Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/238

212 had scarcely reached the front and assumed command at the advanced line when his right leg was shattered by a rifle-ball. Amputation followed, and, although his life was saved, he was no longer capable of active military service. He was brevetted brigadier-general of volunteers, 10 Nov., 1864, and mustered out of service at his own request on 22 Dec. of that year, refusing to remain in the army on light duty as he was urged to do. He repeatedly declined promotion that would have taken him away from his own regiment, feeling bound to remain with the men whom he had enlisted. In civil life Gen. Beaver has attended closely to his practice at the bar. He was elected a member of the board of trustees of the Pennsylvania State College, in 1873, and has been very influential in increasing its usefulness and prosperity. He has taken active part as a speaker in the campaigns of the republican party, and at the state convention of June, 1882, was nominated as its candidate for governor of Pennsylvania, and again nominated for the same office in 1886. He is a prominent member of the Grand army of the republic. See &ldquo;Life of James A. Beaver,&rdquo; by Frank A. Burr (Philadelphia, 1882).

BÉBIAN, Roch Ambroise Auguste, educator, b. on the island of Guadeloupe in 1789; d. there in 1834. He was the son of a merchant, and was encouraged to devote himself to the instruction of the deaf and dumb by his godfather, the Abbé Sicard, under whose direction he qualified himself for the task. He published &ldquo;Essai sur les sourd-muets et sur le langage naturel&rdquo; (1817), and afterward became a professor in the royal institution for deaf-mutes. His zeal for reform excited much jealousy, and, in 1825, he was compelled to resign his professorship and return to his native island. His other publications were &ldquo;Mimographie, ou Essai d'écriture mimique&rdquo; (Paris, 1822); &ldquo;Manuel d'enseignement pratique&rdquo; (1827); and &ldquo;Éloge historique de l'abbé de l'Epée.&rdquo;

BECERRA, Diego, Spanish navigator, d. in 1533. He was an officer in the army of Cortés, conqueror of Mexico. When the ship &ldquo;Concepcion&rdquo; was built at Tehuantepec by order of Cortés, Becerra was given command of her, and went, 30 Nov., 1533, to explore the coasts of the southern sea. A short time after he had begun the work his pilot treacherously assassinated him.

BECERRA, Francisco (be-ther'-rah), Spanish architect, lived in the latter part of the 16th century. He established himself in Puebla de los Angeles, Mexico, and built there the cathedral and several convents. The famous cathedral of Lima, the church of Cuzco, and several bridges, are also numbered among his works, which rank with the best specimen of architecture in Spanish America.

BECHLER, John Christian, Moravian bishop, b. on the island of Oesel, 7 Jan., 1784; d. in Herrnhut, Saxony, 18 April, 1857. He was educated at the Moravian college and theological seminary in Germany, came to the United States in 1806, and entered the boarding-school of Nazareth Hall, at Nazareth, Pa., as a tutor. In the following year the American Moravian theological seminary was founded, and he was appointed one of its first professors. Afterward he accepted the principalship of Nazareth Hall, and subsequently had charge of various churches in Pennsylvania and on Staten Island. He was consecrated to the episcopacy at Lititz, Pa., 17 May, 1835, and presided over the southern district. In the following year he went to Europe as a member of the general synod, and did not return, but proceeded to Russia, where he stood at the head of the Moravian establishment

at Sarepta, and subsequently was the principal of a similar establishment at Zeist, in Holland. Bishop Bechler was endowed with rare musical talent, and composed various anthems and tunes, some of which are still in use.

BECK, Charles, educator, b. in Heidelberg, Germany, 19 Aug., 1798; d. in Cambridge, Mass., 19 March, 1866. After completing his theological studies at Berlin and Tübingen, he was employed for some time as tutor at the university of Basle, Switzerland; but his republican sentiments endangered his liberty, and he took refuge in the United States, arriving in New York in December, 1824. Soon afterward he became connected, as teacher, with the Round Hill school at Northampton, Mass., until, in 1830, he, in connection with two other teachers, established a school at Phillipstown, on the Hudson, opposite West Point. In 1832 Prof. Beck was elected to the chair of Latin language and literature at Cambridge, and, on his retirement from that professorship in 1850, he devoted himself to literary pursuits and classical studies. In 1863 he published &ldquo;The Manuscripts of the Satyricon of Petronius Arbiter, described and collated.&rdquo; He was for two years a representative of Cambridge in the state legislature. He was specially interested in the soldiers' fund, the sanitary commission, and the agencies for the care and education of the freedmen.

BECK, George, poet, b. in England in 1749; d. in Lexington, Ky., 24 Dec., 1812. He was instructor in mathematics at Woolwich from 1776, but was afterward dismissed. He emigrated to the United States in 1795, and was employed in painting pictures. He wrote short poems, made poetic translations from Anacreon, Homer, Virgil, and Horace, and in 1812 published &ldquo;Observations on the Comet.&rdquo; In 1795 he served as a scout in Wayne's campaign against the Indians. With his wife, who was also an artist, he conducted for many years a female seminary in Lexington, Ky.

BECK, James Burnie, U. S. senator, b. in Dumfriesshire, Scotland, 13 Feb., 1822; d. in Washington, D. C., 3 May, 1890. He received an academic education in his native country, and, with his parents, settled in Lexington, Ky., and was graduated at the law school of Transylvania university in that place in 1846. He then practised law in Lexington, and in 1866 was elected to congress, serving four successive terms, from 1867 till 1875. In May, 1876, he was appointed a member of the commission to define the Virginia and Maryland boundary, and in the same year was elected to the U. S. senate. He took his seat on 4 March, 1877, was re-elected in 1882 for the term ending in March, 1889, and was re-elected for a third term. During his congressional career Mr. Beck served on important committees, and was prominent in important debates. He was specially interested in questions relating to the tariff and the currency.

BECK, Paul, philanthropist, b. in Philadelphia about 1760; d. there, 22 Dec., 1844. His father emigrated from Nuremberg in 1752. The son acquired a large fortune in the wine-trade, and for several years filled the office of port warden of Philadelphia. He was one of the founders of the Philadelphia academy of fine arts, a benefactor of the deaf and dumb institution of that city, president of the American Sunday-school Union, and a contributor to various other charitable and religious undertakings.

BECK, Theodoric Romeyn, physician, b. in Schenectady, N. Y., 11 April, 1791; d. in Utica, N. Y., 19 Nov., 1855. He was a son of Caleb Beck, and of English descent. He was graduated at Union in