Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/373

Rh vice-president of the Société artistique et littéraire of Antwerp. On his return to the United States he opened a studio in New York, where he has since resided. He is a member of the Society of American artists, and has exhibited in New York, Brooklyn, Chicago, and elsewhere in this country, as well as in the Royal academy of London and the salons of Paris and Antwerp. His works include “Evening”; “Dawn”; “Studio of Corot”; and “Under the Oaks” (1878). Among those of his later paintings that he has shown at the National academy are “The Wold of Kent, England” (1884); “The Cradle of the Hudson” (1885); “The Close of Day” (1886); and “A Mountain Path” (1887).

MINOR, Virginia Louisa, reformer, b. in Goochland county, Va., 27 March, 1824. She was educated in part at an academy for young ladies in Charlottesville, Va., married Francis Minor, a relative of the same name in 1843, and removed in 1846 to St. Louis, Mo., where she has since resided. During the civil war she devoted herself to aid the sick and wounded soldiers in tlie camps and hos- pitals around St. Louis. She originated the wom- an suffrage movement in Missouri in 186G, organ- ized the Woman suffrage association in 1867, and presided over the Convention of woman suffragists in St. Louis in 1869. She was the first woman in the United States to claim suffrage as a right, and not as a favor. With this end in view, in 1872 she brought the matter before the courts, taking it finally to the U. S. supreme court.

MINOR, William Thomas, jurist, b. in Stam- ford, Conn., 3 Oct., 1815; d. there, 13 Oct., 1889. He was graduated at Yale, taught at Stamford till 1841, studying law in tlie mean time, and was admitted to practice in 1841. He was a member of the legislature of Connecticut for eight years, governor of that state in 1856-'8, and consul-gen- eral at Havana from 1864 till 1867, when he resigned. In 1868 he was appointed a judge of the superior court of his native state, but resigned in 1873.

MINOT, Charles, railroad official, b. in Haver- hill, Mass., 30 Aug., 1810 ; d. in Somerville, Mass.. 10 Dec, 1866. He was graduated at Harvard in 1828, studied law, and after his admission to the bar practised in Suffolk county for many years. In 1841 he was appointed superintendent of the Boston and Maine railroad, and after a year ac- cepted a similar appointment with the Erie railway company. This office he held until 1854, when he became attached to the Michigan Southern railroad. In 1859 he returned to the Erie as superintendent, which place he then filled until about 1864, after which his services were retained in a consulting capacity by that road. Mr. Minot was one of the best known railroad officers in the United States, and attained a high reputation as a manager. Many of the present officers of railways in the United States began their careers under his in- structions. — His brother, George, lawyer, b. in Haverhill, Mass., 5 Jan., 1817 ; d. in Reading, Mass., 15 April, 1856, was graduated at Harvard in 1886, and at the law department in 1838. His legal studies were completed with Rufus Choate, and he was admitted to the bar in 1839. He settled in Boston, and soon became prominent in his profes- sion, being for many years solicitor of the Boston and Maine railroad company. Mr. Minot edited " Digest of the Decisions of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts" (Boston, 1844: supplement, 1852), and rendered valuable aid to Richard Peter, Jr., in the preparation of the first eight volumes of the " U. S. Statutes at Large " (1848), the index of which he prepared. Subsequently, for ten years, he was editor of that work, and was associate reporter of the decisions of the first circuit. He also edited "English Admiralty Reports " (9 vols., 1853-'4).

MINOT, George Richards, jurist, b. in Bos- ton, Mass., 22 Dec, 1758 ; d. there, 2 Jan., 1802. He was graduated at Harvard in 1778, and, after studying law with Fisher Ames, was admitted to the bar, and practised his profession in Boston. In 1781 he was made clerk of the Massachusetts house of representatives, and in 1792 he was ap- pointed probate judge for the county of Suft'olk, also serving, meanwhile, as secretary of the con- vention that adopted the U. S. constitution. He was made chief justice of the court of common pleas in 1799. and judge of the municipal court of Boston on its establishment in 1800, which office he held until his death. Judge Minot was one of the founders of the Massachusetts historical so- ciety, and edited three volumes of its " Collec- tions." He delivered the oration on the anniver- sary of the Boston massacre on 5 March, 1782 ; an address to the Charitable fire society (1795); and a " Eulogy on Washington " (1800). In addition to- many fugitive pieces in the newspapers and maga- zines, he published " History of the Insurrection in Massachusetts in 1786" (Worcester, 1786), and "Continuation of the [Hutchinson's] History of Massachusetts Bay from the Year 1748, with an Introductory Sketch of Events from its Original Settlement" (2 vols.. Boston, 1798 and 1803).— His- grandson, Francis, physician, b. in Boston, Mass., 12 April, 1821, was graduated at Harvard in 1841,. and at the medical department in 1844, and has since practised his profession in Boston. In 1871 he was made assistant professor of the theory and practice of medicine, and clinical lecturer on the diseases of women and children, in the medical department of Harvard, which places he held until 1874, when he was made full professor of the the- ory and practice of physic. Dr. Minot was visit- ing physician of the Massachusetts general hospital from 1858 till 1887, and has since continued his connection with that institution in a consulting relation. He is a member of various scientific or- ganizations, and has contributed papers to profes- sional journals. — Francis's nephew, Charles Sedg- wick, biologist, b. in West Roxbury (now part of Boston), Mass., 23 Dec, 1852. He was graduated in the chemical course at the Massachusetts insti- tute of technology in 1872. and then devoted his attention to biology, studying that science in Leipsic, Paris, and Wiirzburg, and receiving his doctorate at Harvard in 1878. In 1880 he became lecturer on embryology in Harvard medical school and instructor in oral pathology and surgery. These appointments he held luitil 1883, when he became assistant professor of histology and em- bryology at that institution. Dr. Minot is a mem- ber of scientific societies, and in 1885 was general secretary of the American association for the ad- vancement of science. His researches have been principally on the physiology of the muscles and respiration, in general biology, particularly con- cerning growth and death, and in human embry- ology, concerning which he has published more than eighty papers in scientific journals.

MINTO, Walter, mathematician, b. in Cowdenham, Scotland, 6 Dec, 1753 : d. in Princeton, N. J., 21 Oct., 1796. After his graduation at the University of Edinburgh, he became tutor to the two sons of George Johnstone, a member of parliament, who was commissioner to this country in 1778, and went with them to Italy. In Pisa he resided in the family of Dr. Guiseppe Slop, the astronomer, and through him became familiar with