Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/37

Rh Augustus Baldwin, author, b. in Augusta, Ga., 22 Sept., 1790; d. in Oxford, Miss., 9 Sept., 1870, was graduated at Yale in 1813, studied in the law-school at Litchfield, Conn., and was admitted to the bar in Richmond county, Ga., in 1815, but removed to Greensboro, Ga., where he soon rose to eminence in his profession. He represented Greene county in the legislature in 1821, and in 1822 became judge of the Ocmulgee judicial district, which office he held for several years, and then declined re-election. He then resumed the practice of the law, becoming well known for his success in criminal cases, and, removing to Augusta, he established there the “Augusta Sentinel,” which was consolidated in 1838 with the “Chronicle,” continuing, meanwhile, the practice of the law. In 1838 he became a minister in the Methodist Episcopal church, and was stationed at Augusta. During this period of his ministry the town was visited with yellow fever, but he remained at his post, ministering to the sick and dying. In 1839 he was elected president of Emory college, Oxford, Ga., where he served nine years, after which he became president of Centenary college, La. Shortly afterward he became president of the University of Mississippi, at Oxford, Miss., which post he held for six years, resigning at that time to devote himself to agricultural pursuits. But in 1857 he was elected to the presidency of South Carolina college, Columbia, S. C., where he remained till just before the civil war, when he returned to the presidency of the University of Mississippi. In 1844 he was a member of the general conference of the Methodist Episcopal church, and was conspicuous in the discussions that led to a rupture of the church, siding throughout with his own section. In politics he belonged to the Jeffersonian school of strict construction and state rights. At an early age he began to write for the press, and he made speeches on all occasions through his life. “I have heard him,” writes one who knew him, “respond to a serenade, preach a funeral sermon, deliver a college commencement address, and make a harangue over the pyrotechnic glorifications of seceding states. He could never be scared up without a speech.” His pen was never idle. His chief periodical contributions are to be found in “The Methodist Quarterly,” “The Southern Literary Messenger,” “The Southern Field and Fireside,” “The Magnolia,” and “The Orion,” and include “Letters to Clergymen of the Northern Methodist Church” and “Letters from Georgia to Massachusetts.” His best-known work is a series of newspaper sketches of humble life in the south, “Georgia Scenes, Characters, Incidents, etc., in the First Half Century of the Republic, by a Native Georgian,” which were collected into a book that appeared first at the south and then in New York (1840). A second edition was issued in 1867, and though it purported to be revised, he would, it is said, have nothing to do with it. It is said that he sent men through the country to collect and destroy all copies of the first edition. This book is full of genuine humor, broad, but irresistible, and by many these sketches are considered the raciest, most natural, and most original that appeared at the south before the civil war. He also published “Master William Mitten,” a story (Macon, Ga., 1864). Many unpublished manuscripts were destroyed with his library during the war.  LONGSTRETH, Miers Fisher, astronomer, b. in Philadelphia, Pa., 15 March, 1819. He was educated in the schools of the Society of Friends, and was graduated at the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania in 1856. During

the early part of his life he was a merchant, but devoted his leisure to the study of astronomy, having charge of the Friends' observatory in Philadelphia till 1856. He then removed to Sharon Hill, Pa., where he has since practised medicine. Dr. Longstreth has devoted most of his life to study, and his contributions to astronomy have been valuable. They have appeared in the “Transactions of the American Philosophical Society,” of which he has been a member since 1848, and he was also one of the original members of the National academy of science. He has always declined public office, although for more than forty years he has been a member of private and public educational boards.  LONGWORTH, Nicolas, horticulturist, b. in Newark, N. J., 16 Jan., 1782; d. in Cincinnati, Ohio, 10 Feb., 1863. The large property of his father, who was a Tory, was confiscated during the Revolution, and the son passed his youth in comparative poverty. He was a clerk in his elder brother's store in South Carolina in his youth, and in 1803 removed to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he studied law, and purchased large tracts of land. After twenty-five years' practice he retired from law in order to devote himself to the cultivation of the grape with a view to manufacturing wine; but, using foreign vines exclusively, was unsuccessful until 1828, when he introduced native vines or their seedlings and produced, from the Catawba and the Isabella grape, wine of a high marketable value. He had 200 acres of vineyards, and a large wine-house in the vicinity of Cincinnati, and was also favorably known by his experiments on the strawberry. He was kindly but eccentric, and gave much money to those that he called the “Devil's poor.” At his death his property was estimated at from $10,000,000 to $15,000,000. He published “Buchanan's Treatise on the Grape, with an Appendix on Strawberry Culture” (Cincinnati, 1856).  LONGWORTHY, John, Canadian statesman, b. in Charlottetown, Prince Edward island, 19 Sept., 1814; d. there, 11 April, 1885. He was admitted to the bar in 1838, and entered the provincial assembly in 1846. Subsequently he was solicitor-general and a member of successive administrations, and drafter of the "No terms resolution" that was adopted by the assembly in connection with the confederation of the provinces. In 1883 he was appointed prothonotary of the supreme court of Prince Edward island. He was a lieutenant-colonel of militia, and at his death was president of the Bank of Prince Edward island.  LONGYEAR, John Wesley, jurist, b. in Shandaken, Ulster co., N. Y., 22 Oct., 1820; d. in Detroit, Mich.. 10 March, 1875. He was educated at Lima, N. Y., and, removing in 1844 to Michigan, was admitted to the bar in 1846. settling the next year in Lansing, where he acquired an extensive practice. He was elected to congress as a Republican in 1862, served till 1867, and during both terms was chairman of the committee on expenditures on the public buildings. He was a delegate to the Loyalists' convention in Philadelphia in 1866, a member of the Michigan constitutional convention in 1867, and in 1870 became U. S. judge of the southern district of the state. His decisions, especially those in admiralty and bankruptcy cases, were extensively quoted.  LOOMIS, Alfred Lebbeus, physician, b. in Bennington, Vt., 10 June, 1831; d. in New York city, 23 Jan., 1895. He was graduated at Union college in 1851, and studied medicine in New York, receiving his doctorate at the College of 