Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/280

252 a professor and preacher, yolunteered for the mis- sion of New G-ranada. He remained in the island of Santo Domingo from 1524 till 1529, studying the Indian dialects and fitting himself otherwise for his work as a missionary. His success in New Granada was remarkable. He preached trrst in the valley of the Uruba, where the Indians were noted for their ferocity, and in a short time convert- ed the inhabitants. Ambitious of martyrdom, he penetrated into Florida; but, as the natives would neither kill him nor listen to him, he was forced to return to New Granada. He traversed every part of the country, his efforts in civilizing the natives being so successful as to attract the favor- able notice of the Spanish court. He was nom- inated bishop of Carthagena in 1555, endeav- ored to decline the honor, and only submitted under threat of censure. He set out for Rome, finally received permission to surrender his bish- opric, and then retired to a convent in Toledo.

BETHENCOURT, Pedro, Spanish philanthropist, b. in Chasma, island of Teneriffe, in 1619 ; d. in Guatemala, 25 April, 1667. He was a descend- ant of Juan Bethencourt, conqueror and king of the Canary islands; went to Guatemala in 1651, and devoted himself to literary studies. There he entered the Franciscan order, bought a building, which was first used for a school, and then for a convent, a hospital, and a church. In that house Bethencourt founded the hospital order of the Bethlehemites, and soon extended its benevolent services to the rest of America. He also made numerous other religious foundations, giving all his time to charitable work, and after an early death he was beatified.

BETHISY, Jules Jaques Eleonore (bet e-sy), Vicomte de, French soldier, b. in Calais, France, in 1747 ; d. in Paris in 1816. He entered the navy, and in 1768 was transferred first to the regiment BrafEremont, and then to the Royal Auvei'gne, which he joined in America. He became '• colonel en second " of this corps, a rank corresponding to a junior field officer of modern battalions. With this regiment he served during the campaigns of 1779-'82. At the unsuccessful siege of the British in Savannah, in August, 1779, by the combined French and American forces under D'Estaing and Lincoln, Bethisy was five times wounded, and while returning home received two more wounds in a sea-fight. At the close of the American war he was decorated with the cross of St. Louis and the order of the Cincinnati, and was made " colonel en second " of the Royal Grenadiers of Picardy. Emigrating in 1791, he served in the army of Conde, 179t'7, and lived afterward in Vienna till the restoration of Louis XVIII, who promoted him a lieutenant-general, 1 June, 1814. His death was the result of several severe wounds received in action.

BETHUNE, Alexander Neil, Canadian bishop, b. in Williamstown, county of Glengarry, Ontario, in August, 1800 ; d. in Toronto in February, 1879. His family was of Scottish origin, and had settled in Canada with a band of U. E. loyalists in 1783. He received his early educational training at Corn- wall grammar-school, but, the war of 1812 break- ing up this school, he resumed his studies in Mont- real, where his parents then resided. Acting for some time as classical tutor, he was admitted to deacon's orders in 1823, and in the year following was ordained priest. After spending a few years in Grimsby, he became rector of Cobourg, in 1847 was appointed archdeacon of York, and in 1867 was consecrated coadjutor bishop in St. James's ca- thedral, Toronto, it being provided at the time of his consecration that he should succeed Bishoj: Strachan on the death of the latter. While at Cobourg he edited a church newspaper, and subse- quently wrote several works, the most important of which is a " Memoir of the Right Reverend John Strachan. D. I)., LL. D., First Bishop of Toronto." —His son, Charles James Stewart, clergyman, b. in West Flamboro', Ontario, 11 Aug., 1838, was educated at private schools at Cobourg, and at Upper Canada college, and was graduated at Trin- ity college, Toronto, in 1859. He was ordained a priest in the church of England in 1852, and, after officiating as curate and rector for several years, was, in September, 1870, appointed head master of Trinity college school at Port Hope. He has given much attention to scientific subjects, and was one of the founders of the entomological so- ciety of Canada, and its president from 1870 till 1875. He was entomological editor of the " Can- ada Farmer" for nine years, and editor of the " Canadian Entomologist " from its beginning in 1868 till 1873. He has written on practical and scientific entomology, and has contributed to the yearly report on insects presented to the provincial legislature. He is a fellow of the American asso- ciation for the advancement of science.

BETHUNE, Georgre Washington, clergyman, b. in New York city in March. 1805; d. in" Flor- ence, Italy, 27 April, 1862. His parents were dis- tinguished for devout Christianity and for chari- table deeds. His father, Divie Be- thune, was an emi- nent merchant, well known as a philanthropist. He was graduated at Dickinson college, Carlisle. Pa., in 1822, studied the- ology at Princeton, and after complet- ing his course was ordained as a min- ister in the Pres- byterian church in 1825. He accepted an appointment as chaplain to seamen in the port of Savannah, but in 1826 returned to the north and transferred his ecclesiastical allegiance to the Reformed Dutch church, settling soon after at Rhinebeck, N. Y., where he remained four years, when he was called to the pastorate of the first Reformed Dutch church in Utica. In 1834 his reputation as an eloquent preacher and an efficient pastor led to an invitation from a Reformed Dutch church in Phila- delphia. He remained in that city till 1848, his character as a preacher and scholar steadily grow- ing, and then became pastor of the newly organ- ized " Reformed Dutch Church on the Heights " in Brooklyn, N. Y. For eleven years he continued in the pastorate of this church, but in 1859 im- paired health led hira to resign and visit Italy. In Rome he sometimes preached in the American chapel, at that time the only Protestant place of worship in the city. He returned in 1860 with im- proved health, and was for some months associate pastor of a Reformed Dutch church in New York city; but, his health again becoming impaired, he returned to Italy in the summer of 1861, and, after some months' residence in Florence, died from apo- plexy. Dr. Bethune, though best remembered by his literary work, exercised a wide influence as a clerygman and a citizen. One of his latest public