Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/550

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WILLARD
WILLCOX

field Collection of Sacred Music” (1808); “Original Hymns” (1823); “Index to the Bible, with Juvenile Hymns” (1826); “The Franklin Primer” (1826); a “General Class-Book” (1828); “Sacred Poetry and Music Reconciled: a Collection of Hymns” (1830); and an “Introduction to the Latin Language” (1835).—The second Joseph's son, Sidney, soldier, b. in Lancaster, Mass., 3 Feb., 1831; d. in Fredericksburg, Va., 13 Dec., 1862, was graduated at Harvard in 1852, and studied and practised law in Boston. During the civil war he entered the National army, and was made major of the 35th Massachusetts regiment on 27 Aug., 1862, and fell at Fredericksburg, Va.


WILLARD, Simon, watch-maker, b. in Roxbury, Mass., 9 Jan., 1795; d. in Boston, Mass., 24 Aug., 1874. He was graduated at the U. S. military academy in 1815, appointed 3d lieutenant of ordnance, and ordered to the Pittsburg arsenal, crossing the Alleghany mountains on foot. He resigned from the army on 1 May, 1816, and after an unsuccessful business career of seven years entered his father's clock-making establishment in Boston, and at the end of two years apprenticed himself to a mechanician in New York city. After learning the methods of constructing chronometers, he returned to Boston, where he established himself in business, occupying the same premises forty-two years, during which time he acquired a fortune. He constructed an astronomical clock that was for forty years the standard in his part of the city.


WILLARD, Sylvester David, physician, b. in Wilton, Conn., 19 June, 1825; d. in Albany, N. Y., 2 April, 1865. He was educated in the academy in his native town, graduated at Albany medical col- lege in 1848, and acquired a large practice in that city. From 1857 till 1865 he was secretary of the New York state medical society, whose "Transac- tions " he edited, and he was president of the medical society of Albany county in 1858. He en- tered the National army as volunteer surgeon in 1862, and in 1865 became surgeon-general of the state of New York. Being directed by the legis- lature to report the condition of the insane in the state, Dr. Willard urged the necessity of erecting a large asylum for the poor, and a bill to establish such an asylum was in the state senate at the time of Dr. Willard's death. It afterward passed, and the institution was "called the Willard asylum for the insane. It is one of the largest of the kind in this country. Both houses of the legislature passed resolutions of regret upon his death. Dr. Willard devoted much time to historical and an- tiquarian research, and was the author of many scientific papers, addresses, and contributions to medical journals. He published " Historical Ad- dress" (Albany, 1857); " Biographical Memoirs of Physicians of Albany County " (1857) ; " Memoir of Thomas Spencer, M. D." (1858) ; and " Annals of the Medical Societv of the County of Albanv, 1800-'51, with Biographical Sketches " (1864). WILLAUMETZ, Jean-Baptiste Philibert (veel-o-metz), Count, French naval officer, b. in Belle-Isle-en-Mer, 7 Aug., 1763; d. in Suresnes, near Paris, 17 May, 1845. He entered the French navy in 1777, was with D'Estaing at Savannah in 1779, and De Grasse at Yorktown in October, 1781, and in the engagements with Lord Rodney off Dominica, 9 and 12 April, 1782. He served after- ward in the Indian ocean. In 1802 he commanded the " Hercule " in Leclerc's expedition to Santo Domingo, and as commander of the station south of Mole St. Nicolas held in check the insurgents, whom, despite his instructions, he treated with humanity, and refused to cause the prisoners to be shot. After his promotion to rear-admiral he sailed on 14 Dec, 1805, with a division for Cayenne, Jerome Napoleon serving under him as post-captain. He pillaged* the coast of British Guiana, and then turned to the north, his instructions being to de- stroy the cod-fisheries along the coast of New- foundland ; but on 20 Aug.. 1806, the fleet was struck by a hurricane, which dismasted and dis- persed all the vessels. Two were sunk near the coast of South Carolina, and two others reached Chesapeake bay, where they were condemned and sold. Jerome Napoleon sailed for France, and the admiral, with his remaining two ships, put into Havana for repairs. Here he received orders to abandon the expedition to Newfoundland, and to re- turn to Brest. He was made a count by Napoleon, vice-admiral by Louis XVIII., and in 1832 retired and was created a peer of France. He published "Dictionnaire.de marine" (2 vols., Paris, 1820).


WILLCOX, Albert Oliver, merchant, b. in New York city, 10 May, 1810. He was educated in the New York high-school, and embraced a mer- cantile career. Between 1835 and 1860 he was an active member of several anti-slavery societies. As chairman of the executive committee of one of these, he issued, on 3 Nov., 1838, an address con- taining the first proposal of political anti-slavery action. He was among the founders of the " Na- tional Era " in Washington, D. C, in 1844. He was engaged for many years before the war in ex- tending the earliest mercantile agency, and in the dry-goods business, and has since followed the in- surance business in New York city, and devoted himself to the public advocacv of woman suffrage.


WILLCOX, Orlando Bolivar, soldier, b. in Detroit, Mich., 16 April, 1823. He was gradu- ated at the U. S. military academy, in 1847, eighth in a class of thirty-eight, among whom were Ambrose P. Hill and Ambrose E. Burnside, and was assigned to the 4th artillery. He served in the latter part of the Mexican war, on the plains, and in the final cam- paign against the Seminoles in 1856-'7, but re- signed his com- mission on 10 Sept. of the lat- ter year, studied law, and in 1858 was admitted to the bar at

Detroit, Mich.,

where he practised till the opening of the civil war. He became colonel of the 1st Michigan regiment on 1 May, 1861, and his command was the first from the west to arrive at the seat of war. He was engaged in the capture of Alexandria, Va., and commanded a brigade at Bull Run, where he was wounded and captured. After confinement in Charleston and Columbia, S. C, till 17 Aug., 1862, during part of which time he was kept a close prisoner as a hostage for Confederate privateers that were on trial for their lives in New York, he was exchanged and commissioned brigadier-general of volunteers, to date from 21 July, 1861. He took part in the Maryland and Rappahannock campaigns, temporarily commanded the 9th army corps and the district of central Kentucky from