Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/644

WOODWORTH, John, jurist, b. in Schodack, N. Y., 12 Nov., 1768 ; d. in Albany, N. Y., 1 June, . He studied law with John Lansing in Al- bany, was admitted to the bar in 1791, and began practice in Troy, N. Y., but he returned to Albany in 1806, and resided there until his death. He was surrogate of Rensselaer county in 1793-1804, a member of the assembly in 1803, and of the state senate in 1804-'7, attorney-general of New York in 1804-'8, and a judge of the state supreme court in 1819-'28. He published " Reminiscences of Trov from its Settlement in 1790 till 1807 " (Albany, 1855), and with William P. Van Ness revised the laws of New York (2 vols., 1813).

WOODWORTH, John Maynard, physician, b. in Big Flats, Chemung co., N. Y., 15 Aug., 1837; d. in Washington, D. C, 14 March, 1879. He was educated at the University of Chicago, be- came curator of the museum of the Chicago acade- my of sciences in 1858, and established the Museum of natural history in the University of Chicago in . He was graduated at the Medical college of Chicago in 1862. entered the National army as post surgeon of volunteers, and served under Gen. William T. Sherman till 1865, becoming full sur- geon in 1863, and subsequently medical inspector of the Army- of the Tennessee. In March, 1865, he was brevetted lieutenant-colonel of volunteers for his services during the civil war. He became professor of anatomy in Chicago medical college in 1866, surgeon of the Union soldiers' home, and sanitary inspector of the city board of health in 1868. In 1871-'9 he was supervising surgeon- feneral of the Marine hospital, Washington, D. C. n that service he introduced systematic methods of conducting its affairs, required candidates for medical offices to pass examinations, and substi- tuted inexpensive pavilions for costly insanitary hospitals of iron and stone. He was president of the Alumni association of Chicago medical college in 1870, one of the twelve organizers of the Ameri- can public health association in 1872, a member of many state and National professional bodies, and a vice-president of the Society of the Army of the Tennessee. In 1876 he read before the Interna- tional medical congress a paper entitled " Quaran- tine with Reference to Cholera and Yellow Fever," and submitted six propositions to that body on the subject, which were adopted. He wrote numer- ous essays and papers that were published in the " Transactions of the American Medical Associa- tion," and is the author of " Primary Surgery of Gen. Sherman's Campaigns " (Chicago, 1866) ; " The Mystery of Life," an address (1871) ; " Regulations of the United States Marine Hospital Service " (Washington, D. C, 1873); "Hospitals and Hospi- tal Construction " (1873) ; " The Immigration Ser- vice of the United States " (1873) ; " Nomenclature of Diseases " (1874) ; and " Cholera Epidemic in the United States in 1873" (1875).

WOODWORTH, Samuel, poet, b. in Scituate, Mass., 13 Jan., 1785 ; d. in New York city. 9 Dec. 1842. He was the youngest son of a farmer and Revolutionary soldier, whose poverty prevented him from educating his children, but Samuel's verses attracted the attention of Rev. Nehemiah Thomas, who taught him the classics for. He was apprenticed to Benjamin Russell, editor of the "Columbian Centinel," when he was seven- teen years of age, and a year after the expiration of his term removed to New Haven, Conn., where he issued a weekly paper called the " Belles-Let- tres Repository," of which he was "editor, pub- lisher, printer, and more than once carrier," but the enterprise failed at the end of its second month. He removed to New York in 1809, and dur- ing the second war with Great Britain conducted a weekly paper called " The War," and a monthly Swedenborgian magazine entitled the "Halcyon Luminary and Theological Re- pository," both of which were un- successful. His next literary un- dertaking was a contract in 1816 to write a histo- ry of the second war with Great Britain in the style of a romance, en- titled the " Cham- pions of Free- dom," which was published (2 vols., New York, 1816), but possesses lit- tle merit either as

history or as a

novel. With George P. Morris he began, in 1823, the publication of the "New York Mirror," but lie withdrew from the partnership within a year. He edited the "Parthenon" in 1827. afterward contributed frequently to the press, and was the author of several operettas that were produced with success, of which the " Forest Rose " is still occasionally performed. During his later life he was paralyzed, and his resources were meagre. Of his numerous lyrics the " Old Oaken Bucket " is the only one that will probably live. George Perkins Marsh says of this poem in his " Lectures on the English Language " (New York, 1861) : " Woodworth's fine song, the ' Old Oaken Bucket,' which has embalmed in undying Terse so many of the most touching recollections of rural childhood, will preserve the more poetic form oaken, . together with the memory of the almost obsolete implement it celebrates, through all dialect changes, as long as English shall be a spoken tongue." His poetical works were collected and edited by his son, with a memoir of him by George P. Morris (2 vols., New York, 1861). — His son, Selim E., naval officer, b. in New York city, 27 Nov., 1815 : d. in San Francisco, Cal., 29 Jan., 1871. when twelve years old set out with a rifle to cross the continent to the Pacific, but was met by friends and sent home after walking 300 miles. In 1834 he sailed as captain's clerk in the ship " Margaret Oakley," in which he was ship-wrecked off Madagascar. He lived on the island with the natives, but eventually reached Mauritius, whence he returned home after an absence of four years. He was appointed a midshipman in the navy, 16 June, 1838, became a passed midshipman, 2< I Hay, 1844, and, obtaining special leave of absence in 1846, made the journey to the Pacific overland, travelling from St. Louis to Columbia river in sixty days. He then went down the coast to the site of San Francisco, where he reported for duty as a master on board the sloop " Warren." and subsequently served in command of the transport " Anita" until the close of the Mexican war. He resigned from the navy. 11 Feb., 1850, and was elected to the first state senate of California. He engaged in mercantile pursuits, but at the opening of the civil war he volunteered and was commissioned acting lieutenant, 10 Sept., 1861. He served under Farragut at New Orleans and in Mississippi river, and was promoted two grades to commander, 16 July, 1862, for gallant conduct. He commanded