Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/350

328 Gov. McKean, of Pennsylvania, secretary of the state land-office, but resigned in 1808, and in 1812 became professor of mathematics at West Point, where he remained till his death. He went to Montreal in 1817, by order of the government, to make astronomical observations for carrying into effect some of the articles of the treaty of Ghent. He was an active member of the American philo- sophical society, contributed to its transactions, and corresponded with many of the learned socie- ties of Europe. With the exception of his " Jour- nal " and a few other writings, his works are still in manuscript. — His brother, Joseph, engineer, b. in Bucks county. Pa.. 1 Nov., 1760; d. in Batavia, N. Y., 19 Aug., 1826, received a common-school education, and subsequently studied surveying and engineering. He was engaged as an assistant to his brother Andrew in the survey and plotting of the city of Washington, and in running the boundary-line between New York and Pennsylva- nia. In 1797 Mr. Ellicott was employed by the Holland land company to survey the tract in west- ern New York known as the " Holland purchase," and, on the completion of the survey in 1800, was appointed local agent of the company, with head- quarters at Batav'a, N. Y., which he had located, and toward whose early development he contrib- uted largely. Mr. Ellicott was among the first to recognize the possibility of building a great city at the foot of Lake Erie on the lands owned by the company that he represented. His influence was largely used not only in promoting settlements in the vicinity of the present city of Buffalo, but in assisting in its growth and development. Mr. Elli- cott has justly been called the " founder of Buf- falo." He surveyed and laid out the city on its original plan. He was a zealous advocate of the projected Erie canal, and corresponded with Gov. De Witt Clinton concerning the project. He op- posed Clinton's plan of sending to England for engineers, insisting that there was abundant home talent for the work, and succeeded in convincing the governor that he was right. He served for some time as canal commissioner, but held no other public office. After serving the Holland land company twenty years, during which time most of the vast tract of land owned by it in western New York was disposed of to actual settlers, Mr. Elli- cott retired from active pursuits.

ELLIOT, Benjamin, jurist, b. in Charleston, S. C, in 1786: d. in 1836. He was graduated at Princeton in 1806, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1810, and began to practise in South Carolina. He was the author of numerous literary, historical, and political productions. Among his works is a " Refutation of the Calumnies circulated against the Southern and Western States respect- ing the Institution and Existence of Slavery" (1822). He also prepared and published "The Militia System of South Carolina " which was adopted as the military code for the state.

ELLIOT, Charles, governor of Bermuda, b. in England in 1801; d. 9 Sept., 1875. He entered the British navy in 1816, took part in the battle of Algiers, and subsequently served in India, on the coast of Africa, and in the West Indies, rising to the rank of admiral. In 1835 he was appointed chief superintendent of trade and British minister to China. From 1842 till 1845 he was charge d'affaires in Texas. He was governor of Bermuda in 1847-'52, of Trinidad from 1853 till 1856, and of St. Helena from 1863 till 1869, when he retired from the service. He was made a K. C. B. in 1856'.

ELLIOT, George Henry, military engineer, b. in Lowell, Mass., 31 March, 1831. He was graduated at the U. S. military academy in 1855 as a lieutenant of artillery, served on the Texas frontier, and entered the engineer corps in 1857. He was engaged in constructing the works on Alcatrax island, San Francisco harbor, and other fortifica- tions on the Pacific coast till 1870, was promoted major on 3 March, 1867, chief engineer of th(^ Washington aqueduct in 1870-'l, engineer secre- tary of the Light-house board, and in 1873 went to Europe to examine light-house systems there. He became assistant to the chief of engineers at Wash- ington in 1884, and was advanced to the grade of lieutenant-colonel on 8 Aug.. 1882. He superin- tended the improvement of Connecticut river in 1882-'3, and in 1883-'7 harbor improvements at Nantucket, Newport, Providence, New Bedford, and other places on the coast of New England. He published " Light-House Systems in Europe " (1874), and " The Presidio of San Francisco " (1874).

ELLIOT, George Thomson, physician, b. in New York city, 11 May, 1827; d. there, 29 Jan., 1871. He was graduated at Columbia in 1845, and at the New York university medical school in 1845. He subsequently studied in Paris, London, and Dublin, where he attained great clinical skill un- der Dr. Shekelton. In 1857 he was chosen visit- ing physician of the Lying-in hospital in New York, and in 1861 was elected to fill the chair of obstet- rics and diseases of women and children and of clinical midwifery in the Bellevue hospital college. His pi'incipal medical work is " Elliot's Obstetric Clinic " (New York, 1867).

ELLIOT, William Horace, genealogist, b. in New Haven, Conn., in 1824 ; d. in St. Croix, West Indies, 8 Dec, 1852. His father, of the same name, was a merchant in New Haven. The son was graduated at Yale in 1844, and at the law- school in 1847, and compiled a "Genealogy of the Eliot Family," which was revised and enlarged by W. S. Porter (New Haven, 1854).

ELLIOTT, Andrew, collector of customs. He was the third son of Sir Gilbert Elliott, bart., lord justice clerk of Scotland. While very young he was sent to Philadelphia, served as an apprentice in a counting-house there, and afterward entered into mercantile life. After his marriage with his second wife, who possessed a large fortune in Phila- delphia, he returned to Great Britain and obtained, through the influence of his brother, a place of honor and profit in the household of the princess- dowager of Wales. He succeeded Archibald Ken- nedy as receiver-general and collector of New York in January, 1764, and held these offices till the close of the Revolution. In 1774 he seized a quan- tity of fire-arms, and the people threatened to tar and feather him. In 1782 he was not only at the head of the customs, but was lieutenant-governor, receiver-general of quit-rents, superintendent-gen- eral of police, and chief of the superintendent de- partment, established by Sir William Howe in 1777. When Sir Henry Clinton made his last effort to save Maj. Andre from the gallows, in 1780, Mi'. Elliott was one of the three persons who were sent to confer with Gen. Washington, and get his con- sent to a pardon or exchange. He remained in New York till its evacuation by the British forces in November, 1783, when he sailed in the "None- such " with his familv for England.

ELLIOTT, Anna, patriot of the Revolution. She was a daughter of Thomas Ferguson, a patriot who was exiled after the British capture of Charleston. Her husband was Charles Elliott, of that place. American prisoners that were brought into Charleston were aided and relieved by her assiduous ministrations.