James Wadsworth, an American philanthropist, born in Durham, Conn., April 20, 1768, died in Geneseo, N. Y., June 8, 1844. He graduated at Yale college in 1787, and in 1790 removed with his brother to the Genesee river, purchasing a large tract of land in what is now the town of Geneseo. In time he became one of the richest land proprietors in New York. He printed and circulated, at his own expense, publications on the subject of education, employed persons to lecture on it, and offered premiums to the towns which should first establish school libraries. As early as 1811 he proposed the establishment of normal schools. He procured the enactment of the school library law in 1838, founded a library and institution for scientific lectures at Geneseo and endowed it with $10,000, and in his sales of land always stipulated that a tract of 125 acres in each township should be granted free for a church, and another of the same size for a school. His donations to the cause of education exceeded $90,000. - His son James Samuel, born in 1807, distinguished himself by patriotism and philanthropy, and was mortally wounded in the battle of the Wilderness, where he commanded a division, May 6, 1864, and died on the 8th.