successfully disposing of his wares. Then he be-
came a school-master, teaching successively at
Frankfort, Pa., Millstone, Pa., Bloomfield, N. J.,
and lastly, in 1802, at Kingsessing, near Philadel-
phia. Here he was welcomed by William Bartram,
the botanist, and by Alexander Lawson, the en-
graver. The former gave him access to his gar-
den and library, and the latter gave him practical
instructions in drawing, coloring, and etching.
After trying to draw various objects with indiffer-
ent success, he began to delineate birds, and in this
walk he rapidly attained such a degree of profi-
ciency that he far outstripped his teacher. This
marked success seems to have fortified, if it did not
suggest, his resolution to make a collection of birds.
In October, 1804, accompanied by his nephew and
another friend, he set out on a walking expedition
to Niagara, which he satisfactorily accomplished.
His companions left him, but he persevered, and
reached home after an absence of fifty-nine days
and a walk of 1,260 miles. He graphically de-
scribed this journey in a long poem called '• The
Foresters." On his return he set about making
preparations for his great work, and with his own
hands etched two plates from his drawings, color-
ing them from nature. At this time he was em-
ployed in editing a new edition of Rees's " Cyclo-
paedia," by Thomas Bradford, who cordially en-
tered into his scheme and undertook to issue
his " American Ornithology," the first volume of
which made its appearance in 1808. On its pub-
lication Wilson set out with a copy to obtain sub-
scribers, but the cost — $120 for the completed
work — was a serious barrier. In 1810 the second
volume was published, and Wilson again set out
on a journey, this time lasting for six months, both
to obtain subscribers and to collect material for
succeeding volumes. On his way to New Orleans
he had sailed 720 miles down the Ohio alone in a
little open skiff, walked long distances, and ridden
through wildernesses well-nigh impassable, slept
for weeks in the woods, subsisting the while on
biscuits and dried beef, and drinking water. His
reputation was now spreading over the world. In
1812 he was elected a member of the American
philosophical society, and similar honors were con-
ferred on him by other learned bodies. In 1813
the seventh volume of the " Ornithology " was pub-
lished, and the eighth was also nearly ready, but
kept back by the want of proper assistants to color
the plates. In this emergency Wilson himself un-
dertook the work of this department, in addition to
all his numerous other duties. Intense application
and excessive labor weakened his constitution. In he swam a river with his clothes on, in pur-
suit of a rare bird, which he succeeded in capturing; but he took cold. Dysentery seized him, and he died after an illness of ten days. He was buried in the cemetery of the Swedish church, Philadelphia, with public honors, and a simple marble monument was placed over his grave. In personal appearance Wilson was tall and handsome, his dark-brown hair hung over his shoulders, his countenance was thoughtful and expressive, his eye full of intelligence and fire, and his conversation remarkable for vividness and originality. The plates for the ninth volume of the "Ornithology " had all been completed under Wilson's own eye. and the letter-press was supplied by
Mr. George Ord, who had been Wilson's companion in several expeditions. Ord also furnished
a memoir of the deceased naturalist. Three sup-
plementary volumes of the " Ornithology," con-
taining American birds not described by Wilson,
were added by Charles Lucien Bonaparte. An edi-
tion in three volumes, with illustrative notes, and
a life of Wilson by Sir William Jardine, was after-
ward published (3 vols., London, 1832). Numerous
lives of Wilson have appeared, including one by
William B. O. Peabody, in Sparks's "American
Biography"; an anonymous one prefixed to the
Belfast edition of Wilson's poems (1857); those by
C. Lucy Brightwell (London, 1860), and Allan
Park Paton (1863) ; and the memoir prefixed to
the latest collected edition of "Wilsons Miscella-
neous Prose Works and Poems," by the Rev. Alex-
ander B. Grosart, LL. I). (2 vols., London, 1876).
WILSON, Allen Benjamin, inventor, b. in Willet, N. Y., 18 Oct., 1824 ; d. in W T oodmont, Conn., 29 April, 1888. He was a cabinet-maker, and in 1849. while in Pittsfield, Mass., invented a sewing- machine without ever having seen one before. It used a double-pointed shuttle in combination with the needle, which made a stitch at each forward and backward movement of the shuttle, instead of one at each throw of the shuttle, as in Elias Howe's machine. His first patent bears the date of 12 Nov., 1850, and is the fifteenth on the patent-office record for an improved sewing-machine. This included the double-pointed shuttle and the two- motion feed-bar. In 1851' he secured a patent for the rotating hook, which was designed to supersede the shuttle, and to make the lock-stitch with greater rapidity, neatness, and economy of power. A year later he devised the four-motion feed, which was subsequently adopted in all machines. In his device the hook seizes the loop of thread in the needle when it has descended to its lowest point, opens it out, and carries it around the bobbin, so that the thread is then passed through the loop of the stitch. This is then drawn up with the thread in the needle, so that the two are looped together about half way through the cloth, forming the strongest possible seam, showing the stitching ex- actly even upon both sides, with no threads above the surface to wear off and allow the seam to rip. On the completion of his machine, Mr. Wilson entered into partnership with Nathaniel Wheeler, a practical manufacturer, and they began to make their machines in a small shop in Watertown. Their first machine, completed early in 1851. was sold for $125, and for a time this output was lim- ited to eight or ten machines a week, but the de- mand soon increased, and they removed to Bridge- port, where they established the largest factory of its kind in the world, making 600 machines a day. In 1852 the firm was organized as the Wheeler and Wilson sewing-machine company, and Mr. Wilson withdrew from the business and settled in Water- bury, where he engaged in other enterprises.
WILSON, Alpheus Waters, M. E. bishop, b. in Baltimore, Md., in 1834. His father. Rev. Norval Wilson, was a well-known minister of the Methodist Episcopal church in Maryland and Virginia. The son was educated in Baltimore and Washington, and pursued the study of medicine, but left it for the ministry. When he was about nineteen years old he united with the Baltimore conference of the Methodist Episcopal church, and rose rapidly, taking some of the best appointments in Baltimore and other parts of the conference. His labors having impaired his health, he pursued the study of law, but as soon as his physical condition improved resumed the ministry. During the civil war the Baltimore conference of the Methodist Episcopal church, south, was organized, and he identified himself with it, and has been elected four times to its general conference. In 1878 he became secretary of the Board of missions, and a great change took place under his
