Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1892, volume 3).djvu/274

246 married a Russian lady in 1871, but the alliance proved unhappy, and he died harmlessly insane. Prof. William Crookes, of London, and Victorien Sardou, of Paris, devoted much time to the inves- tigation of the phenomena he produced, and pub- lished papers asserting that his practices were not the effect of jugglery. Robert crowning's poem entitled " Mr. Sludge, the Medium," is understood to be a study of Home.

HOMER, Jonathan, clergyman, b. in Boston, Mass., in October, 1759 ; d. in Newton, Mass., 13 Feb., 1843. He was graduated at Harvard in 1777, and in 1782 was ordained pastor of the Congrega- tional church in Newton, where he remained till his resignation in 1839. The degree of D. D. was conferred on him by Brown university in 1826. He published, besides occasional sermons, a " De- scription and History of Newton," in the Massa- chusetts historical collections, vol. v. (1798). From 1824 till the end of his life he devoted his attention to investigating the sources of the common Eng- lish version of the Bible. By the examination of the labors of the earlier English translators and of Luther and the German reformers, he reached the conclusion that the work of King James's trans- lators was to a large extent a compilation. He did not publish the results of his biblical studies, but superintended the preparation of an edition of Teal's " Columbian Bible," adding notes and intro- ductions to the several books.

HOMER, William Bradford, clergyman, b. in Boston, Mass., 31 Jan., 1817; d. in South Berwick, Me., 22 March, 1841. His intellect was remarka- bly developed at an early age, and at eleven he was acquainted with Latin, modern Greek, and French, speaking the last two languages with flu- ency. He was graduated at Amherst in 1836, and at Andover theological seminary in 1840, and in the latter year was ordained pastor of the Congre- gational church in South Berwick, Me., continuing in this charge until his death. His " Writings," with an introductory essay and memoir, were edited by Prof. Edwards A. Park (Boston, 1849). HOMER, Winslow, artist, b. in Boston, Mass., 24 Feb., 1836. In 1854 he was placed by his father with a lithographer to learn the business, and re- mained two years, producing among other works a design that embraced the portraits of the entire senate of Massachusetts. He then engaged in drawing on the block for wood-engravers, and, his work attracting favorable comment, he was invited to remove to New Yoi"k by a publishing house, for whom he made many drawings. In 1860-'l he studied in the night-school of the Academy of de- sign, and had a month's instruction in landscape- painting. In 1863 he exhibited for the first time, at the Academy, two pictures on war subjects — "Home, Sweet Home, and "The Last Goose at Yuletown." These pictures made a strong impres- sion on the public. In 1865 he exhibited " Prison- ers at the Front." The characters in this scene are all portraits, and at the Paris salon of 1867 was one of the few American pictures that received fa- vorable comment. He spent the year 1867 in Paris, studying without a master from life models, but received a great impulse from the paintings of John La Farge. He was elected an associate of the National academy in 1864, and an academician the following year. Mr. Homer's pictures have the merit of genuine motive and aim. He paints life as he sees it, and is rigidly faithful to his own per- ceptions. Since 1867 he has resided in New York. He exhibited " Snap the Whip " and " The Ameri- can Type" at the Philadelphia exposition of 1876, and " Snap the Whip " and the " Country School- Room " at the Paris salon of the next year. Among his most noted pictures are the negro studies " Eat- ing Watermelon " and the " Cotton-Pickers." and the "Song of the Lark," "The Four-Leaved Clo- ver," " Dad's Coming," " In the Fields." " The Tryst- ing-Place," and " Flowers for the Teacher." He has recently exhibited at the National academy " The Life-Line " (1884) and " Under-tow " (1887).

HOMES, Henry Augustus, author, b. in Bos- ton, Mass., 10 March, 1812; d. in Albany, N. Y., 3 Nov., 1887. He was graduated at Amherst in 1830, subsequently studied theology, followed oriental studies in Paris, France, and was ordained there in 1835 as a missionary of the " Eglise Reformee " to Turkey. He served as a missionary of the American board at Constantinople in 1836-'50, and was in the diplomatic service of the United States at Constantinople in 1851-'3. In 1854 he was ap- pointed assistant librarian in the general library of the state library at Albany, N. Y., and in 1868 be- came the senior librarian and chief of the staff in the same library. He was the author of " The Need of the Yezeedees of Mesopotamia " (1842) ; " Obser- vations on the Design and Import of Medals " (Al- bany, 1864); "Our Knowledge of California and the Northwest "(1870); "The Palatine Emigration to England in 1709 " (1872) ; " The Water-Supply of Constantinople" (1876); "The Future Develop- ment of the New York State Librarv" (1878); "The Pompey (New York) Stone" (18*81); "The Correct Arms of the State of New York " (1883) ; and translated from the Turkish " The Alchemy of Mohammed Ghazzali " (1873).

HOMES, Mary Sophie Shaw, author, b. in Frederick, Md., about 1830. She removed with her mother to New Orleans after the death of her father, Thomas Shaw, when a mere child, and was educated there. Her first husband, Norman Rog- ers, died in the second year after their marriage, and in 1864 she became the wife of Luther Homes. She first attracted public attention in 1851 as a writer of essays, sketches, and poems under the pen-name of " Millie Mayfield," and afterward pub- lished a volume of verse, entitled " Progression, or the South Defended " (1868). A collection of her fugitive poems has also appeared, with the title "A Wreath of Rhymes" (Philadelphia, 1870). HOMES, William, clergyman, b. in the north of Ireland in 1663 ; d. in Chilmark, Martha's Vine- yard, Mass., 20 June, 1746. He was well educated, and, coming to New England in 1686, taught three years on Martha's Vineyard. He then returned to Ireland, and was ordained minister at Strabane in 1692, but returned to Martha's Vineyard in 1714 and became a pastor there. His son, Capt. Robert, married a sister of Benjamin Franklin. William Homes published sermons on " The Sabbath," on " Public Reading of the Scripture," " Church Gov- ernment" (1732), "Secret Prayer" and "Govern- ment of Christian Families " (1747).
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HONE, Philip, merchant, b. in New York city in 1781 ; d. there, 4 May, 1851. He was a sueceafl ful merchant in New York, one of the founders of the Mercantile librarv association of that city, and was mayor in 1825- f 6, winning by his conduct as an upright magistrate praise from the highest as well as the lowest of his constituents. President Taylor afterward appointed him naval officer of New York. He was a man of fine social qualities, and of a noble and generous character. Hone's marble bust, furnished at the request of the asso- ciation, stands in the hall of the New York mer- cantile library.

HONEYWOOD, Saint John, poet, b. in Leicester, Mass., 7 Feb., 1763 ; d. in Salem, N. Y., 1 Sept.,