Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/581

Rh NOURRISSON, Guy Léon, French colonist, b. in Saint Malo about 1575; d. near Newfoundland in 1629. He commanded for years a small brig that plied between Saint Malo and North America. He had occasion to land in southern Newfoundland, and, being convinced of the commercial advantages of the place, determined to establish a French station there. He disclosed his project to merchants in Dieppe and Saint Malo, received a hearty support, and formed a company, which obtained in 1621 from Louis XIII. a charter on condition that it should build two fortresses and maintain the garrisons for ten years. Preparations for an expedition were soon completed, and in the spring of 1622 Nourrisson landed in the peninsula with 125 men, and found to his surprise that other Frenchmen had arrived there a month before. He finally forced them to acknowledge his authority, and prepared to establish a colony, when the settlers ofLord Baltimore opposed his progress, claiming the possession of the whole country. Arbitration was first resorted to, but failed, and hostilities began. The French were soon overpowered, and, being driven from the peninsula, they retired to Placentia and founded a station there, but difficulties arose also with the French followers of Lord Falkland, and most of the French returned to their native country. Nourrisson, nevertheless, maintained the station at Placentia during the following years, and brought over settlers several times. He was finally shipwrecked off the Newfoundland coast.

NOURSE, Amos, senator, b. in Bolton, Mass., 17 Dec, 1794; d. in Bath, Me., 17 April, 1877. He was graduated at Harvard in 1813, and at the medical department in 1817, settled in Wiscasset, and subsequently in Hallowell, Me., and removed in 1845 to Bath, Me. He was lecturer on obstetrics in Bowdoin in 1846-'54, and professor of that branch in 1855-'66. In 1857 he was elected U. S. senator, to fill the unexpired term of Hannibal Hamlin, who had been chosen governor. He served from 24 Jan. till 3 March, and became judge of probate of Sagadahoc county. Me., in 1860.

NOURSE, Joseph, register of the treasury, b. in London, England, 16 July, 1754; d. near Georgetown, D. C., 1 Sept., 1841. He emigrated with his family to Virginia in 1769, entered the Revolutionary army as military secretary to Gen. Charles Lee in 1776, was clerk and paymaster of the board of war in 1777-81, then was assistant auditor-general, and in 1781-1829 was register of the U. S. treasury. For twenty-five years he was a vice-president of the American Bible society. — His nephew, Joseph Everett, author, b. in Washington, D. C., 17 April, 1819; d. there, 8 Oct., 1889, was graduated at Jefferson college, became principal of Rittenhouse academy, in 1840, and in 1849 was licensed to preach in the Presbyterian church. He was professor of ethics and English studies in the U. S. naval academy in 1850-'64, was commissioned professor of mathematics at that date, and retired in 1881. In 1865-'80 he was on duty at the naval observatory and in the navy. He supplied the infantry at Fort Adams during the civil war, and subsequently occasionally supplied churches in the District of Columbia and in Virginia. He represented the U. S. government at the International geographical congress that met in Paris in 1875. He has published "The Maritime Canal of Suez: Brief Memoir of the Enterprise and Comparison of its Probable Results with those of a Ship-Canal across Darien" (Washington, D. C, 1869); "Astronomical and Meteorological Observations" (1871); "Memoir of the Founding and Progress of the U. S. Naval Observatory" (1873); "Medals awarded to American Arctic Explorers by Foreign Societies" (1876); "Narrative of the Second Arctic Exploration by Charles F. Hall" (1879); " American Explorations in the Ice Zones," prepared from official sources (Boston, 1884); and "The Maritime Canal of Suez from its Inauguration, 17 Nov., 1869, to the Year 1884" (Washington, D. C, 1884).— His cousin, James Duncan, journalist, b. in Bards0town, Ky., 36 Sept., 1817; d. in St. Louis, Mo., 1 June, 1854, was graduated at St. Joseph college, Bardstown, Ky., in 1836, studied both law and medicine, but abandoned them for journalism, and at different periods edited three newspapers in his native town. He subsequently became connected with the "St. Louis Intelligencer," and was its associate editor at the time of his death. He contributed constantly to magazines, and is the author of the novels "The Forest Knight" (Philadelphia, 1846): "Leavenworth, a Story of the Mississippi" (1849); and a collection of lectures, that he had previously delivered on the philosophy of history, that was highly recommended by critics in this country and abroad, entitled "God in History, or the Past and its Legacies" (Louisville, 1853).

NOUVEL, Gabriel Edouard, Chevalier de (noovel), French colonist, b. in Bapaume in 1636; d. in Fort Nelson. Canada, in November, 1694. He was a younger son of a master of the king's horse, and was destined for the priesthood, but ran away from college, and, joining a cousin in the service of the Company of Montreal, was furnished with the means of going to Canada in 1655. But Maisonneuve, the governor of Villemarie, who was a friend of his father, refused him employment, and he entered the service of the Company of the cent associes, and was sent to command the Hurons around Sault Sainte Marie. He learned their language, and repelled, with their aid, an invasion of Iroquois, whom he defeated at Sault Sainte Marie and pursued into their own country. The governor-general, Viscount d'Argenson, rewarded young Nouvel with the brevet of captain, and, informing the father of his son's valor, effected a reconciliation between them in 1660. During the following years Nouvel took a creditable part in a series of actions against the Iroquois, serving afterward in the expedition of De Courcelles, whose influence obtained for him in 1673 the appointment of adjutant-general at Montreal, which office he held for several years. Having received grants of land, he began a settlement and built a fort in 1675 where afterward Fort Niagara was erected. But his colonization scheme proving unfortunate, he re-entered the service of the Company of New France, took part in the operations at Hudson bay, and fell at the head of a company in the first assault on Fort Nelson.

NOVA, Juan de (no'-vah), Spanish navigator, b. in the province of Galicia in the second half of the 15th century; d. in the East Indies about 1520. He had acquired a great reputation as a pilot on the coast of Africa, and when King Emanuel of Portugal desired to extend his dominions in the newly discovered hemisphere, he called Nova into his service. The latter left Lisbon, 10 May, 1501, in command of an expedition of four vessels, taking with him Americo Vespucci as geographer. After touching on the coast of Africa, he reached South America on 7 Aug., discovering successively Cape San Rogue, Cape San Agostino, the river San Francisco, Cape San Thome, Rio Janeiro, the islands of San Sebastian and Santa Catarina, and Cape Santa Maria. He was the first to open friendly relations between the Portuguese and the natives, and laden with riches set sail again for home on 13 Feb.,