THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE NAMES
JEREMIAH WADSWORTH
(1748-1804) Merchant mariner, Revolutionary War soldier. Member of the
Continental Congress. Congressman from Connecticut 1789-1795.
PELEG WADSWORTH
(1748-1829) Revolutionary War General. Congressman from Maine 1793-1807.
MORRISON R. WAITE
(1816-1888) Civil War activist. Chief Justice of U.S. Supreme Court 1874-1888.
S. WILEY WAKEMAN
(1876-1940) Bethlehem Steel Co. shipbuilding executive at Quincy, Mass. yard.
CHARLES D. WALCOTT
(1850-1927) Paleontologist. Chief geologist U.S. Geological Survey 1893 and
Director 1894. Secretary of Smithsonian Institute 1907.
LILLIAN WALD
(1867-1940) Public health nurse, settlement house founder. Did extensive work in
the East Side tenements of New York City. Responsible for the abolishment of
sweat shops and child labor.
GEORGE E. WALDO
(1851-1942) Congressman from New York 1905-1909.
FRANCIS AMASA WALKER
(1840-1897) Union soldier, educator, economist. President of M.I.T. 1891~1897.
JAMES KYRON WALKER
(1910-1942) Merchant seaman lost on the "S.S. Gulfamerica', when it was
torpedoed and shelled, by the U-123, off of Jacksonville in 1942.
JOHN WALKER
(1835-1907) Naval officer. Chief, Bureau of Navigation, 1881-1889. Commander
of North Pacific Squadron 1894. President Isthmian Canal Commission 1899-1904.
MARY WALKER
(1832-1919) Lifelong campaigner for women's rights. Served in Union Army
Medical Corps 1861-1865.
SAMUEL H. WALKER
(1817-1847) Texas War veteran who suggested to Colt the design for the so-called
"Walker" gun -- a heavy .44 pistol.
BIG FOOT WALLACE
(1817-1899) Real name William Alexander Wallace. Hero of the Mexican War,
when he led a band of volunteers from Texas.
HENRY C. WALLACE
(1866-1924) Agriculture journalist from Illinois. Publisher of the Wallace
Farmer's Post. Secretary of Agriculture 1921-1924. Father of Henry A. Wallace.
LEW WALLACE
(1827-1905) Author, soldier, diplomat, from Illinois. Major General in
Civil War. Governor of New Mexico 1878-1881. Best known as author of "Ben Hur" 1880.
FRANK P. WALSH
(1864-1939) First president of the National Lawyers Guild.
THOMAS J. WALTER
(1859-1933) Senator from Montana 1913-1933. Exposed the "Teapot Dome"
scandal in 1933.
THOMAS U. WALTER
(1804-1887) Architect. Responsible for extension of the Capital, State, Navy,
and War Buildings. Organized the Organization of American Architects 1857.
GEORGE WALTON
(1741-1804) Member of the Continental Congress. Signer of the Declaration of
Independence. Governor of Georgia 1779-1780; 1789-1790. Senator 1795-1799.
JOHN WANAMAKER
(1833-1922) Pioneer in the development of the modern department store. Began in
Philadelphia 1861. U.S. Postmaster General 188%1893.
ARTEMAS WARD
(1727-1800) Revolutionary War general from Massachusetts. Member of the
Continental Congress. Congressman 1791-1795.
JOHN E. WARD
(1814-1902) Mayor of Savannah. Minister to China 1859-1860.
FRANCIS A. WARDWELL
(1844-1928) Taught first public school in North Dakota 1876. Editor Pembina
Pioneer Express. Was a seaman in his youth.
CHARLES A. WARFIELD
(1786-1848) Revolutionary War patriot from Maryland.
BENJAMIN WARNER
((1858-1935) Cleveland small business man, who's sons founded Warner Bros
Studios.
R. P. WARNER
(????-????) Leader in Inland waterway development, the Mississippi and it's
tributaries.
FRANCIS E. WARREN
(1844-1929) Wyoming pioneer and cattleman, Governor of Wyoming Territory
1885-1886; 1889-1890. Elected first Governor of the State but resigned to
serve as Senator 1890-1893; 1895-1929.
JOSEPH WARREN
(1741-1775) Revolutionary patriot killed at the Battle of Bunker Hill 1775.
MERCY WARREN
(1728-1814) Poet, dramatist, historian.
CHIEF WASHAKIE
(1804-1900) Shoshone chief. Was friendly and of great assistance to immigrants.
ELIHU B. WASHBURNE
(1816-1887) Congressman from Illinois 1853-1869. Secretary of State 1869.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON
(1856-1915) Negro educational leader. First principal of Tuskegee Institute 1881.
BUSHROD WASHINGTON
(1762-1829) Rovolutionary War soldier. Justice of the Supreme Court 1798-1829.
GEORGE S. WASSON
(1855-1932) Artist, author. Marine artist in Boston, later in Maine. Author of
"Home From the Sea" 1908.
ROBERT WATCHORN
(1858-1944) 1st Secretary United Mine Workers of America 1891. Commissioiner
of immigration Ellis Island 1905-1909. California oil man 1909. Philanthropist.
BENJAMIN WATERHOUSE
(1754-1846) Physician from Rhode Island. Developed the vaccine for smallpox.
HENRY J. WATERS
(1865-1925) President University of Missouri 1895-1909. President of Kansas State
University 1909-1917.
WILLIAM L. WATSON
(1715-1787) Did early experiments in electricity, similar to Franklin.
JOSEPH WATT
(1817-1900) President of the Oregon Pioneer Association 1880.
HENRY WATTERSON
(1840-1921) Editor of the Cincinnati Evening Times 1865. Editor the Louisville
Courier-Jouma11868. Congressman from Kentucky 1876-1877.
ANTHONY WAYNE
(1745-1796) Surveyor, soldier. Revolutionary War General. Later became an
Indian fighter who pacified Indians in the Ohio area.
JAMES M. WAYNE
(1790-1867) Congressman from Georgia 1829-1835. Justice of the Supreme Court
1835-1867. He was particularly effective in cases involving admiralty problems.
JAMES B. WEAVER
(1833-1912) Union Brigadier General. Congressman from Iowa 1878-1881; 1885-
1889. Mayor of Colfax, Iowa, 1901-1903.
CARL ZACHARY WEBB
(1922-1942) Merchant seaman lost on the "S.S. Allen Jackson" when it was
torpedoed off the Carolina coast 1942, enroute Cartegena to New York by U-66.
WILLIAM H. WEBB
(1816-1899) Shipbuilder on the East River, New York. Built many of the Clipper
ships including the "Young America", "Black Hawk", "Panama", "California",
"Golden Gate". Established and endowed Webb Academy 1894.
DANIEL WEBSTER
(1782-1852) Congressman from New Hampshire 1812-1817. Congressman from
Massachusetts 1823-1827. Senator 1827-1841. Secretary of State 1841-1843.
Senator 1845-1850. Secretary of State 1850-1852. Presidential candidate 1836.
NOAH WEBSTER
(1758-1843) Educator, editor. Published a dictionary of English language 1828.
EDWIN G. WEED
(1837-1924) Catholic bishop in Florida consecrated 1886.
JOHN W. WEEKS
(1860-1926) Congressman from Massachusetts 1905-1913. Senator 1913-1919.
Secretary of War 1921-1925.
GEORGE WEEMS
(1784-1853) Born in Maryland. Captain of privateer "Halycon' 1813, out of
Baltimore. Founded the Weems Line 1819.
MASON L. WEEMS
(1759-1825) Episcopalian clergyman, author, book salesman.
CONRAD WEISER
(1696-1760) Indian interpeter and agent. Settled in New York 1710 and became an
expert in the Mohawk language and highly influential with the Indians.
WILLIAM H. WELCH
(1850-1934) Pathologist. Professor at Johns Hopkins 1883 and was the first Dean
of the Medical school 1896.
THEODORE DWIGHT WELD
(1803-1895) Abolutionist. Considered the greatest of abolutionist.
GIODEON WELLES
(1802-1878) Journalist. Secretary of the Navy during Civil War.
WALTER WELLMAN
(1858-1934) Founder of the Cincinatti Post 1879. Arctic explorer. Attempted
to fly the Atlantic in a dirgible but came down off of Cape Hatteras 1910.
HENRY WELLS
(1805-1878) Organized the Wells Fargo Co. 1852. Founded Wells College, N.Y.
HORACE WELLS
(1815-1848) Pioneered the use of nitric oxide and ether in the extraction
of teeth.
JAMES ROY WELLS
(1891-1942) Merchant seaman lost aboard "S.S. Steel Navigator" when it was
torpedoed in North Atlantic, by the U-610, 1942, enroute Liverpool to New York.
BARRETT WENDELL
(1855-1921) English composition teacher at Harvard 1880-1921.
EDWARD N. WESTCOTT
(1846-1898) Doctor, banker; but best known for his novel "David Harum" 1898.
FERDINAND WESTDAHL
(1843-1919) Spent 52 years In Coast @ Geodetic Survey on the Pacific Coast and
Alaska, many of them in command of survey ships.
JACOB A. WESTERVELT
(1800-1879) Shipbuilder. With Christian Berg, he built many of the early
packets in the North Atlantic trade. Mayor of New York City 1853-1854.
GEORGE WESTINGHOUSE
(1846-1914) Union soldier, inventor, manufacturer. Organized the Westinghouse
Electric Co. 1869.
EZRA WESTON
(????-????) Shipowner.
OLIVER WESTOVER
(1902-1943) Merchant seaman lost on the "S.S. John Drayton" when torpedoed by
an Italian submarine Leonardo da Vinci, off of Durban, South Africa.
JAMES A. WETMORE
(1863-1940) Supervising architect for the Treasury Department.
LOUIS WEULE
(1841-1927) German born chronometer maker. Worked in San Francisco for the
world famous maker of nautidal instruments, Charles Pace. Eventually bought
Pace out and renamed the business Louis Weule.
JOSEPH WEYDEMEYER
(1818-1866) Journalist in the Chicago area. Recruited an entire regiment of
German-Americans for the Union Army. Became a Major General on Lincoln's
staff. After war edited several labor papers in St. Louis.
PATRICK B. WHALEN
(1884-1942) Merchant seaman lost on the "S.S. Illinois" when torpedoed, by the
U-172, 400 miles Northeast of Puerto Rico 1942.
EDITH WHARTON
(1862-1937) Author. Won Pulitzer Prize for book "The Age of Innocence" 1920.
ISRAEL WHEELEN
(????-????) Appointed first Purveyor of Public Supplies 1795, the pioneer
procurement office of the U.S.
BENJAMIN IDE WHEELER
(1854-1927) President University of California 1899-1919.
CALEB C. WHEELER
(????-1899) Master of sailing ships that founded Wheeler Line - river steamers
out of Baltimore.
JAMES W. WHEELER
(1913-1942) Merchant seaman lost on the "S.S. Carrabulle", when it was
torpedoed by the German submarine U-106, on May 26, 1942, in Gulf of Mexico.
JOSEPH WHEELER
(1836-1906) Confederate General. Congressman from Alabama 1881-1900.
ELEAZER WHEELOCK
(1711-1799) Congregational clergyman. Founded Dartmouth College in 1769 and
became it's first President.
WILLIAM WHEELWRIGHT
(1798-1873) Merchant mariner who promoted Latin American enterprises in Chile
and Argentina. Chief superintendant of Pacific Steam Navigation Co. 1840.
WILLIAM WHIPPLE
(1730-1785) Member of the Continental Congress from Maine. Signer of the
Declaration of Independence. Revolutionary War general.
JAMES MCNEILL WHISTLER
(1834-1903) Painter, lecturer, author. Famous for his painting of his mother 1872.
LOT WHITCOMB
(1807-1857) Oregon pioneer who platted Clackamas 1846 and founded Milwaukee,
Oregon, 1847. Founded newspaper "Western Star" 1850.
ALEXANDER WHITE
(1738-1804) Congressman from Virginia 1789-1793.
ANDREW D. WHITE
(1832-1918) Founder of Cornell University 1865 and served as it's president.
Founder of the American Historical Society. Minister to Russia 1892-1894.
EDWARD D. WHITE
(1795-1847) Congressman from Louisiana 1829-1834; 1839-1843. Governor of
Louisiana 1835-1839. Or EDWARD D. WHITE his son, (1845-1921) Senator from
Louisiana 1891-1894. Supreme Court Justice 1894-1910. Chief Justice 1910-1921.
ELIJAH WHITE
(1864-1926) Banker. Served as food administrator during World War I.
HENRY WHITE
(1850-1927) Diplomat who served several presidents in a variety of positions.
Known as the first professional American diplomat.
HORACE V. WHITE
(1834-1916) Journalist. Chicago Tribune's Washington correspondent during Civil
War. Editor-in-chief New York Post 1899-1903
JOHN WHITE
(1802-1845) Congressman from Kentucky 1835-1862. Speaker of the House for the
27th Congress.
PEREGRINE WHITE
(1620-1704) Born on the "Mayflower" at Cape Cod, becoming the first English
person bom in North America.
PETER WHITE
(1830-1908) Banker. President First National Bank of Marquette, Wisconsin, for
40 years. Social activist.
STANFORD WHITE
(1853-1906) Architect. The firm of McKim, Mead and White was responsible for
many of the buildings in New York City built during later part of 19th century.
STEPHEN M. WHITE
(1853-1901) Senator from California 1893-1899.
WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE
(1868-1944) As editor of the Emporia Gazette in Kansas he became one of the best
read editorialist in the United States.
JOHN WHITEAKER
(1820-1902) Governor of Oregon 1858-1862. Congressman 1879-81.
GEORGE WHITEFIELD
(1714-1770) Clergyman and evangelist in early Carolinas and Georgia.
HAROLD D. WHITEHEAD
(1897-1942) Merchant seaman lost on the "S.S. Sam Houston", when torpedoed
and sunk off the Virgin Islands 1942, by U-203, while enroute Mobile to Bombay.
BRAND WHITLOCK
(1869-1934) Writer, diplomat. Mayor of Toledo 1905-1913. Ambassador to
Belgium 1919-1922.
MARCUS WHITMAN
(1802-1847) Missionary and Northwest pioneer. Murdered by Cayuse Indians at
his mission in Washington Territory 1847. Whitman College is named for him.
NARCISSA WHITMAN
(1808-1847) Wife of Marcus Whitman.
WALT WHITMAN
(1819-1892) Poet. Best known for "Leaves of Grass".
ELI WHITNEY
(1765-1825) Inventor of the cotton gin. Manufacturer o,f arms for the
Government.
JOSIAH D. WHITNEY
(1819-1896) Geologist, chemist. State geologist of California 1860-1870.
JOHN G. WHITTIER
(1807-1892) Poet, abolitionist.
CHARLES A. WICKLIFFE
(1788-1869) Congressman from Kentucky 1823-1833; 1861-1863. Governor of
Kentucky 1839-1840. U.S. Postmaster General 1841-1845.
ROBERT WICKLIFFE
(1819-1895) Governor of Louisiana 1856-1860.
KATE DOUGLAS WIGGIN
(1856-1923) Author. Pioneer of kindergardens in San Francisco 1858. First free
kindergarden west of the Rockies.
FRANK WIGGINS
(1873-????) Instrumental in development of Los Angeles Harbor and establishment
of steamship line between Los Angeles and Hawaii.
JAMES A. WILDER
(1863-1940) Attached to U.S. Treasury Department as Supervising Architect 1914.
HARVEY W. WILEY
(1844-1930) Author. Chief chemist Department of Agriculture 1883-1912.
Successful Chautauqua lecturer and author.
CHARLES WILKES
(1798-1877) Naval officer. Explored and surveyed Pacific Coast and the Anarctic.
JOHN E. WILKIE
(1860-1934) Head of the U.S. Secret Service 1908-1912.
WILLIAM WILKINS
(1779-1865) Senator from Pennsylvania 1831-1834. Secretary of War 1844-1845.
DANIEL WILLARD
(1861-1942) President of the Baltimore.and Ohio Railroad 1910-41. Chairman of
the War Industries Board World War I. President of the Board of Trustees Johns
Hopkins University 1925-1941.
EMMA WILLARD
(1787-1870) Head of Senior Academy at Middlebury, Vt., 1807.
FRANCIS E. WILLARD
(1839-1898) Teacher, reformer, temperance crusader.
SIMON WILLARD
(1605-1676) Colonist. Clockmaker. Cofounder of Concord, Mass. 1635.
BENJAMIN WILLIAMS
(1754-1814) Congressman from North Carolina 1793-1795. Governor of North
Carolina 1799-1802; 1807-1808.
BERT WILLIAMS
(1876-1922) Comedian, song writer. Pioneer negro performer in American theatre.
GEORGE H. WILLIAMS
(1820-1910) Senator from Oregon 1865-1871. U.S. Attorney General 1871-1875.
Mayor of Portland 1902-1905.
HORACE WILLIAMS
(1858-1940) Philosopher. Taught at University of North Carolina 1891-1939.
J. WHITRIDGE WILLIAMS
(1866-1931) Physician. Professor at Johns Hopkins 1899.
JOHN SHARP WILLIAMS
(1854-1932) Congressman from Mississippi 1892-1909. Senator 1911-1923.
ROGER WILLIAMS
(1603-1683) Clergyman who founded Providence, R.I., in 1636. President of Rhode
Island 1652 for three terms.
WALTER WILLIAMS
(1864-1935) Journalist, educator. Editor of the Columbia Missouri Herald.
President of the University of Missouri 1930-1935.
WILLIAM WILLIAMS
(1731-1811) Revolutionary patriot. Signer of the Declaration of Independence.
Member of the Continental Congress.
FREDERICK E. WILLIAMSON
(1876-1944) Railroad executive. President of the Burlington system in 1929.
President of New York Central 1931.
HUGH WILLIAMSON
(1735-1819) Member of the Continental Congress from North Carolina. Signer of
the Constitution. Congressman 1789-1793.
R. M. WILLIAMSON
(1804-1859) Texas judge called the Patrick Henry of the Texas Revolution.
SAMUEL W. WILLISTON
(1852-1918) Paleontologist, physician, dipterist. Yale professor 1886-1890.
WENDELL WILLKIE
(1892-1944) Lawyer. 1940 Republican presidential candidate. Defeated by FDR.
WILLIAM H. WILMER
(1863-1936) Opthamologist. Professor Georgetown University and Johns Hopkins.
Researched depth perception, muscular fatique, and factors influencing flyers.
DAVID WILMOT
(1814-1868) Congressman from Pennsylvania 1845-1851. Senator 1861-1863.
ALEXANDER WILSON
(1766-1813) Poet, ornithologist. Made large scale study of U.S. birds 1808-1813.
BENJAMIN D. WILSON
(1825-1901) Congressman from West Virginia 1875-1883. Asst. Attorney General
1885-1893.
FRANCIS WILSON
(1854-1935) President of the Actors Equity Association 1913-1921.
HAROLD O. WILSON
(1906-1943) Merchant seaman on the "S.S. Flora Macdonald" when it was
torpedoed off Sierra Leone 1943, by U-126.
HARRY LEON WILSON
(1867-1939) Novelist, playwright. Writer for the Saturday Evening Post.
HENRY WILSON
(1812-1875) Senator from Massachusetts 1855-1873. Vice President of the United
States 1873-1875.
JAMES WILSON
(1742-1798) Member of the First Continental Congress. Supreme Court
Justice 1789. His greatest acheivement was the establishment of the
U.S. Constitution.
R. S. WILSON
(1875-1937 State farm agent in Mississippi. Director 1919-1930.
WILLIAM B. WILSON
(1862-1934) Labor leader. Congressman from Pennsylvania 1907-1913. First
Secretary of Labor 1913-1921.
WOODROW WILSON
(1856-1924) President of the U.S. 1913-1921.
CHARLES H. WINDHAM
(1866-1932) "Father of Long Beach Harbor". Mayor and City Manager 1908-1926.
WILLIAM WINDOM
(1827-1891) Congressman from Minnesota 1859-1869. Senator 1870-1883,except for
8 months as Secretary of the Treasury. Again Secretary of the Treasury
1889-1891.
JOSEPH E. WING
(1861-1915) National figure in agricultural journalism.
PAINE WINGATE
(1739-1838) Congregational clergyman. Senator from New Hampshire 1789-1793.
Congressman 1793-1795.
HAROLD L. WINSLOW
(1893-1938) Ship captain from Massachusetts. Official with United States Lines
and International Mercantile Marine Co.
WILLIAM WINTER
(1836-1917) Dramatic critic, essayist, poet.
JOHN WINTHROP
(1587-1649) Colonial statesman. First Governor of Massacxhusetts Bay colony
1631-1634.
WILLIAM WIRT
(1772-1834) U. S. Attorney General 1817-1829. Presidential candidate 1832.
ISAAC MAYER WISE
(1819-1900) Rabbi. Founder of Hebrew Union College 1875. Served as it's
president until his death.
JOHN WISE
(1652-1725) Congregational clergyman. Minister of the church in Ipswich, Mass.
OWEN WISTER
(1860-1938) Author. Best known for "The Virginian" 1902.
JOHN WITHERSPOON
(1723-1794) Clergyman, statesman. Member of the Continental Congress from New
Jersey. Signer of the Declaration of Independence.
JAMES WITHYCOMBE
(1854-1919) Governor of Oregon 1915-1919.
OLIVER WOLCOTT
(1760-1833) Secretary of Treasury 1795-1800. Governor of Connecticut 1817-1827.
THOMAS WOLFE
(1900-1938) One of the America's finest novelist, from Ashville, N.C..
WILLIAM WOLFSKILL
(1798-1866) Trapper, California pioneer. Pioneered the orange industry in the
Los Angeles area.
FREDERICK W. WOOD
(1857-1944) Consulting engineer. President Maryland Steel Co.. Member U.S.
Shipping Board and Emergency Fleet Corp.
GRANT WOOD
(1892-1942) Painter from Iowa. Most famous work "American Gothic".
OAKLEY WOOD
(1872-1935) Shipping executive with Barber Lines and America-West Africa
Lines. President of N.Y. Shipping Association.
WILL R. WOOD
(1861-1933) Congressman from Indiana 1915-1933.
LEVI WOODBURY
(1789-1851) Governor of New Hampshire 1823-1824. Senator 1825-1831; 1841-1845.
Secretary of the Navy 1831-1835. Secretary of the Treasury 1834-1837. Supreme
Court Justice 1846-1851.
JAMES WOODROW
(1828-1907) Presbyterian clergyman. President of the University of South
Carolina 1891-1897.
WILLIAM B. WOODS
(1824-1887) Supreme Court Justice 1881-1887.
GEORGE W. WOODWARD
(1809-1875) Congressman from Pennsylvania 1867-1871.
ALEXANDER WOOLCOTT
(1887-1943) Drama critic, writer.
JOHN WOOLMAN
(1720-1772) Quaker leader. Concerned primarily with the abolition of slavery.
KING S. WOOLSEY
(1832-1879) Frontiersman, Indian fighter, and Arizona pioneer. Arrived Yuma
1860. Rancher in Prescott area. Later became one of largest landowners
in Phoenix (1867). Five term State legislator.
CHARLES W. WOOSTER
(1780-1848) Merchant mariner, privateer. Commander and Chief of the Chilean
Navy 1822-1835.
SAMUEL A. WORCESTER
(1798-1859) Congregational clergyman. Established mission in Indian Territory of
Oklahoma 1835 and set up the first printing press in the Territory. Ship was
launched as the "Sovetskaya Gavin" for USSR.
JONATHAN WORTH
(1802-1869) Governor of North Carolina 1865-1866.
WILLIAM J. WORTH
(1794-1849) Major General. Aide to General Winfield Scott in the Mexican War.
DONALD S. WRIGHT
(1924-1943) Merchant seaman lost on the "S.S. Cornelia P. Spencer" when it was
torpedoed off Somalia 1943, by the U-188, enroute Aden to Durban.
DUNHAM WRIGHT
(1842-1942) Oregon pioneer who arrived Union County 1865. Lincoln's cousin.
SIDNEY WRIGHT
(????-????) Pioneer shipbuilder.
WILBUR WRIGHT
(1867-1912) Aviation pioneer. With his brother Orville he flew the first plane
from Kittyhawk, N.C. 1900.
NATHANIEL J. WYETH
(1802-1856) Trader, explorer. Attempted to establish a colony in Oregon 1833.
ELINOR WYLIE
(1885-1928) Poet, novelist.
WALTER WYMAN
(1848-1911) Surgeon General of the U.S. Marine Hospital Service 1902.
HENRY WYNKOOP
(1737-1816) Congressman from Pennsylvania 1789-1791. Member of the
Continental Congress 1779-1782.
GEORGE WYTHE
(1726-1806) Member of the Continental Congress. Professor of Law at William and
Mary 1779. This was the first chair of law in an American college.