Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/98

76 that then raged in the Gulf of Mexico between France and England, he remained at Carthagena occupied in arranging his collections till the truce of 1782. Then he resumed his voyage and went to Havana, where he formed a nearly complete collection of the flora of the island. On his return to France in 1785 he was elected a corresponding member of the Academy of sciences, and that body undertook also the publication of his works. He had made many friends in Peru, and, feeling insecure in Paris during the revolution, he returned in 1792 to Lima, where he taught mathematics till his death. Thibaudin's works include “Description des plantes recueillir dans un voyage au Pérou et au Chili” (2 vols., Paris, 1786); “Mémoire sur la flore de l'ile de Cuba” (1786); “Prodome de la flore du Chili avec herbier explicatif” (4 vols, 1788); and “Prodome de la flore du Pérou avec herbier explicatif” (4 vols., 1790).  THIENPONT, Émanuel, clergyman, b. in Belgium in 1803; d. in Logan, Hocking co., Ohio, 19 Oct., 1873. He came to the United States at an early age, studied for the priesthood, and was ordained in Cincinnati on 20 Jan., 1833. He spent the following year in preparing candidates for the priesthood, was then sent to take charge of the missions along the Miami canal, and for some time had entire charge of all the Roman Catholics in the state of Ohio. He was appointed pastor of St. Mary's, Tiffin, in 1835, and afterward of the German Catholics of Dayton, and then had charge of congregations at Portsmouth, Steubenville, and other places. He was afterward sent to Logan, and formed a new congregation in the neighborhood at Straitville. Father Thienpont was the pioneer secular priest of Ohio, and was the first to build Roman Catholic churches in Dayton, Portsmouth, Steubenville, and other places in the state. 

THIÉRY DE MÉNONVILLE, Nicolas Joseph, French botanist, b. in Saint-Mihiel, France, 18 June, 1739; d. in Port au Prince, Santo Domingo, in 1780. He studied law, and for some time practised his profession in his native city, but he soon abandoned the bar for botany, of which he was passionately fond. He formed a plan to naturalize the cochineal insect in the Franco-American colonies, and after landing in Santo Domingo in 1776, in order to learn how to cultivate it, he penetrated to Mexico in the disguise of a Catalonian physician, at great personal risk, as the Spaniards kept the knowledge of this branch of commerce jealously from strangers. With great difficulty he reached Oaxaca, which, he had learned, produced a finer specimen of cochineal than could be found elsewhere, learned the art of planting and raising the nopal on which the insect feeds, bought a large quantity of branches and insects, filling eight chests with them, and succeeded in forwarding them by different routes to Santo Domingo. He sent a part of his cochineals to France, and was successful in rearing and multiplying those that he retained, in the Jardin du roi, which he founded at Port au Prince. He received the title of botanist of the king soon after his return to Mexico. Shortly after his death the cochineal insect disappeared from Santo Domingo. The club of “The Philadelphes” at Cape Français published a manuscript that he left, entitled “Traité de la culture du nopal et de l'éducation de la cochenille dans les colonies françaises de l'Amérique, précédé d'un voyage à Oaxaca” (Cape Français, 1786). 

THOBURN, James Mills, M. E. bishop, b. in St. Clairsville, Ohio, 7 March, 1836. He was graduated at Alleghany college. Pa., in 1857, and began preaching in Ohio as a Methodist minister

in the same year. In 1859 he went to India as a missionary, where he was stationed successively at Nynee Tal, Moradabad, Lucknow, and Calcutta. &emsp; He preached in both the native and European languages, and built the largest church in India. He was presiding elder of the Indian conference, preached for some time at Simla, the summer capital of India, and was for five years editor of the “Indian Witness.” In consequence of an injury that resulted from an accident, he returned to this country in 1886. At the general conference of the Methodist Episcopal church in New York city in 1888 he was elected missionary bishop of India and Malaysia. He has published “My Missionary Apprenticeship,” being a history of twenty-five years' experience in India (New York, 1884), and “Missionary Sermons” (1888). 

THOM, George (tom), soldier, b. in Derry, N. H., 21 Feb., 1819. He was graduated at the U. S. military academy in 1839, assigned to the topographical engineers, and became 2d lieutenant in 1840. He served in connection with the survey of the boundary between the United States and the British provinces under the treaty of Washington, in 1842-'7 and on the staff of Gen. Franklin Pierce in the war with Mexico. He became 1st lieutenant in 1849, and captain for fourteen years' service in July, 1853. In 1853-'6 he served in connection with the survey of the boundary between the United States and Mexico. At the opening of the civil war he was a major, but was appointed colonel and additional aide-de-camp in November, 1861. Col. Thom was continuously employed on engineer and other duty on the staff of Gen. Henry W. Halleck till April, 1865, being present during the siege of Corinth. He was also present at the battle of Cedar Creek, Va. He was promoted lieutenant-colonel of engineers in 1866, and was thereafter in charge of river and harbor improvements in the New England states till 20 Feb., 1883, when, having been forty years in service, he was, at his own request, retired from active service. He became colonel of engineers in 1880, and was brevetted brigadier-general U. S. army, “for faithful and meritorious services during the rebellion.”  THOM, James Crawford, artist, b. in New York, 22 March, 1835. He studied at the National academy, and in 1859 went abroad, where he studied with Édouard Frère, and then with Henri Pierre Picou and Jean Baptiste Camille Corot. His works were frequently exhibited in London, where he gained several medals and other honors at various times. Since his return to the United States in 1872 many of his pictures have found their way into private galleries in this country. Among the paintings that he executed while abroad are “By the River-Side,” “Returning from the Wood,” “Tired of Waiting,” “Going to School,” and “The Monk's Walk.” The last three were exhibited at the Royal academy, London. He has shown more recently at the Academy of design,