Itics, Commerce
AND THE MECHANICAL AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS.
ILLUSTRATED WITH PORTRAITS.
EDITED AND COMPILED UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF THOMAS WILLIAM HERRINGSHAW, AUTHOR OF HOME OCCUPATIONS, PROMINENT MEN AND WOMEN OF THE DAY, AIDS TO LITERARY SUCCESS, MULIEROLOGY, LOCAL AND NATIONAL POETS OF AMERICA, AND OTHER WORKS, ASSISTED BY A CORPS OF WELL KNOWN WRITERS.
BUT THERE ARE DEEDS WHICH SHALL NOT PASS AWAY, AND NAMES THAT MUST NOT WITHER, THOUGH THE EARTH FORGETS HER EMPIRES WITH A JUST DECAY.
BYRON.
CHICAGO, ILL.:
AMERICAN PUBLISHERS' ASSOCIAΤΙΟΝ.
ENTERED ACCORDING TO ACT OF CONGRESS, IN THE YEAR 1898, BY THOMAS WILLIAM HERRINGSHAW, IN THE OFFICE OF THE LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS, AT WASHINGTON, D. C.
Herringshaw's American Biography IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED WITH MANY THANKS, TO THE Progressive Men of Life and Thought OF THE UNITED STATES, FOR THE ASSISTANCE THEY HAVE RENDERED IN ITS PUBLICATION BY Thomas William Herringshaw.
PREFACE.
The Nineteenth Century has been a period of activity and of hitherto unparalleled achievements that have been manifested, especially in America, by the great progress made in every line of human effort. And now that this wonderful era has drawn to a close, the time was ripe, before the passage of years had worn off the sharpness of impressions, to collect and perpetuate the names and deeds of those who merit commemoration.
In the conception of Herringshaw's Encyclopedia of American Biography, we have been influenced chiefly by the knowledge that although nearly every nation has its own Encyclopedia of Biography, the United States has not produced one distinctively its own. In all Encyclopedias of American Biography so much space has been given to extended biographies, and so much to noted men of foreign countries, that to make room for them the publishers have entirely ignored the biographies of thousands of noted American Authors, Poets, Journalists, Publishers, Clergymen, Reformers, Educators, Lecturers, Lawyers, Jurists, Soldiers, Statesmen, Musicians, Singers, Painters, Sculptors, Scientists, Philosophers, Inventors, Explorers, Successful Merchants, Manufacturers and Builders, and men and women in all walks of life, who are worthy of representation in a work of this character.
An Encyclopedia of American Biography that contains the names of but one-half of the noted personages of the United States is as inadequate to meet public requirements as a dictionary would be that contained but one-half the words of the English language. Neither is a ponderous work of several volumes suitable for the general use of the public. Hence, taking all these things into consideration, there was an open field for this work; and the close of the Nineteenth Century made the time an especially appropriate and auspicious one for its publication.
What was wanted was an Encyclopedia of American Biography that would be a standard book of biographical reference for the American people, as Webster's Unabridged Dictionary is a standard on Orthography-accurate, concise and complete. Accordingly, the design of this work has been to give in one volume a manual of reference containing in a condensed form appropriate notices of all persons who have risen to any considerable degree of prominence. Although ostensibly the work was to be confined to biographies of noted men and women who are living or have lived in the Nineteenth Century, it has been given a wider scope, in order to make it more complete, by including all the more distinguished personages from the earliest settlement of the United States.
The most attractive form of history is biography, which perpetuates the memory of individuals, and, while aptly illustrating the conduct of life, conveys important lessons. History, it has been well said, does not much regard fertile soil or material wealth; but the admirable men and women that a country produces they are the glory of the country. In every city, town and village are men and women of character and influence, who have contributed by their enterprise and thrift, by their activity and sagacity in business, their zeal in educational, in religious, and in political matters, to the moral and spiritual advancement as well as to the material prosperity of the community in which they live.
What man has done man may do. Biographies of representative people, intimately connected with the development of the resources of their country, illustrate what energy, with a firm will and fixed purpose, has hitherto accomplished and can yet achieve.
As the failure to consider the lives of men of affairs as of historical importance is a defective feature of the great biographical works heretofore published, a special feature of this work has been to include the lives of the great pioneers, merchants, manufacturers, railroad builders, and other practical men who have developed the mines, forests and farms, built the railroads, steamboat lines and canals, set afloat and managed the shipping, organized the corporations, and introduced the new processes in science and mechanics, which have so greatly reduced the cost and promoted the comfort of living, while contributing to the power and prestige of the nation itself. They have founded the great mu- PREFACE. seums, erected statues, libraries and reading rooms; and it is by them that the colleges, schools and philanthropic institutions are built and maintained; and it surely is befitting that their records should be preserved for all time.
In preparing this Encyclopedia, the compiler has restricted his description to sketches merely biographical, and has not criticised the individual, nor reviewed his attainments. But brief as are these biographical sketches, they are certainly a medium of introduction to the reader, especially when accompanied with a portrait; as from the combination of portrait and biography the utmost degree of utility and pleasure may be derived. The contemplation of a portrait creates a desire to know more of the subject; and reading of the attainments of a person, makes the reader anxious to behold his countenance-hence one supplies the absence of the other.
Herringshaw's Encyclopedia of American Biography comprises a varied collection of names that has cost infinite pains and expense to obtain, containing as it does the lives and achievements of more than twenty-five thousand famous men and women in all walks of life who are or have been the acknowledged leaders of life and thought of the United States since its formation, entirely covering the field of literature, science, history, politics, commerce, and the mechanical and industrial arts. In consequence of the almost inaccessibility of facts concerning the lives of many of the subjects contained in this work, the daily press, current magazines, and hundreds of genealogical and biographical works have been largely drawn upon for material, and thus many important facts and interesting reminiscences have been rescued from oblivion that add greatly to the value of the work.
Herringshaw's Encyclopedia of American Biography includes succinct biographies of all the Presidents and Vice-Presidents of the United States; every member of all the cabinets; every United States Senator and Speaker of the House; every United States Congressman; every member of the Supreme Court; every signer of the Declaration of Independence; the Governors of the States and Territories; all the Authors, Poets and Composers; all the eminent Clergymen, Judges, Lawyers; all the Admirals and distinguished naval officers; all the Generals and distinguished army officers; while no name eminent in Literature, Art, Music, Science or Invention has been omitted.
The courteous co-operation and words of praise received from prominent people throughout the United States, confirmed the opinion that the public was sufficiently alive to the value and importance of such a work, and the lasting benefit to be derived from placing their names, side by side with those of our most honored ones, in a volume that will be found in public libraries and reading rooms throughout the world, and which is ultimately destined to go down to posterity as an enduring record of the most eminent people of the United States; bearing in mind that without such a record some of the most illustrious names would be lost in oblivion, and their posterity deprived of the gratification and advantage of reference to so honorable an ancestry.
After three years of arduous labor we have succeeded beyond our expectations in compiling the most important and comprehensive work of the century-a monumental record which is a credit to the nation and to the world, and will prove to be more lasting than inscriptions on stone, and more enduring than shafts of marble.
We cannot conclude without reiterating our grateful acknowledgments to our numerous friends in all parts of the United States, not only for valuable information of various kinds, but still more for the generous words of encouragement which we have received from them during our long and arduous labors. We feel confident that this general expression of our gratitude will be more acceptable to most of them than a more particular and open acknowledgment of their disinterested kindness. For the material aid and courteous co-operation of the press and public, especially contributors and their friends who have so kindly furnished genealogical works and data, clippings from newspapers and magazines, manuscripts and other material, our thanks are freely and sincerely given. Indeed, without such co-operation, Herringshaw's Encyclopedia of American Biography could scarcely have assumed its present magnitude.
Chicago, Ill., Nov. 24, 1898.
THOMAS WILLIAM HERRINGSHAW.
Publishers' Note.
MISTAKES WILL UNDOUBTEDLY BE FOUND IN THIS VOLUME, BUT THEY EXIST NOT FOR WANT OF PAINS- TAKING EFFORTS TO AVOID THEM, BUT GENERALLY FROM IMPERFECT MANUSCRIPTS OR CONFLICTING STATEMENTS OF STANDARD AUTHORITIES. WHAT IS WORTH RECORD- ING AT ALL, IS WORTH RECORDING CAREFULLY AND COR- RECTLY; AND WHEN MISTAKES ARE DISCOVERED, A MEM- ORANDUM OF THE ERRORS SHOULD AT ONCE BE SENT TO THE AMERICAN PUBLISHERS' ASSOCIATION OF CHICAGO, FOR CORRECTION IN FUTURE EDITIONS OF THIS WORK Lives of great men all remind us We can make our lives sublime, And, departing, leave behind us Footprints on the sands of time.
HERRINGSHAW'S ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY.