Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/548

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
514
WILLARD
WILLARD

the time to study in Paris, and contributing to periodicals. In 1871-'4 she was professor of aesthetics in Northwestern university and dean of the Woman's college, where she developed her system of self-government, which has been adopted by other educators. Miss Willard left her profession in 1874 to identify herself with the Woman's Christian temperance union, serving as corresponding secretary of the National organization till 1879, and since that date as president. As secretary she organized the Home protection movement, and sent an appeal from nearly 200,000 people to the legislature of Illinois asking for the temperance ballot for women. On the death of her brother, Oliver A. Willard, in 1879, she succeeded him as editor of the Chicago "Evening Post." Since 1882 she has been a member of the executive committee of the Prohibition party. In 1886 she accepted the leadership of the White Cross movement in her own unions, which has obtained through her influence enactments in twelve states for the protection of women. In 1888 she was made president of the American branch of the International council of women, and of the World's Christian temperance union, which she had founded five years before. Besides many pamphlets and contributions to magazines and the press, Miss Willard has published "Nineteen Beautiful Years," a tribute to her sister (New York, 1863) ; " Woman and Temperance" (Chicago, 1883) ; " How to Win " (New York, 1886) ; and " Woman in the Pulpit " (Boston, 1888).


WILLARD, John, jurist, b. in Guilford, Conn., 20 May, 1792; d. in Saratoga Springs. N. Y., 31 Aug., 1862. He was graduated at Middlebury college in 1813, admitted to the bar in 1817, and he began the practice of law in Salem, Washington co., N. Y. On the elevation in 1836 of Esek Cowen to the bench of the supreme court, he was appointed judge and vice-chancellor of the 4th judicial district of New York, filling that office until the new organization of the judiciary under the constitution of 1846, when he was elected one of the justices of the supreme court. In 1854 he was a member of the court of appeals. In 1856 he was appointed by President Pierce one of the commissioners to examine into the validity of the California land-titles which were claimed under Spanish and Mexican grants. In 1861 he was chosen state senator by the votes of all parties, and, by his efforts in that body, the confusion in the laws respecting murder and the rights of married women was removed, and simple statutes were substituted in their place. The rapidity and ability with which he discharged his official duties, his uniform courtesy and kindness to the profession, his abhorrence of pettifogging and chicanery, and the purity and integrity of his character as a judge and as a man, commanded universal respect and esteem, and did much to elevate the judiciary of his native state. Dartmouth gave him the degree of LL. D. in 1850. After his retirement from the bench he published " Equity Jurisprudence " (Albany, 1855); a "Treatise on Executors, Administrators, and Guardians" (1859); and a "Treatise on Real Estate and Conveyancing" (1861). works of great learning and ability. They are constantly cited with confidence, and received as authority both in the United States and in England.


WILLARD, John Dwight, jurist, b. in Lancaster, N. Y., 4 Nov., 1799 ; d. in Troy, N. Y.. 16 Oct., 1864. After graduation at Dartmouth in 1819 he studied law, was admitted to the bar of New York about 1823, and began practice in Troy in 1826. He was editor of the Troy "Sentinel" for several years. He was judge of the court of common pleas and also of the New York circuit court, and served in the state senate. The degree of LL. D. was conferred on him by Dartmouth in 1860, and by La Grange university of Kentucky in 1862. He left $10,000 to Dartmouth.


WILLARD, Simon, settler, b. in Horsemonden, Kent, England, in April, 1605; d. in Charlestown, Mass., 24 April, 1676. He was the son of Richard Willard, came to New England in 1634, and was a founder of Concord, of which he was clerk from 1635 till 1653. He represented it in the legislature from 1636 till 1654, and was assistant and councillor from 1654 till 1676. He removed to Lancaster in 1660, in 1672 to Groton, and on the dispersion of the inhabitants of that town by the Indian wars, in which he served as major of militia, settled in Salem. He became a magistrate, and died while holding a court in Charlestown. The Rev. Ebenezer Pemberton calls him “a sage patriot in Israel, whose wisdom assigned him a seat at the council-board, and his military skill and martial spirit entitled him to the chief place in the field.” A letter from Maj. Simon Willard to the commissioners of the United Colonies in 1654 is contained in Thomas Hutchinson's “Collection of Original Papers relative to the History of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay” (Boston, 1769). See his “Life,” by Joseph Willard (Boston, 1858).—

His son, Samuel, clergyman, b. in Concord, Mass., 31 Jan., 1640; d. in Boston, Mass., 12 Sept., 1707, was graduated at Harvard in 1659, studied divinity, was ordained minister at Groton in 1663, and continued there until the Indian war of 1676. He became colleague with the Rev. Thomas Thacher, the first pastor of the Old South church in Boston, and continued in connection with that church until his death. A story illustrating his excellent delivery is told. His son-in-law, the Rev. Samuel Neal, preached for him in the Old South church, and the sermon being considered very poor, the congregation requested that he should not be invited to fill the pulpit. Mr. Willard borrowed the identical sermon and read it to the same audience, which immediately requested a copy for publication. On the retirement of Increase Mather from the presidency of Harvard, Mr. Willard, being vice-president, succeeded to the government of that college, serving in 1701-'7. He published numerous sermons, including “Sermon occasioned by the Death of John Leverett, Governor of Massachusetts” (Boston, 1679); “The Duty of a People that have renewed their Covenant with God” (1680); “Ne Sutor ultra Crepidam, or Brief Animadversions upon the New England Anabaptists' Late Fallacious Narrative” (1681); “Mourner's Cordial against Excessive Sorrow” (1691); “Peril of the Times displayed” (1700); and other treatises, and left "Expositions upon Psalms, Romans, Corinthians, and Galatians, and other compositions in manuscript, which were edited and published by Joseph Sewall and Thomas Prince, colleague pastors of the Old South church, with the title of