Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/579

in formulating. In February, 1880, he resigned the presidency of the senate to accept the lieuten- ant-governorship of New Brunswick, which post he held until 1885.

WILMOT, Samuel, Canadian pisciculturist, b. in Clarke, West Durham co., Ont., 22 Aug., 1822. He was educated at Upper Canada college, Toronto, and became a farmer. Mr. Wilmot has been war- den of the united counties of Durham and North- umberland, a member of the agricultural and art associations of Ontario, and presided over the first Dominion exposition of agriculture, arts, and manufactures, at Ottawa in 1879. For many years he has given great attention to the subject of fish- culture, and in 1873 received through the French government a medal from the Societe d'acclimata- tion for the services he had rendered in that de- partment of practical science. He also obtained the gold medal for excellence in piscicultural ex- hibits in the Dominion exposition of agriculture and arts at Ottawa in 1879. Mr. Wilmot is super- intendent of fish-culture operations for the Do- minion government, and collected the exhibit of the fishery products of the Dominion for the World's fishery exposition in London in 1883, where he acted as chairman of the Canadian com- mission, and obtained by his system of fish-breeding the gold medal for " the best and most complete fish-breeding establishment in the great Interna- tional fisheries exposition."

WILMSHURST, Zavarr, author, b. in Tun- bridge Wells, England, 25 Nov., 1824; d. in Brook- lyn, N. Y., 27 Jan., 1887. His name was William Bennett, but he early adopted by legal right the name he afterward bore. In youth he was one of the literary associates of the Countess of Blessing- ton, and at that time attracted special attention by his translations of Norse poems. He was subse- quently a clergyman for several years. On coming to the United States, he became connected with the New York press, and was associated editorially for many years with " The Atlas," " The Industrial Monitor," and " The Insurance Times," while for a short time he edited the " New York Weekly Re- view." He wrote for the stage, and also contributed stories and religious poetry to periodicals. Many of his hymns are much admired. Among his plays are a drama on Hawthorne's " Scarlet Letter," and " Nitocria," a tragedy. His other writings are " The Viking," an epic (London, 1849) : " The Winter- of the Heart, and other Poems " (New York, 1874); "The Siren " (San Francisco, 1876); and '-Ralph and Rose." a poem (New York, 1879). WILSON, Sir Adam, Canadian jurist, b. in Ed- inburgh, Scotland, 22 Sept., 1814. He emigrated to Canada in 1830, and during the succeeding three years was employed in the mills and store of his uncle, George Chalmers, in Trafalgar, Plalton co. In 1834 he began to study law under Robert Bald- win Sullivan in Toronto, and in 1839 he was ad- mitted to the bar of Upper Canada. In 1840 he en- tered into partnership with Robert Baldwin, leader of the Reform party, and on 28 Nov., 1850, was ap- pointed a queen's counsel, being the same year elected a bencher of the Law society of Upper Canada. He was appointed in 1856 a commis- sioner for revising the statutes of Canada and of Upper Canada, elected mayor of Toronto in 1859 and 1860. and was the first to hold that office by popular election. He was in the Canada assembly for North York in 1859, and from May, 1862. till May, 1863, was solicitor-general in the Sandfield- Macdonald government, with a seat in the execu- tive. On 11 May, 1863, he was appointed puisne judge of the court of queen's bench. Three months afterward he was transferred to the common pleas. He was reappointed to the queen's bench in 1868, became chief justice of the court of common pleas in 1878, and in 1884 was made chief justice of the court of queen's bench. In 1871 he was appointed a member of the law reform commission. He was knighted, 20 Dec, 1887. As a judge he has been noted for his learning and his mastery of the prin- ciples of law. He has published " A "Sketch of the Office of Constable" (Toronto, 1861).

WILSON, Alexander, ornithologist, b. in Pais- ley, Renfrewshire, Scotland, 6 July, 1766; d. in Philadelphia, Pa., 23 Aug., 1813. His father, a master weaver, had intended that Alexander should be a minister, but family cares and al- tered circumstances interfered. He at- tended the gram- mar-school, and his father imbued his mind with a passion for reading and a love for the beauties of nature, which clung to him for life. In 1779, when thir- teen years of age, he was bound appren- tice as a weaver to his brother-in-law, and after serving his time he contin- ued working at the loom as a journey-

man for four years

more. During leisure hours he continued his studious habits, and indulged in solitary rambles, giving utterance to his thoughts in verse. Many of his early effusions appeared in the Glasgow "Advertiser" (now the " Herald "). His brother-in-law, Duncan, finding the weaving-trade inadequate for the support of his family, now resolved to try that of a peddler. He continued this wandering life for about three years, at the end of which he had accumulated as much material in verse as would make a volume. He accordingly returned to Paisley and published it (1790). Taking copies of his book with him, he again set out with his pack, but met with so little success that he resumed weaving. A second edition of his poems appeared in 1791, but its sale was still very limited. In 1792 Wilson's admirable narrative poem, " Watty and Meg," was published anonymously as a penny chapbook, and had an enormous circulation. Its authorship was generally ascribed to Burns. Wilson, however, is greater as an ornithologist than as a poet, but his poems entitle him to a respectable place among the minor bards of Scotland. Lis verse is mostly descriptive — terse and true, without being of a high or imaginative order. In Paisley, a dispute having arisen between the manufacturers and weavers, Wilson joined in the fray by writing some stinging personal lampoons, for which he was prosecuted and imprisoned. This induced him to leave the country. He walked to Port Patrick, crossed to Belfast^ and there embarked in a vessel bound for New Castle, Del., sleeping on the deck of the crowded vessel during the voyage. He landed, with his fowling-piece in his hand and only a few shillings in his pocket, on 14 July, 1794, and set out at once to walk to Philadelphia. There he found employment from a copper-plate printer for a few weeks, then took to weaving for about a year, and, having saved a little money, resumed his pack, and so traversed the greater part of New Jersey.