Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/599

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WINKLER
WINSER

St. Augustine, Benicia, and in 1876 head of St. Mary's of the Pacific, a school for girls, and rector of St. Paul's church in that city. He was elected bishop of Louisiana in 1879. but declined.


WINKLER, Edwin Theodore, clergyman, b. in Savannah, Ga., 13 Nov., 1823 ; d. in Marion, Ala., 10 Nov., 1883. He was graduated at Brown in 1843, and received his theological education at Newton theological seminary. Having been or- dained to the Baptist ministry, he preached in Co- lumbus and Albany, Ga., and in Gillisonville, S. C. In 1852 he became corresponding secretary of the Southern Baptist publication society, and editor of the " Southern Baptist," residing in Charleston, S. C. In 1854 he was called to the pastorate of the 1st Baptist church in that city. Subsequently he was pastor of the Citadel square church. In 1872 he took charge of the Baptist church in Marion, Ala., and in 1874 he was made editor-in-chief of the "Alabama Baptist." In 1858 he received the degree of D. D. from Furman university. Dr. Winkler was the author of a catechism for the in- struction of colored people, and of several published sermons, addresses, and essays.


WINKLEY, Henry, donor, b. in Barrington, N. H., 9 Nov., 1803 ; d. in Philadelphia, Pa., 9 Aug., 1888. He was educated at district schools and at Pembroke academy. On the completion of his studies he went to Boston, Mass., and was employed in a crockery-store. Subsequently he engaged in that business for himself, and was an importer of china-ware in New York and Philadelphia from 1831 till 1852. In the latter year he retired from business, and thereafter devoted himself to the study of religious, social, and political economy, in the pursuit of which he travelled throughout the world. He was not married, and divided his fortune among such educational institutions as he considered orthodox. Mr. Winkley gave to Will- iams college, $50,000 ; to Phillips Exeter academy, $30,000; to Bowdoin college, $70,000; to the Theo- logical seminary at Bangor, Me., $30,000 ; to that at Andover, $45,000 ; and to the one at Yale, 50,- 000 ; to Dartmouth college, $80,000 ; and to Am- herst college, $30,000. All these bequests are di- rected by the will to constitute permanent funds, the income of which is to be applied for the benefit and purposes of the institutions as the trustees may think best. Mr. Winkley left to the American Bible society $20,000, and to the Young men's Christian association of Philadelphia $20,000. His remains were interred in Mount Auburn, where he had built a granite mausoleum in a lot that was the only piece of real estate he ever owned.


WINXOCK, Joseph, astronomer, b. in Shelby county, Ky., 6 Feb., 1826 ; d. in Cambridge, Mass., 11 June, 1875. He was graduated at Shelby col- lege, Ky., in 1845, where he was appointed professor of mathematics and astronomy. In 1852-7 he was one of the computers in the office of the " Ameri- can Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac " in Cam- bridge, Mass., and then he was appointed professor of mathematics at the U. S. naval academy, An- napolis, Md., but he soon returned to Cambridge as superintendent of the " Nautical Almanac." In 1859 he relinquished this office to take charge of the mathematical department of the U. S. naval acad- emy ; but on the removal of that institution to Newport, R. I., at the beginning of the civil war, he resumed charge of the " Almanac." He was ap- pointed in 1866 professor of astronomy in Har- vard, and director of the observatory, and subse- quently he was professor of geodesy in the Law- rence scientific and mining schools of the univer- sity. His first work after taking charge of this observatory was the reduction and publication of the unfinished work of his predecessors, thus com- pleting the volume on sun-spots, the catalogue of zone stars, and of polar and clock stars that has since been published. Meanwhile the instrumental appliances were carefully studied and largely in- creased, not only by the accumulation of new forms, but by the introduction of improved apparatus of his own device. The meridian circle was procured through his influence at a cost of $12,000. In 1870, when the new instrument was ready for use, it was directed upon the zone of stars between 50° and 55° of north declination, which was the field as- signed to the Harvard observatory by the Astrono- mische Gesellschaft. His other work included a catalogue of new double stars and much labor on stellar photometry. He was further active in the efforts that have resulted in furnishing standard time to Boston. In 1872 he began the preparation of a series of astronomical engravings to represent the most interesting objects in the heavens as they appeared in the powerful instrument of the ob- servatory. Thirty-five plates were completed at the time of his death, and included representations of the planets, sun-spots, protuberances, and corona ; the moon's craters and geography, seven of the most famous clusters and nebulaa, the Donati comet of 1858 and Coggia's comet of 1874. He held the office of consulting astronomer of the U. S. coast survey, and in 1874 was appointed chairman of the commission that was established by act of congress for making inquiries into the causes of steam-boiler explosions. Prof. Winlock had charge of the party that was sent by the U. S. coast survey to Kentucky to observe the total solar eclipse of August, 1869, and conducted the expedition to Spain, under the same auspices, to observe the eclipse in December, 1870. The degree of A. M. was conferred on him by Harvard in 1868, and he was a member of vari- ous scientific societies, including the American academy of arts and sciences. In 1863 he was named by act of congress as one of the corporate members of the National academy of sciences. His published works consist chiefly of a set of " Tables of Mercury," of other publications from the office of the "American Ephemeris," and of brief papers in astronomical journals and in the proceedings of scientific societies of which he was a member.


WINSER, Henry Jacob, journalist, b. in the island of Bermuda, 23 Nov., 1833. His father, Francis J. Winser, was an officer in the British navy. He attended the Springfield academy, Bermuda, came to New York in 1851, entered a printing-office as proof-reader, and later became a reporter on the "Times." At the opening of the civil war he accompanied Col. Ephraim E. Ellsworth as military secretary, and afterward was war-correspondent of the New York "Times." After the war he served for a period as city and night editor of the New York " Times," and then as day-manager of the editorial department. In 1867 he attended the French exposition at Paris as regular correspondent for the " Times," and made the trip to Cherbourg in the iron-clad "Dunderberg." In May, 1869, Mr. Winser was appointed U. S. consul at Sonneberg, Germany, and during his twelve years' service he made several valuable reports to the state department, including one on forest-culture. In 1882 he was made chief of the bureau of information of the Northern Pacific railway company, but on the retirement of Henry Villard he returned to journalism, first as assistant editor of the New York " Commercial Advertiser " and afterward as managing editor of the Newark " Advertiser," with which he is still associated.