Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/348

312 METCALFE, Henry, inventor, b. in New York city, 29 Oct., 1847. He is the son of Dr. John T. Metcalfe, a well-known physician of New York city. He was graduated at the U. S. military academy in 1868 and served in the ordnance bureau in Wash- ington, D. C, until 1869. From 1870 till 1875 he was assistant ordnance officer at Springfield ar- mory, Mass. He was made 1st lieutenant on 23 June, 1874, and in 1876 prepared the ordnance department exhibit for the centennial exhibition. Since 1886 he has been instructor of ordnance and gunnery in the U. S. military academy. He in- vented the first detachable magazine that was used with military small arms, and has published " The Cost of Manufactures " (New York, 1885).

METCALFE, Samuel L., physician, b. near Winchester. Va., 21 Sept., 1798; d. in Cape May, N. J., 17 July, 1856. He removed with his par- ents to Shelby county, Ky., in early life, and in 1819 entered Transylvania university, Lexington, where in 1823 he received the degree of M. D. He practised in Now Albany, Ind.. and later in Mississippi, but in 1831 went to England. On his return he made a geological tour through eastern Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia. For several years thereafter he resided in New York city and devoted himself to writing scientific books, also contributing to the " Knickerbocker Magazine " under the initial " M." In 1835 he again visited England in order to give his atten- tion to scientific "research, and during this visit he was solicited to become a candidate for the Grego- rian chair in the University of Edinburgh, but de- clined. He then returned to the United States and devoted his energies to publishing his books. Dr. Metcalfe was the author of " Narratives of Indian Warfare in the West " (Lexington, 1821) ; " New Theory of Terrestrial Magnetism " (New York, 1833); and "Caloric; its Agencies in the Phenomena of Nature " (2 vols., London, 1843 ; 2d ed., Philadelphia, 1853).

METCALFE, Thomas, governor of Kentucky, b. in Fauquier county, Va., 20 March, 1780; d. in Nicholas county, Ky.,' 18 Aug., 1855. His parents, who were poor, emigrated to Kentucky and set- tled in Fayette county. After a few months in a country school the son worked with a stone-cutter, devoting his leisure to study. He served in the war of 1812, and in 1813 commanded a company with credit at the battle of Fort Meigs. While he was absent on this campaign he was elected to the legislature, in which he served three years. He was afterward chosen to congress as a Henry Clay Democrat, serving from 6 Dec, 1819, till 1 June, 1828, when he resigned. From 1829 till 1833 he was governor of Kentucky. He was a member of the state senate in 1834, and president of the board of internal improvement in 1840. Gov. Metcalfe was appointed U. S. senator in place of John J. Crittenden, resigned, serving from 3 July, 1848, till 3 March, 1849, when he retired to his farm be- tween Maysville and Lexington. He was a friend and follower of Henry Clay, and often boasted of his early labors as a stone-mason, delighting in being called the " Old Stone Hammer."

MEYER, Bernhard (mire), German missionary, b. in Erfurt in 1537; d. in Liege in 1609. He became a Jesuit, was attached for several years to the missions of Cuba, went in 1571 to New Spain, where he learned the Aztec and Maya languages, and afterward became president of an Indian commandery in Yucatan, which he held for twelve years. His humane policy toward the Indians was in striking contrast with their cruel treatment by the Spaniards, and as he forwarded a protest to

the holy see against the dealings of the latter in the New World, the authorities asked for his relief, and his superiors sent him back to Germany in 1599. Meyer settled in Liege, and, with the materials that he had collected in the New World, wrote a history of the Spanish domination in America; but, his intention having become known, great pressure was exerted on the general of the Jesuits, who forbade the publication of the work. Meyer hesitated to obey, and application was made to the prince bishop of Liege, who ordered the arrest of the courageous missionary. During the latter's imprisonment in a convent his manuscripts and papers were forwarded to Rome, and what became of them is not known. He published &ldquo;Origines gentis Aztecorum&rdquo; (Liege, 1601) and &ldquo;Epistola ad præpositum generalem Societatis Jesu, qua statum in provincia Novæ Espaniæ exponit&rdquo; (1602).

MEYER, Hermanus, clergyman, b. in Bremen, Lower Saxony, 27 July, 1733; d. near Pompton, N. J., 27 Oct., 1791. He was educated at the Latin-school and gymnasium in Bremen, and at the theological academy of Groningen. Having received a call to the Dutch church of Kingston, N. Y., he was ordained on 31 March, 1763, and sailed for New York with Rev. John R. Hardenbergh. In 1764 he was compelled by the civil authorities to take the oath of allegiance to Great Britain. He found the church divided by the old quarrel of the Coetus and Conferentie parties as to whether ordination should take place in this country or in Holland. He sympathized with the former in favor of a ministry trained in America, and his pungent preaching caused dissatisfaction. The ecclesiastical difficulties culminated in his suspension from active duties by an illegal body of Conferentie ministers in 1766, and for nearly seven years he remained in Kingston, preaching to his adherents in private houses. He was a member of the convention of 1771, which reunited his church, and in 1772 he removed to New Jersey as pastor at Pompton and Totowa (now Paterson). The general synod elected him to two chairs in their theological institution &mdash; that of Hebrew in 1784, and that of lector in divinity in 1786, which he held until his death. In 1789 he received the degree of D. D. from Queen's (now Rutgers) college. He left in manuscript a Latin translation of the Psalms of David, with commentaries and emendations.

MIANTONOMO, sachem of the Narragansetts, d. in September, 1643. He was the nephew of Canonicus, with whom he was associated in the government of the tribe, and whom he succeeded in 1636. Fearing that Sassacus might attempt a reconciliation and an alliance with Canonicus and Miantonomo, the governor of Massachusetts sent a solemn embassage to the Narragansett court, which was received and entertained royally. After being feasted an audience was granted in the statehouse of poles covered with mats, and on hearing the message Miantonomo replied that he willingly embraced peace with the English. Soon afterward the governor was visited by Miantonomo with a retinue of twenty chiefs. They were conducted from Roxbury to Boston by a military escort and received with state and ceremony, the magistrates and clergy being convened for the occasion. He proposed the entire destruction of the Pequots, and made a treaty with the English by which neither party could make peace with that tribe without the consent of the other. He maintained friendly relations with Massachusetts, and in 1636, with his uncle, deeded to Roger Williams land for his colony at the head of Narragansett bay, where Providence now stands. The sachems