Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/789

Rh the county of New York, and member of various medical societies. lie was the physician and friend of Washington Irving. In 1873 he vol- unteered to go to the south to examine the chol- era, suggested measures by which the plague was stopped, and assisted Dr.' Ely JMeClellan in pre- paring a "Report on Cholera," which was pub- lished by order of congress (Washington, 1873). In 1878 he went to Memphis to aid in arresting the yellow -fever scourge. He had edited the " North American Journal of Homoeopathy " and the " Transactions of the Pathological Society " (1873-'6), and, in conjunction with Dr. Alexander S. Wotherspoon, translated Rokitansky's " Patho- logical Anatomy" (New York, 1849). With Dr. Frederick Gr. Snelling and others he published " Materia Medica " (1856-'60). In addition to arti- cles in medical journals he is the author of " Dis- eases of the Brain and Nervous System " (New York, 1852) ; " Diseases of Women " '(1853) ; " Dis- eases of the Eye "(1854); and "Notes on Asiatic Cholera" (1866) ; and he assisted Dr. Edmund C. Wendt in his book on "Asiatic Cholera" (1885).

PETERS, John Thompson, jurist, b. in He- bron, Conn., 11 Oct., 1765 ; d. in Hartford, Conn., 28 Aug., 1834. He was graduated at Yale in 1789, studied law, and began to practise in his native town. In 1813 he was appointed collector of reve- nue for the 1st district, and in May, 1818, he was made judge of the state supreme court, which office he held for many years. — His son, Hugli, poet, b. in Hebron, Conn., 30 Jan., 1807 ; d. in Cincinnati, Ohio, 9 June, 1831, was graduated at Yale in 1826, studied law, was admitted to the bar, and began practice in Cincinnati. His body was found in the Ohio river, and it is supposed that he drowned himself while temporarily insane. He wrote a series of humorous Yankee lyrics, which were printed in the " New England Weekly Review." His farewell to Connecticut, written on Long Island sound, and entitled " My Native Land," is consid- ered his best poem.

PETERS, Richard, clergyman, b. in Liverpool, England, in 1704; d. in Philadelphia, Pa., 10 July, 1776. His father, Ralph, was town-clerk of Liver- pool. The son was educated at Westminster school, and at Oxford and Leyden, and after studying law took orders in the Church of England in 1730-'l, and came to this countryon account of domestic troubles about 1735. He was employed for some time in Christ church, Philadelphia, Pa., as assistant min- ister, but, having resigned in 1737, he became sec- retary to the land office, was secretary to a succes- sion of governors, and was one of the provincial council until his death. In the summer of 1762 he was invited to officiate in the United churches of Philadelphia, and was chosen to be rector at the close of the year. He made a visit to England in 1764, for the benefit of his health chiefly, and re- turned to Philadelphia at the close of 1765. He received the degree of D. D. from the University of Oxford in 1770. Conscious of the infirmities of age, he resigned his rectorship in September, 1775. He was one of those that, with Benjamin Frank- lin, founded the Public academy, out of which grew the College of Philadelphia. He was one of the original trustees of the latter, president of the board in 1756-64, an incorporator of the Phila- delphia library, and one of the original managers of the Pennsylvania hospital. Bishop White speaks of Dr. Peters " with respect and affection," he hav- ing been one of the assistant ministers in the United churches during the latter years of Dr. Peters's rectorship. Bishop White says that he had adopted the fantastical notions of Jacob Bochman, the German cobbler, in regard to the " inward light" and kindred topics, and he was a public opponent of George Whitefield during the latter's evangelistic journey through the country. He published "The Two Last Sermons preached at Christ Church," printed by Franklin (Philadel- phia, 1737) ; and other discourses. — His nephew, Richard, jurist, b. at his father's seat of Bel- mont, Philadelphia, 22 June. 1744; d. there, 22 Aug., 1828, was a son of William Peters, who was for many years register of the admiralty, and a judge of the courts of common pleas, quarter ses- sions, and orphans' court. The son was gradu- ated in 1761 at the College of Philadeljjhia (now University of Pennsylvania), from which he re- ceived the degree of LL. D. in 1827, and of which he was a trustee in 1788-'91. He studied law, came to the bar in 1763, and soon rose to eminence in his profession. In 1771 he became register of the admiralty, retaining this post until the war for independence was begun. When most of the lead- ers of the Philadelphia bar went over to the side of the king in the early days of the Revolution, he remained true to the cause of the colonies. He commanded a company of provincial troops in 1775, on 13 June, 1776, was elected by congress secretary of the Continental board of war, and later was also a commissioner of war, in which post he rendered important services to the patriot cause. Peters discovered that Benedict Arnold was applying to his own use funds that had been placed in his hands for the purchase of the clothing and subsistence for the army, and an attempt on Peters's part to stop this robbery produced between him and Arnold an open quarrel. In a letter to a friend he wrote : " I did not conceal, but wrote to headquarters my want of confidence in Arnold. W^hen his traitorous conduct at West Point became public, neither Col. Pickering nor myself were the least surprised." In 1780 Peters was one of those that subscribed £5,000 each to the Pennsylvania bank for the provisioning of the army. In Decem- ber, 1781, when he resigned his post in the war office, congress voted him their "thanks for his long and faithful services." In 1782-'3 he was a member of the Continental congress; in 1787 he became a member of the assembly, and he was the speaker of this body in 1788-'90, in which capacity he and Gen. Thomas Mifflin, the speaker of the senate, were the representatives of Pennsylvania that met Gen. Washington as he entered the state on his way to New York to be inaugurated as first president of the United States. In 1791 he was the speaker of the state senate. On the formation of the Federal government he was teiidei-ed the comptrollership of the treasury, but declined it. On 11 April, 1792, he was commissioned judge of the U. S. district court for Pennsylvania, which office he held until his death. Judge Story wrote of him : " I have learned much in his school, and owe him many thanks for his rich contribution to the maritime jurisprudence of our country." One of Mr. Peters's important works was his active in- strumentality in securing the act of succession for the ministers of the Protestant Episcopal cliurch in the United States. In 1785 he went to England to obtain from the British prelates ordination to the office of bishop for three priests of the Ameri- can church, and it wjis largely through his energy and endeavor that this end was accomplished. Judge Peters was a practical farmer, one of the founders of the Philadelphia agricultural society, and its first president, retaining the place till his death, a period of more than thirty years. The " Memoirs " of the society contain more than one