Archive:The Descendants of John Whitney, page 490
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The Descendants of John Whitney, Who Came from London, England, to Watertown, Massachusetts, in 1635, by Frederick Clifton Pierce (Chicago: 1895)
Transcribed by the Whitney Research Group, 1999.
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| 490 | WHITNEY GENEALOGY. |
by themselves constitute a great scholar's full life's work. There has never been just such a man, and it is safe to say that there never will be again. Maurice BLOOMFIELD Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD., June 11, 1894. Prof. WHITNEY'S magnificent pre-eminence in American scholarship was every- where recognized. His was a scholarship marked by the greatest breadth as well as by depth. He possessed, above all, an unerring judgement. Every possible side of a question was studied before a conclusion was reached. In the nature of the case, this led him to reject conclusions which others had based upon a more superficial investigation of the case. But in connection with his scholarship, and with his uni- formly good judgement, there was a directness of aim, a sincerity of purpose, which made his character almost ideal. His estimate of the work of other men was always appreciative, although he was never able to shut his eyes to work of inferior grade. His pupils will always remember him as kind and helpful, and as in the highest degree stimulating. No man ever came in contact with him who did not, as a result of that contact, become a better and stronger man. Humanity and scholarship are both greatly indebted to him. William R. HARPER, University of Chicago, June 12, 1894. In his own department, Prof. WHITNEY was the foremost scholar of the United States, and among the great scholars of Europe his authority was second to none. He inspired confidence by the calmness and moderation with which he gave his opin- ion, even on the highest questions, and the value of his statements never had to be discounted on the ground of enthusiasm or partizanship. He was a great scholar, in the largest sense of that term; and no scholar ever bore greatness more gracefully or becomingly. W. W. GOODWIN, Harvard Colege, Cambridge, Mass., June 9, 1894. In the death of Prof. WHITNEY American scholarship has lost its most accom- plished representative, and the world one of its most distinguished specialists. To the rarest intellectual vigor he added a geniality which made intercourse with him a delight and study under him a fascination. A prince of many provinces of the spirit has fallen on him-a Sanskritist of the first rank, an investigator of unique powers and penetration, a master of the difficult science of linguistics, and a lexicographer unrivaled in the breadth and comprehensiveness of his learning. Permit me to add to all this, as one who has personally witnessed it, the rare beauty of his household life. Of him may truly be said what the Roman historian said of Vespasian: "Ven- erabilis senex et patientissimus veri." James A. HARRISON Washington and Lee University , Lexington, Va., June 10, 1894. In losing WHITNEY we have lost our foremost American philologian, a scholar whose world-wide fame is a national honor, so that the example which he himself set of exact and sober estimate is just the example it is hardest to imitate now. As early as 1850, when I first knew him, he had laid down the lines which he followed unswerv- ingly to the end. For heroic toil, for scholarly accuracy, for soundness, clearness, cogency, we shall not see his like. To differ with him bred self-dissatisfaction, for he was a manner of conscience to the rest of us. B. L. GILDERSLEEVE, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md., June 11, 1894. 7693. i. EDWARD BALDWIN, b. Aug. 16, 1857. Edward B. WHITNEY was born in New Haven, Conn. He was graduated from Yale in 1878, Judge TAFT of the United States circuit court being one of his classmates. After studying law at Yale and Columbia law schools he was admitted to the bar of New york in 1880, and for a time was managing clerk of the firm of Bristow, Peet & Opdyke. In 1883, with Gen. Henry L. BURNETT, who was a member of that firm, he formed the firm of Burnett & Whitney, to which he now belongs. Although he has never held public office he has been an active Democrat and was an organizer of the national association of Democratic clubs, being its sec- retary from its organization in 1888 to 1890. He was secretary, also, of the so-called anti-Hill organization in New York up to the time of the February convention last year, when it was reorganized. At the May convention at Syracuse he was chosen a delegate to the National Democratic convention at
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