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Founders and Political Leaders - Part 6
Jackson, Mortimer Melville
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
JACKSON, Mortimer Melville, jurist, born in Rensselaerville, Albany County, New York. 5 March, 1814. He was educated in Flushing and New York City, and entered a counting-house, where he remained several years, also studying law. In 1838 he moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and in the following spring he settled in Mineral Point, Iowa County, where he acquired a good law practice. He was a member of the territorial convention that was held in Madison soon after the election of Harrison to the presidency, when the Whig Party was first organized in Wisconsin. As chairman of the committee, he prepared and reported the resolutions embodying the platform of that organization, and strongly opposed the extension of slavery in the territories. From 1842 till 1847 he was attorney-general, and during his term conducted many important cases. He was a member of the committee that was appointed by an educational convention in Madison in 1846, and prepared a plan for improvement in common-school education, a part of which was subsequently incorporated in the state constitution. He was interested in the efforts made in western Wisconsin to have the reserved mineral lands, which were held by the U. S. government, brought into market, and addressed a memorial to President Polk on this subject, which was adopted by the legislature. On the admission of Wisconsin to the Union, he was elected the first circuit judge for the 5th Judicial Circuit, serving also in the supreme court till the organization of a separate supreme court in 1853, when he resumed his law practice. He subsequently united with the Republican Party, and in 1861 was appointed by President Lincoln U. S. consul at Halifax, Nova Scotia. While there he caused the seizure from Confederates of about $3,000,000 worth of war material, and advised the government of suspected vessels. In 1870, at the request of the Secretary of State, he made a report to Congress on the fisheries and fishery laws of Canada, in which he examined and discussed the controversy between Great Britain and the United States. Judge Jackson also addressed a communication to the Secretary of State, reviewing the action of the fishery commission in 1877, and saying that the sum of $5,500,000 that had been awarded to Great Britain was unwarranted and excessive. He resigned his consulship in 1882 and returned to Madison, Wis. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. III, p. 390.
Jay, John, 1817-1894, New York, diplomat, lawyer. Grandson of Chief Justice John Jay. President of the New York Young Men’s Anti-Slavery Society in 184. Active and leader in the Free Soil Party and founding member of the Republican Party. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. III, pp. 413-414; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 5, Pt. 2, p. 10; Drake, 1950, pp. 95, 98.
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
JAY, John, diplomatist, born in New York City, 23 June, 1817, was graduated at Columbia in 1836, and then studied law in his native city. After his admission to the bar in 1839 he became well known by his activity in opposition to slavery, and by his advocacy of St. Philip's Colored Church, which was admitted to the Protestant Episcopal Convention after a nine years' contest. He was secretary of the Irish Relief Committee of 1847, and was counsel for many fugitive slaves, including George Kirk, two Brazilian slaves that were landed in New York, and the Lemmons (see Arthur, Chester Alan), also in the noted Du Lux case, which, after dividing the opinions of the judges of the New York Courts, was tried before the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1854 he organized the meetings at the Broadway Tabernacle that resulted in the state convention at Saratoga, on 10 August, and in the dissolution of the Whig and the formation of the Republican Party at Syracuse, 27 September, 1855. In 1869 he was sent as minister to Austria, where his diplomatic work included a naturalization treaty, the establishment of a convention on trademarks, and the supervision of the U. S. Commission to the World's Fair of 1873. He resigned and returned to the United States in 1875, and has since resided in New York City. In 1877 he was appointed by Secretary Sherman chairman of the commission known as the Jay Commission, to investigate the system of the New York custom-house. In 1883 he was appointed by Governor Cleveland as the Republican member of the State Civil service Commission, of which he is still (1887) president. Mr. Jay was active in the early history of the American Geographical and Statistical Society, and was long manager and corresponding secretary of the New York Historical Society, and an early member of the Union League club, and its president in 1866-70 and 1877. Re was also the first president of the Huguenot' Society organized in 1885 in New York. In connection with his political career, Mr. Jay has delivered numerous addresses on questions connected with slavery, and also bearing on its relation to the Episcopal Church, of which denomination he is one of the leaders among the laity. They have been printed as pamphlets and widely circulated. Among the most important of them are "The Dignity of the Abolition Cause, as compared with' the Political Schemes of the Day " (1839): ' Caste and Slavery in the American Church " (1843); "The Proxy Bill and the Tract. Society " (1859); ' The American Church and the American Slave-Trade" (1860); "The Great Conspiracy and England's Neutrality" (1861); "America Free, or America Slave "; and " The Memories of the Past" (1867). [Appleton’s 1900]
Jenckes, Thomas Allen, 1818-1875, lawyer. Republican Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Rhode Island. Served as Congressman from 1863-1871. Voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery (Appletons’, 1888, Vol. III, pp. 425-426; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 5, Pt. 2, p. 41; Congressional Globe)
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
JENCKES, Thomas Allen, Congressman, born in Cumberland, R.I., 2 November, 1818; died there, 4 November, 1875. He was graduated at Brown in 1838, and was a tutor in mathematics there in 1839-'40. He studied law, was admitted to the Rhode Island Bar in 1840, and attained note in his profession. He was for many years engaged in the important litigation of the Sickles and Corliss steam-engine patents, and the Day and Goodyear rubber suits. He had an office in New York for many years, as well as in Providence, and was retained by the U.S. government in their cases brought against parties to the Credit Mobilier. During the Dorr Rebellion of 1842 Mr. Jenckes served the constituted authorities in a civil and military capacity, and with his pen as well. He was a secretary of the Landholders' Convention of 1841, and of the convention that framed the constitution of 1842. When the governor's council was established he became its secretary. He served in both houses of the legislature, and in the case of Peckham vs. Burrows, involving the right of the legislature to direct a new trial, convinced that body, and carried it against its previously expressed opinion, and against all other obstacles. This is recorded as one of the greatest forensic triumphs in the annals of Rhode Island. In 1855 he was appointed one of the commissioners to revise the laws of the state. He was elected to Congress in 1862 as a Republican, and served from 1863 till 1871, being at the head of the Committee on Patents, and of the Judiciary Committee. His greatest services in Congress were the revision of the patent and copyright laws, the general bankrupt law of 1867, and the introduction and adoption of a law for improving and regulating the civil service. He took an active part in the deliberations of the house, and on legal questions was an acknowledged authority. He foresaw the Civil War, and urged upon the state and Federal governments active measures to meet it. Witnessing a torch-light parade in the political canvass of 1860, he said: "It will not take much to turn those men into soldiers." Mr. Jenckes became convinced of the necessity of a uniform system of bankruptcy throughout the country, and to that end his labors, although they met with vigorous opposition, resulted in the Bankrupt Law of 1867. His services to frame a bill to secure reform in the civil service brought from him, as chairman of the Joint Select Committee on Retrenchment, an elaborate report on the civil-service laws of the world, 14 May, 1868. His bill met with intense and partisan opposition; but, convinced of its desirability, he forced it upon the attention of the country and of Congress, and, after a struggle, succeeded in securing its passage. His advocacy of the bankrupt and civil-service laws brought him before the New York Chamber of Commerce and Cooper Institute audiences, and elsewhere. In Congress he made the presentation address in behalf of his state when the statue of General Nathanael Greene was presented to the nation. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. III, pp. 425-426.
Jessup, William, 1797-1868, Pennsylvania, jurist, abolitionist, temperance activist. Leader of the Republican Party. Wrote party platform for election of 1860. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. III, p. 431.
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
JESSUP, William, jurist, born in Southampton, New York, 21 June, 1797; died in Montrose, Pennsylvania, 11 Sept., 1868. He was graduated at Yale in 1815, moved to Montrose in 1818, and was admitted to the bar there. From 1838 till 1851 he was presiding judge of the 11th Judicial District of Pennsylvania, and in April, 1861, was one of the committee of three that was sent by the governors of Pennsylvania, New York, and Ohio to confer with President Lincoln relative to raising 75,000 men. He was a pioneer in the cause of education and temperance in northern Pennsylvania, and the chief founder of the County Agricultural Society. In 1848 Hamilton College conferred on him the degree of LL.D. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. III, pp. 431.
Johnson, William F., Pennsylvania
Julian, George Washington, 1817-1899, Society of Friends, Quaker, statesman, lawyer, radical abolitionist leader from Indiana, vice president of the Free Soil Party, 1852. Member of U.S. Congress from Indiana, 1850-1851. Was against the Compromise of 1850 and the Fugitive Slave Act. Fought in court to prevent fugitive slaves from being returned to their owners. Joined and supported early Republican Party. Re-elected to Congress, 1861-1871. Supported emancipation of slaves. Husband of Ann Elizabeth Finch, who was likewise opposed to slavery. After her death in 1860, he married Laura Giddings, daughter of radical abolitionist Joshua Giddings. (Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. III, p. 486; Blue, 2005, pp. ix, 9, 10, 11, 13, 161-183, 210, 225-229, 259-260, 265-270; Riddleberger, 1966; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 54, 354-355; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 5, Pt. 2, p. 245; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary, New York, 1985, pp. 486-487; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 12, p. 315)
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
JULIAN, George Washington, statesman, born near Centreville, Indiana, 5 May, 1817. He received a common-school education, taught for three years, studied law, and was admitted to practice in 1840. He was elected to the Indiana House of Representatives in 1845 as a member of the Whig Party; but becoming warmly interested in the slavery question through his Quaker training, severed his party relations in 1848, became one of the founders and leaders of the Free-Soil Party, was a delegate to the Buffalo Convention, and was then elected to Congress, serving from 3 December, 1849, to 3 March, 1851. In 1852 he was a candidate for the vice-presidency on the Free-Soil ticket. He was a delegate to the Pittsburg Convention of 1856, the first National Convention of the Republican Party, and was its vice-president, and chairman of the committee on organization. In 1860 he was elected as a Republican to Congress, and served on the joint committee on the conduct of the war. He was four times re-elected, and served on the Committee on Reconstruction, and for eight years as chairman of the Committee on Public Lands. He espoused the cause of woman suffrage as early as 1847, and in 1868 proposed in Congress a constitutional amendment conferring the right to vote on women. During the discussions on reconstruction he was zealous in demanding the electoral franchise for the Negro. In 1872 he joined the Liberal Republicans, and supported Horace Greeley for president. His most strenuous efforts in Congress were directed to the championship of the homestead policy and the preservation of the public lands for the people. In May, 1885, he was appointed surveyor-general of New Mexico. He has published "Speeches on Political Questions," containing a sketch of his life by Lydia Maria Child (Boston, 1872), and "Political Recollections" (Chicago, 1884), and has contributed to magazines and reviews articles dealing with political reforms.—His brother, Isaac Hooper, journalist, born in Wayne County, Indiana, 19 June, 1823, moved to Iowa in 1846, resided there till 1850, and returning to Indiana settled in Centreville and edited the "Indiana True Republican," which he afterward published in Richmond, Indiana, under the title of "The Indiana Radical." He occupied several local offices in that town, moved to San Marco, Texas, in 1873, and since that date has edited the "San Marco Free Press." He has published, besides numerous poems, pamphlets, and essays, a "Memoir of David Hoover" (Richmond, Indiana, 1857). Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. III, p. 486.
Kasson, John Adams, 1822-1910, lawyer, diplomat. Republican Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa. Served as a Congressman from 1863-1867, 1873-1877, 1881-1884. Voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery (Appletons’, 1888, Vol. III, p. 494; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 5, Pt. 2, p. 260; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 12, p. 392; Congressional Globe)
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
KASSON, John Adams, lawyer, born near Burlington, Vermont, 11 January, 1822. After graduation in the University of Vermont in 1842, he studied law in Massachusetts, and was admitted to the bar. He practised law in St. Louis, Missouri, until 1857, when he moved to Des Moines, Iowa. He was chairman of the Republican State Committee from 1858-'60, when he was a delegate to the Republican National Convention at Chicago. In 1861 he was appointed by President Lincoln first assistant Postmaster-General, which office he resigned in 1862, and was elected to Congress as a Republican, serving from 1863-'7. He was U. S. Postal Commissioner to Paris in 1863, and again in 1867, when he negotiated postal Conventions with Great Britain and other nations. He was a member of the Iowa House of Representatives from 1868-'73, when he was again elected to Congress, serving from 1 December, 1873, till 3 March, 1877. He was appointed U. S. minister to Austria in 1877, having first declined the mission to Spain, and remained in Vienna until 1881, when he was again elected to Congress, serving from 4 March, 1881, till his appointment on 4 July, 1884, as minister to Germany, where he was succeeded in 1885 by George H. Pendleton. He was president of the committee on the centennial celebration of the adoption of the constitution, held in Philadelphia in September, 1887. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. III, p. 494.
Kelley, William Darrah, 1814-1890, lawyer, jurist, abolitionist. Republican Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania. Elected in 1860. Called the “Father of the House.” Voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery (Gates, 2013, Vol. 10, p. 510; Appletons’, 1888, Vol. III, p. 505; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 12, p. 494; Congressional Globe; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 5, Pt. 2, p. 299)
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
KELLEY, William Darrah, Congressman, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 12 April, 1814. His grandfather, John, was a Revolutionary officer, of Salem County, New Jersey. William lost his father at an early age, and was apprenticed first to a printer and subsequently to a jeweler in Boston, where, while following his trade, he acquired a reputation as a writer and speaker. Returning to Philadelphia in 1840 he studied law, was admitted to the bar the next year, and while practising his profession devoted much time to literary pursuits. He was Attorney-General of the state in 1845-'6, and a judge of the court of common pleas of Philadelphia from 1846 till 1850. Until 1848 Mr. Kelley was a Democrat and free-trader, but in 1854 he joined the Republican Party, became a protectionist and an ardent abolitionist, and delivered in Philadelphia in 1854 an address on "Slavery in the Territories." that became widely known. In 1860 he was a delegate to the National Republican Convention, and was elected to Congress, where he has served till the present time (1887), and is the senior member of the house in continuous service. He has been a member of numerous committees, such as those on Naval Affairs, Agriculture, and Indian Affairs, was chairman of that on Weights and Measures in the 40th Congress, and of that on the Centennial Celebration. He is often called the "Father of the House," and is popularly known as "Pig-iron Kelley-" In addition to many political speeches and literary essays, he has published " Address at the Colored Department of the House of Refuge" (Philadelphia, 1850); "Reasons for abandoning the Theory of Free Trade and adopting the Principle of Protection to American Industry" (1872); "Speeches, Addresses"; "Letters on Industrial and Financial Questions" (1872); "Letters from Europe " (1880): and " The New South " (1887). Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. III, p. 505.
Kellogg, Francis W., 1810-1878, Republican Member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Served in Congress 1859-1865, 1868-1869. Raised six regiments of cavalry for the Union Army. Voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery. (Appletons’, 1888, Vol. III, p. 505; Congressional Globe)
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
KELLOGG, Francis W., Congressman, born in Washington, Hampshire COUNTY, Massachusetts, 30 May, 1810; died in Alliance, Ohio, in November, 1878. After receiving a limited education he moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan, and engaged in the lumber business. In 1850-'7 he was a member of the legislature, and from 1859 till 1865 served in Congress, having been chosen as a Republican. During the Civil War he raised six regiments of cavalry for the National Army. In 1865 he was appointed collector of internal revenue for the southern District of Alabama, and was a member of Congress from 22 July, 1868, till 3 March, 1869. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. III, p. 505.
Kellog, William
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
KELLOGG, William, jurist, born in Ashtabula County, Ohio. 8 July, 1814. He received a common-school education, and. removing to Illinois in 1837, studied law, was admitted to the bar at Canton, and acquired an extensive practice in cases of disputed land-titles. He was a member of the legislature in 1849-'50, was three years a judge of the circuit court of Illinois, and in 1856 was elected to Congress as a Republican, serving till 1863. In 1864 he was appointed by President Lincoln minister to Guatemala, but declined to serve, and in 1866 he became chief justice of Nebraska territory. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. III, pp.
Keyes
King, John Alsop, 1788-1867, statesman, lawyer, soldier, political leader, diplomat, U.S. Congressman, Governor of New York, son of Rufus King. He opposed compromises on issues of slavery, especially the Fugitive Slave Law. Supported admission of California as a free state. Active in the Whig Party and later founding member of the Republican Party in 1856. Elected Governor of New York in 1856, serving one term. (Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. III, pp. 543-544; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 5, Pt. 2, p. 394)
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
KING, John Alsop, statesman, born in New York City, 3 January, 1788; died in Jamaica, New York, 7 July, 1867, was, with his brother Charles, placed at school at Harrow during his father's residence in England. Thence he went to Paris, and then returned to New York, where he was admitted to the bar. In 1812, when war with Great Britain was declared, he gave his services to the country, and was later a lieutenant of cavalry stationed in New York. Soon after the war he moved to Jamaica, New York, near his father's home, and was for several years practically engaged in farming. He was elected in 1819 and in several subsequent years to the assembly of the state, and, with his brother Charles, opposed many of the schemes of De Witt Clinton. He was, however, friendly to the canal, and was chosen to the state senate after the adoption of the new constitution. From this he resigned in order that he might, as secretary of legation, accompany his father on his mission to Great Britain. The failure of the latter's health obliged him to return, and his son remained as charge d'affaires until the arrival of the new minister. Returning home to his residence at Jamaica, he was again, in 1838, sent to the assembly, and in 1849 he took his seat as a representative in Congress, having been elected as a Whig. He strenuously resisted the compromise measures, especially the Fugitive-Slave Law, and advocated the admission of California as a free state. He was an active member of several Whig nominating conventions, presided over that at Syracuse, N.Y., in 1855, where the Republican Party was formed, and in 1856, in the convention at Philadelphia, warmly advocated the nomination of General Fremont. He was elected governor of New York in 1856, entered on the duties of the office, 1 January, 1857, and especially interested himself in internal improvements and popular education. On the expiration of his term he declined a renomination on account of increasing age, and retired to private life, from which he only emerged, at the call of Governor Morgan, to become a member of the Peace Convention of 1861. He was a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and was active in its diocesan conventions. [Son on Rufus King]. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. III, pp. 543-544.
King, Preston, 1806-1865, U.S. Congressman, U.S. Senator, politician. Son of founding father Rufus King. Opponent of the extension of slavery into the new territories acquired from Mexico after 1846. Supporter of the Wilmot Proviso in Congress. Co-founder of Free Soil Party. Opposed the Fugitive Slave Act and the Kansas Nebraska Act of 1854. U.S. Senator, 1857-1863. Supported Lincoln and the Union. Later organized Republican Party and supported William H. Seward, Thurlow Weed and John Frémont. (Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. III pp. 541-542, American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 12, p. 708; Encyclopaedia Americana, 1831, Vol. VII, pp. 326-328; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 5, Pt. 2, p. 396)
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
KING, Preston, senator, born in Ogdensburg, New York, 14 October, 1800; drowned in Hudson River, 12 November, 1865. He was graduated at Union in 1827, studied law, and practised in St. Lawrence County, New York. He entered politics in early life, was a strong friend of Silas Wright, and an admirer of Andrew Jackson, and established the "St. Lawrence Republican " at Ogdensburg in 1830, in support of the latter. He was for a time postmaster there, and in 1834-'7 a member of the state assembly. He was a representative in Congress in 1843-'7 and in 1849-'53, having been elected as a Democrat, but in 1854 joined the Republican Party, was its candidate for Secretary of State in 1855, and in 1857-'63 served as U. S. Senator. Early in 1861, in the debate on the naval appropriation bill, Mr. King said that the Union could not be destroyed peaceably, and was one of the first to give his opinion thus plainly. In closing, he said: "I tell these gentlemen, in my judgment this treason must come to an end—peacefully, I hope: but never, in my judgment, peacefully by the ignominious submission of the people of this country to traitors—never. I desire peace, but I would amply provide means for the defence of the country by war, if necessary." After the expiration of his term, Mr. King resumed the practice of law in New York City. He was a warm friend of Andrew Johnson, and, as a member of the Baltimore Convention of 1864, did much to secure his nomination for the vice-presidency. After his accession to the presidency, Mr. Johnson appointed Mr. King collector of the Port of New York. Financial troubles and the responsibilities of his office unsettled his mind, and he committed suicide by jumping from a ferry-boat into the Hudson River. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. III, pp. 541-542.
Kirkwood, Samuel Jordan, 1813-1894, statesman, political leader. Governor of Iowa, 1860-1864, 1876-1877. U.S. Senator, 1865-1867, 1877-1881. Secretary of the Interior, 1881-1882. Anti-slavery senator. Early leader in the Republican Party. Strong supporter of Abraham Lincoln and the Union. (Clark, 1917; Lathrop, 1893; Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. III, p. 557; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 5, Pt. 2, p. 436)
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
KIRKWOOD, Samuel Jordan, senator, born in Harford County, Maryland, 20 December, 1813. His only schooling was received at an academy in Washington, D. C., and ended when he was about fourteen years old. He moved to Ohio in 1835, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1843. From 1845 till 1849 he was prosecuting attorney of Richland County, and in 1850-'l was a member of the state constitutional convention. He moved to Iowa in 1855, engaged in milling and farming, and in 1856 served in the state senate. He was elected governor of Iowa in 1859, and re-elected in 1861. He placed in the field nearly or quite fifty regiments of infantry and cavalry, all but the first being enlisted for three years, and throughout the war there was no draft in Iowa, as her quota was always filled by volunteers. He was offered in 1862 the appointment of U. S. minister to Denmark, and, in the hope of his acceptance, Mr. Lincoln held the appointment open until the expiration of Mr. Kirkwood's term as governor, but he then made his refusal final. In 1866 he was elected U. S. Senator as a Republican, to fill the unexpired term of James Harlan. In 1875 he was for a third time governor of the state, and the next year was re-elected U. S. Senator, serving till 1881, when he resigned to enter the cabinet of President Garfield as Secretary of the Interior. Since 1882 he has held no public office. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. III, p. 557.
Knowlton, Ebenezer, 1815-, Pittsville, New Hampshire, abolitionist, clergyman. Member of the Maine House of Representatives and the U.S. House of Representatives, 1855-1857. Early member of the Republican Party. Lifelong opponent of slavery and temperance activist. Founder of Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. Coordinator of Free Will Baptist newspaper, Morning Star.
Lane, Henry Smith, 1811-1881, U.S. Senator. Voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery. (Appletons’, 1888, Vol. III, p. 607; Congressional Globe; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 5, Pt. 2, p. 574)
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
LANE, Henry Smith, senator, born in Montgomery County, Kentucky, 24 February, 1811; died in Crawfordsville, Indiana, 11 June, 1881, worked on a farm and attended school at intervals till he was sixteen years old. He began the study of law at eighteen, was admitted to the bar at twenty-one, and, removing to Indiana, practised his profession till 1854. He was in the legislature in 1837, and the next year was elected to Congress as a Republican, serving till 1843. The defeat of Henry Clay for the presidency retired Mr. Lane from political life for sixteen years. At the first National Republican Convention he made so effective a speech that, in June, 1856, he was elected permanent president of that body, and for several years he led the Republican Party in the state. The election of 1858 gave the Republicans the majority of both houses of the Indiana Legislature. In 1859, with the aid of the " Americans," they elected Mr. Lane to the U. S. Senate, hoping to annul the informal election of 1858 that gave the seat to Jesse D. Bright. The case was referred to the Congressional committee on elections, which reported in favor of the validity of the former election, and sustained Mr. Bright. Mr. Lane became governor of Indiana in 1860, and in February of that year was elected to the U. S. Senate, serving till 1867. He retired from politics at the end of his term, and, except as Indian peace-commissioner under General Grant, undertook no regular public service. He was a delegate to the Loyalists' Convention in 1866, to the Chicago National Republican Convention in 1868, and to that of Cincinnati in 1876. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. III, p. 607.
Langston, Charles Henry, 1817-1892, Ohio, African American (Black mother, White father), abolitionist leader. He and his brother, Gideon, were the first African Americans to attend Oberlin College. Active in Ohio Negro Convention Movement. Helped found the Ohio Anti-Slavery Society in 1858. Active in Liberty, Free Soil and Republican parties. Involved in slave rescue in violation of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. Recruited Black troops for the Union Army. (Blue, 2005, pp. 5-6, 13, 65-67, 66-78, 83-84, 86-88, 118, 120, 156, 266-267; Sinha, 2016, p. 467; Minutes, Convention of the Liberty Party, June 14, 15, 1848, Buffalo, New York)
Larimer, William
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
LARIMER, William, politician, born in Westmoreland County. Pennsylvania. 24 October, 1809; died near Leavenworth, Kansas, 16 May, 1875. He moved to Pittsburg in 1834, and became a banker and merchant, treasurer of the Ohio and Pennsylvania, and afterward president of the Pittsburg and Connellsville, Railroad. He took an active part in the antislavery movement, assisted in the organization of the Liberty Party, and supported James G. Birney for president in 1840. After that he acted with the Whigs and was a political leader in Pennsylvania. In 1855 he went to Nebraska, was a zealous Republican, and served in the territorial legislature in 1856. He moved to Kansas in 1858, but in October of that year led a party of gold-seekers to the Pike's Peak Country. He built the first house in Denver, Colonel, and was U. S. commissioner and judge of probate. In the beginning of the Civil War he raised a regiment of volunteers in Colorado and was commissioned colonel, but resigned and returned to Kansas, where he re-entered the army as a captain of cavalry in 1863. He served in Kansas, Indian Territory, and Arkansas, and was mustered out in August. 1865. The remainder of his life was passed on a farm in the vicinity of Leavenworth. In 1872 he earnestly supported his friend Horace Greeley for the presidency. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. III, p. 618.
Leach, DeWitt Clinton
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
LEACH, DeWitt Clinton, journalist, born in Clarence, Erie County, New York, 22 November, 1822. He is a descendant of Lawrence Leach, noticed below. His great-grandfather, Samuel Leach, was killed in the French and Indian War, and his grandfather, Samuel Leach, served in the Revolution. He received his education in the public schools, and on reaching manhood began teaching. He then moved with his parents to Michigan, and in 1849 was chosen to the legislature of that state. In 1850 he was a member of the Constitutional convention, and made a speech before it urging the granting of the right of suffrage to the colored race. In 1854 he was appointed state librarian, in 1855 he became editor of a Republican paper at Lansing, and in the following year he was elected to Congress, serving till 1861. He was commissioned by President Lincoln as Indian Agent for Michigan, retaining the office four years. In 1867 he was for the second time chosen a member of a Constitutional convention of the state. About this time he purchased the " Herald," Traverse City, Michigan, which he published and edited for nine years. He has since published the " Patriot Advertiser," Springfield, Missouri, and the "Northwest Farmer," Traverse City, Michigan. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. III, p. 646.
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865, 16th President of the United States (1861-1865), opponent of slavery. Issued Emancipation Proclamation January 1, 1863, freeing slaves in southern states. By the end of the Civil War, more than four million slaves were liberated from bondage. (Basler, Ed., The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, New Jersey, Rutgers University, 1953, 9 Vols.; Dumond, 1961, pp. 224-225, 356; Miers, E. S., Lincoln Day by Day – A Chronology, Vols. 1-3; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 65, 66, 140, 241-243, 275, 368-370, 385, 690-691; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. III, pp. 715-727; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 6, Pt. 1, p. 242; National Archives and Records Administration [NARA], College Park, Maryland; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 13, p. 662)
LINCOLN, Abraham, sixteenth president of the United States, born in Hardin County, Kentucky, 12 Feb., 1809; died in Washington, D. C., 15 April, 1865. See additional entry.
Longyear, John Wesley
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
LONGYEAR, John Wesley, jurist, born in Shandaken, Ulster County, New York, 22 October, 1820; died in Detroit, Michigan. 10 March, 1875. He was educated at Lima, New York, and, moving in 1844 to Michigan, was admitted to the bar in 1846, settling the next year in Lansing, where he acquired an extensive practice. He was elected to Congress as a Republican in 1862, served till 1867, and during both terms was chairman of the committee on Expenditures on the Public Buildings. He was a delegate to the Loyalists' Convention in Philadelphia in 1866, a member of the Michigan Constitutional Convention in 1867, and in 1870 became U. S. Judge of the Southern District of the state. His decisions, especially those in admiralty and bankruptcy cases, were extensively quoted. , New York, 1879) Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 17.
Loomis, Dwight
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
LOOMIS, Dwight, lawyer, born in Columbia. Connecticut, 27 July, 1821. He studied law in New Haven, and was admitted to the bar in 1847. Settling in Rockville, Connecticut, he followed his profession there until 1851, when he was elected to the Connecticut legislature. In 1856 he served as a delegate at the People's Convention held in Philadelphia, and in 1857 was sent to the state senate. He was elected as a Republican to the United States House of Representatives, and served from 5 December, 1859, till 3 March, 1863. In 1864 he was appointed a judge of the superior court of Connecticut, and in 1875 was advanced to the supreme court, where he has since remained. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 18.
Lovejoy, Owen, 1811-1864, clergyman, abolitionist leader, lawyer, U.S. Congressman. Illinois Anti-Slavery Society. Member and Manager of the American Anti-Slavery Society. Active in Underground Railroad. Member, Illinois State Legislature. Brother of anti-slavery newspaper publisher, Elijah Parrish Lovejoy. Like his brother, Owen Lovejoy was a strong supporter of William Lloyd Garrison. He was elected to Congress in 1856 and actively supported the abolition of slavery in Congress until his death in 1864. (Blue, 2005, pp. 6, 11, 13, 90-116, 265-270; Dumond, 1961, p. 186; Mitchell, 2007, pp. 4, 48, 91, 131, 188; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 141, 196; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 34-35; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 6, Pt. 1, p. 435; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 14, p. 6).
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
LOVEJOY, Owen, abolitionist, born in Albion, Me., 6 Jan., 1811; died in Brooklyn, New York, 25 March, 1864, worked on his father's farm till he was eighteen years old, and then entered Bowdoin, but left before graduation, emigrated to Alton, Illinois, and studied theology. He was present when his brother was murdered, and was moved by that event to devote himself to the overthrow of slavery. He became pastor of a Congregational Church at Princeton, Illinois, in 1838. Although anti-slavery meetings were forbidden by the laws of Illinois, he openly held them in all parts of the state, announcing at each one the time and place for the next meeting. This course subjected him to frequent fines and to violence and intimidation; but by his eloquence and persistency he won many adherents, and eventually the repressive laws were repealed. He resigned his pastoral charge in 1854 on being elected a member of the legislature. In 1856 he was sent to Congress, and was continued there by re-election until his death. At the beginning of the Civil War he delivered in the House of Representatives a remarkable speech against slavery, in which he recounted the circumstances of his brother's death. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 34-35.
Low, Frederick Ferdinand
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
LOW, Frederick Ferdinand, governor of California, born in Frankfort, Maine, 30 June. 1828. He was trained for mercantile life in Boston, Massachusetts, went to California in 1849, and, after spending some time in the mines, established himself in business in San Francisco, and in 1854 moved to Marysville, where he became a banker. He was elected as a Republican to Congress in 1860, and, after the expiration of his term in 1863, was appointed collector of the Port of San Francisco. He was elected governor the same year. and served for the four-years' term beginning 1 January, 1864. From 1869 till 1874 he was U. S. minister to China. In February, 1871, he was empowered to negotiate with Corea for the protection of shipwrecked seamen and for a treaty of commerce and navigation. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 37.
McLure, Alexander Kelly
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
McLURE, Alexander Kelly, journalist, born in Sherman's Valley, Perry County, Pennsylvania, 9 January, 1828. In the earlier years of his life he divided his time between his father's farm and the village school, and at the age of fourteen he was apprenticed to the tanner's trade. In 1846, on the urgent advice of his friend, the editor of the " Perry Freeman," to whose paper he had contributed, he began the publication of a Whig journal, the " Sentinel," at Mifflin, Pennsylvania At the close of the first year he set up the type, and did the press-work, besides editing the paper, with the aid of a single apprentice. He sold the " Sentinel " in 1850, purchased an interest in the "Chambersburg Repository," became its editor, and made it one of the most noted anti-slavery journals in the state. In 1853 he was the Whig candidate for auditor-general, being the youngest man ever nominated for a state office in Pennsylvania. In 1855 he was a member of the convention that met at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and organized the Republican Party, and in the following year was a delegate to the National Convention that nominated Fremont for the presidency. In 1856 he sold the " Repository," quitted journalism, and shortly thereafter was admitted to the bar. In 1857-'8 he was chosen to the legislature, and in 1859 to the senate of Pennsylvania, over a Democratic opponent from a strong Democratic district. He was a delegate to the National Republican Conventions of 1860 and 1864, and in the former played a conspicuous part in inducing the delegation from his state to disregard their instructions for Simon Cameron and vote for Abraham Lincoln. He was chosen chairman of the Republican State Committee, and organized and led his party in the canvass of that year. In 1862 he repurchased the "Chambersburg Repository," but in the burning of Chambersburg, in 1864, almost his entire property was destroyed. In 1868 he settled in Philadelphia, where he resumed the practice of the law. In 1872 he was chairman of the Pennsylvania Delegation to the National Convention that nominated Horace Greeley for the presidency, was chosen chairman of the state committee that supported his election, and was elected as an Independent Republican to the state senate. In the following year he was an independent candidate for the mayoralty of Philadelphia, and came within nine hundred votes of being elected. During this year, with Frank McLaughlin, he established the "Times," a daily newspaper, and since its foundation he has been its editor-in-chief. He has opposed machine power in party management and official incompetency and dishonesty in Philadelphia. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 89.
McClurg, Joseph Washington, 1818-1900, lawyer, legislator, soldier. Republican Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Missouri. Served in Congress December 1863-1868. Elected Governor of Missouri in 1868. Voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery. (Appletons’, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 91; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 6, Pt. 1, p. 597; Congressional Globe)
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
McCLURG, Joseph Washington, legislator, born in St. Louis County. Missouri, 22 February, 1818. He was educated at Oxford College, Ohio, and taught in Louisiana and Mississippi in 1835-"6. He then went to Texas, where he studied law, was admitted to the bar, and made clerk of the circuit court in 1840. In 1844 he returned to Missouri and engaged in mercantile pursuits. In 1861 he suffered from Confederate depredations on his property, became colonel of the Osage Regiment, and subsequently of a regiment of National cavalry. He was a member of the state conventions of Missouri in 1861-'2-'3, and was elected and re-elected to Congress while residing in Linn Creek, Camden County, first as an Emancipation and afterward as a Republican candidate, serving from 7 December, 1863, until 1868, when he resigned. In the latter year he was elected governor and served the full term. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 91.
McLean, John, 1785-1861, Morris County, New Jersey, jurist, attorney. U.S. Supreme Court Justice, January 1830-. Dissented against the majority of Justices on the Dred Scott case, stating that slavery was sanctioned only by local laws. Free Soil and later Republican Party candidate for President of the U.S. (Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 144; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 6, Pt. 2, p. 127; Longacre, James B. & James Herring, National Portrait Gallery of Distinguished Americans. Philadelphia: American Academy of Fine Arts, 1834-1839)
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
McLEAN, John, jurist, born in Morris County, New Jersey, 11 March, 1785; died in Cincinnati, Ohio, 4 April, 1861. In 1789 his father, a poor man with a large family, moved to the west and settled, first at Morgantown, Virginia, subsequently at Nicholasville, Kentucky, and finally, in 1799, on a farm in Warren County, Ohio. Young McLean worked on the farm that his father had cleared till he was sixteen years old, then received private instruction in the classics for two years, and at the age of eighteen went to Cincinnati to study law, and, while acquiring his profession, supported himself by writing in the office of the clerk of the county. In the autumn of 1807 he was admitted to the bar, and began practice at Lebanon. In October, 1812. he was elected to Congress from his district, which then included Cincinnati, by the Democratic Party, defeating two competitors in an exciting contest, and was re-elected by the unanimous vote of the district in 1814. He supported the Madison administration, originated the law to indemnify individuals for the loss of property in the public service, and introduced an inquiry as to pensioning the widows of fallen officers and soldiers. He declined a nomination to the U. S. Senate in 1815. and in 1816 was elected judge of the supreme court of the state, which office he held till 1822, when President Monroe appointed him commissioner of the general land-office. In July, 1823, he was appointed Postmaster-General, and by his energetic administration introduced order, efficiency, and economy into that department. The salary of the office was raised from $4,000 to $6,000 by an almost unanimous vote of both houses of Congress during his administration. He was continued in the office by President John Q. Adams, and was asked to remain by General Jackson in 1829, but declined, because he differed with the president on the question of official appointments and removals. President Jackson then tendered him in succession the War and the Navy Departments, and, on his declining both, appointed him an associate justice of the U. S. Supreme Court. He entered upon his duties in January, 1830. His charges to grand juries while on circuit were distinguished for ability and eloquence. In December, 1838, he delivered a charge in regard to aiding or favoring "unlawful military combinations by our citizens against any foreign government with whom we are at peace," with special reference to the Canadian insurrection and its American abettors. The most celebrated of his opinions was that in the Dred Scott Case, dissenting from the decision of the court as given by Chief-Justice Taney, and enunciating the doctrine that slavery was contrary to right and had its origin in power, and that in this country it was sustained only by local law. He was long identified with the party that opposed the extension of slavery, and his name was before the Free-soil Convention at Buffalo in 1848 as a candidate for nomination as president. In the Republican National Convention at Philadelphia in 1856 he received 196 votes for the same office to 359 for John C. Fremont. In the Republican Convention at Chicago in 1860 he also received several votes. He published " Reports of the United States Circuit Court" (6 vols., 1829-'55); a " Eulogy on James Monroe" (1831); and several addresses. John's son. Nathaniel Collins, soldier, born in Warren County, Ohio, 2 February, 1815. was graduated at Augusta College. Kentucky, in 1832, studied for a year or two longer at Harvard, and took his degree at the law-school there in 1838. He married a daughter of Judge Jacob Burnet the same year, and began practice in Cincinnati, where he attained success at the bar. He entered the National Army on 11 January, 1862, as colonel of the 75th Ohio Volunteers, being commissioned brigadier-general on 29 November, 1862, and resigned on 20 April, 1865. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 144.
McPherson, Edward
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
McPHERSON, Edward, author, born in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, 31 July, 1830. He was graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1848, studied law, and subsequently settled in Gettysburg as a journalist, but was compelled, through the failure of his health, to abandon literary work. He published a series of articles in the Philadelphia "Bulletin" in 1851, afterward printed in pamphlet form, in which he advocated the sale by the state of its main line of public improvements. This, with a similar series published in 1858, was instrumental in effecting that measure, and in the same year he was elected to Congress as a Republican, and served from 1859 till 1863. In the latter year he was appointed deputy commissioner of internal revenue, but, after a service of six months, he became clerk of the lower house of Congress, and held that office till 1873. His term of service in this office was the longest since the beginning of the government. He was chief of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in 1877-'8, permanent president of the Republican National Convention in 1876. and since 1879 has been engaged in journalism in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The University of Pennsylvania gave him the degree of LL. D., and Princeton that of A. M., in 1877. He has published " Political History of the United States during the Great Rebellion " (Washington, 1865); "The Political History of the United States during Reconstruction "(1870); and a " Hand-Book of Politics" (1872; new ed. every second year); and has edited the "New York Tribune Almanac" since 1877. For several years he has been the American editor of the " Almanack de Gotha." Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 157.
Martin, John Alexander
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
MARTIN, John Alexander, governor of Kansas, born in Brownsville, Pennsylvania. 10 March, 1839. He learned the printer's trade in the office of the Brownsville "Clipper." and became foreman of the composing-room, and subsequently local editor. Removing in 1857 to Atchison, Kansas, he purchased the "Squatter Sovereign" in February a powerful influence on the political development of the state. In July, 1859, he was secretary of the Wyandotte Convention, at which the state constitution was framed, in October of that year was a delegate to the Republican Convention, and in December was elected a state senator. He was a member of the National Republican Convention in 1860, and after the admission of Kansas to the Union in 1861 was postmaster at Atchison. He served during one session in the state senate, on 27 October joined the National Army as lieutenant-colonel of the 8th Kansas Infantry, and was for some time provost-marshal of Leavenworth. On 1 November, 1862, he was promoted colonel of the regiment, and a month later appointed provost-marshal at Nashville, Tennessee, in which capacity he served six mouths. He took part in the principal engagements of the Army of the Cumberland, commanding a brigade at Chickamauga, and also for several months before he was mustered out, 17 November, 1864. He was brevetted brigadier-general of volunteers for services during the war. Returning to Atchison, he resumed the management of his newspaper, which he converted into a daily, and in 1865 was elected mayor. He was a delegate to the Republican National Conventions of 1868, 1872, and 1880, a member of the National Committee of the party from 1868 till 1884, also of the U. S. Centennial Commission in 1870, and since 1878 has been a manager of the National Soldiers Home. He was elected governor of Kansas in 1884, and in 1886 was re-elected. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 231-232.
May, Samuel Joseph, Reverend, 1797-1871, reformer, abolitionist leader, temperance advocate, clergyman, early advocate of women’s rights. Unitarian minister. Organized local auxiliary of the American Colonization Society (ACS). May was won over to the abolitionist cause and became an advocate for immediate, uncompensated emancipation of slaves. He was Vice president, 1848-1861, and founding member of the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS), December 1833. He also was Co-founder, lecturer and agent of the New England Anti-Slavery Society (NEASS). He was an officer of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society. May was opposed to both the annexation of Texas and the Mexican War. He adamantly opposed the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law and actively advocated resistance to it. He was active in Underground Railroad in Syracuse, New York. In 1851, he helped rescue a fugitive slave, Jerry McHenry, from the federal government. He was also an early supporter of William Lloyd Garrison. In 1856, he joined the anti-slavery Republican Party, supporting John Frémont for the presidency of the United States.
(Bruns, 1977, p. 456; Drake, 1950, p. 176; Dumond, 1961, pp. 182, 211-212, 273, 276; Filler, 1960, pp. 34, 44, 59, 65-66, 216; Mabee, 1970, pp. 12, 13, 20, 22-24, 26, 28, 29, 35, 37, 43-48, 78-79, 93, 124, 132, 149, 156, 168-170, 232, 272, 287, 289, 296, 300, 307, 308, 310, 359, 360, 368; Sernett, 2002, pp. 63, 102, 132, 134-144, 175, 176, 274-275, 312-313n39; Sinha, p. 222; Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. XII, December, 1833; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 273; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 6, Pt. 2, p. 447; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary, New York, 1985, pp. 585-586; The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. II. New York: James T. White, 1892, p. 313; May, Samuel Joseph. Memoir of Samuel Joseph May. Boston, 1873; May, Samuel Joseph, Recollections of the Anti-Slavery Conflict. Boston, 1868; Rodriguez, 2007, p. 169. Staudenraus, P. J. The African Colonization Movement, 1816-1865. New York: Columbia University Press, 1961, p. 127)
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
MAY, Samuel Joseph, reformer, born in Boston, Massachusetts, 12 September, 1797: died in Syracuse, New York, 1 July, 1871. He was graduated at Harvard in 1817, studied divinity at Cambridge, and in 1822 became pastor of a Unitarian Church at Brooklyn, New York. He was early interested in the anti-slavery cause, wrote and preached on the subject, and in 1830 was mobbed and burned in effigy at Syracuse for advocating immediate emancipation. He was a member of the first New England Anti-Slavery Society in 1832, and, when Prudence Crandall (q. v.) was proscribed and persecuted for admitting colored girls to her school in Canterbury, Connecticut, he was her ardent champion. He was also a member of the Philadelphia Convention of 1833 that formed the American Anti-Slavery Society, and signed the "Declaration of Sentiments." of which William Lloyd Garrison was the author. In 1835 he became the general agent of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, for which, by a union of gentleness and courage, he was peculiarly fitted, and in this capacity he lectured and travelled extensively. He was pastor of the Unitarian Church at South Scituate, Massachusetts, in 1836-'42, and became at the latter date, at the solicitation of Horace Mann, principal of the Girls' Normal School at Lexington, Massachusetts He returned to the pulpit in 1845, and from that date till three years previous to his death was pastor of the Unitarian Society in Syracuse, New York. Mr. May was active in all charitable and educational enterprises, and did much to increase the efficiency of the public-school system in Syracuse. He published "Education of the Faculties " (Boston. 1846): "Revival of Education" (Syracuse, New York, 1855): and "Recollections of the Anti-Slavery Conflict" (Boston, 1868). See "Memoir of Samuel Joseph May," edited by George B. Emerson, Samuel May, and" Thomas J. Mumford (Boston, 1873). Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 273.
Medill, Joseph
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
MEDILL, Joseph, journalist, born in New Brunswick, Canada. 6 April, 1823. His father moved in 1832 to Stark County, Ohio, where the son worked on a farm, subsequently studied law, and practised at Massillon. He founded a Free-Soil paper at Coshocton in 1849, established "The Leader," a Whig journal, at Cleveland in 1852, and in 1854 was one of the organizers of the Republican Party in Ohio. Soon afterward he went to Chicago, and with two partners bought, in May, 1855, the "Tribune," with which he has since been identified. He was a member of the Illinois Constitutional Convention in 1870, and the author of a minority representation clause. In 1871 he was a member of the U. S. Civil Service Commission, and was elected mayor of Chicago. He spent a year in Europe in 1873-'4, and on his return purchased a controlling interest in the "Tribune," of which he became and continues editor-in-chief. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 285.
Miller, Jacob Welsh
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
MILLER, Jacob Welsh, senator, born in German Valley, Morris County, New Jersey, in November, 1800; died in Morristown, New Jersey, 30 September, 1862. He received an academic education, studied law, was admitted to the bar of his native county, and attained eminence there. He was state senator in 1838-'40, and in the latter year was elected to the U. S. Senate as a Whig, serving till 1853. He opposed the compromise measures of 1850, and in 1855 joined the Republican Party, of which he continued an active member until his death. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 326
Miller, Samuel Freeman, 1816-1890, lawyer, jurist, Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Member of the U.S. House of Representatives, voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery. Supported emancipation. Leader of the Republican Party. Appointed by Abraham Lincoln as Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. (Appletons’, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 328-329; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 6, Pt. 2, p. 637; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 15, p. 516; Congressional Globe)
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
MILLER, Samuel Freeman, jurist, born in Richmond, Kentucky, 5 April, 1816. He was graduated at the medical department of Transylvania University, Kentucky, in 1838, practised for a short time, and afterward became a lawyer. He was strongly in favor of emancipation, and did much to further that cause, and, although he took no part in politics, the course of public affairs induced him to remove in 1850 from Kentucky to Iowa, where he became a leader of the Republican Party. He was offered and declined numerous offices, and devoted himself to his profession, in which he took high rank. In 1862 he was appointed by President Lincoln Associate Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court, which office he still (1888) occupies. He was the orator at the Constitutional Centennial Celebration at Philadelphia. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 328-329.
Moorhead, James Kennedy, 1806-1884. Republican Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In Congress from December 1859-March, 1869. Voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery. (Appletons’, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 385; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 7, Pt. 1, p. 147; Congressional Globe)
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
MOORHEAD, James Kennedy, Congressman, born in Halifax, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, 7 September, 1806; died in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, 6 March, 1884. He received a limited education, spending his youth on a farm, and was apprenticed to a tanner. He was a contractor for building the Susquehanna Branch of the Pennsylvania Canal, became superintendent of the Juniata Division, and was the first to place a passenger packet on this line. In 1836 he moved to Pittsburg and established there the Union Cotton-Factory. In 1838 he was appointed adjutant-general of the state, and in 1840 he became postmaster of Pittsburg. He was elected to Congress as a Republican, holding his seat from 5 December, 1859, till 3 March, 1869, and serving on the Committees on Commerce, National Armories, Manufactures, Naval Affairs, and Ways and Means. In 1868 he was a delegate to the National Republican Convention at Chicago. He was identified with the principal educational and charitable institutions of Pittsburg, was president of its chamber of commerce, of the Monongahela Navigation Company, and several telegraph companies, and was a delegate to the Pan-Presbyterian Council in Belfast, Ireland, in 1884. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 385.
Morgan, Edward Barber
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
MORGAN, Edward Barber, philanthropist, born in Aurora, Cayuga County, New York, 2 May, 1806; died there, 13 October, 1881. He received a public-school education and early engaged in mercantile pursuits, from which he ultimately retired with a large fortune. He was an original share-holder in the “New York Times," and a founder of the Wells and Fargo and United States Express Companies, of which corporations he was for many years an officer. He was elected and twice re-elected to Congress as a Republican, serving from 8 December, 1853, till 8 March, 1859. With William E. Dodge he erected, at a cost of 140,000, the Dodge-Morgan Library building of the Auburn, New York, Theological Seminary, of which institution he was long a trustee. Subsequently Mr. Morgan gave to the seminary a dormitory building that is now called "Morgan Hall." He was a charter trustee of Wells College, Aurora, to which he not only devoted his personal supervision for a long period, but gave over a quarter of a million dollars. His wife built for the college the new " Morgan Hall." He was also a trustee of Cornell University, and sent Professor Charles P. Hartt, of that institution, on a scientific journey to Brazil. His donations to individuals and to other institutions besides those named above were very large. He helped many young men to acquire an education and establish themselves in business. On one occasion, when a gentleman of wealth complained that he found it difficult to employ his capital profitably, he replied: "Why not invest in some worthy charities if I have found them the best investments."—His brother, Christopher, lawyer, born in Aurora, Cayuga County, New York, 4 June, 1808; died in Auburn, New York, 3 April, 1877, was graduated at Yale in 1838, studied law with William H. Seward, and, after being admitted to the bar, became his partner at Auburn, New York. He was elected and re-elected to Congress as a Whig, serving from 2 December, 1839, till 3 March, 1843. He was Secretary of State of New York from 1848 till 1852, and many years a trustee of the State Lunatic Asylum at Utica. He was at one time engaged in mercantile pursuits in Aurora, New York. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 397-398.
Morgan, Edwin Dennison, 1811-1883, merchant, soldier, statesman. Member of the Whig Party, Anti-Slavery Faction. Republican U.S. Senator from New York. Chairman of the Republican National Committee, 1856-1864. Governor of New York, 1858-1862. Commissioned Major General of Volunteers, he raised 223,000 troops for the Union Army. U.S. Senator, 1863-1869. Voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery. (Appletons’, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 398; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 7, Pt. 1, p. 168; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 15, p. 825; Congressional Globe)
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
MORGAN, Edwin Dennison, governor of New York, born in Washington, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, 8 February, 1811; died in New York City, 14 February, 1883. At the age of seventeen he moved to Hartford, Connecticut, where he entered the store of his uncle, Nathan Morgan, and became a partner in 1831. He was a member of the city council there in 1832. Removing to New York in 1836, he established himself in business and became a successful merchant. During the cholera epidemic he remained in the city to assist the poor. From 1850 till 1863 he was a member of the state senate, serving at one time as president pro tempore. He was vice-president of the National Republican Convention that met in Pittsburg, 22 February, 1856, and from 1856 till 1864 was chairman of the Republican National Committee. In 1858 he was elected governor of New York, which office he held until 1862. During his term the state debt was reduced, an increase in canal revenue was made, 223,000 troops were sent from New York to the army, and New York Harbor was put in a state of defence. On 28 September, 1861, he was made a major-general of volunteers, the state of New York being created a military department under his command, and for his services under this commission he declined compensation. On the expiration of his term he was elected to the U. S. Senate as a Republican, serving from 4 M arch, 1863, till 3 March, 1869. He opened the proceedings of the Baltimore Convention of 1864, and was a delegate to the Philadelphia Loyalists' Convention of 1866, but took no part in its action. In 1865 he declined the office of Secretary of the U. S. Treasury, which was offered him by President Lincoln. In 1872 he was chairman of the National Republican Committee, and conducted the successful campaign that resulted in the second election of General Grant. He was a Republican candidate for U. S. Senator in 1875, and in 1876 for governor of New York. In 1881 President Arthur offered him the portfolio of Secretary of the Treasury, which he declined, owing to his advanced age. Governor Morgan gave more than $200,000 to the New York Union Theological Seminary and to Williams College Library buildings, and $100,000 for a dormitory. His bequests for charitable and religious purposes amounted to $795,000. In 1867 he received the degree of LL. D. from Williams. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 398.
Morrill, Anson Peaslee
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
MORRILL, Anson Peaslee, statesman, born in Belgrade, Kennebec County, Maine, 10 June, 1803; died in Augusta, Maine, 4 July, 1887. He received a common-school education and devoted himself to mercantile pursuits in his native town. He soon bought an interest in a woollen-mill, and subsequently became connected with several extensive manufactories. In 1833 he was elected as a Democrat to the legislature, in 1839 he was made sheriff of Somerset County, and in 1850 he became land-agent. In 1853, when the Democratic Convention decided to oppose prohibition, he cut loose from that party, and was a candidate for governor on the Free-Soil and Prohibition tickets, but was defeated. The following year he was again a candidate, and, although there was no choice by the people, he was elected by the legislature, being the first Republican governor of Maine. He was an unsuccessful candidate for re-election, being defeated in the legislature through a coalition between the Whigs and Democrats. The party that Governor Morrill had formed served as the nucleus for the movement in 1856 when the National Republican Party first took the field, and he was a delegate to the convention that nominated John C. Fremont for president. He was elected to Congress in 1860, and served from 4 July, 1861, till 3 March, 1863. Declining a re-election, he became largely interested in railroads in his native state, and remained out of politics until 1881, when he was sent to the legislature. He moved to Augusta in 1876. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 408.
Morrill, Justin Smith, 1810-1898, abolitionist. Republican Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Vermont. Served as Congressman December 1855-March 1867. U.S. Senator 1873-1891. Voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery. (Appletons’, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 409; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 7, Pt. 1, p. 198; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 15, p. 882; Congressional Globe)
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
MORRILL, Justin Smith, senator, born in Strafford, Orange County, Vermont, 14 April, 1810. He received a common-school education, and engaged in mercantile pursuits until 1848, when he turned his attention to agriculture. He was elected to Congress as a Republican, and five times re-elected, serving from 3 December, 1855, until 3 March, 1867. He was the author of the “Morrill” Tariff of 1861, and acted as chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means in 1864-'5. He was elected U.S. Senator from Vermont in 1867, and re-elected in 1873, 1879, and 1886. His present term will expire in 1891. He is the author of a Self-Consciousness of Noted Persons” (Boston, 1886). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 409.
Morrill, Lot Myrick, 1813-1883, lawyer, statesman, temperance advocate, opposed slavery, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, 1876, two-term Republican Governor of Maine, U.S. Senator, 1861-1869. Joined the Republican Party due to his position against slavery and its expansion into the new territories. Supported the bill in Congress that emancipated slaves in Washington, DC. Voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery. After the war, he supported higher education for African Americans. In 1866, he supported voting rights for African Americans in Washington, DC. (Appletons’, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 408-409; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 7, Pt. 1, p. 149; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 15, p. 884; Congressional Globe; Biographical Directory of the United States Congress)
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
MORRILL, Lot Myrick, Secretary of the Treasury, born in Belgrade, Kennebec County, Maine, 3 May, 1813; died in Augusta, Maine, 10 January, 1883, entered Waterville College (now Colby University) in 1835, but did not remain through the year. He then studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1839. He moved to Augusta, established himself in practice, and was an active member of the Democratic Party in Maine. In 1854 he was elected to the legislature, and on his re-election in 1856 he was chosen President of the Senate. Subsequently Mr. Morrill denounced the course of his party on the question of slavery in Kansas, severed his connection with his former associates, was nominated in 1857 by the Republicans for governor, and elected by over 15,000 majority. He was twice re-elected. In 1860 Governor Morrill was chosen to the U. S. Senate to fill the vacancy caused by Hannibal Hamlin's election to the Vice-Presidency. He entered the Senate, 17 January, 1861, was placed on important committees, and attended the Peace Conference of that year. During the two that followed he took an active part in public affairs, and in 1863 was elected senator for the term that ended in 1869. In the Republican caucus for a successor, Mr. Morrill was defeated by a single vote: but, as William P. Fessenden died in 1869, Morrill was appointed to serve out the remainder of Fessenden's term. In 1871 he was again elected senator, and in the discharge of his duties devoted much attention to financial questions. He opposed the bill for inflating the currency, which was vetoed by President Grant, and was in favor of the Resumption Act of 1875. He was noted as being a hard worker in committee-rooms, and was especially familiar with Naval and Indian Affairs. On Secretary William W. Belknap's resignation, President Grant asked Senator Morrill to take a seat in the cabinet, but he declined. In June, 1876, he was made Secretary of the Treasury. In November, 1876, he made an address to the moneyed men of New York from the steps of the Sub-Treasury Department, and in his annual report in December he urged immediate and yet gradual contraction of the currency, and declared that specie payments could be resumed in 1879. When Mr. Hayes became President in 1877 he offered Mr. Morrill a foreign mission, but it was declined. He was appointed in March collector of customs for Portland District, Maine, which post he held at the time of his death. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 408-409.
Morris, Oliver B., Massachusetts, judge
Morton, Oliver Perry, 1823-1877, statesman, lawyer, jurist, anti-slavery activist. Member of the Republican Party. U.S. Senator and Governor of Indiana, 1861. (Appletons’, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 431-432; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 7, Pt. 1, p. 262; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 15, p. 956)
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
MORTON, Oliver Perry, statesman, born in Saulsbury, Wayne County, Indiana, 4 August, 1823; died in Indianapolis, Indiana, 1 November, 1877. His father, a native of New Jersey, whose ancestors came from England with Roger Williams, dropped the first syllable in the family name of Throckmorton. At the age of fifteen the son was taken from school and indentured to a brother, who was a hatter. After working at this trade four years he determined to fit himself for the bar, spent two years at Miami University, studied law at Centreville, and began practice there in 1847. He soon attained professional eminence, and was elected a circuit judge in 1852, but at the end of a year, when his term expired by the adoption of a new state constitution, he willingly left the bench, and before resuming practice spent a year at a law-school in Cincinnati. Having been a Democrat with anti-slavery convictions, he entered into the people's movement in 1854, took an active part in the formation of the Republican Party, and was a delegate to the Pittsburg Convention the same year, and the candidate of the new party for governor. In a joint canvass with Ashbel P. Willard, the Democratic nominee, he established a reputation for political ability, but was beaten at the polls, and returned to his law practice. In 1860 he was nominated for lieutenant-governor on the ticket with Henry S. Lane, and during the canvass took strong ground in favor of exacting from the southern states obedience to the Constitution. Up on convening, the legislature elected Governor Lane U. S. Senator, and on 16 January, 1861, Mr. Morton took the oath as governor. He opposed every compromise with the Secessionist Party, nominated to the Peace Congressmen of equally pronounced views, began to prepare for the coming conflict before Fort Sumter was fired upon, and when President Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers he offered to send 10,000 from Indiana. The state's quota was raised at once. He reconvened the legislature on 24 April, obtained authority to borrow $2,000,000, and displayed great energy and ability in placing troops in the field and providing for their care and sustenance. He gave permission to citizens of Indiana to raise troops in Kentucky, allowed Kentucky regiments to be recruited from the population of two of the southern counties, procured arms for the volunteer bodies enlisted for the defence of Kentucky, and by thus co-operating with the Unionists in that state did much toward establishing the ascendency of the National government within its borders. When the question of the abolition of slavery arose, the popular majority no longer upheld the governor in his support of the National administration. In 1862 a Democratic legislature was chosen, which refused to receive the governor's message, and was on the point of taking from him the command of the militia, when the Republican members withdrew, leaving both houses without a quorum. In order to carry on the state government and pay the state bonds, he obtained advances from banks and county boards, and appointed a bureau of finance, which, from April, 1863, till January, 1865, made all disbursements of the state, amounting to more than $1,000,000. During this period he refused to summon the legislature. The supreme court condemned this arbitrary course, but the people subsequently applauded his action, and the state assumed the obligations that he incurred. The draft laws provoked the Secessionists in Indiana to form secret organizations and commit outrages on Union men. They plotted against the life of Governor Morton and arranged a general insurrection, to take place in August, 1864. The governor discovered their plans and arrested the leaders of the Knights of the Golden Circle, or Sons of Liberty, as the association was called. In 1864 he was nominated for governor, and defeated Joseph E. McDonald by 20,883 votes, after an animated joint canvass. He resigned in January, 1867, to take his seat in the U. S. Senate, to which he was re-elected in 1873. In the Senate he was chairman of the Committee on Privileges and Elections and the leader of the Republicans, and for several years he exercised a determining influence over the political course of the party. On the question of reconstruction he supported the severest measures toward the southern states and their citizens. He labored zealously to secure the passage of the 15th Amendment to the Constitution, was active in the impeachment proceedings against President Johnson, and was the trusted adviser of the Republicans of the south. After supporting the Santo Domingo Treaty he was offered the English mission by President Grant, but declined, lest his state should send a Democrat to succeed him in the Senate. At the Republican National Convention in 1876 Mr. Morton, in the earlier ballots, received next to the highest number of votes for the presidential nomination. He was a member of the Electoral Commission of 1877. After having a paralytic stroke in 1865 he was never again able to stand without support, yet there was no abatement in his power as a debater or in the effectiveness of his forcible popular oratory. Immediately after his return from Europe, whither he had gone to consult specialists in nervous diseases, he delivered, in 1866, a political speech of which more than 1,000,000 copies were circulated in pamphlet-form. After visiting Oregon in the spring of 1877 as chairman of a senatorial committee to investigate the election of Lafayette Grover, he had another attack of paralysis, and died soon after reaching his home. See “Life and Public Services of Oliver Perry Morton” (Indianapolis, 1876). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 431-432.
Mott, Richard, 1804-1888, Mamaroneck, New York, abolitionist. Mayor of Toledo, Ohio. Anti-slavery Republican U.S. Congressman, 1855-1859. Brother of James Mott and brother-in-law of Lucretia Mott.
Newell, William Augustus
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
NEWELL, William Augustus, governor of New Jersey, born in Franklin, Ohio, 5 September, 1819. He was graduated at Rutgers College grammar school in 1836, studied medicine, and settled in New Jersey. He was elected to Congress from that state as a Whig, serving from 6 December, 1847, till 3 March, 1851. From 1856 till 1860 he was governor of New Jersey, and he was a delegate to the National Republican Convention in Baltimore in 1864. He was elected to Congress as a Republican representative, serving from 4 December, 1865, till 3 March, 1867, on the committee on Revolutionary Claims, Foreign Affairs, and War Debts of the Loyal States, and was a delegate to the Philadelphia " Loyalists' Convention " of 1866. He originated and procured the first appropriation by Congress of $10,000 for the Life-Saving Stations on the New Jersey Coast, and was superintendent of Life-Saving Stations in New Jersey from 1861 till 1863. He was defeated as a candidate for governor of New Jersey in 1877, and in 1880 was appointed governor of Washington territory for a term of four years. He was Indian Commissioner in that territory in 1884-'6. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 504.
Nye, James Warren
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
NYE, James Warren, senator, born in De Ruyter, Madison County, New York, 10 June, 1814: died in White Plains, New York, 25 December, 1876. He was educated at Cortland Academy, Homer, New York, leaving it in 1832 to study law in Troy, N. Y. After being admitted to the bar, he practised in his native county, gained a reputation as an effective speaker before a jury, was chosen district attorney, and in 1840 was elected county judge, serving eight years, he was a Democrat in politics up to the time of the Barn-burner Campaign. In 1848 he was an unsuccessful candidate for Congress as a Free-Soil Democrat. Moving to Syracuse, New York, he practised there till 1857, when he went to New York City, having been appointed the first president of the Metropolitan Board of Police, which office he held till about 1860. He was a member of the Republican Party from its formation, and was identified with its Radical wing. He was a witty and eloquent platform orator, and during the canvass of 1860 did effective service for his party in a tour through the west in company with William H. Seward. In 1861 President Lincoln appointed him governor of Nevada Territory, where he counteracted the influence of the Pro-slavery Party and, with Thomas Starr King, of San Francisco, did much to keep the Pacific States and Territories in the Union during the early period of the Civil War. On the admission of Nevada as a state, in 1865, he was elected U. S. Senator, and drew the short term, and in 1867 was re-elected. He was noted for his humor and conversational powers. After he retired from public life his mind became impaired. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 547.
Opdyke, George
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
OPDYKE, George, mayor of New York, born in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, in 1805; died in New York City, 12 June, 1880. His ancestor, Gysbert, was an early settler of New York State. George went to the west at eighteen years of age and settled in Cleveland, Ohio, but afterward moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, and, returning to the north in 1832, engaged in business in New York City, where he subsequently established the banking-house of George Opdyke and Company. He was a member of the Buffalo Free-Soil Convention in 1848, served on its committee on resolutions, and was a candidate for Congress on the Free-Soil ticket in New Jersey, and while in the legislature in 1858 he was zealous in protecting the franchises of New York City from spoliation. He was a delegate to the National Republican Convention in 1860, and was instrumental in the nomination of Abraham Lincoln. He was mayor of New York in 1862-'3, and was energetic in sustaining the National government, in raising and equipping troops, and did much to prevent commercial panics. He served in the New York Constitutional Convention in 1867-'8, in the New York Constitutional Commission in 1872-5, was a member of the New York Chamber of Commerce in 1858-80, and its vice-president in 1867-75. He published a "Treatise on Political Economy," in which he took advanced views against the economic evils of slavery, and in favor of inconvertible paper money and free trade (New York, 1851); "Report on the Currency " (1858; and " Official Documents. Addresses, etc." (1866). Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 583.
Orth, Godlove Stoner, 1817-1882, lawyer, diplomat. Member of the anti-slavery faction of the Whig Party. Republican Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Indiana. U.S. Congressman December 1863-March 1871, December 1873-March 1875. Voted for Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution, abolishing slavery, establishing citizenship, due process and equal protections, and establishing voting rights for African Americans. (Appletons’, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 594-595; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 7, Pt. 2, p. 60; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 16, p. 772; Congressional Globe)
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
ORTH, Godlove Stoner, statesman, born near Lebanon, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, 22 April, 1817; died in Lafayette, Indiana, 16 December, 1882. He was a descendant of Balthazer Orth, a German, who in 1742 purchased of John Thomas and Richard Penn, the proprietors of Pennsylvania, 282 acres of land in Lebanon County, where on the birthplace of Godlove Orth was soon afterward built and still stands. His Christian name is a translation of the German Gottlieb, which was borne by many of his ancestors. He was educated at Pennsylvania College, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1839, and began to practice in Indiana. He was a member of the Senate of that state from 1842 till 1848, and served one year as its presiding officer. In the latter year he was presidential elector on the Taylor and Fillmore ticket. He represented Indiana in the Peace Conference of 1861. The part that he took in its debates gave him a wide reputation, and his definitions of “state rights” and “state sovereignty” have been quoted by Hermann von Holst with approval. In 1862, when a call was made for men to defend Indiana from threatened invasion, he organized a company in two hours, and was made captain and placed in command of the U. S. Ram “Horner,” in which he cruised in the Ohio River, and did much to restore order on the borders of Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois. He was elected and re-elected to Congress as a Republican, serving from 7 December, 1863, till 3 March, 1871. Two years later he was chosen a member of the 43d Congress, and served from 1 December, 1873, till 3 March, 1875. During his long Congressional career he was the chairman and member of many important committees. He urged the vigorous prosecution of the war, and voted for the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution. After his return to Congress in 1866 he began to labor to secure from European governments the recognition of the right of expatriation, and lived to see it recognized in the treaties of the United States with most of the other powers. In 1868, at the request of the administration, he undertook the management of the legislation that looked to the annexation of Santo Domingo. At the same session he framed the “Orth Bill,” which reorganized the diplomatic and consular system, and much of which is still in force. Early in 1871 a recommendation, urging his appointment as minister to Berlin, was signed by every member of the U. S. Senate and House of Representatives, and President Grant at one time intended to comply with the request, but circumstances arose that rendered the retention of George Bancroft desirable. Mr. Orth soon afterward declined the office of commissioner of internal revenue. In 1876 he was the Republican candidate for governor, but withdrew from the canvass. He had frequently been a member of the Congressional Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in March, 1875, was appointed minister to Austria, after declining the mission to Brazil. He returned to the United States in 1877, and was again elected to Congress, serving from 18 March, 1879, until his death. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 594-595.
Paddock, Algernon Sidney
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
PADDOCK, Algernon Sidney, senator, born in Glenn's Falls, New York, 9 November, 1830. He was educated at Glenn's Falls Academy, studied law, moved in 1857 to Omaha, Nebraska Territory, and was there admitted to the bar. He engaged actively in politics, was a candidate for the territorial legislature in 1858, a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1860, and afterward secretary of the territory, holding the office and performing the duties of governor during much of the time, from April, 1861, till the admission of Nebraska as a state in 1867. He engaged in the manufacture of hydraulic cement at Beatrice, was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1864, and in 1866 an Independent Republican candidate for Congress. In 1868 he was appointed governor of Wyoming Territory, but declined. He was afterward elected a U. S. Senator by both Republican and Democratic votes, and served from 3 March, 1875, till 4 March, 1881. He was a candidate for re-election, but was defeated by Charles H. Van Wyck. They contended again for the nomination at the conclusion of the latter's term, and Mr. Paddock was victorious in the Republican caucus, and on 21 January, 1887, was elected senator for the term ending 3 March, 1893. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 621.
Padelford, Seth, 1807-1878, political leader, statesman, abolitionist. 31st Governor of Rhode Island. Worked with New England Emigrant Aid Society, which aided anti-slavery settlers in Kansas. Member of Republican Party. Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island, 1863-1865, Governor in 1869-1873.
Palmer, John McCauley
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
PALMER, John McCauley, soldier, born in Eagle Creek, Scott County, Kentucky, 13 September, 1817. He moved to Illinois in 1832, and in 1839 settled in Carlinville. He was admitted to the bar in 1840, was a delegate to the State Constitutional Convention in 1847, a member of the state senate in 1852-'4, a delegate to the National Republican Convention at Philadelphia in 1856, a presidential elector on the Republican ticket of 1860, and a delegate to the Peace Convention at Washington, 4 February, 1861. He was elected colonel of the 14th Illinois Volunteers in April, 1861, accompanied General John C. Fremont in his expedition to Springfield, Missouri, and was commissioned brigadier-general of volunteers on 20 December. He was with General John Pope at the capture of New Madrid and Island No. 10., and afterward commanded the 1st Brigade, 1st Division of the Army of the Mississippi. In November, 1862, he was with General Grant's army in temporary command of a division. Subsequently he led a division at the battle of Stone River, and for his gallantry there he was promoted to major-general of volunteers, 29 November, 1862. He participated in the battle of Chickamauga, and led the 14th Corps in the Atlanta Campaign, from May till September, 1864. He was governor of Illinois from 1869 till 1873. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 640.
Patterson, James Willis, 1823-1893, educator. Republican Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New Hampshire. Congressman 1863-1867. Elected U.S. Senator 1866-1873. Voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery (Appletons’, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 672; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 7, Pt. 2, p. 303; Congressional Globe)
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
PATTERSON, James Willis, senator, born in Henniker, Merrimack County, New Hampshire, 2 July, 1823. He was graduated at Dartmouth in 1848, and studied divinity at Yale, but was not licensed to preach. He was tutor at Dartmouth in 1852-'4, professor of mathematics there in 1854-'9, and occupied the chair of astronomy and meteorology from the latter date till 1865. He was school commissioner for Grafton County in 1858-'61, and at the same time secretary of the state board of education, and prepared the state reports for five years. He was in the legislature in 1862, was elected to Congress as a Republican in the same year, served till 1867, and in 1866 was chosen U.S. Senator, serving one term, during which he was the author of the measure constituting consular clerkships, and the bill for establishing colored schools in the District of Columbia, and was chairman of the Committee on the District of Columbia and of that on Retrenchment and Reform. At the close of the Congressional investigation of the Credit Mobilier (see AMES, OAKES) the Senate committee reported a resolution expelling Mr. Patterson, 27 February, 1873; but no action was taken upon it, and five days later his term expired. He was a regent of the Smithsonian Institution in 1864-'5, and was a delegate to the Philadelphia Loyalists' Convention in 1866. In 1877-'8 he was again a member of the New Hampshire legislature, and in 1885 he was appointed state superintendent of public instruction in New Hampshire. Iowa College gave him the degree of LL. D. in 1868. In 1880 he was the orator at the unveiling of the Soldiers’ monument in Marietta, Ohio. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 672.
Perham, Sidney, born 1819. Republican Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Maine. Served in Congress 1863-1869. Voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery. Governor of Maine 1871-1874. (Appletons’, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 727; Congressional Globe)
PERHAM, Sidney, governor of Maine, born in Woodstock, Maine, 27 March, 1819. He was educated in the public schools, and subsequently was a teacher and farmer. He was a member of the State Board of Agriculture in 1852-'3, speaker of the legislature in 1854, a presidential elector in 1856, and clerk of the supreme judicial court of Oxford County in 1859-'63. He was elected to Congress as a Republican, and served in 1863-'9. He was governor of Maine in 1871-'4. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 727.
Phillips, Stephen C.
Pierce, Henry Lillie
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
PIERCE, Henry Lillie, member of Congress, born in Stoughton, Massachusetts, 23 August, 1825. He received a good education, engaged in manufacturing, and as early as 1848 took an active part in organizing the “Free-Soil” Party in Massachusetts. He was a member of the Massachusetts Legislature in 1860–6, and in 1860 was instrumental in getting a bill passed by both branches of the legislature removing the statutory prohibition upon the formation of militia companies composed of colored men. He was elected to Congress as a Republican to fill the vacancy caused by the death of William Whiting, was re-elected for the next congressional term, and served from 1 December, 1873, till 3 March, 1877, when he declined a renomination. In the presidential election of 1884 he was prominent in organizing an independent movement in support of Cleveland, and has since taken a leading part in the effort to revise the tariff legislation and reduce the taxes on imports. He was mayor of Boston in 1873, and again in 1878. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 12.
Pierce, Edward Lillie
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
PIERCE, Edward Lillie, author, born in Stoughton, Massachusetts, 29 March, 1829, was graduated at Brown in 1850, and at Harvard Law-School in 1852, receiving the degree of LL.D. from Brown in 1882. After leaving the school, Mr. Pierce was for some time in the office of Salmon P. Chase at Cincinnati. He afterward practised law in his native state, and was a delegate to the National Republican Convention in 1860. At the beginning of the Civil War he enlisted as a private in the 3d Massachusetts Regiment, and beginning of the employment of Negroes on U.S. military works. In ember, 1861, the Secretary of the Treasury despatched Mr. Pierce to Port Royal to examine into the condition of the Negroes on the Sea Islands. In February, 1862, he returned to Washington and reported to the government, and in March was given charge of the freedmen and plantations on those islands. He took with him nearly sixty teachers and superintendents, established schools, and suggested the formation of freedmen's aid societies, by means of which great good was accomplished. In June, 1862, Mr. Pierce made his second report to the government setting forth what he had done. These reports were afterward reprinted in the “Rebellion Record,” and were favorably reviewed both in Europe and the United States. The care of the Negroes on the islands having been transferred to the War Department, he was asked to continue in charge under its authority, but declined. He was offered the military governorship of South Carolina, but was not confirmed. He was collector of internal revenue for the 3d Massachusetts District from October, 1863, till May, 1866, district attorney in 1866–'9, secretary of the board of state charities in 1869-'74, and a member of the legislature in 1875–6. He was a member of the Republican National Conventions of 1876 and 1884, and in December, 1878, was appointed by President Hayes Assistant Treasurer of the United States, but declined. In 1883 he gave to the white and colored people of St. Helena Island, the scene of his former labors, a library of 800 volumes. He also originated the public library of Milton, Massachusetts, where he has resided, and has been a trustee since its formation. He has been a lecturer at the Boston law-school since its foundation. Mr. Pierce has visited Europe several times. His second visit was for the inspection of European prisons, reformatories and the result is given in his report for 1873 as secretary of the Board of State Charities. He has been a frequent contributor to newspapers and periodicals, he has published numerous articles and addresses, and “American Railroad Law” (New York, 1857); “Memoir and Letters of Charles Sumner” (2 vols., Boston, 1877, unfinished), and “The Law of Railroads” (Boston, 1881). He also edited “Walter's American Law” (1860), and compiled “Index of the Special Railroad Laws of Massachusetts” (1874). [Brother Henry L. Pierce]. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 12.
Pike, Frederick Augustus, 1817-1886, lawyer. Republican Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Maine. Member of Congress 1861-1869. Active in emancipation of slaves. Voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery (Appletons’, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 18-19; Congressional Globe)
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
PIKE, Frederick Augustus, Congressman, born in Calais, Maine, 9 December, 1817; died there, 2 December, 1886, spent two years at Bowdoin, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1840. He served eight terms in the Maine Legislature, was its speaker in 1860, and was elected to Congress as a Republican, retaining his seat in 1861-'9, and serving for six years as chairman of the Naval Committee. He was active in his efforts for emancipation and for necessary taxation, and the closing sentence of his speech in Congress in 1861—“Tax, fight, emancipate”—became a watchword of his party. He was in the legislature in 1870-'1, and was defeated as a candidate of the Liberal Republican Party in 1872. In 1875 he was a member of the Maine Constitutional Convention. He retired from the practice of law after his congressional service. Mr. Pike was an early and active Abolitionist, a friend of education, and for many years an eminent member of the bar. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 18-19.
Pile, William A.
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
PILE, William A., soldier, born near Indianapolis, Indiana, 11 February, 1829. He received an academic education, studied theology, and became a clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal Church and a member of the Missouri Conference. He joined the National Army as chaplain of a regiment of Missouri Volunteers in 1861, and took command of a light battery in 1862. He was subsequently placed at the head of a regiment of infantry, promoted brigadier-general of volunteers, 26 December, 1863, and served till the close of the war, being mustered out, 24 August, 1865. He was elected to Congress from Missouri, and served from 4 March, 1867, till 3 March, 1869, but was defeated as the Republican candidate for the next Congress. Mr. Pile was appointed by President Grant governor of New Mexico, served in 1869-'70, and was minister resident at Venezuela from 23 May, 1871, till his resignation in 1874. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 18.
Pinchback, Pinckney Benton Stewart
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
PINCHBACK, Pinckney Benton Stewart, governor of Louisiana, born in Macon, Georgia, 10 May, 1837. He is of African descent. In 1846 he was sent to school in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1848 his father died, and he became a boatman. In 1862 he ran the Confederate blockade at Yazoo City and reached New Orleans, then in possession of the National troops. He enlisted, and was soon detailed to assist in raising a regiment, but, owing to his race, he was compelled to resign, 3 September. 1863. He was subsequently authorized by General Nathaniel P. Banks to raise a company of colored cavalry. In 1867 he organized in New Orleans the 4th Ward Republican Club, became a member of the state committee, and was made inspector of customs on 22 May. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1867, state senator in 1868, and was sent to the National Republican Convention of the last-named year. He was appointed by President Grant, in April, 1869, register of the land-office of New Orleans, and on 25 December, 1870, established the New Orleans " Louisianian." The same year he organized a company for the purpose of establishing a line of steamers on Mississippi River. In March, 1871, he was appointed by the state board a school director for the city of New Orleans, and on 6 December, 1871, he was elected president pro tempore of the state senate, and lieutenant-governor to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of Oscar Dunn. He was acting governor during the impeachment of Governor Warmoth from 9 December, 1872, to 13 January, 1873. He was nominated for governor in 1872, but withdrew in the interest of party peace, and was elected on the same ticket as Congressman. He was chosen to the U. S. Senate, 15 January, 1873, but after three years' debate he was disallowed his seat by a vote of 32 to 29, although he was given the pay and mileage of a senator. On 24 April, 1873, he was appointed a commissioner to the Vienna Exposition from Louisiana, and in 1877 he was appointed a member of the state board of education by Governor Francis P. Nichols. On 8 February, 1879, he was elected a delegate to the Constitutional convention of the state. Mr. Pinchhock was appointed surveyor of customs of New Orleans in 1882. and a trustee of Southern University by Governor McEnery in 1883 and 1885. He was graduated at the law department of Straight University. New Orleans, and admitted to the bar in April, 1886. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 21.
Plumb, Preston B.
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
PLUMB, Preston B., senator, born in Delaware County, Ohio, 12 October, 1837. After receiving a common-school education he became a printer, and in 1856 moved to Kansas. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1861, was a member of the legislature in 1862, subsequently reporter of the Kansas Supreme Court, and in the latter part of that year entered the National Army as a lieutenant. He served throughout the Civil War, and attained the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He was again in the legislature in 1867-'8, was its speaker the latter year, and in 1876 was elected U. S. Senator as a Republican. He was re-elected for the term that will end in 1885. Mr. Plumb has edited and adapted a work entitled " Practice before Justice Courts in Kansas " (New York, 1875). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 42.
Poland, Luke Potter
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
POLAND, Luke Potter, jurist, born in Westford. Vermont, 1 November. 1815: died in Waterville, Vermont, 2 July, 1887. He attended the common schools, was employed in a country store and on a farm, taught at Morristown, Vermont, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1836. He was a member of the state constitutional convention in 1843, and prosecuting attorney for the county in 1844-'5. In 1848 he was the Free-soil candidate for lieutenant-governor, and in the same year he was elected a judge of the Vermont Supreme Court. He was re-elected each successive year, becoming chief justice in 1860, until he was appointed in November, 1865, on the death of Jacob Collamer, to serve out his unexpired term in the U. S. Senate. On its conclusion he entered the house of representatives, and served from 1867 till 1875. While in the senate he secured the passage of the bankrupt law, besides originating a bill for the revision and consolidation of the statutes of the United States. As chairman of the committee on Revision in the House, he superintended the execution of his scheme of codification. He was chairman of the committee to investigate the outrages of the Ku-Klux Klan, and of the investigation committee on the Credit Mobilier Transactions; also of one on the reconstruction of the Arkansas State Government. Several times, while serving on the committee on elections, he came into conflict with other Republicans on questions regarding the admission of Democratic members from the south. He was chairman of the Vermont delegation to the Republican National Convention of 1876, and presented the name of William A. Wheeler for the vice-presidency, for which office he himself had been brought forward as a candidate. Mr. Poland was a representative in the state legislature in 1878. He was elected to Congress again in 1882. and served from 1883 till 3 March, 1885. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 50.
Pomeroy, Samuel Clarke, 1816-1891, Republican U.S. Senator from Kansas. Active in Kansas “Free State” Convention of 1859. U.S. Senator 1861-1873. Voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery (Appletons’, 1888, Vol. V, p. 60; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 8, Pt. 1, p. 54; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 17, p. 649; Congressional Globe)
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
POMEROY, Samuel Clarke, senator, born in Southampton, Massachusetts, 3 January, 1816. He was educated at Amherst, and then spent some time in New York. Subsequently he returned to Southampton, and, besides holding various local offices, was a member of the Massachusetts Legislature in 1852-'3. He was active in organizing the New England Emigrant Aid Company, of which he was financial agent. In 1854 he conducted a colony to Kansas, and located in Lawrence, making the first settlement for that territory. Afterward he moved to Atchison, where he was mayor in 1859. He was conspicuous in the organization of the territorial government, and participated in the Free-state Convention that met in Lawrence in 1859. During the famine in Kansas in 1860-'1 he was president of the relief committee. Mr. Pomeroy was a delegate to the National Republican Conventions of 1856 and 1860. He was elected as a Republican to the U. S. Senate in 1861, and re-elected in 1867. He was candidate for a third term in 1873, but charges of bribery were suddenly presented before the Kansas Legislature, and in consequence he failed of election. A committee chosen by the legislature reported the matter to the U. S. Senate, which investigated the case, and a majority report found the charges not sustained. The matter then came before the courts of Kansas, and after some months' delay the district attorney entered a nolle prosequi, stating to the court that he had no evidence upon which he could secure conviction. Mr. Pomeroy then made Washington his place of residence. He is the author of numerous speeches and political pamphlets. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 60.
Pomeroy, Theodore Medad, born 1824, lawyer. Republican Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York. Re-elected Congressman from March 1861-March 1869. Voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery (Appletons’, 1888, Vol. V, p. 61; Congressional Globe)
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
POMEROY, Theodore Medad, lawyer, born in Cayuga, New York, 31 December, 1824. He was graduated at Hamilton in 1842, and then studied law. Settling in Auburn, he practised his profession in that city, and was in 1850-'6 district attorney for Cayuga County. In 1857 he was elected a member of the lower branch of the New York Legislature. He was then sent to Congress as a Republican, and served, with re-elections, from 4 March, 1861, till a March, 1869. On the resignation of Schuyler Colfax from the speakership Mr. Pomeroy was elected on 3 March, 1869, to fill the vacancy. Subsequently he resumed the practice of his profession in Auburn, and engaged in banking business. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 61.
Porter, Albert G.
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
PORTER, Albert G, governor of Indiana, born in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, 20 April, 1824. He was graduated at Asbury University, Indiana, in 1843, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1845, and began to practise in Indianapolis, where he was councilman and corporation attorney. In 1853 he was appointed reporter of the Supreme Court of Indiana. He was elected to Congress as a Republican, holding his seat from 5 December, 1850, till 3 March, 1863, and serving on the judiciary committee and on that on manufactures. He was a nominee for presidential elector on the Hayes ticket in 1876. On 5 March, 1878, he was appointed first comptroller of the U. S. Treasury, but he resigned to become governor of Indiana, which office he held from 1881 till 1884. He has published " Decisions of the Supreme Court of Indiana " (5 vols. Indianapolis, 1853-'6). and has now (1888) in preparation a history of Indiana. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 71.
Potter, John Fox
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
POTTER, John Fox, lawyer, born in Augusta, Maine, 11 May, 1817. He was educated at Phillips Exeter Academy, and, after studying law, was admitted to the bar in 1837. Settling in East Troy, Wisconsin, in 1838, he began the practice of his profession, and during 1842-'6 he was judge of Walworth County. In 1850 he was a member of the legislature of Wisconsin, and he was then elected as a Republican to Congress, serving from 7 December, 1857, till 4 March, 1863. In 1850, after Owen Lovejoy's speech in Congress, concerning the assassination of his brother, Elijah P. Lovejoy, Mr. Potter, at the close of an angry discussion with Roger A. Pryor, was challenged to a duel by the latter. Mr. Potter chose bowie-knives as the weapons, which were promptly objected to by the other side, and in consequence the matter was dropped. Considerable newspaper discussion followed. It is said that at the roll-call of Congress at the time of the proposed meeting, when Potter's name was reached, the response came: “He is keeping a Pryor engagement." When Pryor's name was called, the answer was: " He has gone to be made into Potter's clay." In 1861 Mr. Potter was a delegate to the Peace Congress, and on his defeat for re-election to Congress he was tendered the governorship of Dakota. This offer he declined, and he received in 1863 the appointment of consul-general to British North America at Montreal, which he held until 1856. He has since resided in Wisconsin. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 90.
Price, Hiram, 1814-1901. Republican Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa. Congressman 1863-1869, 1876-1881. Voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery (Appletons’, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 117-118; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 8, Pt. 1, p. 212; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 17, p. 860; Congressional Globe)
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
PRICE, Hiram, Congressman, born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, 10 January, 1814. He received a common-school education, was for a few years a farmer, and then a merchant. He moved to Davenport, Iowa, in 1844, was school-fund commissioner of Scott County for eight years, and as such had the school lands allotted and appraised. He was collector, treasurer, and recorder of the county during seven years of the time when he was school-fund commissioner, and was president of the State Bank of Iowa during its existence, except for the first year. When the Civil War began, the state of Iowa had no available funds, and he furnished from his individual means quarters and subsistence for several months for about 5,000 men, infantry and cavalry. With Ezekiel Clark he advanced about $25,000 to pay to the 1st, 2d, and 3d Iowa Regiments their “state pay,” and carried the same to them, at much personal risk from the “bushwhackers” in northern Missouri. Mr. Price was elected to Congress as a Republican, serving in 1863-'9. He declined to be a candidate again, and spent some time abroad. He was again elected in 1876 and 1878, and then again declined re-election. He was appointed Commissioner of Indian Affairs in 1881, and served in that office until shortly after the inauguration of President Cleveland. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 117-118.
Ramsey, Alexander, 1815-1903. Republican U.S. Senator from Minnesota. Voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery. U.S. Congressman (Whig Party) elected 1842, serving until 1847, from Pennsylvania. First Territorial Governor of Minnesota, 1849-1853. Governor of state 1860-1863. Elected U.S. Senator 1863, serving until 1875. Appointed Secretary of War in 1879. (Appletons’, 1888, Vol. V., p. 168; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 8, Pt. 1, p. 341; Congressional Globe)
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
RAMSEY, Alexander, Secretary of War, born near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 8 September, 1815. He was educated at Lafayette College, and in 1828 became clerk in the register's office of his native county. He was secretary of the Electoral College of Pennsylvania in 1840, the next year was clerk of the state house of representatives, was elected to Congress as a Whig in 1842, and served till 1847. He was chairman of the state central committee of Pennsylvania in 1848, and was appointed first territorial governor of Minnesota in 1849, holding office till 1853. During this service he negotiated a treaty at Mendota for the extinction of the title of the Sioux half breeds to the lands on Lake Pepin, and two with the Sioux nation by which the U. S. government acquired all the lands in Minnesota west of Mississippi River, thus opening that state to colonization. He also made treaties with the Chippewa Indians on Red River in 1851 and 1853. He became mayor of St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1855, was governor of the state in 1860-'3, and in the latter year was elected to the U. S. Senate as a Republican, holding his seat in 1863-'75, and serving as chairman of the committees on Revolutionary claims and pensions, on post-roads and on territories. He became Secretary of War in 1879, succeeding George W. McCrary, and held office till the close of Hayes's administration. He was appointed by President Arthur, in 1882, a member of the Utah commission, under the act of Congress known as the Edmunds bill (see EDMUNDS, GEORGE F.), continuing in that service till 1886. In 1887 he was a delegate to the centennial celebration of the adoption of the constitution of the United States. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 168.
Rantoul, Robert, Massachusetts
Raymond, Henry Jarvis
Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:
RAYMOND, Henry Jarvis, journalist, born in Lima, Livingston County, New York, 24 January, 1820: died in New York City, 18 June, 1869. His father owned and cultivated a small farm on which the son was employed in his youth. He was graduated at the University of Vermont in 1840, studied law in New York, and maintained himself by teaching in a young ladies' seminary and writing for the " New Yorker," a literary weekly edited by Horace Greeley. On the establishment of the "Tribune " in April, 1841, Mr. Raymond became assistant editor and was well known as a reporter. He made a specialty of lectures, sermons, and speeches, and, among other remarkable feats, reported Dr. Dionysius Lardner's lectures so perfectly that the lecturer consented to their publication in two large volumes, by Greeley and McElrath, with his certificate of their accuracy. In 1843 he left the "Tribune" for the "Courier and Enquirer," and he remained connected with this journal till 1851, when he resigned and went to Europe to benefit his health. While on the staff of the "Courier and Enquirer" he formed a connection with the publishing-house of Harper Brothers, which lasted ten years. During this period a spirited discussion of Fourier's principles of socialism was carried on between Mr. Raymond and Mr. Greeley, and the articles of the former on this subject were afterward published in pamphlet-form. In 1849 he was elected to the state assembly by the Whigs. He was re-elected in 1850, and chosen speaker, and manifested special interest in the school system and canal policy of the state. The New York " Times " was established by him, and the first number was issued on 18 September, 1851. In 1852 he went to Baltimore to report the proceedings of the Whig National Convention, but was given a seat as a delegate, and made an eloquent speech in exposition of northern sentiment. In 1854 he was elected lieutenant-governor of the state. He was active in organizing the Republican Party, composed the " Address to the People" that was promulgated at the National Convention at Pittsburg in February, 1856, and spoke frequently for Fremont in the following presidential campaign. In 1857 he refused to be a candidate for governor of New York, and in 1858 he favored Stephen A. Douglas, but he finally resumed his relations with the Republican Party. In 1860 he was in favor of the nomination of William H. Seward for the presidency, and it was through his influence that Mr. Seward was placed in the cabinet. He was a warm supporter and personal friend of Mr. Lincoln in all his active measures, though at times deploring what he considered a hesitating policy. After the disaster at Bull Run he proposed the establishment of a provisional government. In 1861 he was again elected to the state assembly, where he was chosen speaker, and in 1863 he was defeated by Governor Edwin D. Morgan for the nomination for U. S. Senator. In 1864 he was elected to Congress, and in a speech on 22 December, 1865, maintained that the southern states had never been out of the Union. He sustained the reconstruction policy of President Johnson. On the expiration of his term he declined renomination, and he refused the mission to Austria in 1867. He assisted in the organization of the " National Union Convention" which met at Philadelphia in August,1866, and was the author of the" Philadelphia Address " to the people of the United States. In the summer of 1868 he visited Europe with his family, and after his return resumed the active labors of his profession, with which he was occupied till his death. As an orator Mr. Raymond possessed great power. As a journalist he did good service in elevating the tone of newspaper discussion, showing by his own example that it was possible to be earnest and brilliant without transgressing the laws of decorum. He wrote " Political Lessons of the Revolution" (New York, 1854); "Letters to Mr. Yancey" (1860); "History of the Administration of President Lincoln "(1864); and "Life and Services of Abraham Lincoln; with his State Papers, Speeches, Letters, etc." (1865). See Augustus Maverick's 'H. J. Raymond and the New York Press for Thirty Years " (Hartford, 1870). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 192-193.
