whitcfieldian controversy, and in 1745 wrote " An Answer to Mr. Whit ('field's Reply to the College Testimony." In 1754 he delivered two lectures on the "Distinguishing Characters of the Ordinary and Extraordinary