Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/217

Rh John Adams : from 1798 till 1801 he was governor of his state. In 1801 and 1802 he was a U. S. circuit judge. Ilis daughter became the wife of James A. Bayard, signer of the treaty of Ghent.

BASSINI, Carlo, musician, b. in Cuneo, Piedmont, Italy, in 1812; d. in Irvington, N. J., 26 Nov., 1870. His parents being musicians, he was placed at an early age under the best masters in training for a violinist, and in his twentieth year had already attained to some distinction as an instrumentalist. Soon afterward he went with a Genoese operatic company to South America, and was elected director of the troupe shortly after their arrival abroad. With the money earned in South America he came to New York city and undertook to give a concert, which proved a failure and exhausted his resources. In this dilemma he set about giving lessons in vocal music, thereby relinquishing his prospects as a brilliant orchestral leader. For years he worked untiringly, often beginning at seven in the morning and working until ten at night. He had not a rich voice, but was an admirable trainer. Among his works are: "Art of Singing" (Boston, 1857); "Melodie Exercises" (1865); " Method for the Tenor" (1866); "Method for the Baritone" (1868); and "New Method" (1869). Some of the best of his compositions are "A te Accanto," a love song, dedicated to his wife shortly before his marriage; "Salutaris," a prayer for a soprano voice, and "There is Light in the Sky," composed shortly before his death.

BASTIDAS, Rodriguez de, explorer, b. about 1460; d. in Santo Domingo. Shortly after the discovery of America he associated with Juan de la Casa in the prosecution of new explorations. Being ordered by the king of Spain to receive twenty missionaries on board his ship, he sailed along the coast of Central America and New Grenada in search of a fit situation for a colony, and finally selected the district in New Grenada that afterward bore the name of St. Martha, and there he founded the city of St. Martha. Its prosperity was so great that in less than two years it was erected into a bishopric, and Bastidas was appointed governor. Endeavoring to check the cupidity and cruelty of his soldiers in their dealings with the natives, he was wounded in a sedition, and obliged to fly to Santo Domingo, where he was arrested by the governor, Bovadilla, who charged him with making a treaty with the Indians without authority. He was honorably acquitted, but died of his wounds soon afterward.

BASTIDE, John Henry, British soldier, b. about 1710. He was employed as chief engineer in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland in 1742, and in April, 1745. Massachusetts granted him £140 for services in the repair and construction of the forts in that province, particularly Castle William and Governor's island in Boston harbor, Marblehead, Cape Ann, and Falmouth (now Portland, Me.). His services were of great value in preparing the plans and the means for the capture of Louisburg in 1745, and were acknowledged by Gov. Shirley, of Massachusetts, in a message to the house of representatives. He was afterward employed in the reduction of Canada from 1756 to 1760, and in 1761-'2 fortified the harbor of Halifax and improved its dockyard. He became lieutenant-general in the British army, 3 April, 1770.

BATCHELDER, John Putnam, physician, b. in Wilton, N. H., 6 Aug., 1784; d. in New York city, 8 April, 1868. He was a great-nephew of Gen. Israel Putnam. After an academical education, he began the study of medicine, and in 1807 was licensed to practise. He did not receive the

degree of M. D., however, until 1815, after attendance on the lectures of Harvard medical school. He began practice in Charlestown, N. H., removed thence to Pittsfield, Mass.; afterward to Utica, N. Y., and in 1843 to New York city. He was appointed professor of anatomy in Castleton college, Vt., in 1817, and soon afterward professor of surgical anatomy in the Berkshire medical institution at Pittsfield. He was a successful surgeon, and performed many operations of great importance, and requiring extraordinary skill and daring. For many years he made the treatment of diseases of the eye a specialty. He was president of the Academy of Medicine, and of the New York medical association in 1858. He published &ldquo;Thoughts on the Connection of Life, Mind, and Matter&rdquo; (Utica, N. Y., 1845), besides essays and medical treatises.

BATCHELDER, Samuel, inventor, b. in Jaffrey, N. H., 8 June, 1784; d. in Cambridge, Mass., 5 Feb., 1879. His early life was spent in New Ipswich, whither his parents had removed, and in 1808 he became interested in a cotton factory at this place, which was the second that was erected in New Hampshire. In 1825 he removed to Lowell, where he superintended the erection of the Hamilton Company's mills. In 1831 he was called on to undertake the erection of a cotton-mill for the York Manufacturing Company in Saco, Me., and to superintend its operations. The mills under his management were very successful, and the plant and capital were greatly enlarged. In 1846 he removed to Cambridge, Mass., where he continued to reside, and, although a representative in the Massachusetts state legislature, he yet for many years continued his relations with the mills, being president of the Hamilton Manufacturing Company, the Appleton Company, the Essex Company, the Everett Mills, the York Manufacturing Company, and the Exeter Manufacturing Company &mdash; having an aggregate capital of about $5,000,000. About 1832 he devised the first stop-motion to the drawing-frame, which has since been used in this country and England. In 1832 he patented the steam-cylinders and connections now universally used in dressing-frames for drying yarns. His greatest invention was the dynamometer used for ascertaining the power for driving machinery. It was first used in the York mills in 1837, and was considered preferable to any known apparatus for determining the power actually used in driving machinery. In early life he contributed to the &ldquo;Boston Monthly Anthology&rdquo; and to the &ldquo;Port Folio,&rdquo; and he was the author of the &ldquo;Responsibilities of the North in Relation to Slavery&rdquo; (Cambridge, 1856), and &ldquo;Introduction and Early Progress of the Cotton Manufacture in the United States&rdquo; (Boston, 1863). A sketch of his life was published in pamphlet form (Lowell, 1885).

BATEMAN, Ephraim, U. S. senator, b. in Cedarville, Cumberland co., N. J., in 1770; d. there, 29 Jan., 1829. After receiving a public-school education he became a mechanic's apprentice, but, leaving his employment, studied medicine, and afterward was noted in his profession. He was for many years a member of the.state legislature, and was elected to congress as a democrat. He was thrice re-elected, serving altogether from 4 Dec, 1815, to 3 March, 1823, and was a member of the committees on post-offices and accounts. In 1826, as president of the council of the state legislature, he gave the casting vote that elected him to the U. S. senate over Theodore Frelinghuysen. A committee of the senate afterward reported that this action was perfectly legal, and he remained in the senate until he resigned in January, 1829.