Evening journal., 1914-09-07
New News Of Yesterday
How Vice President Viii
son Changed His Name
By Holland.

One evening when I was chatting
with Thurlow Weed, in the fall OF
1877, he told me that when he was a
lad he was employed to watch
campfire somewhere in the Catskill
Mountain region Of New York.
"All I had to do" said Mr.. Weed,
"was to watch the fire at night. That
was a necessary employment. had
little to do excepting to keep my
eyes on the fire. The fire was so
bright that / was able to read by the
light Of It. / didn't have much read
ing matter, but l heard that a gen.
tleman who lived some ten or twelve
miles from the sugar camp possessed
a COPY of a certain work ] wanted
to read I set out over the snow for
walk to that gentleman's house. He
willingly loaned me the book and
read it through by the light OF the
sugar campfire. 1t was one OF the
first inspirations that | had to make
the most of myself.
Some years later l was reminded
of this incident by a conversation
which l had with the late George
d. Robinson when he was a member
of Congress representing the Spring
field (Mass.) district. subsequently
Mr.. Robinson was elected governor Of
Massachusetts, beating Gen. Butler
in the campaign IN which the latter
was a candidate for reelection. Mr..
Robinson was speaking 10 me of what
he called the monumental work of
Henry Wilson, who was for twelve
years United States Senator from
Massachusetts and who was elected
Vice President of the United States
on the ticket headed by Gen. Grant.
"The work to which Mr. Robinson
referred was Wilson's History of the
Rise and Fall of the Slave Power
in the United States That work.
Mir. Robinson said. would be recog-
nized as the standard historical au-
thority. I asked Mr.. Robinson if it
were true that Vice President Wilson
changed his name and that in his
childhood both his Christian and his
surname we're entirely different
from Henry Wilson.
"Yes, that is true" Mr.. Robinson
said. 81 don't suppose that anywhere
/ in the United States a poorer boy
/ than Wilson could be found, except
ing possibly in the poyerty-stricken
| sections of the great cities He had
! enough to eat and a place to sleep,
E and that was about all. He worked
or warm in New Hampshire near
the town of Rochester.
"I have heard that when he was a
boy he revealed an intense desire to
read books. But he found them hard
tu get. A New Hampshire lady. who
was, 7 think, a sister Of Levi Wood
bury, governor of New Hampshire
and afterward Secretary of the Trea-
surrey, took an interest in the boy
and lent him books TO read. He used
to walk seven or eight miles from the
farm to her home for the sake OF
getting a book to read
Zone Of the hooks that fell into his
hands was the biography Of a now
forgotten man, whose name was
/ Henry Wilson. This boy-whos,
name was Jeremiah Colbaith-be
came absorbed I'm the biography O.
Henry Wilson. He made Henry vii
son his idol and he then decided tha
whenever he could lawfully do 81
ne would change his name from
jeremiah Colbaith to Henry Wilson.
"As soon as he was twenty-onl
years OF age. and while still a jour
neyman cobbler at Natick. Mass. HI
applied to the courts for permission
to change his name to Henry Wilson
The court permitted him to do So"
Copyright, 1914, by E. J. Edwards
All rights reserved.
Tomorrow Mr.. Edwards will tel
"Why Secretary John Sherman Imi
tated the Sphinx"