Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/351

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WALDERSEE
WALDO


WALDERSEE, Mary, Countess von, b. in New York city, 3 Oct., 1837. She is the daughter of David Lee, a New York merchant, who left his widow and five children a large fortune. The second daughter, Blanche, married Augustus Charles Murray, a commander in the British navy, and the third, Josephine, married Baron August von Waechter, ambassador of the king of Würtemberg to the French court. The baroness sent for her youngest sister, Mary, to live with her in Paris, where she met and married Prince Frederick of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg-Noër, who had been driven into exile by the Austro-Prussian army in 1864. Miss Lee, however, not wishing to be trammelled by the exacting etiquette that attaches to high rank, induced the prince to renounce his rights and titles as a member of the royal house of Denmark. He subsequently accepted from the emperor of Austria the title of Prince of Noër, the name of his principal estate. The prince died shortly after his marriage while on a visit to the Holy Land, 2 July, 1865, and the princess then returned to Paris, where she resided with the Baroness Waechter until the beginning of the Franco-Prussian war, when she accompanied the latter to Würtemberg. In 1871 she married Count von Waldersee, the successor of Field-Marshal von Moltke, and lived with him for some time at Hanover. There she soon became widely known through her interest in local charities. Since she has resided in Berlin she has been equally zealous in good works. She was for years the friend of Emperor Frederick William, of Germany, and of the Empress Victoria.


WALDO, Albigence, surgeon, b. in Pomfret, Conn., 27 Feb., 1750; d. in Windham county, Conn., 29 Jan., 1794. He was educated by the clergyman of his native town, studied medicine, and acquired an extensive practice. On 1 July, 1775, he was appointed surgeon's mate of the 8th regiment, under Col. Jedediah Huntington, which was then stationed in Roxbury, but, owing to im- paired health, he was discharged on 6 Sept., 1775. On 14 Dec, 1776, he was appointed by the com- mittee of war of Connecticut chief surgeon of the ship " Oliver Cromwel,," and on 3 April, 1777, he joined Col. Huntington's newly raised regiment as surgeon, and served in the campaigns in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. At Monmouth and Valley Forge his professional service in the inocu- lation for small-pox gained him much reputation. He was a friend of David Humphreys, who in his " Life of General Putnam," acknowledges Dr. Wal- do's aid in its compilation. He was a founder of the Medical society in Windham county, which was the first society in Connecticut. Dr. Waldo left numerous medical and surgical treatises in manu- script, illustrated by well-executed drawings, and also a large collection of valuable historical docu- ments. His diary at Valley Forge was published in the " Historical Magazine " (New York, 1861).


WALDO, Daniel, clergyman, b. in Windham, Conn., 10 Sept., 1762; d. in Syracuse, N. Y., 30 July, 1864. His early years were spent on his fathers farm, and in 1778 he entered the Revolu- tionary army for a month's service during a time of imminent peril in New London. Afterward he enlisted as a volunteer in the service of the state. He was captured at the battle of Horseneck. and imprisoned in the sugar-house in New York, where he endured many hardships, but after two months he was exchanged, and then resumed his labors on the farm. After graduation at Yale in 1788 he studied theology, was licensed to preach by the association of Windham county, and from* 1792 till 1809 was pastor of the Congregational church in West Suffolk, Conn., with the interval of a few months of missionary labor in Pennsylvania and New York. He then preached in Colchester, Sa- lem, and Cambridgeport, Mass., and went to Rhode Island to labor in the cause of education under the protection of the Society for promoting Christian knowledge. He was also pastor in Harvard, Mass., and at Exeter, R. I., where he labored twelve years, after which he retired. In 1855, at the age of ninety-three, he was made chaplain of the house of representatives. He was familiarly known as " Father Waldo," and is one of several undoubted centenarians mentioned in this work.


WALDO, Leonard, astronomer, b. in Cincin- nati, Ohio, 4 March, 1853. He was graduated at Marietta in 1873, and, after spending a few months at the Cincinnati observatory, entered the Colum- bia college school of mines and became assistant in astronomy in 1873. In the following year he was appointed assistant astronomer on the expedi- tion that was sent to Hobart Town, Tasmania, to observe the transit of Venus. He was appointed assistant at the Harvard observatory in 1875, and continued there until 1880, after which, until 1887, he was astronomer in charge of the horoiogical bureau of the Winchester observatory of Yale, where his work included the comparison of ther- mometers with standard instruments. He was also active in causing the introduction of a uni- form time system in Connecticut. The degree of S. D. was conferred on him by Harvard for origi- nal investigations in 1879, and he received the degree of A. M. from Yale in 1880. He has con- tributed reports of his astronomical researches to scientific journals, and is the author of cyclopaedia articles and popular papers on technical subjects.


WALDO, Samuel, soldier, b. in Boston, Mass., in 1696; d. on Penobscot river, Me., 23 May, 1759. His father. Jonathan, was a wealthy merchant of Boston, and was a brigadier-general at the capture of Louisburg. The son was a landed proprietor, resided at Falmouth, Me., and commanded a regiment at Louisburg. There were remarkable coincidences between his life and that of his friend, Sir William Pepperell. They lived in Maine, were councillors together, commanded regiments, and were together at Louisburg, passed a year together in England, were born the same year, and died nearly at the same time. His family exercised much influence in Maine on account of their immense estate. — His son, Samuel, jurist, b. in Maine in 1721 ; d. there, 16 April, 1770, was graduated at Harvard in 1743, and settled in Falmouth, where he was elected a member of the general court in 1744. In that year he was also commissioned a colonel in the British army. In 1753 he went to Europe with authority from his father to procure emigrants to settle the Waldo patent, and was successful in this mission. In 1760 he was appointed judge of probate for Cumberland county,