Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1892, volume 3).djvu/649

Rh of Georgia, for which purpose he collected a vari- ety of rare papers during his political service. LANIER, Sidney, poet, b. in Macon, Ga., 3 Feb., 1842 ; d. in Lynn, N. C, 7 Sept., 1881. When a child he learned to play many instruments al- most without instruction, devoting himself espe- cially to the flute. He was graduated at Ogle- thorpe college, Midway, Ga., in 1860. He enlisted in the Confederate army in April, 1861, and participated in the seven days' fight- ing near Richmond. Afterward he was transferred to the signal service, with headquarters at Pe- tersburg. In 1863 his detachment served in Virginia and North Carolina, and afterward, while in command of a block- ade-run ner, he was captured,and for five months imprisoned in Point Lookout, Pla. His experience is pictured in a novel that he wrote in three weeks entitled " Tiger- Lilies " (New York, 1867). He was a clerk in Mont- gomery, Ala., in 1865-'7, afterward principal of an academy in Prattville, Ala., and in 1868-'72 Practised law with his father. Robert S. Lanier, in tacon. At the suggestion of his friend Bayard Taylor he was chosen to write the words of the cantata for the opening of the Centennial exhibi- tion in Philadelphia in 1876. In October, 1877, he settled in Baltimore and delivered lectures on English literature. In 1879 he was appointed lec- turer on this subject at Johns Hopkins university. In December, 1880, he wrote his poem " Sunrise," one of a projected series entitled " Hymns of the Marshes." In the following summer he encamped in the mountains of North Carolina, where he died of consumption. His scholarship was wide and accurate, and his investigations in the scientific construction of verse are formulated in his "Sci- ence of English Verse" (New York, 1880). His other works are " Florida : Its Scenery. Climate. and History " (Philadelphia. 1876) : " Poems " (1877) ; " The Bov's Froissart " (New York. 1878) ; "The Bov's King Arthur" (1880); "The Bov's Mabinogion" (1881); "The Boy's Percy" (1882); and " The English Novel and the Principles of its Development " (1883). A collection of his poems, with a memorial by William Hayes Ward, was ed- ited by his wife, Mary Day Lanier (1884). — His brother, Clifford Anderson, author, b. in Griffin, Ga"., was educated at Oglethorpe college, but his studies were interrupted by the civil war. He served in the Confederate army, and was afterward signal officer on the steamer "Talisman," running the blockade between Wilmington, N. C. and Ber- muda until the vessel was wrecked in December, 1864. In 1885-'6 Mr. Lanier was superintendent of the city schools. Montgomery, Ala. Ho is the author of occasional poems and essavs and of a novel entitled "Thorn-Fruit" (New York. 1867).

LANIGAN, George Thomas, journalist, b. on St. Charles river, Canada, 10 Dec. 1845; d. in Philadelphia, Pa., 5 Feb., 1886. After receiving his early education at the Montreal high-school, he learned telegraphy, and worked as an operator, and afterward as superintendent of a circuit on the government telegraph-lines. During the Fenian raid of 1866 he sent important despatches to New York journals. Returning to Montreal, he estab- lished with Robert Graham and others the " Free Lance," a satirical and humorous paper, which de- veloped into the " Evening Star," and is still pub- lished under that name. After selling his interest Mr. Lanigan came to the United States and was connected with various newspapers. He was the author of "Canadian Ballads" (Montreal, 1864); "Fables Out of the World" (New York, 1878); and a comic " Life of Andrew Jackson," which was never finished. Among his most successful humor- ous poems are "The Amateur Orlando "and "A Threnody for the Ahkoond of Swat."

LANMAN, James, lawyer, b. in Norwich, Conn., 13 June, 1769 ; d. there, 7 Aug., 1841. He was graduated at Yale in 1788, studied law. was admitted to the bar in 1791, and began practice in his native town. He was state's attorney for New London county from 1814 till 1819, a member of the lower branch of the legislature in 1817 and again in 1832, a delegate to the convention that framed the first constitution for Connecticut in 1818, and was elected to the state senate in 1819. Mr. Lanman was subsequently elected to the U. S. senate as a Democrat, serving from 6 Dec, 1819, till 3 March, 1825. From 1826 till 1829 he was judge of the supreme and superior courts of Connecticut, and for several years was mayor of Norwich. His second wife was the mother of Park Benjamin, the author. — His son. Charles James, lawyer, b. in Norwich, Conn., 5 June. 1795; d. in New London, Conn., 25 July, 1N70. was graduated at Yale in 1814, and admitted to the bar in 1817. He was soon afterward invited by Henry Clay to settle in Kentucky, but preferred to emigrate to Michigan, on the solicitation of Gen. Lewis Cass. Locating at Frenchtown (now Monroe), on Raisin river, he held many offices, including those of attorney for the territory, judge of probate, and inspector of customs. He was appointed by President Monroe in 1823 receiver of public moneys for the district of Michigan, reappointed by President John Quincy Adams, and continued in office eight years. He was a founder of Tecumseh, Mich., a commissioner to locate many county-seats in the state, and the surveyor and once the sole owner of the land where the city of Grand Rapids now stands. Although not a pracl ical farmer, he at one time cultivated two farms, and was the first to import the best breeds of blooded horses from Kentucky and Virginia. In 1835 he returned to Norwich, and in the panic of 1837 lost the greater part of his property. In 1^38 he was chosen mayor of his native town, and filled other local offices. In 1862 he removed to New London, where he remained until his death. — Another son, James Henry, b. in Norwich. Conn., 4 Dec, 1812; d. in Middletown, Conn., 10 Jan., 1887, was educated at Washington (now Trinity) college, studied law at Harvard, was admitted to the bar, and practised at Norwich. New London, and Baltimore, Md. He then removed to New York, and devoted himself to literature. Visiting Michigan a short time before it was made a state, on the invitation of his brother, he became interested in the country and its people, spent one or two years there, and published a " History of Michigan, Civil and Topographical" (New York. 1839), which was subsequently issued by Harper and Brothers in their "Family Library," under the title " History of Michigan from its Earliest Colonization to the Present Time " (1842). He contributed to the " National Portrait Gallery" (1861). the "North American" and "American Quarterly" Reviews, and the