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Wilson, John

(Encyclopedia)Wilson, John, pseud. Christopher North, 1785–1854, Scottish author. Among the first contributors to Blackwood's Magazine, he joined the staff in 1817 and quickly became one of its chief critical wri...

Winebrenner, John

(Encyclopedia)Winebrenner, John: see Churches of God, General Conference. ...

Wise, John

(Encyclopedia)Wise, John, 1652–1725, American clergyman, exponent of the democratic principles of modern Congregationalism, b. Roxbury, Mass., grad. Harvard, 1673. He was pastor at Ipswich, Mass., from 1680 until...

Wanamaker, John

(Encyclopedia)Wanamaker, John wŏnˈəmāˌkər [key], 1838–1922, American merchant, b. Philadelphia. He went into the men's clothing business in Philadelphia with Nathan Brown, his brother-in-law, in 1861. The f...

Warren, John

(Encyclopedia)Warren, John, 1753–1815, American surgeon, b. Roxbury, Mass.; grad. Harvard, 1771; brother of Joseph Warren. A leading surgeon of his time in New England, he served in the Revolution and was a found...

Wayne, John

(Encyclopedia)Wayne, John, 1907–79, American movie actor, b. Winterset, Iowa, as Marion Michael Morrison. An enduringly popular movie star from his debut in 1930, Wayne combined the toughness necessary to play we...

Beresford, John

(Encyclopedia)Beresford, John bĕrˈĭzfərd, –ĭs– [key], 1738–1805, Anglo-Irish Protestant politician. He entered the Irish Parliament in 1760, became a privy councillor (1768), a commissioner of revenue (1...

Witherspoon, John

(Encyclopedia)Witherspoon, John, 1723–94, Scottish-American Presbyterian clergyman, political leader in the American Revolution, and signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. Haddingtonshire (now East Lothian...

Wolcot, John

(Encyclopedia)Wolcot, John wo͝olˈkət [key], pseud. Peter Pindar, 1738–1819, English poet. He wrote several satires, notably Lyric Odes to the Royal Academicians (1782–83), Bozzy and Piozzi (1786), and The Lo...

Wood, John

(Encyclopedia)Wood, John, 1704–1754, English architect, called Wood of Bath. When he went (1727) to Bath from Yorkshire to begin his career as a road surveyor, the city was at its height as a center of fashion. W...