(18G3); "The Bishop Potter Memorial House" (1868); and "Taopi and his Friends, or Indians' Wrongs and Rights," with Bishop Henry B. Whip- ple and the Rev. Samuel Dutton Hinman (1869). WELSH, Thomas, soldier, b. in Columbia, Pa., 5 May, 1824; d. in Cincinnati, Ohio, 14 Aug., 1863. He received a common-school education, and en- gaged in the lumber trade. Enlisting as a private for the Mexican war, he was wounded at Buena Vista, and promoted lieutenant for gallantry. At the beginning of the civil war he raised a com- pany, was mustered into the volunteer service as captain, and was elected lieutenant-colonel of the 2d Pennsylvania regiment, which served in the Shenandoah valley until it was disbanded at the end of three months. He re-entered the service as colonel of the 45th Pennsylvania volunteers, and commanded a brigade at South Mountain and An- tietam, as also at Fredericksburg, where he won promotion by his services on the right centre, being commissioned as brigadier-general of volunteers on 13 March, 1863. He was transferred to the west with the 9th armv corps, and, after doing duty for some time in Kentucky, was sent to Vicksburg. After the fall of that place he marched with Gen. William T. Sherman to Jackson, Miss., and con- tracted a malarial fever, from which he died while travelling homeward.
WELTON, Richard, English non-juring bish-
op, b. in England about 1675; d. in Lisbon, Portu-
gal, in 1726. He was rector of St. Mary's, White-
chapel, London, and in 1722 was consecrated to the
episcopate by Dr. Ralph Taylor, one of the non-
juring bishops. A short time afterward he assist-
ed Dr. Taylor in consecrating Rev. John Talbot,
then on a visit to England, who for many years
had urged the establishment of episcopacy in the
North American colonies. In 1723 the vestry of
Christ church, Philadelphia, which was without a
rector, prayed the bishop of London to send them
" such a gentleman as may be a credit to our com-
munion, an ornament to. the profession, and a true
propagator of the gospel." Six months having
passed without an appointment being made, on 27
July, 1724, they invited Dr. Welton, who had ar-
rived in town a month before, to take charge of
the church. He entered at once upon his duties,
served with great acceptance for two years, when
he was commanded to return to England. Receiv-
ing a testimonial of his conduct from the church-
wardens, he sailed for Lisbon in Jan., 1726, where
he died in the autumn, refusing to commune with
the English clergy. It is said that among his effects
was found " an episcopal seal which he had made
use of in Pensilvania," where " he assumed and
exercised privily and by stealth the character and
functions of a bishop." Dr. Francis L. Hawks as-
serts, in his " Ecclesiastical Contributions," that
" there is direct evidence from the letters of some
of the missionaries that both he and Dr. Talbot
administered confirmation and wore the robes of
a bishop." It was believed in the provinces that
Dr. Welton also ordained clergymen, and these se-
cret acts occasioned his recall.
WEMYSS, Francis Courtney, theatrical man-
ager, b. in London, 13 May, 1797 ; d. in New York
city, 5 Jan., 1859. He appeared at the Adelphi,
London, in April, 1821, and at the Chestnut street
theatre, Philadelphia, in December, 1822, as Vapid
in " The Dramatist." and afterward in the principal
cities of the United States. He was subsequently
for many years a manager of theatres in Washing-
ton, Wheeling, Va., Wilmington, Del., Baltimore,
Pittsburg, and Philadelphia. He was one of the
founders and a director of the American dramatic
fund association of New York city, and its secre-
tary from 1852 till his death. He was the author
of " Twenty-six Years as an Actor and Manager " (2
vols., New York, 1847) ; " Chronology of the Ameri-
can Stage, 1752-1852" (1852); and " Theatrical Biog-
raphy " (New York) ; and edited " The Minor Dra-
ma," to which he also contributed (7 vols.. 1848-'52).
WENDELL, John Lansing, lawyer, b. in Al-
bany, N. Y., 2 Jan., 1785 : d. in Hartford, Conn.,
19 Dec, 1861. He was a descendant of one of the
Dutch families of New York. He was educated in
Albany and Cambridge, N. Y., his family having
removed to the latter place about 1795. He there
entered the law-office of his brother, Gerritt Wen-
dell, became a member of the Albany bar, subse-
quently judge of Washington county, and was for
many years reporter of the supreme court of the
state of New York. He published "Reports of
Cases in the Supreme Court of Judicature of New
York, 1828-'41-' (26 vols., Albany, 1829-'42), and
" Digest of Cases, Supreme Court of New York,
1828-'35 " (1836) ; and edited " Starkie's Law of
Slander " (2 vols., Albany, 1843), and " Blackstone's
Commentaries " (4 vols., New York city, 1847).
WENTWORTH, William, colonist, b. in
Alford, Lincolnshire, England, in 1615; d. in Dover,
N. H., 16 March, 1697. He was a follower of the
Rev. John Wheelwright, came with him to
Massachusetts in 1636, and was associated with him in
his difficulties with the Massachusetts government
respecting his Antinomian opinions. With
Wheelwright and thirty-three others he signed, on 4 Aug.,
1639, “A combination for a government at Exeter,
N. H.,” of which town he was an early settler.
Subsequently he removed to Wells, Mass., but he
afterward settled in Dover, N. H., where he was a
ruling elder in the church and often preached. He
supplied the pulpit in Exeter, after Wheelwright's
return to England, as late as 1693. In 1689 he was
instrumental in saving a garrison from destruction
by the Indians. All the Wentworths in the United
States are descended from him.—His grandson,
John, lieutenant-governor of New Hampshire, b.
in Portsmouth, N. H., 16 Jan., 1671; d. there, 12
Dec., 1730, became a captain in the merchant
marine, was appointed by Queen Anne a councillor
for New Hampshire in 1711, made a justice of the
common pleas in 1713, and in 1717 became
lieutenant-governor of the province, which was then
dependent on Massachusetts.—William's great-great-grandson,
Joshua, soldier, b. in Portsmouth, N.
H., in 1742; d. there, 19 Oct., 1809, was colonel
of the 1st New Hampshire regiment in 1776, was
elected to the legislature, served for four years as
state senator, and was appointed a delegate to the
Continental congress, but did not attend.—William's
great-great-great-grandson, Tappan, lawyer,
b. in Dover, N. H., 24 Sept., 1802; d. in Boston,
Mass., 12 June, 1875, received a public-school
education, studied law, was admitted to the bar in
1826, and practised in Great Falls, N. H. In 1833
he removed to Lowell, where he was a member of
the town council in 1836-'41. He served in the
legislature as a Whig in 1851 and as a Republican
in 1859 and 1863-'4, and in the state senate in
1848-'9 and 1865-'6. He was elected to congress
as a Whig, and served from 4 March, 1853, till 3
March, 1855.—John's son, Benning, governor of
New Hampshire, b. in Portsmouth, N. H., 24
July, 1696; d. there, 14 Oct., 1770, was graduated
at Harvard in 1715, and became a merchant in
Portsmouth, which town he represented in the
assembly. On 12 Oct., 1734, he was appointed
a king's councillor, and when New Hampshire
was made a distinct province in 1741 he be-
