Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/562

522 at Phillips Andover academy, studied law, and was admitted to the New York bar in 1857. He became speaker of the New Jersey assembly in 1872, government director of the Union Pacific railroad in 1879, and since 1884 has been president of the Tradesmen's national bank of New York city. He is the author of several important laws that have been passed in the New Jersey legislature, among which is one that established 1,000 free-school libraries in that state, and another that created a free- school fund which now exceeds $3,000,000.

NILES, William Woodruff, P. E. bishop, b. in Hatley, Lower Canada, 24 May, 1832. He was graduated at Trinity in 1857 and at Berkeley divinity-school, Middletown, Conn., in 1861. He was tutor in Trinity college in 1857-'8, was ordained deacon in the Church of the Holy Trinity, Middletown, on 22 May, 1861, by Bishop Williams, and Sriest in St. Philip's church, Wiseassett, Me., 14 May, 1862, by Bishop Burgess. On his ordination to the priesthood he became rector of St. Philip's church, Wiseassett, of which he had been in charge during his diaconate. In 1864 he became professor of Latin in Trinity college, and in conjunction with his professorship he was rector of St. John's church. Warehouse Point, Conn., in 1868-'70. He was elected second bishop of New Hampshire, and was consecrated in St. Paul's church. Concord, N. H., 21 Sept., 1870. At the time of his consecration he was a British subject, and he was not naturalized until December, 1873. He edited "The Churchman" in Hartford in 1866-'7. Bishop Niles received the degree of S. T. D. from Trinity college in 1870 and from Dartmouth in 1879. He has pub- lished addresses, essays, and occasional contributions to church magazines.

NILSSON, Christine, singer, b. near Wexiö, Sweden, 3 Aug., 1843. Her father, a small farmer, who possessed taste in music, was the chief chorister in the church of that district. From her earliest years Christine gave evidence of vocal talent. She taught herself to play on the violin and flute, and sang in the peasants' fairs in Sweden with her brother. At one of these festivals in Ljungby in June, 1857, she attracted the attention of a Swedish magistrate named Tornërhjelm, who sent her to Halmstad and Stockholm, where she remained for two years as a pupil of Franz Berwald. After studying in Paris for three years she made her debut there as Violetta in &ldquo;La Traviata&rdquo; on 24 Oct., 1864. In 1867 she appeared in London in both opera and oratorio, and in 1868 she sang at the Grand opera-house in Paris, where she made a sensation as Ophelia in Ambroise Thomas's &ldquo;Hamlet.&rdquo; In that year she sang in the Crystal palace, London, at the Handel festival. She first appeared in the United States in 1870 in concerts, and in 1871 sang in opera with great success. She re-appeared in London in 1872 and married there Auguste Rouzaud, a broker of Paris, who died in 1882. In 1873 she sang with great success in St. Petersburg, and from 1872 till 1877 she appeared every season in Italian opera in London. She visited this country again in 1873-'4 and in 1882, and made a tour in Scandinavia in 1876. Her last appearance in New York was on 16 April, 1883. In 1886 she married Count Casa di Miranda. Her voice is of moderate power, but possesses remarkable purity of intonation, sweetness, brilliancy, and evenness in its entire register. Its compass is nearly three octaves. Her most successful characters are Elsa, Marguerite, and Mignon.

NINA, João Estevam Miguel da Silva (ne-nah), Brazilian author, b. in Pernambuco about 1770; d. there in 1813. He received his early

in Brazil, but finished his studies in the University of Coimbra, was graduated in law, and practised his profession successfully in Pernambuco. His leisure time was devoted to historical researches, and he was elected an associate member of the Historical institute of Rio Janeiro. He published &ldquo;Memorias de algumas particularedades acerca dos estabelecimentos portuguezes eus Brazil&rdquo; (2 vols., Pernambuco, 1806); &ldquo;Descripcão circumstanciada do provincia de São Paulo&rdquo; (2 vols., 1810); and &ldquo;Colleção das Vidas dos Portuguezes Celebres,&rdquo; a cyclopædia of the Portuguese adventurers that participated either in the conquest or in the colonization of Brazil (6 vols., 1809-'12).

NINDE, William Xavier, M. E. bishop, b. in Cortland, N. Y., 21 June, 1832. His father, Rev. William Ward Ninde, was a well-known Methodist preacher in New York state. The son was graduated at Wesleyan university, Middletown, Conn., in 1855, and after teaching in Rome academy, N. Y., entered the Methodist ministry in 1856. He served as pastor of churches in Ohio, visited Europe and the East in 1868-'9, and in 1870 was transferred to the Detroit conference. In 1873 he was appointed professor of practical theology in the Biblical institute in Evanston, Ill., of which he became president in 1879. He also served from 1876 till 1879 as pastor of the Central church in Detroit, Mich. He was a delegate to the Methodist ecumenical conference in London in 1881, and on 15 May, 1884, was elected bishop. In 1874 he received the degree of D. D. from Wesleyan university.

NINDEMANN, William Friedrich Carl, arctic explorer, b. in Gingst, island of Rügen, Germany, 22 April, 1850. He was graduated at the public school in Gingst in 1865, and in 1867 came to New York and served as quartermaster on a yacht. He went on the arctic expedition in the steamer &ldquo;Polaris,&rdquo; which sailed from New London on 3 July, 1871. On 15 Oct., 1872, the &ldquo;Polaris&rdquo; being fast in the ice and leaking badly, the crew was ordered to land provisions, and while thus engaged the floe broke, and Nindemann with eighteen others drifted southward for 196 days without seeing the ship again. This part of the crew were rescued by the steamship &ldquo;Tigress&rdquo; on 29 April, 1873. After returning to Washington, he volunteered on the &ldquo;Tigress&rdquo; in her search for the &ldquo;Polaris,&rdquo; and remained with this vessel until October, 1873, when he joined the crew of the steamer &ldquo;Jeannette.&rdquo; On 9 Oct., 1881, Capt. DeLong sent Louis P. Noros and Nindemann to find aid. Taking a southern course, they wandered until 21 Oct., when they were met by a native, who took them to Kumak Surka, where they sent a message through a Russian exile to George Melville, who afterward joined them at Bulun. Subsequently Melville, James H. Bartlett, and Nindemann explored the delta for traces of DeLong's party and on 15 March, 1882, they found the bodies of DeLong and his