Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 10.djvu/321

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WALWORTH


WANGER


present at the field hospitals of Fortress Monroe and at Montauk, N.Y. Of her children, Ellen Hardin is the author of : " An Old World, as seen through Young Eyes " (1875), and " The Lil}^ of Moluiwks," and Reubena Hyde published " Where was Elsie ? or, the Saratoga Fairies," a comedietta, and fugitive poems. IMrs. Wal- wortli's works include : Battles of Saratoga ; Parliamentary Rules, and extensive contribu- tions to the Proceedings of historical and other organizations.

WALWORTH, Reuben Hyde, jurist, was burn in Bozi-ah, New London county, Conn., Oct.

26, 1788 ; son of Benjamin and (Hyde)

Walworth, and great-grandson of William Wal- worth, who immigrated from London, England, in 1671, in company with Fitz John Winthrop, and settled first on Fisher's Island and later in New London, Conn. His father was a soldier in the patriot army, serving as adjutant of Col. NichoU's regiment, and was present at the battle of White Plains. Reuben attended school at Hoosick, N.Y. ; taught school, 1804-05 ; was ad- mitted to the bar in 1809, and practised in Platts- burg, N.Y., where he was a master in chancery and county judge, and in 1812 was appointed ad- jutant-general of state militia. When the Brit- ish invaded Plattsburg in September, 1814, he was appointed aide-de-camp to Gen. Benjamin Mooers ; and later was division judge advocate and colonel. He was a representative in the 17th congress, 1821-23 ; judge of the 4th judicial dis- trict of New York, 1823-28, and in October, 1828, he removed to Saratoga Springs, N.Y., wliere he resided at "Pine Grove," an attractive home- stead. He was appointed chancellor of the state of New York in 1828, which office he held until 1848, when the court of chancery was abolished. His name was proposed for judge of the U.S. supreme court b}^ President Tj-ler in 1844, but was not confirmed by the senate. He was an elder of the Presbyterian church ; president of the Ameri- can Temperance union, and vice-pi'esident of the American Bible and Tract societies. The honor- ary degree of LL.D. was conferred on him by the College of New Jersey in 1835 ; by Yale in 1839, and by Harvard in 1848. He is the author of : Rales and Orders of the Neio York Court of CJian- cer^(1829), and Hyde Genealogy (2 vols., 1864). He was married secondly, in 1851, to the widow of Col. John J. Hardin (q. v.). He died at Sara- toga Springs, N.Y., Nov. 27, 1867.

WANAMAKER, John, cabinet officer, was born in Philadelphia. Pa., July 11, 1838; son of John Nelson and Elizabeth D. (Kockersperger) Wanamaker ; and grandson of John and Eliza- beth AVanamaker. His first maternal ancestor, a French Huguenot, came to America prior to 1750. He attended the common schools until


1852, when he began to earn liis own living ; was secretary of the Y.M.C. association of Phila- delphia, 1857-61 ; began business in a clotliing house in Philadelphia in 1861 ; in 1875 established a general store, the first of its kind, under the title, John Wanama- ker, conducted upon a system of his own and on a partially co- operative basis after 1867, and subse- quently became suc- cessor of the business of A. T. Stewart in New York city. He declined the Re- publican nomination for representative-at- large to tiie 48th con- gress, and also the in- dependent candidacy for mayor of Phila- delphia, 1886 ; was pi-esidential elector on the Harrison and Morton ticket, 1888, and a member of the national Republican executive committee, and was U.S. postmaster-general in President Harrison's cabinet, 1889-93. Mr. Wanamaker founded the Bethany Sunday-school of the Pres- byterian denomination, 1858 ; was an organizer of the Christian Commission during the civil war ; president of the Y. M. C. A. of Philadel- phia, 1870-83 ; chairman of the bureau of revenue and of the press committee of the Centennial ex- position of 1876, and actively associated with the municipal progress of Philadelphia.

WANGER, Irving Price, representative, was born in North Coventry, Pa., March 5, 1852 ; son of George and Rebecca (Price) Wanger ; grand- son of Abraham and Mary (Bergey) Wanger, and of John and Mary (Rinehart) Price, and a de- scendant of a long line of preachers of the relig- ious sect of The Brethren, the first of whom set- tled in Pennsylvania, about 1717. He attended the public schools of North Coventry and Potts- town ; the Hill school in Pottstown, and the Friends high school in West Chester, Pa. ; began the study of law in Norristown, Pa., in 1872 ; was admitted to the bar, Dec. 18, 1875, and com- menced practice in Norristown, of which town he was elected burgess in 1878. He was district attorney of Montgomery county. Pa., 1880 and 1886, and a delegate to the Republican national convention of 1880. He was married, June 19, 1884, to Emma C. . daughter of John and Mary (Amole) Titlow of North Coventry, Pa. He was a Republican representative from the seventh Pennsylvania district in the 53d-58th congresses, 1893-1905, serving as a member of the committee on interstate and foreign commerce in the 54th-