"Wilson, Adam, D.D., a Baptist minister, was born at Topsham, IMe., Feb. 3, 1794. He was a graduate of Bowdoin College in the class of 1819, and during his freshman year he joined the newly constituted Baptist Church in his native town. He studied theology with Rev. Dr. Stoughton, of Pliiladelphia, and was ordained in 1820. After preaching some months he was settled as pastor at Wiscassett, Me. His special vocation seemed to be rather as a stated supply of churches, and in this capacity he acted for a number of years. A new de- nominational paper having been started in Portland, Me., the Ziun's Advocate, he became its editor and pro- prietor, conducting it with marked ability, and making it exceedingly useful in promoting the interests of the Baptist denomination in his native state. The last years of his life were spent in Waterville, Me., of the college in which place he was a trustee for forty years. His death occurred at Waterville, Jan. 16, 1871. "A man of energy and industry, of decided character and marked wisdom and discretion, and of genial disposi- tion, he ever had the respect, confidence, and affection of the comminiion whose interests he espoused, and was eminently a good man." See Necrology of Bowdoin College. (J. C. S.)
Wilson, Bird, D.D., LL.D., a Protestant Episcopal clergyman, was born at Carlyle, Pa., in 1777. He graduated at Philadelphia College in 1792; studied law, and became president-judge of the Court of Common Pleas for the seventh Circuit of Pennsylvania in 1802; was ordained deacon in the Protestant Episcopal Church in 1819; was rector of St. John's Church, Norristown, Pa., from 1819 to 1821; professor of systematic divin- ity in the Episcopal General Theological Seminary in New York from 1821 to 1850, and emeritus professor from 1850 until his death, April 14, 1859. He published Memoirs of the Life of the Right Rev. William White, Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the State
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of Pennsylvania, and edited Abridffment of the Law, ill Matthew Bacon ( 1811-13), and the Works of the Hiin. James Wilson, LL.D. (1803-4). See a Memorial (hSG4) by W. Wliite Bronson.
"Wilson, Christopher, D.D., an English clergy- nian. was burn in 1714; became prebendary of London in 1745, of Westminster in 1748, and bishop of Bristol in 178;;. He died in 1792. His publications consist of a few single sermons.
Wilson, Daniel, D.D., a colonial bishop of the Church of England, was born in Spitalfields, London, in 1778. Destined by his parents for trade, he was ap- [irenticed at fourteen to his uncle, a silk merchant. He was then a giddy boy; but in 1797 he was converted, and determined to abandon trade. In 1798 he entered 8t. Edw.ird's Hall, Oxford, where he graduated A.B. in 180:?, and A.^\. in 1804. He had previously been or- dained in 1801, and began his ministry in that year as curate to JMr. Cecil in Chobham. " In 1803 he was ap- pointed to a tutorship at Oxford, where he remained for about eight years and a half, during which time he was first curate of Worton, and then of St. John's Chap- el, London, where he remained until the year 1824. He then became vicar of Islington, discharging the duties of that ottice until 1832, when, on the death of Dr. Tur- ner, bishop of Calcutta, he was appointed his successor, and from that time to his death, in 1858, he was devoted to the arduous and indefatigable labors for the promo- tion of Christianity in India, which have made his name conspicuous in the history of missions. Bishop Wilson was a man of studious habits and solid learning, with little res|iect for forms or ceremonies, compared with inward experience ; destitute of the elegant culture and graceful address of Heber, one of his most distin- guished predecessors, he was stern in purpose and ex- plicit in speech. His energy in the discharge of duty was almost without a parallel. Social in his disposi- tion, fund of conversation, and exercising a generous hospitality, he appears to have had few attachments and intimacies. Free from worldliness, from every trace of self-indulgence, from all duplicity and guile, he found his highest glory in the progress of the faith ; and in his zeal, courage, firmness, and self-devotion, must be regarded as a model of the missionary bishop." In the- ology he belonged to the evangelical party of the Church of England — the earnest school of Newton, Hill, and Cecil. He died at Calcutta, Jan. 2, 1858. A copious biographv is furnished in Bateraan's Life of Bishop Wilson (Lond. 18(10, 2 vols. 8vo; Boston, 1860, 8vo). Besides occasional sermons, charges, etc., he published Sermons (5th ed. ibid. 1820, 8vo): — Evidences of Chris- tianity (4th ed. ibid. 1841, 2 vols. 12mo): — Divine Au- thority of the Lord's Bay (ibid. 1831, 12mo ; 3d ed. 1840) : — Sermons Preached in India (ibid. 1838, 8vo) : — Lectures on Colossiaris (ibid. 1845, 8vo) : — Tour on the Continent (1825, 2 vols, 8vo). See Life, by Bateman; I^ondon Rev. July, 1860, p, 470 ; A me?: Ch. Rev. 1858, ii, 177.
Wilson, Henry Ro'wan, D.D,, a Presbyterian divine, was born near (iettysburg, Adams Co., Pa., Aug. 7, 1780. He pursued his preparatory course in a classical school in the neighborhood ; graduated at Dickinson College in 1798; studied theology privately; was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Carlisle in 1801 ; and was ordained and installed pastor of the con- gregations at Bellefont and at Lick Run, Centre Co., Pa., in 1802, In 1806 he was called to the professor- ship of languages in Dickinson College, which position he held for ten years, until he became pastor of the Church at Silver Spring in 1816. In Mfiy, 1824, he was installed pastor of the Church in Shippensburg; in 1838 he accepted the general agenc^yof the Board of Publica- tion in the Presbyterian Church ; in 1842 he became pastor of the Church at Xeshaminy, Ilartsville, Bucks Co,, Pa,, where he continued till October, 1848, when, at his own request, the pastoral relation was dissolved. He died March 22, 1849, Dr. Wilson was a man of