Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1888, volume 1).djvu/280

BICKMORE time of his death was its last surviving officer He resigned from the army forty years before his death, and went into business in the city of New York. He resided in Brooklyn, where he was (or many years an active member and elder of the 1st Reformed church, lie retained his mental and physical vigor almost up to the period of his death, and only a few weeks preceding that event wrote a series of articles for a, religious journal, giving his recollections of New York city in the olden time.

BICKMORE, Albert Smith, naturalist, b. in St. George, Mo., 1 March, 1839. He was graduated at Dartmouth in 1860, and then studied under Agassiz at Lawrence scientific school. During the years 1865–'9 he travelled extensively in the May archipelago and eastern Asia, collecting objects in natural history, principally shells. In 1870 he became professor of natural history in Madison university at Hamilton, N. Y. Later he was associated in the management of the American museum of natural history in New York. He was for some time its superintendent, but in 1885 became curator of the ethnological department. He is also in charge of the department of public instruction, and on Saturday mornings, during the winters, he delivers lectures on subjects in natural history before the teachers of the public schools of New York and vicinity. Under the direction of the state superintendent of public instruction, he gives lectures before the normal schools. Prof. Bickmore is a member of scientific societies to which he has contributed numerous papers. He has published "Travels in the East Indian Archipelago" (New York, 1869).

BICKNELL, Thomas Williams, educator, b. in Barrington, R. I., 6 Sept., 1834. He began his collegiate education at Amherst, but was graduated at Brown in 1860. During his senior year in college he was elected a member of the Rhode Island state legislature. From 1860 till 1869 he taught, and was principal of schools in RehobartRehoboth [sic], Bristol, Providence, R. I., and in Elgin, Ill., after which, until 1875, he was state commissioner of public schools. While holding that office he secured the re-establishment of the State Normal School in 1871, the appointment of a school superintendent in each town, the organization of a board of education, and other important measures. Mr. Bicknell has been very active in educational journalism, and during the years 1874–'86 he founded, edited, and owned "The Journal of Education," "The Primary Teacher," "The American Teacher," "Education; a Bimonthly Magazine," and "Good Times." The New England Bureau of Education and the National Council of Education were organized by him. He has delivered numerous educational lectures and addresses, and has at various times been president of the Rhode Island Institute of Instruction, American Institute of Instruction, National Council of Education, National Educational Association, Interstate Commission for Federal Aid, Chautauqua Teachers' Reading Union, and of the Massachusetts, New England, and International Sunday-school unions. He has published "Biography of William Lord Noyes" (Providence, 1867); "Historical Sketches of Barrington, R. I." (Providence, 1870); "Reports of the Commissioner of Public Schools" (Providence, 1869-'75); and "History of the Bicknell Family" (Boston, 1883).

BIDDLE, Clement, "Quaker soldier," b. in Philadelphia, 10 May, 1740; d. there, 14 July, 1814. Descended from one of the early Quaker settlers of New Jersey—refugees, for the most part, from Protestant intolerance—he was brought up in the strict order of the sect, and engaged in commercial pursuits in Philadelphia. In 1764 some friendly Indians sought refuge in Philadelphia from a band of desperadoes known as the "Paxton Boys," who had recently murdered some unoffending Connestoga Indians at Lancaster. These ruffians, powerful enough in numbers to defy the authorities, advanced to within six miles of the city, threatening vengeance upon all who offered resistance. But the vigor of the military preparations, including a company of Quakers headed by Biddle, was so manifest that the outlaws retreated. Close upon this local disturbance came the resolution of the British house of commons to charge stamp duties in the colonies, and the subsequent passage of the act induced the adoption of the "non-importation resolutions" in Philadelphia, 25 Oct., 1765. Among the signers of this agreement were Mr. Biddle and his brother Owen. When actual hostilities became imminent he entered into projects for defence, and was active in organizing that military anomaly the "Quaker" company of volunteers, of which he was elected an officer in 1775 before it joined the army. In June, 1776, congress authorized the formation of a "flying camp" of 10,000 men, and on 8 July, 1777, elected Col. Biddle its deputy quartermaster. After the battle of Trenton, Washington sent him to receive the swords of the Hessian prisoners. He was present at the battles of Princeton, Germantown, Brandywine, and Monmouth, and he also shared in the sufferings of the army at Valley Forge. He remained in the military service until 1780, when the pressure of his private affairs compelled his resignation. In the early political movements of the state and nation he took an active part, alike in the revolutionary stale constitution of 1776 and in the organization of the federal constitution in 1787. At this time he was appointed by Washington U. S. marshal of Pennsylvania. In 1794 the whiskey rebellion in western Pennsylvania called him again into the field, and, as quartermaster-general of the state (to which office he was appointed 11 Sept., 1781), he accompanied the expedition for the suppression of that formidable insurrection. He was the warm personal friend of Washington, as well as of the best of his generals.—His son, Clement Cornell, soldier, was b. in Philadelphia, 34 Oct., 1784; d. 31 Aug., 1855. Prior to the war of 1812 he entered the navy, but soon resigned, taking up the study of law, and gaining admission to the bar. On the occurrence of the "Chesapeake" outrage in 1807, he anticipated war with England, and entered the army, on appointment of the president, as captain of dragoons. When the British disavowed the attack on the "Chesapeake," Capt. Biddle resigned, having no taste for other than active military life. War actually came, however, and in 1813 he raised a company of volunteers—"the State Fencibles"—was elected its captain, and subsequently was colonel of the let Pennsylvania infantry. At the conclusion of hostilities he devoted himself to the study of political economy, and annotated an edition of Say's treatise on that science. He took part in the free-trade convention in Philadelphia in September, 1831, and was an influential adviser of the government as to its financial policy at that time.

BIDDLE, Horace P., lawyer, b. in Fairfield co., Ohio, about 1818. He studied law, was admitted to the bar at Cincinnati in 1839, and settled at Logansport, Ind. He was presiding judge of the 8th judicial circuit in 1846-'52 : member of the Indiana constitutional convention in 1850. Elected supreme judge in 1857, but not commissioned. He made some excellent translations from French and