Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/320

284 the convention of 1860, affixing his name to the ordinance of secession. He was elected colonel of the 17th South Carolina regiment, and was killed in the second battle of Bull Run, 28 Aug., 1862.

MEARES, John, English navigator, b. in England in 1750; d. in London, England, in 1809. He became a sailor, and, after maiving many voy- ages to Newfoundland, Labrador, and Greenland, he entered the navy in 1771, served against the French in the West Indies, and became captain in the merchant service after the peace of 1788. He then went to India, where he formed the North- west America company for opening trade with Russian America, and sailed from Calcutta on 12 March, 1786, in the " Nootka," a vessel of two hun- dred tons, with which he explored part of the coast of Alaska. Meeting with little success in trade with the Russians, he returned to China by way of the Sandwich islands. He then fitted out a new expedition of two vessels with which he sailed from Typa on 22 Jan., 1788, explored Nootka sound, which he entered in May, 1789, and recon- noitred the neighboring coasts, of which he took possession in the name of the crown. He reached Macao on 5 Dec, 1789. Capt. Meares's discoveries form the chief basis upon which the British title to Oregon and British Columbia was based. He pub- lished "Voyages in the Years 1788-'9 from China to the Northwest Coast of America " (London, 1790).

MEARS, John William, clergvman, b. in Reading, Pa.. 10 Aug., 1825 ; d. in Clinton, N. Y., 10 Nov., 1881. He was graduated at Delaware college, Newark, Del., in 1844, and at the Yale divinity-school in 1851, and held pastorates in Camden, N. J., Elkton, Md., and Milford, Del. He became assistant editor in 1860, and afterward editor and proprietor, of the " American Presby- terian," a weekly paper published in Philadelphia in the interest of the new-school branch of the Presbyterian church. In 1870 this was merged into the "New York Evangelist," and he was called to the chair of ethics and metaphysics in Hamilton college, which he held until his death. In 1878 he was chosen president of the New York state teachers' association, and was chairman of the uni- versity convocation at Albany. In 1881 he arranged for a meeting of metaphysicians in Saratoga for the centennial celebration of the appearance of Kant's " Critique of Pure Reason," at which he read a paper that he afterward repeated at the Concord school of philosophy. He was a leader in the cause of temperance, and was nominated as candidate for congress in 1878, and for governor of New York in 1879 by the Prohibition party. For many years he labored to overthrow the Onei- da community which had been formed in 1848 by John H. Noyes {q. v.), and he was finally successful in his efforts. He received the degree of D. D. in 1870. He was the author of "The Bible in the Workshop " (New York, 1857) ; " The Martyrs of France" (Philadelphia, 1860); "The Beggars of Holland" (1867); "The Storv of Madagascar" (1873); "The Heroes of Bohemia" (1879); and " From Exile to Overthrow " (Philadelphia, 1881).

MEASE, James, physician, b. in Philadelphia, Pa., in 1771 ; d. there, 15 May, 1846. He was grad- uated in medicine at the University of Pennsyl- vania in 1792, reading a thesis on " Hydrophobia," which he afterward published (1792). He was the first vice-president of the Philadelphia athenaeum and an active member of the Philosophical society. His publications are " Geological Account of the United States" (Philadelphia, 1807): "Picture of Philadelphia" (1811); "On William Penn's Treaty with the Indians " (1836) ; " Utility of Public-Loan Offices " (1836) ; " Description of Some of the Medals struck in the National Academy " (1821) ; and a " Letter on the Rearing of Silk-Worms" (1828).

MEASE, John, soldier, b. in Strabane, Ireland, in 1746 ; d. in Philadelphia, Pa., in 1826. He came to this country in 1754 and became a shipping- merchant in Philadelphia. He was an original member of the first troop of city cavalry, and was one of the twenty-four of that corps who crossed the Delaware under Gen. Washington on 25 Dec, . Mease was one of the five that were detailed to keep alive the fires along the line of American encampment at Trenton to deceive the enemy while the army marched to attack the rear-guard at Princeton. He served during the entire war, suffering great loss of property in his dwelling and warehouses. He subscribed £4,000 for the army in . For the last thirty years of his life he was one of the admiralty surveyors of the port of Phila- delphia. Mr. Mease continued in his later days to wear the old three-cornered hat of the Revolution, and was frequently called " The Last of the Cocked Hats." — His nephew, Matthew, b. in Strabane, Ireland; d. in Philadelphia in 1787, emigrated at an early age to this country and settled in Phila- delphia. Although educated for a merchant, he entered the navy and became purser of the " Bon Homme Richard." In the encounter between this vessel and the " Serapis " he commanded the quar- ter-deck guns until he was wounded.

MEBANE, Alexander, statesman, b. in Orange county, N. C, 26 Nov., 1744; d. there, 5 July, 1795. His father, of the same name, came from the north of Ireland to Pennsylvania, but removed to Orange county, N. C, before the Revolution. The eldest sons, William and Robert, were officers in the Con- tinental army. Alexander was a member of the Provincial congress at Halifax in 1776, of the con- vention that refused to ratify the National consti- tution in 1787, and of the legislature in 1783-'93. In the latter year he took his seat in congress, and he was re-elected, but died before entering on his second term. — His son, James, was many times a member of the legislature between 1808 and 1828, and speaker of the house in 1821.

MEDARY, Samuel, editor, b. in Montgomery Square, Montgomery co.. Pa., 25 Feb., 1801 ; d. in Columbus, Ohio, 7 Nov., 1864. The family name was originally spelled Madeira, and is stilL so pronounced. He was reared in the Quaker faith, his mother's ancestors having emigrated to this country with William Penn. He was sent to the Nor- ristown academy, and at sixteen years of age became a con- tributor to the " Nor- ristown Herald," both in prose and poetry. He then taught and contin- ued his studies in the higher branches. In 1820 his family went to Montgomery county, Md., and two or three years later to Georgetown, D. C. In 1825 he went to Ohio, and settled in Batavia, Clermont CO. When he was twenty-six years old he was made county surveyor and school trustee, and later he became auditor of the county. In