Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/738

700 orator in Michigan before he became of age. He afterward removed to Chicago, and in 1876 shot and killed Francis Hanford, the author of an anonymous letter calumniating Mr. Sullivan's wife, which had been read at a meeting of the common council. The shooting took place at an interview that Sullivan sought for the purpose of obtaining a retraction, at which not only he was assaulted by Hanford and one of the latter's friends, but his wife was also struck by Hanford when she, by chance seeing an altercation, sought appealingly to stop it. Sullivan was tried and acquitted. He was then admitted to the bar and took an honor- able place in his profession. In 1883 he was chosen first president of the Irish national league of Ameri- ca, whose object is to promote home rule in Ireland. This place he resigned in 1884, and now devotes his entire time to his profession. — His wife, Margaret Frances (Buchanan), has been a leading writer for newspapers, and is a contributor to magazines. Mrs. Sullivan is literary and art editor of the Chicago '"Tribune" and an editorial contributor to the press of New York. She is author of " Ire- land of To-Day" (Philadelphia, 1881), and co- author with Mary E. Blake of "Mexico — Pictur- esque, Political, and Progressive " (Boston, 1888).

TAPPAN, Eli Todd, educator, b. in Steuben- ville, Ohio, 30 April, 1824. He was educated by private tutors and at St. Mary's college, Baltimore, Md., engaged in journalism, studied and practised law, and afterward taught. In 1844-'5 he was mayor of Steubenville, and he was superintendent of the public schools there in 1858-'9. He was professor of mathematics in the University of Ohio, Athens, in 1859-'60, and again in 1865-'8, and from 1868 till 1875 was president of Kenyon col- lege, Gambier, Ohio, where he was professor of mathematics from 1875 till 1887. In that year he was appointed state commissioner of common schools of Ohio, which post he now holds. Mr. Tappan has published a " Treatise on Plane and Solid Geometry " (Cincinnati, 1867) ; " A Treatise on Geometry and Trigonometry " (1868) ; " Notes and Exercises on Surveying for the Use of Stu- dents in Kenyon College (Mt. Vernon, 1881) ; and " Elements of Geometry" (New York, 1885).

THORNTON, Jessy Quinn, jurist, b. near Point Pleasant, Mason co., W. Va., 24 Aug., 1810 ; d. in Salem, Ore., 5 Feb., 1888. In his infancy his par- ents removed to Champaign county. Ohio. The son studied three years in London, read law in Staun- ton, Va., and was admitted to the bar in 1833. He afterward attended law lectures at the University of Virginia, in 1835 he opened an office in Palmyra, Mo., in 1836 edited a paper in the interest of Mar- tin Van Buren, and in 1841 removed to Quincy, 111. In 1846 he emigrated to Oregon, and early in 1847 was appointed chief justice of the provisional gov- ernment. In the autumn of the same year he resigned and went to Washington, where he exerted his influence in forwarding the organization of the territorial government, and in incorporating the principal of the " Wilmot proviso" in the act that prohibited the extension of slavery into the terri- tory. He was the author of the provision in the statutes at large that gives to the cause of public education the 16th and 36th sections of public lands in each township. In 1864-'5 he served in the legislature. At the time of the murder of Elijah P. Lovejoy, at Alton, 111., in 1837, he commented freely on "the occurrence in his paper, and a pro- slavery mob surrounded his building, but, after threatening death to the first man that should enter the office unbidden, he made a speech announcing his position on the slavery question and defending the right of free speech so clearly as to mollify his hearers. He published " Oregon and California in 1848 " (2 vols., New York, 1849), and " History of the Provisional Government of Oregon " in the " Pro- ceedings of the Oregon Pioneer Association " for 1875 and in the " History of the Willamette Valley."

TRACY, Benjamin Franklin, cabinet officer, b. in Owego, N. Y., 26 April, 1830. He was edu- cated at the Owego academy, and at the age of twenty-one years was admitted to the bar in his native place. In 1853 and 1856 he was elected district attorney of Tioga county. In 1862 he Was a me.mber of the committee appointed by Gov. Edwin D. Morgan to organize re- cruiting for the U. S. army, and later was made colonel of the 109th New York regi- ment. He took part in the battles of the Wilderness and Spottsylvania, soon after which failing health compelled his return home; but he again went to the front as colonel of the 127th regiment of colored troops. Later he was placed in com- mand of the rendezvous and prison-camp at Elmira, N. Y. At the close of the war he was made brevet brigadier-general of vol- unteers, and settled in Brooklyn, N. Y. On 1 Oct., 1866, he was appointed U. S. district attorney for the eastern district of New York, to which office he was reappointed on 23 Jan., 1871, serving till 1873. After returning to the practice of law, Gen. Tracy was retained as counsel for Henry Ward Beecher in the Tilton-Beecher case. On 8 Dec, 1881, to fill a vacancy, he was appointed associate judge of the court of appeals, holding this place until January, 1883. In September, 1882, he was nominated for supreme court judge by the Republicans, but was defeated on a party vote. On 5 March, 1889, he was appointed by President Harrison secretary of the navy, was confirmed on the same day by the senate, and immediately entered on the duties of the office.

WILLIAMSON, Isaiah Vansant, philanthropist, b. in Fallsington, Pa., 3 Feb., 1803; d. in Philadelphia, Pa., 7 March, 1889. He was a farmer's son, and entered a country store at an early age. Before he attained his majority he went to Philadelphia, and there engaged in various enterprises, showing great business ability. He became a partner in the firm of Williamson, Burroughs, and Co., in the wholesale dry-goods trade, and acquired a fortune. Mr. Williamson invested his money in coal and iron lands, and became one of the largest holders of Pennsylvania railroad stock, and in the Cambria Iron Works. Believing that the degeneracy of mechanical excellence among American artisans was due to the passing away of the apprentice system, he determined to found an institution where boys could be taught carpentry, black-smithing, printing, and other mechanical work. For this purpose in December, 1888, he placed $5,000,000 as a minimum amount in the hands of seven trustees to establish a free school of mechanical trades. Mr. Williamson's fortune was estimated at $15,000,000. He never married, and lived obscurely and almost penuriously for many years.