Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/135

Rh ASHMEAD, Isaac, printer, b. in Germantown, Pa., 22 Dec, 1790; d. in Pliiladelphia, 1 March, 1870. He was apprenticed to William llradt'ord, andin 1821 founded what is now the oldest printing establishment in Philadelphia. He set up the first power-presses ever used in that city, and introduced composition rollers. He was one of the founders of the American Sunday-School Union, and printed its publications. He also aided in establishing the " American Pres- byterian " and the " Presbyterian Quarterly."

ASHMUN, Eli Porter, senator, b. in Bland- ford, Mass., 24 June, 1770; d. in Northampton, Mass., 10 May, 1819. He received a classical edu- cation, and the honorary degree of A. M. was con- ferred upon him by Middlebury college (1807) and by Harvard (1809). He studied law, and practised at Blandford several years. For some time he was a member of the state legislature, serving on vari- ous occasions in the upper and lower branches. He was U. S. senator from Massachusetts from December, 181, till May, 1818, when he resigned.

ASHMUN, George, statesman, b. in Blandford, Mass., 25 Dec, 1804 ; d. in Springfield, Mass., 17 July, 1870. He was graduated at Yale in 1823, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1828 at Springfield, Mass. In 1833, 1835, 1836, and 1841 he was elected a member of the lower branch of the Massachu- setts legisla- ture, and dur- ing the last term he was speaker of the house. He was a state senator in '38-'9. He was elected to con- gress in 1845, and served con- tinuously until 1851, being a member of the committees on the Jtuliciary, Indian affairs, and rules. He was a great admirer of Daniel Webster, and although he did not follow the latter in his abandonment of the Wil- mot proviso, defended him in the ensuing quarrels ; his replies to Charles J. Ingersoll, of Pennsylvania, and Charles Allen, of Massachusetts, when they assailed Webster with personal and political bitter- ness, were among the strongest efforts of his career in congress. Subsequent to his retirement from political life he devoted his attention to the prac- tice of his profession. In 1860 he was president of the Chicago convention that nominated Lincoln for president. It is said to have been through his influence that in 1861 Senator Douglas, of Illinois, was won over to the support of the administration, and the results of a subsequent interview at the White house between Lincoln, Douglas, and Ash- mun, were of great importance to the country. In 1866 he was chosen a delegate to the national union convention, held in Philadelphia, but he took no part in its deliberations. He was also for some time a director of the Union Pacific railroad.

ASHMUN, Jehudi, missionary, b. in Cham- plain, N. Y., in April, 1794; d. in Boston, Mass., 25 Aug., 1828. He was graduated at the univer- sity of Vermont in 1816, taught for a short time in the Maine charity school, prepared for the Con- gregational ministry, and became a professor in the Bangor theological seminary. Removing to the District of Columbia, he united with the Prot- estant Episcopal church and became editor of the " Theological Repertory," a monthly magazine published in the interest of that church. His true mission was inaugurated when he became agent of the colonization society, and took charge of a reenforcement for the colony at Liberia, on the western coast of Africa. He sailed 19 June, 1822, and found the colony in a wretched state of disor- der and demoralization, and apparently on the point of extinction through incursions of the neighboring savages. With extraordinary energy and ability he undertook the task of reorganiza- tion. In November he was attacked by a force of savages, whose numbers he estimated at 800. With only 35 men and boys to help him, he repelled the attack, which was renewed by still greater num- bers a few days later, with a like result. He dis- played remarkable personal valor throughout these encounters, and when, six years later, his health compelled him to leave Africa, he had established a comparatively prosperous colony 1,200 strong. He died almost immediately after his arrival in the United States. He was author of " Memoirs of Samuel Bacon " (Washington, 1822), and of many contributions to tlie " African Repository." His life was written by R. R. Gurley (New Yorlv, 1839).

ASHMUN, John Hooker, jurist, b. in Bland- ford, Mass., 3 July, 1800 ; d. in Cambridge, 1 April, 1833. He was the son of Senator Eli P. Ashmun, was graduated at Harvard in 1818, and, on the establishment of the law department of that university, appointed its first professor, under the endowment of Isaac Royall. Prior to this he was associated with Judge Howe and Elijah J. Mills in establishing a law school in Northampton. Judge Story pronounced his funeral discourse, and spoke highly of his professional attainments.

ASPER, Joel F., journalist, b. in Adams co., Pa., 20 April, 1822 ; d. in Chillicothe, Mo., 1 Oct., 1872. He was admitted to the bar in 1844, elected a justice of the peace in 1846, and prosecuting at- torney for the county in 1847. In 1849 he edited the " Western Reserve Chronicle," and in 1850 be- came editor of the "Chardon Democrat." In 1861 he raised a company and was commissioned a captain. He was wounded in the battle of Win- chester, and, after being promoted lieutenant- colonel in 1862, was mustered out in 1863 on ac- count of wounds. In 1864 he removed to Missouri and founded the Chillicothe " Spectator." He was elected to congress in 1868, and served on the com- mittee on military affairs.

ASPINWALL, Thomas, soldier, b. in Brook- line, Mass., 23 May, 1786; d. 11 Aug., 1876. He was graduated at Harvard in 1804, and studied law with William Sullivan. He was major of the 9th U. S. infantry in the war of 1812, and for gallant conduct at Sackett's Harbor received the brevet of lieutenant-colonel, and that of colonel for the sortie from' Fort Erie, in which he lost an arm. From 1815 to 1853 he was U. S. consul at London.

'''ASPINWALL. William''', physician, b. in Brookline, Mass., 23 Mav, 1743; d. there, 16 April, 1823. He was graduated at Harvard in 1764, studied medicine in Philadelphia, and practised in Brookline. He fought as a volunteer at Lexing- ton, and afterward, became a surgeon in the revolutionary army, and had partial charge of a military hospital at Jamaica Plain. After the war he interested himself in vaccination, built a small-pox hospital at Brookline, and succeeded in establishing that remedy into American practice. He