Compend Of History (1814) Samuel Whelpley – Victorian Vault –

WHELPLEY, Samuel, clergyman, born in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, in 1766; died in New York city, 14 July, 1817. His parents removed to a farm in Stockbridge from Wilton, Connecticut The son studied theology under Dr. Stephen West, was ordained to the Baptist ministry in 1792, and preached in Stockbridge and West Stockbridge till he took charge of an independent church in Green River, New Jersey In 1798-1809 he was at the head of an academy in Morristown, New Jersey, and in 1806 he was received into the ministry of the Presbyterian church. In 1809 he opened a school in Newark, New Jersey, but in the latter part of the year failing health forced him to go to Savannah, Georgia, where he supported himself by teaching. He returned to Newark in 1811, and in 1814 went to New York, where he had charge of a school for a short time, till his health failed utterly. Mr. Whelpley was the author of "Compend of History from the Earliest Times " (Philadelphia, 1808; new ed., 2 vols., New York, 1855); "Letters on Capital Punishment and War," addressed to Governor Caleb Strong (1816); and "The Triangle: a Series of Numbers upon Three Theological Points enforced from Various Pulpits in New York," a defence of the so-called New England theology (New York, 1817), besides single sermons, orations, and addresses. He also wrote occasional poems, including an ode on the death of George Washington, which was sung in Morris-town at a commemorative service.--His son, ]Philip Melanethon, clergyman, born in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, 22 December, 1792; died on Schooley's mountain, New Jersey, 17 July, 1824, was pastor of the 1st Presbyterian church in New York city from 1815 till his death. He acquired reputation as a pulpit orator, and published several occasional sermons.--Philip Melanethon's son, James Davenport, physician, born in New York city, 23 January, 1817; died in Boston, Massachusetts, 15 April, 1872, was graduated at Yale in 1837, and entered the service of the geological survey of Pennsylvania under Henry D. Rogers, where he continued for two years. He was graduated at the medical department of Yale in 1842, and remained in New Haven until 1846, engaging in the study of science and in literary pursuits. Dr. Whelpley then settled in Brooklyn, New York, where he began to practise medicine; but failing health soon compelled him to relinquish that profession. In 1847 he removed to New York city, where he became editor and one of the owners of the "American Whig Review," to which he had been a contributor since 1845. While thus engaged he formed, about 1849, a project of establishing a commercial colony in Honduras, and in furtherance of this enterprise spent two years in San Francisco, purchasing and editing one of the daily papers there. His arrangements were disturbed by the presence of the filibuster, William Walker, and on going to Honduras he was detained by Walker for nearly a year and impressed into the service as a surgeon, during which time he suffered great privation. Finally he escaped to San Francisco, whence he returned early in 1857 to the east and again devoted himself to literary and scientific pursuits. He was a member of the American academy of arts and sciences, to whose transactions and to the "American Journal of Science" be contributed papers, principally on physics and metallurgy, giving the results of his researches. The most important of these is "Idea of an Atom suggested by the Phenomena of Weight and Temperature" (1845), in which he anticipated Michael Faraday's ideas as set forth in his " Thoughts on Ray Visions" (1846) ; and he was also the author of "Letters on Philosophical Induction" and "Letters on Philosophical Analogy," which discuss fundamental principles in scientific methods.