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When you've got a lot of people together, it makes sense to pick someone to be in charge. As exploration expanded, individuals were chosen to oversee colonies and settlements. This section highlights those men (and some women), as well as the leaders and attendant ruling class -- nobles, peerage, wannabes and hangers-on --back home.
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Cross-listed in Commerce

Jeremiah Wadsworth

bornactivedied
1743, Jul 121761-18011804, Apr 30
an American sea captain, merchant, and statesman from Hartford, Connecticut who profited from his position as a government official charged with supplying the Continental Army. He represented Connecticut in both the Continental Congress and the United States House of Representatives.
Timeline (1)Links (9)Gallery (1)


Cross-listed in PiratesCartographers

Johannes van Walbeeck

bornactivedied
160216341649+
a Dutch navigator and cartographer during a 1620s circumnavigation of the earth, an admiral of the Dutch West India Company. Captured Curaçao in 1634 and later served as first governor of the Netherlands Antilles.
Timeline (3)Links (1)


Cross-listed in ClergyMilitary

Franz von Waldeck

borndied
14911553, Jul 15
Prince-Bishop of Münster, Osnabrück, and Minden in the Lower Rhenish–Westphalian Circle of the Holy Roman Empire. He suppressed the Münster Rebellion, a millenarian Anabaptist theocratic insurrection which occupied the fortified city of Münster. When the Lutheran movement gave way to the radical Anabaptists in the annual council election on 23 Februar...
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Timeline (1)Links (1)


Cross-listed in PiratesPhysiciansLegal

William Walker

bornactivedied
1824, May 81852-18601860, Sep 12
an American physician, lawyer, journalist and mercenary, who organized several private military expeditions into Latin America, with the intention of establishing English-speaking colonies under his personal control, an enterprise then known as "filibustering." Walker usurped the presidency of the Republic of Nicaragua in 1856 and ruled until 1857, when he w...
more
Timeline (4)Links (12)Gallery (8)


Cross-listed in MilitaryNaval

Albrecht von Wallenstein

aka: von Waldstein
bornactivedied
1583, Sep 241604-16341634, Feb 25
a Bohemian military leader and politician who offered his services, and an army of 30,000 to 100,000 men, during the Thirty Years' War (1618–48), to the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II. He became the supreme commander of the armies of the Habsburg Monarchy and a major figure of the Thirty Years' War. An imperial generalissimo by land, and Admiral of the Ba...
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Timeline (11)Links (8)


Cross-listed in Writers

Edmund Waller

bornactivedied
1606, Mar 31624-16861687, Oct 21
an English poet and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1624 and 1679. In 1645 the Poems of Waller were first published in London, in three different editions; there has been much discussion of the order and respective authority of these issues, but nothing is decidedly known.
Links (12)Gallery (1)


Cross-listed in Writers

Horace Walpole

aka: Horatio, 4th Earl of Orford
bornactivedied
1717, Sep 241737-17971797, Mar 2
an English art historian, man of letters, antiquarian and Whig politician. He had Strawberry Hill House built in Twickenham, south-west London, reviving the Gothic style some decades before his Victorian successors. His literary reputation rests on the first Gothic novel, The Castle of Otranto (1764), and his Letters, which are of significant s...
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Links (1)


Robert Walpole

aka: 1st Earl of Orford
bornactivedied
1676, Aug 261715-17421745, Mar 18
is generally regarded as the de facto first Prime Minister of Great Britain. Although the exact dates of his dominance are a matter of scholarly debate, 1721–42 are often used. He dominated the Walpole–Townshend ministry and the Walpole ministry and holds the record as the longest-serving Prime Minister in British history. Critics called his system the "...
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Timeline (5)Links (14)


George Walton

bornactivedied
17491774-18041804, Feb 2
signed the United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of Georgia and also served as the second Chief Executive of Georgia. His parents died when he was an infant, resulting in his adoption by an uncle with whom he entered apprenticeship as a carpenter. Walton was a studious young man, but his uncle actively discouraged all study, believing...
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Links (1)Notes (1)


Perkin Warbeck

borndied
1474 ca1499, Nov 23
a pretender to the English throne. By claiming to be Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York, Warbeck was a significant threat to the newly established Tudor dynasty, and gained support outside England. Henry VII declared Warbeck an impostor, and after his capture, Warbeck wrote a confession in which he said he was a Fleming born in Tournai around 1474. Due to u...
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Timeline (4)Links (4)


Cross-listed in MilitaryWriters

George Drought Warburton

borndied
18161857
an Irish soldier, politician and writer on Canada. Warburton wrote a description of the dominion of Canada, under its ancient vernacular name, as Hochelaga; or England in the New World (1846). He also wrote a followup volume and a biography of Charles Mordaunt, Earl of Peterborough and Monmouth.
Links (1)


Cross-listed in Military

Artemas Ward

bornactivedied
1727, Nov 261751-17951800, Oct 28
an American major general in the American Revolutionary War and a Congressman from Massachusetts. He was considered an effective political leader, President John Adams[2] describing him as "...universally esteemed, beloved and confided in by his army and his co...
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Links (1)


Cross-listed in Legal

Artemas Ward Jr.

bornactivedied
1762, Jan 91783-18441847, Oct 7
like his father, Artemas Ward, he was a United States Representative from Massachusetts. He served in the Thirteenth Congress and Fourteenth Congress (1813–1817). He was a member of the Federalist Party. From 1796 to 1800, Ward served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. He moved to Charlestown in 1800, where he continued to practice law. Ward se...
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Links (4)


Nancy Ward

aka: Nanyehi
borndied
1738 ca1822/24
a Beloved Woman of the Cherokee, which means that she was allowed to sit in councils and to make decisions, along with the chiefs and other Beloved Women. She believed in peaceful coexistence with the European-Americans and helped her people as peace negotiator and ambassador. She also introduced them to farming and dairy production, bringing substantial ch...
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Links (1)


James Warren

borndied
1726, Sep 281808, Nov 28
the President of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress and a Paymaster General of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, among other positions. He is also famous as the husband of Mercy Otis Warren and for his outspoken courage as an Anti-Federalist. General James Warren is sometimes confused with the two other Massachusetts Revolutiona...
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Links (1)


Cross-listed in MilitaryPhysicians

Joseph Warren

bornactivedied
1741, Jun 111759-17751775, Jun 17
an American physician who played a leading role in American Patriot organizations in Boston in the early days of the American Revolution, eventually serving as President of the revolutionary Massachusetts Provincial Congress. Warren enlisted Paul Revere and more
Links (1)


Cross-listed in Military

George Washington

bornactivedied
1732, Feb111789-17971799, Dec 14
the first President of the United States (1789–97), the Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He presided over the convention that drafted the current United States Constitution and during his lifetime was called the "father of his country".
Timeline (95)Links (28)Notes (2)


Martha Washington

bornactivedied
1731, Jun 21789-17971802, May 22
the wife of George Washington, the first President of the United States. Although the title was not coined until after her death, Martha Washington served as the inaugural First Lady of the United States. During her lifetime she was often referred to as "La...
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Timeline (1)Links (1)


Cross-listed in Military

Stand Watie

aka: Standhope Uwatie, Tawkertawker, Isaac S. Watie
borndied
1806, Dec 121871, Sep 9
a leader of the Cherokee Nation, and the only Native American to attain a general's rank in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. He commanded the Confederate Indian cavalry of the Army of the Trans-Mississippi, made up mostly of Cherokee, Muskogee and Seminole, and was the final Confederate general in the field to cease hostilities at w...
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Timeline (1)Links (1)


John Watts

aka: Kunokeski, Young Tassel
bornactivedied
unknown1788-18021802
one of the leaders of the Chickamauga Cherokee (or "Lower Cherokee") during the Cherokee-American wars. Watts became particularly active in the fighting after the murder of his uncle, Old Tassel, by militant frontiersmen who attacked a band of delegates traveling to a peace conference in 1788. Watts led his first major action of the Cherokee-American wars in...
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Links (1)


Cross-listed in Military

Anthony Wayne

aka: Mad Anthony
bornactivedied
1745, Jan 11775-17961796, Dec 15
a United States Army officer, statesman, and member of the United States House of Representatives. Wayne adopted a military career at the outset of the American Revolutionary War, where his military exploits and fiery personality quickly earned him promotion to brigadier general and the sobriquet Mad Anthony. He later served as General in Chief of the Army a...
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Timeline (3)Links (18)


Cross-listed in Legal

Daniel Webster

bornactivedied
1782, Jan 181805-18521852, Oct 24
an American politician who twice served in the United States House of Representatives, representing New Hampshire (1813–1817) and Massachusetts (1823–1827), served as a U.S. Senator from Massachusetts (1827–1841 and 1845–1850) and was twice the United States Secretary of State, under Presidents more
Timeline (1)Links (20)Gallery (4)


Cross-listed in WritersEducators

Noah Webster

bornactivedied
1758, Oct 161781-18431843, May 28
an American lexicographer, textbook pioneer, English-language spelling reformer, political writer, editor, and prolific author. He has been called the "Father of American Scholarship and Education". His blue-backed speller books taught five generations of American children how to spell and read, secularizing their education. According to Ellis (1979), he gav...
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Timeline (4)Links (16)


John B. Weller

borndied
1812, Feb 221875, Aug 17
the fifth governor of California from January 8, 1858 to January 9, 1860 and a congressman from Ohio, U.S. senator from California, and minister to Mexico. Weller was born in Hamilton County, Ohio, and attended the public schools and Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. He then studied law, was admitted to the bar and practiced in Butler County, Ohio. He was pr...
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Timeline (1)Links (1)


William Weller

borndied
1799, May 131863, Sep 21
an entrepreneur and official in Upper Canada and Canada West. He served three terms as mayor of Cobourg. He served as a member of the Board of Police for Cobourg from 1837 to 1844 and in 1847. He was also a shareholder in a number of companies involved in road upkeep. Weller was mayor of Cobourg in 1850, 1851 and 1863 and also served five years as a member o...
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Links (1)


Cross-listed in Military

Arthur Wellesley

aka: 1st Duke of Wellington
borndied
1769, My 11852, Sep 14
an Anglo-Irish soldier and statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of 19th-century Britain. His defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 put him in the top rank of Britain's military heroes. Wellesley was born in Dublin, belonging to the Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. He was commissioned as an ensign in the British ...
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Timeline (7)Links (1)


James Wemyss

borndied
1726, Feb 231786, May 10
a Scottish Member of Parliament. On 29 August 1757 James Wemyss married his cousin Lady Elizabeth Sutherland, daughter of William Sutherland, 17th Earl of Sutherland by his wife Lady Elizabeth Wemyss, daughter of David Wemyss, 4th Earl of Wemyss. Their children included the soldier and MP William Wemyss. Wemyss was Member of Parliament for Fife from 1763 to ...
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Links (1)


Cross-listed in Military

William Wemyss

borndied
1760, Apr 91822, Feb 4
a Scottish soldier in the British Army and Member of Parliament. From 1784 to 1787 Wemyss was MP for Sutherland, succeeding his father, before sitting for Fife from 1787 to 1796 and again from 1807 to 1820. Captain in the Army by brevet, 1 July 1783 DAG in Scotland and Major, 18 November 1786 DAG in Scotland and Lieutenant-Colonel, 1 October 1791 Colonel, ...
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Links (1)


Thomas Wentworth

aka: 1st Earl of Strafford
borndied
1593, Apr 131641, May 12
an English statesman and a major figure in the period leading up to the English Civil War. He served in Parliament and was a supporter of King Charles I. From 1632–40 he was Lord Deputy of Ireland, where he established a strong authoritarian rule. Recalled to England, he became a leading advisor to the King, attempting to strengthen the royal position agai...
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Timeline (2)Links (1)


Thomas West [1]

aka: 3rd Baron De La Warr, 12th Baron De La Warr
borndied
1577, Jul 91618, Jun 7
an English politician, for whom the bay, the river, and, consequently, a Native American people and U.S. state, all later called "Delaware", were named. "De La Warr" is pronounced "Delaware". Lord De La Warr was appointed governor-for-life and captain-general of the Colony of Virginia, to replace the governing council of the colony under the presidency of Ca...
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Timeline (2)Links (1)


Cross-listed in Military

William Whipple Jr.

bornactivedied
1730, Jan 141751-17851785, Nov 28
a signatory of the United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of New Hampshire. Whipple was a member of the Continental congress from 1776 through 1779. Before becoming a politician, Whipple worked as both a ship's captain and a merchant. He studied in college to become a judge. Whipple died of heart complications in 1785, aged 55.
Links (1)Notes (1)


Albertus Henricus Wiese

borndied
17611810
Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies from 1805 to 1808, during which time the United Provinces became, during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, first of all the Batavian Republic and then the (Napoleonic) Kingdom of Holland. Dutch possessions in the Indies were under pressure from other European powers, particularly Great Britain, while loc...
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Timeline (1)Links (1)Notes (1)


William Wilberforce

bornactivedied
1759, Aug 241780-18331833, Jul 29
an English politician, philanthropist, and a leader of the movement to stop the slave trade. A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780, eventually becoming an independent Member of Parliament for Yorkshire (1784–1812). In 1785, he became an evangelical Christian, which resulted in major changes to his lifestyle and a ...
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Links (1)


Cross-listed in MilitaryCommerce

Simon Willard [1]

borndied
1605, Apr1676
an early Massachusetts fur trader, colonial militia leader, legislator, and judge. He emigrated to Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1634 with his first wife Mary Sharpey and their daughters Mary and Elizabeth. He was a founder of Concord, Massachusetts and served it as clerk from 1635 to 1653 and helped negotiate its purchase from the Native American owners. Will...
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Cross-listed in Military

Marinus Willett

borndied
1740, Jul 311830, Aug 22
an American soldier and political leader from New York. He was characterized by historian Mark M. Boatner as "one of the truly outstanding American leaders of the Revolution." During the early stages of the American Revolution, Willett became an informal leader of the Sons of Liberty in New York City. His main participation was as a rabble-rouser and street ...
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Links (1)


Cross-listed in Commerce

Thomas Willett

borndied
16051674, Aug 29
a British merchant, Plymouth Colony trader and sea-captain, Commissioner of New Netherland, magistrate of Plymouth Colony, Captain of the Plymouth Colony militia and was the 1st and 3rd Mayor of New York City, prior to the consolidation of the five boroughs into the City of New York in 1898. Willett was placed in charge of the Plymouth Colony's trading post ...
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Timeline (1)Links (4)


William I

aka: Count of Nassau-Dillenburg
borndied
1487, Apr 101559, Oct 6
a count of Nassau-Dillenburg from the House of Nassau. His nickname the Rich refers to him having many children. However, he owned a number of counties: Nassau-Dillenburg, Nassau-Siegen, Nassau-Dietz and Vianden. William was born in Dillenburg as the younger son of Count John V of Nassau-Dillenburg and Landgravine Elisabeth, daughter of Landgrave Henr...
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Links (1)


Cross-listed in Military

William I of the Netherlands

aka: Willem Frederik, Prince of Orange-Nassau
borndied
1772, Aug 241843, Dec 12
a Prince of Orange and the first King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg. After the National Convention of the French First Republic had declared war on the stadtholder of the Dutch Republic in February 1793, William was appointed commander-in-chief of the veldleger (mobile army) of the States Army (his father remained the nominal head of the ar...
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Timeline (13)Links (1)


Cross-listed in Military

William II of Orange

borndied
1626, May 271650, Nov 6
sovereign Prince of Orange and stadtholder of the United Provinces of the Netherlands from 14 March 1647 until his death three years later. His only child, also named William, would go on to reign as William III of England and Ireland, as well as William II in Sco...
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Timeline (6)Links (1)


Cross-listed in Military

William II of the Netherlands

borndied
1792, Dec 61849, Mar 17
King of the Netherlands, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, and Duke of Limburg. William II was the son of William I and Wilhelmine of Prussia. When his father, who up to that time ruled as sovereign prince, proclaimed himself king in 1815, he became Prince of Orange as heir apparent of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. With the abdication of his father on 7 October 1...
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Timeline (4)Links (1)


Cross-listed in Clergy

King William III

aka: King Billy, Willem III
bornactivedied
1650, Nov 41689-17021702, Mar 8
sovereign Prince of Orange from birth, Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Gelderland, and Overijssel in the Dutch Republic from 1672, and King of England (and Supreme Governor of the Church of England), Ireland, and Scotland from 1689 until his death. William's reputation as a strong Protestant enabled him to take the British crowns when many were fea...
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Timeline (47)Links (1)Notes (1)


William III of the Netherlands

borndied
1817, Feb 191890, Nov 23
King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg from 1849 until his death in 1890. He was also the Duke of Limburg from 1849 until the abolition of the duchy in 1866. William was the son of King William II and Anna Pavlovna of Russia. On the abdication of his grandfather William I in 1840, he became the Prince of Orange. On the death of his father in 1...
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Timeline (1)Links (1)


William IV of Orange

aka: Willem Karel Hendrik Friso, Prince of Orange-Nassau
bornactivedied
1711, Sep 11711-17511751, Oct 22
the first hereditary Stadtholder of all the United Provinces. He was born six weeks after the death of his father. William succeeded his father as Stadtholder of Friesland and also, under the regency of his mother until 1731, as Stadtholder of Groningen. In 1722 he was elected Stadtholder of Guelders.
Timeline (9)Links (1)


Cross-listed in ClergyNaval

William IV of the United Kingdom

aka: William Henry
borndied
1765, Aug 211837, Jun 20
King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death. The third son of George III and younger brother and successor to George IV, he was the last king and penultimate monarch of Britain's House of Hanover. Wi...
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Timeline (1)Links (19)


William of Julich-Cleves-Berg

aka: Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg
borndied
1516, Jul 281592, Jan 5
From 1538 to 1543, William held the neighbouring Duchy of Guelders, as successor of his distant relatives, the Egmond dukes. Emperor Charles V claimed this duchy for himself as the dukes had sold their right of heritage, and William tried to hold on to it. He made ...
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Timeline (3)Links (1)


William the Silent

aka: William I, Prince of Orange, William the Taciturn, William of Orange
bornactivedied
1533, Apr 241555-15841584, Jul 10
the main leader of the Dutch revolt against the Spanish Habsburgs that set off the Eighty Years' War and resulted in the formal independence of the United Provinces in 1581. He was born in the House of Nassau as Count of Nassau-Dillenburg. He became Prince of Orange in 1544 and is thereby the founder of the branch House of Orange-Nassau and the ancestor of t...
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Timeline (23)Links (1)


William V

aka: Prince of Orange
borndied
1748, Mar 81806, Apr 9
the last Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic. He went into exile to London in 1795. He was the reigning Prince of Nassau-Orange until his death in 1806. In that capacity he was succeeded by his son William. William V assumed the position of stadtholder (chief executive) and Captain-General of the Dutch States Army in 1766. On 4 October 1767 in Berlin, Prince W...
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Timeline (9)Links (1)


William V of Cleves

aka: Duke of Cleves, Gulik and Berg, Count of Mark, Lord of Ravenstein, Ravensberg, Duke of Gelre, William the Rich
borndied
1516, Jul 281592, Jan 5
a Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg (1539–1592). William was born in and died in Düsseldorf. William took over rule of his father's estates (the Duchy of Cleves and the County of Mark) upon his death in 1539. Despite his mother having lived until 1543, William also became the Duke of Berg and Jülich and the Count of Ravensberg.From 1538 to 1543, William held t...
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Timeline (1)Links (1)


Cross-listed in Military

Frederick William

aka: Duke of Prussia, Elector of Brandenburg
bornactivedied
1620, Feb 161640-16881688, Apr 29
Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia, thus ruler of Brandenburg-Prussia, from 1640 until his death in 1688. A member of the House of Hohenzollern, he is popularly known as "the Great Elector" (der Große Kurfürst) because of his military and political achievements. He was a staunch pillar of the Calvinist faith, associated with the rising commercial c...
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Timeline (1)Links (1)


George William

aka: Elector of Brandenburg, Duke of Prussia
bornactivedied
1595, Nov 131619-16401640, Dec 1
margrave and elector of Brandenburg and duke of Prussia from 1619 until his death. His reign was marked by ineffective governance during the Thirty Years' War. In 1619 George William inherited the Margravate of Brandenburg and the Duchy of Prussia. He paid his feudal homage in person to the King of Poland, Sigismund III Vasa, in September 1621 in Warsaw (the...
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Links (1)


William Frederick

aka: Prince of Nassau-Dietz
borndied
1613, Aug 71664, Oct 31
Count (from 1654 Imperial Prince) of Nassau-Dietz, Stadtholder of Friesland, Groningen and Drenthe. As a second son, William Frederick did not seem destined for the career he eventually would follow. He studied at Leiden University and the University of Groningen and subsequently took a commission in the army of the Dutch Republic, like his male ancestors an...
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Links (1)


William Louis of Nassau-Dillenburg

aka: Count of Nassau-Dillenburg
borndied
1560, Mar 131620, Jul 13
Count of Nassau-Dillenburg from 1606 to 1620, and stadtholder of Friesland, Groningen, and Drenthe. William Louis played a significant part in the Military Revolution of the 16th - 17th centuries. In a letter to his cousin Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange of December 8, 1594 he set out (from reading Aelianus Tacticus) an argument based on the use of ranks...
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Timeline (5)Links (1)


William Louis of Nassau-Saarbrucken

aka: Count of Nassau-Saarbrücken
borndied
1590, Dec 181640, Aug 22
a Count of Saarbrücken. In 1616 William Louis became co-regent with his father. His father died in 1627 and he became guardian of his two youngest brothers, Otto and Ernest Casimir. On 29 January 1629 in Ottweiler, the inheritance was split and William Louis received the County of Saarbrücken, the Office Ottweiler, the Bailiwick of Herbitzheim, and the Com...
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Links (1)


Cross-listed in Legal

Charles K. Williams

bornactivedied
1782, Jan 241809-18521853, Mar 9
an American lawyer and politician. He served as Chief Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court from 1834 to 1846 and as Governor of Vermont from 1850 to 1852.
Links (4)


Cross-listed in ClergyCommerce

William Williams [3]

bornactivedied
1731, Apr 231771-18111811, Aug 2
a merchant, and a delegate for Connecticut to the Continental Congress in 1776, and a signatory of the Declaration of Independence. Williams was born in Lebanon, Connecticut, the son of a minister, Tim Solomon Williams, and Mary Porter. He studied theology and achieved law school from Harvard in 1751. He continued preparing for the ministry for a year, but t...
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Links (12)Notes (1)


Cross-listed in Military

Adam Williamson

borndied
17361798
lieutenant-general, governor of Jamaica and St. Domingo, born in 1736, was son of Lieutenant-general George Williamson (1707?–1781), who commanded the royal artillery at the siege and capture of Louisburg in 1758 and during the operations in North America terminating in the capture of Montreal in 1760. He became a cadet gunner on 1 Jan. 1748, entered the R...
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Links (1)


Cross-listed in Legal

James Wilson [2]

bornactivedied
1742, Sep 141766-17921798, Aug 21
one of the Founding Fathers of the United States and a signatory of the United States Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution. Wilson was elected twice to the Continental Congress, where he represented Pennsylvania, and was a major force in drafting the United States Constitution. A leading legal theorist, he was one of the six origina...
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Links (20)Notes (1)


Cross-listed in WritersLegal

John Winthrop [2]

borndied
1587/88, Jan 121649, Mar 26
an English Puritan lawyer and one of the leading figures in founding the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the second major settlement in New England, following Plymouth Colony. Winthrop led the first large wave of immigrants from England in 1630 and served as governor for 12 of the colony's first 20 years. His writings and vision of the colony as a Puritan "city up...
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Links (1)


Cross-listed in WritersLegal

William Wirt

bornactivedied
1772, Nov 81792-18341834, Feb 18
an American author and statesman who is credited with turning the position of United States Attorney General into one of influence. He was the longest serving Attorney General in U.S. history. He was also the Anti-Masonic nominee for president in the 1832 election. Wirt grew up in Maryland but pursued a legal career in Virginia, passing the Virginia bar in 1...
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Links (1)


Michal Korybut Wisniowiecki

aka: Wi?niowiecki
borndied
1640, May 311673, Nov 10
the ruler of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth as King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from September 29, 1669 until his death in 1673. Michael's reign was marked by struggles between the pro-Habsburg and pro-French political factions. A native Pole and descendant of Korybut, brother of King Wladyslaw II Jagiello, Michael was freely elected by the u...
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Links (1)


Cross-listed in ClergyWriters

John Witherspoon

bornactivedied
1723, Feb 51745-17811794, Nov 15
a Scots Presbyterian minister and a signatory of the United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of New Jersey. During his two pastorates he wrote three well-known works on theology. His 1776 sermon "The Dominion of Providence over the Passions of Men" was published in many editions.
Timeline (1)Links (19)Notes (2)


Cross-listed in WritersCartographers

Nicolaes Witsen

aka: Nicolaas Witsen
borndied
1641, May 81717, Aug 10
a Dutch statesman who was mayor of Amsterdam thirteen times, between 1682-1706. In 1693 he became administrator of the VOC. In 1689 he was extraordinary-ambassador to the English court, and became Fellow of the Royal Society. In his free time he was cartographer, maritime writer, and an authority on shipbuilding. His books on the subject are important source...
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Timeline (1)Links (1)


Wladyslaw IV Vasa

borndied
1595, Jun 91648, May 20
a Polish prince from the Royal House of Vasa. He reigned as King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 8 November 1632 to his death in 1648. In 1610 the teen-aged Wladyslaw was elected Tsar of Russia by the Seven Boyars, but did not assume the Russian throne due to his father's opposition and a popular uprising in Russia. Nevertheless, until 1634 he use...
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Timeline (3)Links (1)


Cross-listed in Military

Oliver Wolcott

bornactivedied
1726, Nov 201747-17971797, Dec 1
a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence and also the Articles of Confederation as a representative of Connecticut and the nineteenth Governor of Connecticut. He was a major general for the Connecticut Militia in the Revolutionary War serving under more
Timeline (1)Links (16)Notes (1)


Worawongsathirat

aka: Bun Si, Bun Sri
bornactivedied
unknown15481548, Nov 11
a usurper in the Ayutthaya Kingdom, ruling for only 42 days in 1548 before being assassinated. Siamese chronicles relate that Worawongsathirat attainted the crown — his kingship is not accepted by most traditional historians. His birth-name was "Bun Si" (or Bun Sri), and he was a Brahmin. Upon entering service to the crown as keeper of Ho Phra Thep Bidon, ...
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Links (1)


Cross-listed in Writers

Henry Wotton

bornactivedied
1568, Mar 301588-16331639, Dec
an English author, diplomat and politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1614 and 1625. Of 25 poems printed in Reliquiae Wottonianae 15 are Wotton's. During his lifetime he published two works.
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Cross-listed in Military

Carl Gustaf Wrangel

borndied
1613, Dec 231676, Jul 5
a high-ranking Swedish noble, statesman and military commander in the Thirty Years', Torstenson, Bremen, Second Northern and Scanian Wars. A Baltic German, he held the ranks of a field marshal, commander-in-chief of the Swedish forces in Germany (1646–1648), and Lord High Admiral of Sweden (since 1657). Wrangel was gouvernor-general of Swedish Pomerania (1...
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Cross-listed in Military

Herman Wrangel

borndied
1584/871643, Dec 10
a Swedish military officer and politician of Baltic German extraction. Herman Wrangel was born in the Livonia. He came to Sweden in ca. 1608. In 1612, he participated in the Kalmar War against Denmark. In 1619, Wrangel was commander of Älvsborg fortress. He was appointed Field Marshal in 1621, Privy Councillor in 1630, and Governor General of Swedish Livoni...
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Cross-listed in Legal

James Wright

borndied
1716, May 81785, Nov 20
an American colonial lawyer and jurist who was the last British Royal Governor of the Province of Georgia. He was the only Royal Governor of the Thirteen Colonies to regain control of his colony during the American Revolutionary War. In 1730 his father accompanied Robert Johnson to the Province of South Carolina and served as its Chief Justice until 1739. Ja...
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Cross-listed in Military

Thomas Wyatt the Younger

bornactivedied
15211542-15541554, Apr 11
a rebel leader during the reign of Mary I of England; his rising is traditionally called "Wyatt's rebellion". He was also the son of the English poet and ambassador Sir Thomas Wyatt. Stemming from experiences with the Spanish Inquisition while accompanying his father,...
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Cross-listed in EducatorsLegal

George Wythe

bornactivedied
17261746-18061806, Jun 8
the first American law professor, a noted classics scholar, and a Virginia judge. The first of the seven Virginia signatories of the United States Declaration of Independence, Wythe served as one of Virginia's representatives to the Continental Congress and the Philadelphia Convention. Wythe taught and was a mentor to more
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