Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/497

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WHITAKER
WHITCHER

sequently removed to Maine, and finally to Vir- ginia, where he passed his later life. Many of his sermons were published and extensively circulated throughout New England. They include two "Dis- courses on Reconciliation " (London, 1768), and two "Discourses on Toryism" (Newburyport, Mass., 1777). — His grandson, Daniel Kimball, editor, b. in Sharon, Conn., 13 April, 1801 ; d. in New Or- leans, La., 10 April, 1881, was graduated at Har- vard in 1820, studied law, and, removing to South Carolina, became the partner of John Lyde Wilson, of that state. He practised with success, but his taste was for literature, and he became the founder and editor of several periodicals that included the " Southern Literary Journal," " Whitaker's Maga- zine," and the " Southern Quarterly Review," which he founded in Charleston, S. C, in 1841, and con- ducted successfully until the civil war. He re- moved to New Orleans in 18G6, where he founded and edited for many years the "New Orleans Month- ly Review." He was corresponding secretary of the New Orleans academy of sciences. Mr. Whit- aker united with the Roman Catholic church in 1878. — His wife, Mary Scrimzeour, author, b. in Beaufort district, S. C, 22 Feb., 1820, is the daughter of Rev. Samuel Furman, of South Caro- lina. She was educated in Edinburgh, contributed her first poems to the Scottish press under the auspices of Thomas Campbell, and was favorably reviewed by the critics of that city. She married in 1837 John Miller, a Scotch attorney, who died three months afterward. Mrs. Miller then returned to this country, and in 1849 married Mr. Whitaker. Her publications include many magazine articles, a collection of " Poems " (Philadelphia, 1850), and " Albert Hastings," a novel (1868). — Their daugh- ter, Lily C, poet, b. in Charleston, S. C, about 1850, was educated in New Orleans, contributed to the " Southern Quarterly," under her father's di- rection, and has written for the New Orleans press. She has published " Donata, and other Poems " (New Orleans, 1880).


WHITAKER, Ozi William, P. E. bishop, b. in New Salem, Mass., 10 May, 1830. He was gradu- ated at Middlebury college, Vt., in 1856, was prin- cipal of the high-school in North Brookfield, Mass., for nearly four years, and then entered the Gen- eral theological seminary, New York, where he was graduated in 1863. He was ordered deacon in Grace church, Boston, Mass., 15 July, 1863, by Bishop Eastburn, ordained priest in St. Stephen's chapel, Boston, 7 Aug., 1863, by the same bishop, went at once to Nevada, and was made rector of St. John's, Gold Hill. He returned to the east in 1865, and became rector of St. Paul's church, Englewood, N. J. Mr. Whitaker went to Nevada again in 1867, and became rector of St. Paul's church, Virginia City. He was elected missionary bishop of Nevada by the general convention in New York in 1868, and consecrated in St. George's church, New York, 13 Oct., 1869. He received the degree of D. D. from Kenyon college, Ohio, in the same year. Bishop W T hitaker was elected assistant bishop of Pennsylvania and translated in 1886. Upon the death of Bishop Stevens, 11 June, 1887, he became bishop of Pennsylvania. He attended the third Pan-Anglican council in London in 1888. He has published occasional sermons.


WHITAKER, Walter C., soldier, b. in Shelby county, Ky., in August, 1823 ; d. in Lyndon, Ky., 9 July, 1887. He received his education at Bethany college, West Virginia, under the presidency of Alexander Campbell, and had begun the study of law, when, at the opening of the war with Mexico, he entered the regiment of Kentucky volunteers as a lieutenant and served with gallantry. At the end of the war he resumed his legal studies, and soon afterward he opened an office at Shelbyvillc, Ky., devoting himself chiefly to criminal law, in which he won reputation. He also carried on a large farm, and took an active part in politics. He was a member of the state senate in 1861, when Kentucky was invaded by the Confederate army, which, early in September, took possession of Co- lumbus. He offered the resolution, which was almost unanimously adopted, "that the governor be requested to call out the military force of the state to expel and drive out the invaders." This resolution terminated the sham neutrality the state had undertaken to uphold. Soon afterward Senator Whitaker entered the military service as colonel of the 6th Kentucky infantry, which was mustered in early in September, and moved to meet Gen. Simon B. Buckner's advance to Mul- draugh's hill. From that time till the close of the war his service was constant. He took an active part in the battle of Shiloh, in which his regiment lost 103 killed or wounded, and also in the battle of Stone river, and on 25 June, 1863, he was com- missioned brigadier -general of volunteers. At Chickamauga his brigade was in the reserve corps that marched upon the field at the critical moment and repelled the assault of the enemy on the National right. At the capture of Lookout Moun- tain he was wounded, but he continued on the field. He was subsequently in all the engagements of the Atlanta campaign and the battle of Nashville, and was promoted brevet major-general for gal- lant services. At the end of the war he returned to the practice of his profession at Louisville, and became connected with some of the most famous criminal trials in that region. He was a man of marked individuality of manner and character, and of an impetuous temper, which involved him in numerous personal difficulties, and led to his becoming for a time an inmate of an insane asylum. But in his later years he fully recovered his health, and had his share of legal practice.


WHITCHER, Frances Miriam, author, b. in Whitestown, Oneida co., N. Y., 1 Nov., 1811; d. there, 4 Jan., 1852. She was the daughter of Lewis Berry. While only two years old, and ignorant of the alphabet, she learned to recite long pieces of poetry, and she began very early to make rhymes, one of her earliest efforts being a parody on " My Mother." She was educated in the village schools, and in 1846 became a contributor to " Neal's Saturday Gazette." She sent to the latter publication many poems, and "Widow Bedott's Table-Talk." her best-known work: and to "Godey's Lady's Book" "Aunt Maguire" and "Letters from Timberville." She also wrote for other journals. On 6 Jan., 1847, she married the Rev. Benjamin W. Whitcher, a clergyman of the Protestant Episcopal church, and in the following spring she removed with her husband to Elmira, N. Y. While Mrs. Whitcher was at the height of her fame as a humorous author, and while her writings were everywhere in demand, she was assailed with vituperation and personal insult by those who fancied that they had unwittingly served as models for her sketches. So high ran the tide of angry feeling in Elmira that it soon became apparent that Mr. Whitcher's usefulness as a clergyman would find fewer obstacles in some other parish. In the autumn of 1850 Mrs. Whitcher returned to Whitestown, and soon afterward she began to suffer severely from the disease that caused her death. Before leaving Elmira she had begun the story of " Mary Elmer," and continued it in her old home,