retired by operation of law, 21 Dec, 1861, because of his age. He saw no service during the civil war, on account of his feeble health.
WILSON, William Dexter, clergyman, b. in
Stoddard, N. H., 28 Feb., 1816. He was graduated
at Walpole academy, where he became teacher of
mathematics, entered the Harvard divinity-school
in 1835. and was graduated in 1838. Becoming
dissatisfied with Unitarianism, he took orders in
the Protestant Episcopal church, was ordained
deacon in St. Anne's church, Lowell, Mass., 7
April, 1842, by Bishop Griswold, and priest in
Trinity church, Rutland, Vt., 21 Sept., 1847, by
Bishop Hopkins. He was minister of Christ church,
Sherburne, N. Y.. from 1842 till 1850, when he was
elected professor of moral and intellectual philoso-
phy in Geneva (now Hobart) college. On the
opening of Cornell university in 1868, he became
professor of philosophy in that institution, which
post he held until 1886, when he was retired as
emeritus professor. He now resides in Syracuse,
N. Y., and is deacon of St. Andrew's divinity-school
in that city. He received the degree of D. D. from
Geneva college in 1849, that of LL. D. from Bed-
ford university, Tenn., in 1868, and that of L. H. D.
from the regents of the University of the state of
New York in 1872. Dr. Wilson has been active in
the affairs of the church in various ways, and has
contributed to reviews and magazines during forty
years. His chief publications are "The Church
Identified " (Utica, 1848) ; " Elementary Treatise on
Logic " (New York, 1856) ; " Psychology, Compara-
tive and Human " (1871) ; " Text-Book of Logic "
(1872) ; " Introduction to the Study of the History of
Philosophy " (1872) ; " Live Questions in Psychology
and Metaphysics " (1877) ; and " The Foundations
of Religious'Belief," Paddock lectures (1883).
WILSON, William Lyne, congressman, b. in
Jefferson county, Va., 3 May, 1843. He was grad-
uated at Columbian college in 1860, afterward
studied in the University of Virginia, served in
the Confederate army, was professor of Latin in
Columbian college from 1865 till 1871, studying
law at the same time, and on being admitted to
the bar in the latter year engaged in practice at
Charlestown, W. Va. He was a delegate to the
Democratic national convention and a presidential
elector in 1880. In 1882 he became president of
West Virginia university, but he resigned in order
to take his seat in congress on 1 Dec, 1883. He
was re-elected for the three following terms, and
served on the ways and means committee that pre-
pared the Mills tariff bill, taking an active part in
the debates on that measure in 1888. He was a
regent of the Smithsonian institution in 1883-'7,
and received the degree of LL. D. from Columbian
university in 1883.
WILSON, Woodrow, educator, b. in Staunton,
Va., 28 Dec., 1856. He is a son of the Rev. Joseph
R. Wilson, D. D., and nephew of the Rev. James
Woodrow, D. D., of Columbia, S. C. He was graduated
at Princeton in 1879, studied law at the
University of Virginia, and practised at Atlanta,
Ga., in 1882-'3. Preferring to devote himself to
special studies, he abandoned the legal profession
and took a post-graduate course in history and
politics at Johns Hopkins university in 1883-'5,
receiving the degree of Ph. D. from that institution
in 1886, and that of LL. D. from Wake Forest college,
N. C.. in 1887. He was associate in history
at Bryn Mawr college, Pa., in 1885-'6, and
associate professor of history and political science in
the same college in 1886-'8. In the latter year he
was elected to the chair of history and political
economy in Wesleyan university. Prof.
Wilson
has published “Congressional Government:
a Study in American Politics” (Boston, 1885).
This work has attracted attention in England,
Belgium, and Germany. In England it has been
accepted as an authority on American institutions.
It has also been epitomized by Prof. Émile de
Laveleye in the “Revue des Deux-Mondes.” He
has contributed to a collection of essays by American
economists, entitled “The National Revenues”
(Chicago, 1888), and articles on political and
administrative subjects to periodicals.
WILSTACH, John Augustine (wil'-stack), au-
thor, b. in Washington, D. C, 14 July, 1824. He
was educated in a military and academical in-
stitute that was taught by Ormsby M. Mitchel,
and in Cincinnati college, studied law, and began
practice in 1850. From 1852 till 1862 he was a
master in chancery. In 1867 he was sent to the
Paris universal exposition as commissioner for
Indiana, and from that year till 1872 he was com-
missioner of immigration for the same state. He
has devoted his attention to philological studies,
and has made the only complete translation of the
works of Virgil into English verse, with various
readings and notes (Boston, 1884). He also pub-
lished a review of the literature relating to Virgil
under the title of " The Virgilians " (1884). More
recently he has prepared a poetical translation of
the " Divine Comedy " of Dante Alighieri, with
notes and illustrations (1888), and a volume of criti-
cism entitled " Dante, the Danteans, and Things
Dantean " (1889). Mr. Wilstach has invented a
new character (ai) to represent the Greek diph-
thong eu, which was first used in typography in
his translation of the " Divina Commedia." He has
almost completed a free translation of the entire
Bible from the original languages. — His son, Jo-
seph Walter, author, b. in Lafayette, Ind., 28
June, 1857, was educated at St. John's college,
Fordham, N. Y., studied law, and established him-
self in practice at Lafayette, Ind. He has made a
translation of some of the " Odes " of Horace
(printed privately, New York, 1883), and, besides
review articles, has published a " Biography of
Count Charles d'Alembert " (1885).
WIMAN, Erastus, capitalist, b. in Churchville, Peel co., Ont., 21 April, 1834. He received a scanty education in a country school, removed to Toronto, and, after working four years as a printer, became a reporter on the Toronto " Globe," and in 1854-'7 was commercial editor of that paper. He edited the Montreal " Trade Review " in 1864-5. In 1856 he entered the service of R. G. Dun and Co.'s mercantile agency, and in 1867 became a partner in its New York house, and subsequently its principal manager. He became president of the Great Northwestern telegraph company of Canada in 1881, is a director of the Western Union telegraph company, and president of the Staten Island Rapid Transit railway company in 1884, and succeeded in carrying through congress the authorization of the Arthur Kill bridge between New Jersey and Staten island, which makes ten miles of water front in New York harbor accessible to trunk railroads. Mr. Wiman was mainly instrumental in establishing the Canadian club of New York in 1885, and was its first president. Through his influence chiefly the project of the commercial union of Canada with the. United States assumed public importance in the former country, and was finally adopted in the winter of 1888 as the main clause in the platform of the Canadian Liberals, under its changed name of unrestricted reciprocity. He was instrumental in securing in 1886 the abolition of imprisonment for debt in New York state.
