Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/796

750 PFEIFFER, Ludwig Georg, German physician, b. in Cassel, 4 July, 1805; d. there, 2 Oct., 1877. He received his education in Cassel, and became professor of pathology there in 1828. He served as surgeon-major in Cracow during the Polish rebellion of 1831, travelled afterward through Europe for the interest of science, and was given in 1839 by the Bavarian government a mission to study the natural history of the West Indies. He remained for more than two years in Cuba, then visited most of the West India islands, and on his return to Europe published &ldquo;Monographia Heliceorum viventium&rdquo; (4 vols., Leipsic, 1847-'8; supplement, 1853); &ldquo;Symbola ad historiam heliceorum&rdquo; (3 vols., Cassel, 1851-'6); and other works.

PHELAN, John Dennis, jurist, b. in New Brunswick, N. J., 23 March, 1809; d. in Birmingham, Ala., 9 Sept., 1879. He removed with his parents to Huntsville, Ala., in 1818, was graduated at the University of Nashville in 1828, studied law in Virginia, and was admitted to the bar of that state, but returned to Alabama in 1830. He became editor of the Huntsville &ldquo;Democrat,&rdquo; was in the legislature in 1833-'5, attorney-general of the state in 1836, speaker of the house in 1839, and a judge of the circuit court in 1841-'51. He was then elevated to the supreme bench, held office for two years, and again in 1863-'5. In the interval he was clerk to that body, and subsequently in 1865-'8. He became professor of law in the University of the south in 1869, holding the chair till his death. &mdash; His brother, James, jurist, b. in Huntsville, Ala., 11 Oct., 1821; d. in Memphis, Tenn., 17 May, 1873, was apprenticed as a printer to the &ldquo;Democrat&rdquo; at fourteen years of age, subsequently edited the &ldquo;Flag of the Union,&rdquo; a Democratic organ, and became state printer in 1843. He was admitted to the bar in 1846, removed to Mississippi in 1849, and settled in Aberdeen, where he soon established a large practice. He was elected to the state senate in 1860, and on the organization of the Confederate congress was chosen senator, and was an active member of that body. In 1863 he introduced what was called the &ldquo;Crucial bill of the Confederacy,&rdquo; which was a proposition to impress all the cotton in the south, paying for it in Confederate bonds, and using it as a basis for a foreign loan. The bill passed the house, but was defeated in the senate, and created so much indignation among the planters that Mr. Phelan was burned in effigy, and defeated in the next canvass. He then served as judge-advocate till the end of the war, when he settled in Memphis, and practised law in that city until his death. &mdash; James's son, James, congressman, b. in Aberdeen, Miss., 7 Dec., 1856; d. in Nassau, Bahama Islands, 30 Jan., 1891, in 1874 went abroad, studied in the University of Leipsic, and received the degree of Ph. D. there. He returned to the United States in 1878, began the practice of law in Memphis, and in 1886 was elected to congress and re-elected in 1888. In 1884 he became proprietor of the &ldquo;Memphis Avalanche.&rdquo; He was the author of &ldquo;Philip Massinger and his Plays&rdquo; (Leipsic, 1878) and &ldquo;History of Tennessee, the Making of a State&rdquo; (Boston, 1888).

PHELAN, Michael, billiard-player, b. in County Kilkenny, Ireland, in 1816; d. in New York city. 21 Oct., 1871. He came to this country at an early age, apprenticed himself to a silversmith and jeweler, and during his leisure hours played billiards until he became an expert. In 1851 he gave exhibitions in Ireland for the benefit of the suffering poor. On his return he opened rooms on Broadway, New York city, subsequently removed to San Francisco, Cal., and, after a series of unfortunate speculations, re-established himself in New York and became a manufacturer of billiard-tables with Hugh W. CoUender. The game was introduced into private houses through improved applications of his manufacture. He took an active part in many billiard contests, and was uniformly successful. His death was the result of injuries that he received in attempting to rescue his grandson from drowning. He published " Rules for the Government of the Game of Billiards " (New York, 1850).

PHELAN, Richard, R. C. bishop, b. near Bally- raggett. County Kilkenny, Ireland, 1 Jan., 1825. He was educated by private tutors, and in the College of St. Kyran, Kilkenny. In 1850 he accompanied Bishop Michael O'Connor to the United States, and entered St. Mary's theological seminary, Baltimore. He was ordained priest in Pittsburg on 4 May, 1854, and sent to Indiana county, where he remained until he was summoned to Pittsburg. He remained for three years attached to the cathedral of this city, and was then appointed pastor of Freeport. In 1868 he became pastor of St. Peter's church, Alleghany. He built a new church at a cost of more than $150,000, and also completed the schools that his predecessor had begun. During the absence of Bishop Twigg in 1881 he was appointed administrator of the dioceses of Pittsburg and Alleghany, and he was subsequently made vicar-general. In 1885 he was nominated coadjutor to the two sees, with right of succession, and on 3 Aug. was consecrated bishop of Cebeyra inpartibns. He resides in Alleghany, and, owing to the feeble health of Bishop Twigg, practically administers the affairs of the two dioceses.

PHELPS, Abner, physician, b. in Belchertown, Mass., 5 Sept., 1779 ; d. in Boston, Mass., 24 Feb., 1873. He was graduated at Williams in 1806, and at the medical departments of Brown in 1813 and Yale in 1814. After practising for several years in Reading, Mass., he removed to Boston in 1816. While in college he read an account of the railways in the quarries in Wales that led him to believe that such roads were practicable for common travel. As early as 1808 he endeavored to bring a proposition before the legislature for building a railroad between Boston and Albany, but the suggestion was not acted upon, and in 1826, while he was a member of the house, he made the first motion of that character that was offered before a legislative body in the United States. Having prepared an able report, he secured the appointment of commissioners, and the undertaking of surveys, and much of the construction was done under his personal supervision and at his expense. He published " The Crucifixion of Christ, anatomically Considered" (Boston, 1853).

PHELPS, Almira Hart Lincoln, educator, b. in Berlin, Conn.. 15 July, 1793: d. in Baltimore, Md., 15 July, 1884. She was the daughter of Samuel Hart, and was a lineal descendant of Thomas Hooker, the founder of Hartford, Conn. She was educated by her sister, Mrs. Emma Willard (g. v.), taught in her father's house at nineteen years of age, and subsequently was in charge of the Sandy Hill, N. Y., female academy. She married in 1817 Samuel Lincoln, of Hartford, who died in 1823, and she soon afterward became associated with Mrs. Willard in the Female seminary in Troy, N. Y. In 1831 she married Judge John Phelps, of Vermont. She took charge of a seminary in West Chester, Pa., in 1838, and afterward taught in Rahway, N. J. In 1841, on the invitation of the bishop of Maryland, she became associated with her husband in the charge of the Patapsco institute, a diocesan female school, which soon attained