Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/150

126 secretary. He was appointed superintending engineer of public buildings and grounds in 1871, and supervised the construction of Washington aqueduct, the chain bridge across the Potomac, Anacosta bridge, and the east wing of the department offices, and also the plans for the improvement of Washington and Georgetown harbors, in January, 1876, he was indicted by the grand jury of St. Louis for complicity in revenue frauds. He demanded a court martial, but was brought to trial in the civil court in February and acquitted, with the aid of a deposition by President Grant.

BABCOCK, Rufus, clergyman, b. in North Colebrook, Conn., 18 Sept., 1798; d. in Salem, Mass., 4 May, 1875. He was graduated at Brown in 1831, and acted as tutor in Columbian college (now university), D. C. for two years. He was ordained pastor of the Baptist church in Poughkeepsie in 1823, and became associate pastor with Dr. Bolles, of the first Baptist church in Salem, Mass., in 1826. He was elected president of Waterville college, Me. (now Colby university), in 1833; but in 1836, his health failing, he resigned and soon returned to ministerial duties, first as pastor of the Spruce street church in Philadelphia, where he remained three years and a half, then of his former charge in Poughkeepsie, and finally as pastor of the first Baptist church in Paterson, N. J. For many years he took a leading part in the great movements of the Baptist denomination in the United States. He was three times elected corresponding secretary of the American and Foreign Bible society. He was also corresponding secretary of the Sunday-school union of Philadelphia, and of the American colonization society, and district secretary of the Baptist publication society, Philadelphia. Dr. Babcock founded, and for five years edited, the " Baptist Memorial," a monthly magazine of biography and current religious intelligence. He published " Claims of Education Societies " (1829); "Review of Beckwith on Baptism" (1829); "Making Light of Christ" (1830); "Memoirs" of Andrew Fuller (1830), George Learned (1832), Abraham Booth, and Isaac Backus; "History of Waterville College" (1836); "Tales of Truth for the Young" (1837); "Personal Recollections of Dr. John M. Peck" (1858); and "The Emigrant's Mother" (1859). He likewise contributed to Sprague's "Annals of the American Pulpit."

BABY, Francois, Canadian engineer, d. 5 Aug., 1864. He did much toward improving the navigation of the lower St. Lawrence by building wharves, providing for a new system of light-houses, and introducing steam tugs. He was a member of the executive and legislative council, and adjutant-general for the province of Quebec.—His grandson, Louis Francois George, Canadian statesman, b. in Montreal, 26 Aug., 1834. He is descended from Jacques Baby de Ranville, an officer in the celebrated regiment Carignan Sallieres, which came to Canada in 1662. He was educated at St. Sulpice college, Montreal, and at the college of Joilette; studied law. and was called to the bar of Lower Canada in 1857. He was elected a representative for Joliette in 1872, re-elected in 1874. and again in 1878, and on 28 Oct. of the latter year was sworn of the privy council as minister of inland revenue. He is a conservative in politics.

BACA, Luis (bah'-cah), Mexican composer, b. in Durango, 15 Dec, 1826; d. in 1855. He received his first education in Mexico, and then went to Paris to study medicine, but devoted himself entirely to music. In Paris, where he made the acquaintance of Donizetti, he composed two operas, "Leonor " and "Giovanna di Castiglia," a celebrated "Ave Maria," and other popular pieces. He soon returned to Mexico, and died there.

BACHE, Theophylact (baitch), merchant, b. in Settle, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England, 17 Jan., 1734; d. in New York, 30 Oct., 1807. He landed in New York 17 Sept., 1751, took charge of the business of Paul Richard, who died in 1756, became the owner of merchant vessels, and engaged in privateering. He was identified with the resistance to the crown in 1765, and in 1770 was one of the committee to carry out the resolutions of non-intercourse. In 1774 he was one of the committee of correspondence appointed when the port of Boston was closed. He supported the first continental congress; but when hostilities actually began he remained so far neutral as to incur the suspicions of the committee of safety. He remained in New York during the British occupation of the city, and befriended American officers held there as prisoners of war. In 1777 he was chosen the fifth president of the New York chamber of commerce. — His brother, Richard, b. in Settle, 12 Sept., 1737, d. in Berks co., Pa., 29 July, 1811, was the eighteenth child, and followed Theophylact to the colonies. He went to Philadelphia in 1770, and established himself in business as his brother's agent, underwriting marine insurance risks, and accumulating a handsome fortune. At the beginning of the revolution he was chairman of the Republican Society in Philadelphia. Pie married Sarah, the only daughter of Benjamin Franklin, 3 Oct., 1767. Franklin appointed him secretary, comptroller, and register-general, to date from 29 Sept., 1775; and this office he held until November, 1776, when he became postmaster-general, and continued as such till 1782. He was an earnest patriot during the revolutionary struggle.—Sarah, philanthropist, b. in Philadelphia, 11 Sept., 1744, d. 5 Oct., 1808, was the only daughter of Benjamin Franklin and the wife of Richard Bache, who succeeded Dr. Franklin as postmaster-general. She was the chief of the patriotic l)and of ladies who made clothing for the half-clad soldiers and sought to mitigate their sufferings during the severe winter of 1780. More than 2,200 women were at one time employed under her direction in sewing for the army. For this work she collected large sums, Morris and other patriots being among the contributors. The Marquis de Chastellux, then visiting Philadelphia, was charmed with the appearance of Mrs. Bache, and recommended her to the ladies of Europe as a model of domestic virtues and feminine patriotism. On other occasions she collected medicines and delicacies for the soldiers in the hospitals, and nursed the sick and wounded with her own hands. She had eight children.—Benjamin Franklin, son of Richard, journalist, b. in Philadelphia, 12 Aug., 1769; d. there, 10 Sept., 1798. He accompanied his grandfather, Benjamin Franklin, to Paris, and received his education in France and Geneva. While in Paris he learned printing and type-founding at the publishing house of the liroth- ers Didot. He returned to the United States in 1785, and studied for a time in the college of Philadelphia. In 1790 he began publishing the " General