DWIGHT, TIMOTHY, an eminent divine and writer, was born at Northampton, Massachusetts, in 1752. At the age of thirteen he entered Yale college; and after having graduated, took charge of a grammar-school at New Haven, where he taught for two years. In 1771, he became a tutor in Yale college, where he remained for six years. In 1783, he was ordained minister of Greenfield, a parish in the town of Fairfield, in Connecticut; where he soon opened an academy that acquired great reputation. In 1795, Dr. Dwight was elected president of Yale college, and his character and name soon brought a great accession of students. During hispresidency, he also filled, the office of the professor of theology. He continued to discharge the duties of his station, both as minister and president of the college, to the age of sixty-five; when, after a long and painful illness, he died, in January, 1817. He was endowed by nature with uncommon talents; and these, enriched by industry and research, and united to amiability and consistency in his private life, entitled Dr. Dwight to rank among the first men of his age. As a preacher, he was distinguished by his originality, simplicity, and dignity; he was well read in the most eminent fathers and theologians, ancient and modern; he was a good biblical critic; and his sermons should be possessed by every student of divinity. He wrote Travels in New England and New York; Greenfield Hill, a poem; The Conquest of Canaan, a poem; a collection of theological lectures; and a pamphlet on The Dangers of the Infidel Philosophy.
EATON, WILLIAM, general in the service of the United States, was born in Woodstock, Connecticut, in 1764, and was graduated at Dartmouth college, in 1790. In 1792, he received a captain’s commission in the army, and served for some time under general Wayne, on the Mississippi, and in Georgia. In 1797, he was appointed consul to the kingdom of Tunis, and continued there engaged in a variety of adventures and negociations, till 1803, when he returned to the United States. In 1804, he was appointed navy agent for the Barbary powers, for the purpose of co-operating with Hamet bashaw in the war against Tripoli; but was disappointed by the conclusion of a premature peace between the American consul and the Tripolitan bashaw. On his return to the United States, he failed in obtaining from the government any compensation for his pecuniary losses, or any employment corresponding with his merit and services. Under the influence of his disappointments, he fell into habits of inebriety, and died in 1811. His life, published by one of his friends in Massachusetts, is full of interesting adventure.
EDWARDS, JONATHAN, was born at Windsor, in the province of Connecticut, in 1703. At the age of twelve years he was admitted into Yale college, and at the age of seventeen received the degree of bachelor of arts. He remained nearly two years longer at Yale, preparing for the ministry; and in 1722, went to New York, and preached there with great distinction. In September, 1723, he was elected a tutor in Yale college, and remained there till 1726, when he resigned his office, in order to become the minister of the people of Northampton, where he was ordained in February, 1727. After more than twenty-three years of service in this place, a rupture took place between him and his congregation, and he was dismissed by an ecclesiastical council, in 1750. In the following year he accepted a call to serve as missionary among the Indians at Stockbridge, Massachusetts. In 1757, he was chosen president of the college at Princeton, New Jersey, and accepted the invitation. In January, 1758, he repaired to Princeton, where he died of the small-pox, in the March following. His chief works are a Treatise on Religious Affections; an Inquiry into the Notion of Freedom of Will, which is considered the best vindication of the doctrine of philosophical necessity; a Treatise on Original Sin; and numerous tracts and sermons. Various narratives of his life, and editions of his works, have been printed both in Great Britain and theUnited States. The latest is in ten octavo volumes, published in New York, in 1830, and edited by Sereno E. Dwight.
ELLIOTT, STEPHEN, a botanist and man of letters, was born at Beaufort, South Carolina, in 1771, and received his education at Yale college. On his return home, he applied himself to the improvement of his paternal estate, devoting his leisure hours to history and poetry. At the age of twenty-two he was chosen to the legislature of his native state, where he obtained considerable influence, by his knowledge, attention, and power of argument. He was chosen president of the state bank, established in 1812, and continued to discharge the duties of this office with ability to the time of his death. His two volumes of the botany of South Carolina are held in high estimation, and his lectures before several literary and learned societies obtained great applause. His acquisitions in literature and science were extensive, and he left a valuable collection in the several branches of natural history, scientifically arranged. He was the chief editor of the Southern Review, and the author of some of its best articles. He died in 1830. Most of his productions remain in manuscript.
ELLSWORTH, OLIVER, an American judge and statesman, was born at Windsor, Connecticut, in 1745, and was graduated at the college of Nassau Hall, at Princeton, in 1766. Devoting himself to the practice of the law, he soon rose to distinction, by the energy of his mind and his eloquence. From the earliest period of discontent, he joined the cause of the colonies, and in 1777 was elected a member of the continental congress. In this body he remained for three years, and in 1784 he was appointed a judge of the superior court of the state. He was a delegate to the convention for framing the federal constitution, and was a senator in the first congress. In 1796, he was appointed chief justice of the supreme court of the United States, and in 1799 was sent envoy extraordinary to France. The decline of his health induced him to resign his seat on the bench, and he retired to his family residence, at Windsor, where he died in 1807.
FRANKLIN, BENJAMIN, a philosopher and statesman, the son of a soap-boiler and tallow-chandler, was born in 1706, at Boston, in America. He was apprenticed as a printer, to his brother, at Boston. It was while he was with his brother, that he began to try his powers of literary composition. Street ballads, and articles in a newspaper, were his first efforts. Dissatisfied with the manner in which he was treated by his relative, he, at the age of seventeen, privately quitted him, and went to Philadelphia, where he obtained employment. Deluded by a promise of patronage from the governor, Sir William Keith, he visited England to procure the necessary materials for establishing a printing office in Philadelphia; but, on his arrival at London, he found that he had been deceived, and he was obliged to work as a journeyman for eighteen months. While he was in the British metropolis, he wrote a Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain. In 1726, he returned to Philadelphia; not long after which he entered into business, as a printer and stationer, and, in 1728, established a newspaper. His prudence soon placed him among the most prosperous of the citizens, and the influence which prosperity naturally gave was enhanced by his activity and talent. Chiefly by his exertions, a public library, a fire-preventing company, an insurance company, and a voluntary association for defence, were established at Philadelphia. In1732, he began Poor Richard’s Almanac. His first public employment was that of clerk to the general assembly of Pennsylvania; his next, that of postmaster; and he was subsequently chosen as a representative. Philosophy, also, now attracted his attention, and he began those inquiries into the nature of electricity, the results of which have ranked him high among men of science. In 1753, he was appointed deputy postmaster-general of British America; and from 1757 to 1762, he resided in London, as agent for Pennsylvania, and other colonies. The last of these offices was intrusted to him again, in 1761, and he held it till the breaking out of the contest, in 1775. After his return to America, he took an active part in the cause of liberty, and, in 1778, he was dispatched by the congress as ambassador to France. The treaty of alliance with the French government, and the treaties of peace, in 1782 and 1783, as well as treaties with Sweden and Prussia, were signed by him. On his reaching Philadelphia, in September, 1785, his arrival was hailed by applauding thousands of his countrymen, who conducted him in triumph to his residence. He died April 17, 1790. His Memoirs, written by himself, but left unfinished, and his Philosophical, Political, and Miscellaneous Works, have been published by his grandson, in six volumes, octavo.
FULTON, ROBERT, an American engineer and projector, was born in 1765, at Little Britain, in Pennsylvania. Abandoning the trade of a jeweller, he studied for some years under West, with the intention of being a painter; but, having become acquainted with a fellow countryman, named Rumsey, who was skilled in mechanics, he became fond of that science, and ultimately adopted the profession of a civil engineer. Before he left England, he published, in 1796, a treatise on Inland Navigation, in which he proposed to supersede locks by inclined planes. In 1800, he introduced, with much profit to himself, the panorama into the French capital. For some years he was engaged in experiments to perfect a machine called a torpedo, intended to destroy ships of war by explosion. After his return to America, he gave to the world an account of several inventions, among which are a machine for sawing and polishing marble, another for rope making, and a boat to be navigated under water. He obtained a patent for his inventions in navigation by steam, in 1809, and another for some improvements, in 1811. In 1814, he contrived an armed steam ship for the defence of the harbor of New York, and a submarine vessel large enough to carry one hundred men; the plans of which being approved by government, he was authorized to construct them at the public expense. But before completing either of those works, he died suddenly, in 1815. Though not the inventor of it, he was the first who successfully employed the steam engine in navigation.
GATES, HORATIO, was born in England, in 1728, and entering the British service in early life, rose by his merits to the rank of major. In 1755, he was with Braddock when that unfortunate commander was defeated, and received in that battle a severe wound, which for some time debarred him from active service. On the conclusion of peace, he settled in Virginia, where he resided till the commencement of the revolution, in 1775. He was then appointed adjutant-general by congress, with the rank of brigadier, and in 1776, received the command of the army in Canada. General Schuyler succeeded him for a few months, in 1777, but he resumed his situation in August, and soon revived the hopes of hiscountry, by the capture of the army under Burgoyne. In 1780, he was appointed to the chief command of the southern districts, but he was afterwards superseded by general Greene, and his conduct was subjected to the investigation of a special court. He was restored to his command in 1782. On the termination of war he resided on his farm in Virginia, till 1790, when he removed to New York, where he lived much esteemed and respected, till his decease in 1806.
GERRY, ELBRIDGE, one of the signers of the declaration of independence, and vice-president of the United States, was born at Marblehead, Massachusetts, in 1744, and received his education at Harvard college. He was graduated at this institution in 1762, and afterwards engaging in mercantile pursuits, amassed a considerable fortune. He took an early part in the controversy between the colonies and Great Britain, and in 1772, was elected a representative from his native town, to the legislature of Massachusetts. In 1776, he was elected a delegate to the continental congress, where for several years he exhibited the utmost zeal and fidelity, in the discharge of numerous and severe official labors. In 1784, Mr. Gerry was re-elected a member of congress, and in 1787, was chosen a delegate to the convention, which assembled at Philadelphia, to revise the articles of confederation. In 1789, he was again elected to congress, and remained in that body for four years, when he retired into private life, till the year 1797, when he was appointed to accompany general Pinckney and Mr. Marshall on a special mission to France. In October, 1798, Mr. Gerry returned home, and having been elected governor of his native state, and in 1812 vice-president of the United States, he died suddenly at Washington, in November, 1814.
GIRARD, STEPHEN, a celebrated banker, was born in France, about the year 1746. At the age of twelve years, in the capacity of cabin boy, he left France for the West Indies, where he resided some time, and whence he made many voyages to the United States. About 1775, he arrived in this country, and for a while kept a small shop in New Jersey. In 1780, he removed to Philadelphia, and by gradual but sure acquisition accumulated a large fortune. He became distinguished for his active philanthropic exertions during the ravages of the yellow fever in that city in 1793. In 1811, when congress refused to recharter the old bank of the United States, Mr. Girard purchased the banking house of that institution, and became a banker. The capital which he first invested in his bank, was one million eight hundred thousand dollars, and he subsequently augmented it to five millions. During our late war with Great Britain, the government found difficulty in raising the necessary funds, and public credit had sunk so low, that seven per cent. stock was offered at thirty per cent. discount. Of this stock Mr. Girard took five millions. At the time of his death, in 1832, he was estimated to be worth from twelve to fifteen millions of dollars, and he was the most wealthy man in the new world. He was buried with public honors. By his will, he distributed his immense riches in the most judicious and liberal manner, among several charitable institutions, and for the purposes of public improvements. One bequest was of two millions, for the erection of a permanent college in Penn Township, for the accommodation of at least three hundred poor white male orphans, above the age of six years. In regulation of this bequest, it is enjoined, that ‘no ecclesiastic, missionary, or minister, of anysect whatever, shall ever hold or exercise any station or duty whatever, in said college; nor shall any such person ever be admitted for any purpose, or as a visiter, within the premises appropriated to the purposes of the said college.’