Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/375

Rh chief of the second district of the geological survey of the state of New York, and while thus engaged began to doubt the truth of the received oj linion that the Silurian system was the oldest stratified fossil- bearing system of rocks on the continent. After continuing his investigations for several years, he announced his belief that the rocks forming the western face of the Green mountains, extending from Canada to Georgia, the well-known Berkshire and Veruiont limestones, and other stratiiied rocks, belonged to a system underlying and therefore older than the Silurian. This he named the "Ta- conic " system, from the range of hills traversing Berkshire county. This announcement was re- ceived by other geologists with skepticism, and Dr. Emmons was looked upon for years almost as a scientific impostor. But later discoveries in Canada and on the continent of Europe seemed to confirm his theory, and before his death it was re- ceived, either wholly or partially, by most Ameri- can geologists. In 1838 he removed to Albany to occupy the chair of chemistry in the medical col- lege there, but continued to lecture at Williams. In 1858 he was appointed by the North Carolina legislature to conduct the geological survey of that state, and rendered further service to science by determining the probable age of the red sandstone belt that stretches from the Connecticut valley to North Carolina. After the beginning of the civil war Dr. Emmons remained in the south, either because he was not permitted to leave, or from a desire to protect certain mining property. He published valuable reports in connection with the surveys of New York and North Carolina, a " Manual of Mineralogy and Geology " (1826), and " American Geology " (1856).

EMMONS, George Foster, naval officer, b. in Clarendon, Rutland eo., Vt., 23 Aug., 1811 ; d. in Princeton, N. J., 2 July, 1884. He entered the navy as midshipman, 1 April, 1828, was promoted to passed midshipman in 1831, and was attached to Capt. Charles Wilkes's exploring expedition in 1838-'42. He was made lieutenant on 25 Feb., 1841, and after the loss of his vessel, the " Pea- cock," off Columbia river, Oregon, in July of that year, had charge of a party that explored the country south of the Columbia to the head-waters of the Sacramento, and went thence to San Fran- cisco. He then served in various vessels, taking part in several engagements on shore in California, during the Mexican war. He became commander on 28 Jan., 1856, commanded the " Hatteras," of the western gulf squadron, in 1862, and in that year captured Cedar Keys, Fla., and Pass Chris- tian, Miss., and about twenty prizes. He after- ward commanded the " R. R. Cuyler," of the same squadron, and after being commissioned captain, 7 Feb., 1863, was fleet-captain under Admiral Dahl- gren off Charleston. He commanded the '' Lacka- wanna," and a division of from five to fifteen vessels in the Gulf of Mexico in 1864-'5, and while at New Orleans assisted in destroying the ram " Webb," and preventing the destruction of the city and shipping. In 1866-'8 he commanded the " Ossi- pee," carrying the U. S. commissioners to Alaska, and hoisting the American flag over that country. He was made commodore, 20 Sept., 1868, appoint- ed senior member of the ordnance board in Wash- ington in 1869, and given charge of the hydro- graphic office in 1870. He was promoted to rear- admiral, 25 Nov., 1872, and retired from active ser- vice on 23 Aug., 1873. He published •' The Navy of the United States from 1775 to 1853" (Wash- ington, 1853). — His cousin. H,almer Hull, lawver, b. in Glens Falls, N. Y., in 1815 ; d. in Detroit, Mich., 14 May, 1877, was educated in Rutland, Vt. After assisting his father, a journalist, he studied law, and was admitted to the bar, but soon removed to Detroit, whither his father had already gone, and the two formed a law partnership about 1840. Halmer acquired distinction by defending the right of a Protestant clergyman to preach against whatever he believed injurious to the wel- fare of his fellow-citizens. He partially retired from practice in 1853. on account of failing health, but in 1870 was appointed U. S. circuit judge for the sixth district ; including Michigan, Ohio, Ken- tuck v, and Tennessee.

EMMONS, Nathanael, theologian, b. in East Haddam, Conn., 20 April, 1745; d. in Franklin, Mass\, 23 Sept., 1840. He was graduated at Yale in 1767, and was licensed to preach in 1769, al- though holding doctrines that were unsatisfactory to many of his examiners. He was accustomed to call himself a " genuine Calvinist," though he ex- cepted to the received Calvinistic doctrines in sev- eral important respects. From 1773 till his re- tirement from active duties in 1827 he was pastor at Franklin, Mass., and during this long pastorate prepared fifty-seven young men for the ministry. Dr. Emmons was one of the founders and the first president of the Massachusetts missionary society, and an editor of the Massachusetts " Missionary Magazine." Dartmouth gave him the degree of D. D. in 1798. Pie was noted for shrewd sense, mingled with oddity. Among his aphorisms is the well-known rule for clergymen : " First have something to say ; then say it." Another is : '* The worst books are the best; they compel us to think." Dr. Emmons was a zealous patriot during the Revo- lution, and afterward an ardent Federalist. On " fast-day," in 1801, he delivered a sermon on Jero- boam, picturing Thomas Jefferson in the guise of that king, so that the portrait was easily recog- nized. He published about two hundred sermons, besides essays and dissertations. His collected works were published by his son-in-law. Dr. Jacob Ide, with a memoir (6 vols., Boston, 1842). See also " Memoir of Nathanael Emmons," by Edwards A. Park. D. D. (Andover. 1861).

EMMONS, Samuel Franklin, geologist, b. in Boston, Mas-;., 29 March, 1841. He was graduated at Harvard in 1861, and then studied at the Ecole des mines, Paris, during 1862-'4, and at the Frei- berg (Saxony) mining-school during 1864-'5. In May, 1867, "he was appointed assistant geologist under Clarence King on the U. S. geological ex- ploration of the fortieth parallel, and in July, 1879, became geologist in charge of the Colorado divi- sion of the U. S. geological survey. He has trav- elled extensively throughout the IJnited States in connection with his work, and in 1870 made a sur- vey of Mount Rainbow, the highest and most in- accessible peak in Washington territory. During the autumn of 1872, with Clarence King, he dis- covered the locality of the supposed diamond-fields in Arizona, and was active in exposing their fraudu- lent character. He is a member of scientific soci- eties, and an occasional contributor of papers to their transactions. His larger publications are : " Descriptive Geology," in vol. ii. of the " Reports of the Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel " (Wash- ington, 1877) ; " Statistics and Technology of the Precious Metals," written in conjunction with George F. Becker (1885) : and " Geology and Min- ing Industries of Leadville, Colorado" (1886).

EMORY, John, M. E. bishop, b. in Queen Anne county, Md., 11 April, 1789; d. in Reisterstown, Md.. 17 Dec, 1835. He was educated under tutors at Easton and Lancaster, Pa., and in Washington