Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/648

17 June, 1777, the Continental congress passed a resolution that a monument be erected to the memory of Gen. Wooster. The sum of $500 was appropriated for this purpose, but the money was never paid, and the grave of the hero soon be- came unknown. A handsome monument of Port- land granite was erected to his memory in Dan- bury in 1854. — His grandson, Charles Whiting, naval officer, b. in New Haven, Conn., in 1785; d. in California in 1848, entered the merchant service, and during the war with England armed the privateer " Saratoga," with which he captured many prizes, acquiring a fortune. When the Chili- ans in 1817 were trying to improvise a navy for capturing a Spanish convoy that was expected in Callao by way of Cape Horn, Wooster arrived in Valparaiso with his armed brig M Columbus," which the government bought from him, and, under the name of the "Araucano," placed under the com- mand of Wooster, with the rank of captain. After a fortunate cruise on the coast of Peru and Mex- ico, his vessel was sent, with the "San Martin," " Chacabuco," and " Lautaro," to capture a con- voy of nine transports, escorted by the frigate " Maria Isabel," which was expected from Spain in Taleahuano. On 28 Oct., 1818, they found the frigate in that port, and captured her after a short struggle, Wooster being the first to board her. In recompense he was given command of the prize, and, with four of the transports, captured shortly afterward, the Chilian fleet entered Valparaiso. When Lord Cochrane was given command-in-chief of the Chilian navy in 1819, Wooster, refusing to serve under him, resigned and took command of a merchant-vessel. After Cochrane's departure, Wooster entered the service again in 1822, taking command of his old ship, with the rank of post- captain, and in the following year made a suc- cessful cruise on the coast of Peru. He also took {>art in the campaigns of 1824-'6 against the Chi- oe archipelago. In 1829 he was promoted rear- admiral, and, for a long time before, he had been practically commander-in-chief of the small Chili- an navy. He went in 1847 to California, where he engaged in mining on Yuba river, but without success. — Gen. Wooster's great-grandnephew, Da- vid, physician, b. in Jasper, Steuben co., N. Y., 10 June. 1825, served as acting assistant surgeon in the U. S. army during the Mexican war, being sta- tioned in La Puebla. He was graduated at the Cleveland medical college in 1849, and in that year began the practice of his profession in Adrian, Mich. In 1850 he crossed the plains to California, practised medicine, and was a miner on Yuba river until 1856, when he removed to San Francisco. In 1861-'3 he served as surgeon in the California vol- unteers in Arizona and New Mexico. Prom 1867 till 1871 he was U. S. special examiner of drugs in San Francisco, and in 1871-'2 he was surgeon in the U. S. marine hospital of that city, where he still practises his profession. In 1858 he founded " The Pacific Medical and Surgical Journal " in San Francisco, which he edited four years. Besides nu- merous contributions to this journal and to other medical periodicals, he has published a brochure on "Diphtheria," the first publication in the United States on this disease (1859) ; " Diseases of the Heart " (186?) ; a pamphlet on " Hip-Joint Disease " (1876) ; and a " Genealogy of the Woosters in America " (San Francisco, 1885).

WORCESTER, John, clergyman, b. in Boston, Mass., 13 Feb., 1834. He became pastor of the New Church society of Newtonville, Mass.. in 1869, instructor of theology in the New Church theologi- cal school, Boston, in 1878, and its president in 1881. He is the author of "A Year's Lessons from the Psalms" (Boston, 1869); "Correspond- ences of the Bible : the Animals " (1875 ; 2d ed., 1884) ; and " A Journey in Palestine " (1884).

WORCESTER, Joseph Emerson, philologist, b. in Bedford, N. H., 24 Aug., 1784; d. in Cam- bridge, Mass., 27 Oct., 1865. His father, Jesse Wor- cester (1761-1834), wrote much for the press, and left in manuscript " Chronicles of Nissitissit." The son worked on a farm in his youth, but cultivated stu- dious habits, de- termined to ob- tain a liberal edu- cation, and at the age of twenty- five entered Yale, where two years later, 1811, he was graduated. He was a teacher in Salem, Mass., for several years, and passed two years at Andover, but in 1819 removed to Cambridge, which was thenceforth

his home. His life

was long and quiet, with hardly an incident except the publication of his books. His first work was "A Geographical Dictionary, or Universal Gazetteer, Ancient and Modern" (2 vols., Andover, Mass., 1817), of which he published an enlarged edition in 1823. He also published " A Gazetteer of the United States " (1818) ; " Elements of Geography, Ancient and Modern " (1819), which passed through several editions : " Sketches of the Earth and its Inhabitants " (1823) ; " Elements of History, Ancient and Modern, accompanied by an Historical Atlas " (1826), which was used extensively as a text-book : " Epitome of History " (1827) ; and " Outlines of Scripture Geography " (1828). These works were notable for their accuracy, skilful condensation, and agreeable style. In 1825 Dr. Worcester read before the American academy of sciences a paper on " Longevity and the Expectation of Life in the United States. Relating more Particularly to the State of New Hampshire, with Some Comparative Views in Relation to Foreign Countries," which was published in the "Transactions." His work in lexicography began with an edition of " Johnson's Dictionary, as improved by Todd and abridged by Chalmers, with Walker's Pronouncing Dictionary Combined " (1828). In 1829, much against his inclination, he was induced to prepare an abridgment of Noah Webster's " American Dictionary," and in 1830 he published his own "Comprehensive Pronouncing and Explanatory English Dictionary." The next year he visited Europe, where he collected philological works and kept a journal, which is still in manuscript. From 1831 to 1843 he edited the "American Almanac." In 1846 he published a " Universal and Critical Dictionary of the English Language," of which a pirated edition appeared in London with a garbled preface and a statement on the title-page that it was " compiled from the materials of Noah Webster, LL. D., by Joseph E. Worcester," whereupon Dr. Worcester published a pamphlet exposing the fraud. In 1847-'9 he was unable to use his eyes, but they were restored after he had undergone two operations for cataract. Enlarged editions of his " Comprehensive Dictionary " were issued in 1847, 1849, and