Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/296

260 of Scituate, and lived in a cave on the farm on which the son was born, lived, and died. Elisha received a common-s(hool education, was a suc- cessful farmer, served for many years in the legis- lature, of which he was at one time speaker, and in 1806 was elected to the U. S. senate to fill the unexpired term of James Fenner, serving from November, 1807. till March, 1811.

MATIGNON, Francis (mah-teen-yong), clergy- man, b. in Paris, France, in 1753 ; d. in Boston, Mass., 19 Sept., 1818. He was ordained in 1778, and received the degree of D. D. at the Sorbonne in 1785. He was for several years professor of divinity in the College of Navarre, but fled to England during the reign of terror, and then he resolved to go to the United States. He landed in Baltimore, 26 June, 1792, and was appointed by Bishop Carroll to take charge of the church in Boston. The entire Ro- man Catholic population of the city was less than 300, nearly all French and Irish of the poorer classes. For four years he was the only priest in Boston, and his mission also embraced the whole of New England. There were no churches, and he had to visit the Roman Catholics that were scattered over this territory at their homes. He was so poor that he had to make his journeys on foot. In 1796 he was assisted by the Abbe de Cheverus, who had been his pupil in France. In 1803 the congregation of the Abbe Matignon had increased so much that a new church became neces- sary. Subscriptions flowed in rapidly, to a great extent from Protestants, tlie name of the president of the United States, John Adams, standing at the head of the list. In 1808 the see of Boston was created, and Dr. Matignon was proposed as bishop, but he declined. He is considered the pioneer of the Roman Catholic church in New England. Dr. Matignon was an eloquent preacher and profound scholar, and the rapid advance of his church in numbers and consideration in Boston was mainly due to his efforts. Dr. Matignon wrote " Rules of the Confraternitv, or Association of the Holy Cross"' (Boston, 1817).

MATILE, George Auguste, jurist, b. in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Neufchatel, Switzerland, 30 May, 1807 ; d. in Washington, D. C, 6 Feb., 1881. He was educated in the colleges of Neufchatel and Berne, studied law in Berlin, Heidelberg, and Paris, and was admitted to the bar at Neufchatel in 1830. He served several terms in the legislature of his canton, and was chosen professor of Roman law at the University of Neufchatel in 1838. He also served as one of the judges of the supreme court. He came to the United States in 1849, in consequence of political troubles, and was natu- ralized in 1856. He was professor of history at Princeton in 1855-'8, and then accepted the chair of French literature in the University of Pennsyl- vania. After 1863 he held various government posts in Washington, and he was translator of the interior department at the time of his death. On 1 Feb., 1881, while ascending the steps of the patent- office he was suddenly seized with an attack of vertigo, and fell, receiving severe injuries about the head, which resulted in his death. Like his colleague, Arnold Guizot. he held that religion did not necessarily conflict with science, and frequent- ly wrote articles for the religious press of both this country and the old. Among these writings is a pamphlet bearing the title " The True God." Prof. Matile was the first to call the attention of jurists to the importance of examining the ques- tion of patents from an international standpoint. Among his numerous works are " Points de cou- tume "' (1838) ; " Autorite du droit remain de la Boutume de Bourgogne et la Caroline dans la principaute de Neufchatel " (1838) ; " Musee his- torique de Neufchatel " (3 vols., 1841-'9) ; " Monu- ments de I'histoire de Neufchatel" (2 vols.. 1844-'8) ; and " Histoire de la seigneurie de Valangin " (1852). His son, Leox, is now (1888) a captain in the United States army.

MATIS, Francisco Javier (mah'-tis), Colombian painter and naturalist, b. in Guaduas in 1774 ; d. in Bogota in 1851. He received a limited education, but early showed great talent for drawing, and in 1792 went to Bogota, where he found instruction in his art, and soon became an excellent painter, especially of natural objects. This attracted the attention of the naturalist Jose Celestino Mutis, who employed him in his botanical expedition as an artist, and afterward taught him natural his- tory. After Mutis's death Matis was employed by the viceroy to continue the scientist's work, and was made director of the expedition, which post he retained after the establishment of independence. He formed an efficient staff to continue the work, but never entirely overcame the want of a literary education in his vouth. and wrote nothing.

MATLACK, Timothy, patriot, b. in Haddon- field, N. J., in 1730; d. 'near Hornesburg, Pa., 15 April, 1829. He had been a member of the Society of Friends, but at the beginning of the Revolu- tion left it for that of the free or " Fighting Quak- ers," and is described by Christopher Marshall as " one of the most active spirits of the days of 1775-6." When he first wore his sword in the streets of Philadelphia, some of the orthodox Friends ridiculed him, and inquired what its use was. " It is to defend my property and my liberty," he replied. He was one of the general committee of safety in 1776, a colonel of the battalion that served against the Delaware Tories, who in June of that year had cut off the land communication to Dover. He was also a deputy with Benjamin Franklin, Thomas McKean, Col. John Bayard, and others from Philadelphia to attend the state con- ference of 14 June, 1776. He was a delegate from Pennsylvania to theContinental congress in 1780-'7, and for many years was master of the rolls of the state, residing in Lancaster, Pa., but, on becoming prothonotary of one of the courts of Philadelphia, he returned to that city. In 1783 the committee of safety of Philadelphia presented him with a silver urn " for his patriotic devotion to the cause of freedom, and the many services rendered by him throughout the struggle." With Benjamin Franklin, Robert Morris, and others, he estab- lished and contributed the funds to build the free Quaker meeting-house of Philadelphia. He lived to be more than ninety-nine years old, and retained his faculties to the last.

MATSELL, George Washington, chief of police, b. in New York city, 25 Oct., 1811; d. there, 25 July, 1877. In 1826 he was apprenticed as a designer in a dyeing and printing establishment on Staten island. From 1837 till 1843 he was major of the 6th infantry of the New York militia, and in 1843 was appointed a police magistrate at the Tombs. He took an active part in politics as a Democrat, was appointed a police justice, and, organizing a band of detectives, took a personal part in capturing many noted criminals. In 1844-'5 the first municipal police force in the United States was originated and organized by Matsell, of which he was chief till 1857, when the legislature passed an act creating the Metropolitan police, as Mayor Fernando Wood had been accused of using the municipal police for political purposes. Upon the creation of the new police