WHAREY, JAMES BLANTON (1872-1946). James Blanton Wharey, English professor, was born in Cumberland County, Virginia, on March 4, 1872, the son of James M. and Mary W. (Blanton) Wharey. He earned bachelor's (1892) and master's (1895) degrees from Davidson College, North Carolina. Afterwards he taught for a year at Cape Fear Academy in Wilmington, North Carolina, tutored in classical languages at Davidson until 1896, then studied at Johns Hopkins University, where he was granted his Ph.D. in 1904. Meanwhile, in 1899 he had become professor of English at Peabody College, Nashville. There he taught until 1910, when he went to the University of Berlin for further study. In January 1912 Wharey joined the English faculty of the University of Texas, where he became professor in 1924. He wrote two books on John Bunyan, whose allegories were the subject of his doctoral dissertation. More important is his definitive edition of Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress (1928), contemporaneously acclaimed as "the finest achievement in critical bibliography within recent years." Wharey was a member of the Modern Language Association of America, the Texas Folklore Society,^qv and the American Association of University Professors. He became an elder in the University Presbyterian Church in Austin in 1913 and held that post until his death in Davidson, North Carolina, on July 24, 1946. He was buried at Oakwood Cemetery in Austin.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Carl John Eckhardt, One Hundred Faithful to the University of Texas at Austin (197-?). Vertical Files, Barker Texas History Center, University of Texas at Austin. Who Was Who in America (Vol.2).

Robert Adger Law