Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/800

754 service the Americans were enabled to make the attack. He was commissioned captain in 1777 and colonel in 1779. The next year he was employed in the important service of transferring cannon from Salisbury. Conn., to Boston, Mass., for the use of the ship " Defiance." After the war he acted for many years in the legislature, and was brigadier-general of Connecticut militia. — His son, Elisha, congressman, b. in Simsbury, Conn., 7 Nov., 1779; d. there, 18 April, 1847, was graduated at Yale in 1800, studied at Litchfield law-school, and was admitted to the bar of Hartford county in 1803. He served in both branches of the legislature, and was speaker of the lower house in 1821 and again in 1829. He was elected to congress as a Democrat in 1818, served one term, and was again a member of that body in 1825-'9. He was state comptroller in 1830-4, and a commissioner to revise and codify the state laws in 1835. — Elisha's son, John Smith, statesman, b. in Simsbury, Conn., 22 Dec, 1814; d. in St. Louis, Mo., 20 Nov., 1886, was graduated at Trinity in 1832, studied law under his father, practised a short time in his native state, and in 1837 emigrated to Missouri, near Springfield. Greene county. He served in the legislature in 1840, the next year was appointed brigade inspector of militia, and in 1844 was elected to congress as a Democrat, serving continuously till 1863. He was chairman of the committee of ways and means for seven terms, and was a member of the select committee of thirty-three on the rebellious states. During his congressional career he achieved a national reputation for ability in debate, sagacity, and prudence, and exercised a pacific influence on contending factions. He was appointed colonel of U. S. volunteers in 1861, and brigadier-general of volunteers in July, 1862, the same year serving as military governor of Arkansas. He was a delegate to the National union convention in 1866, and the next year a commissioner to settle the claims of Indiana. He was governor of Missouri in 1876-'82, declined to serve on the tariff commission, and did not again accept any public office. — Noah's grandson, Noah Amherst, lawyer, b. in Simsbury, Conn., 16 Oct., 1788 ; d. there, 26 Aug., 1872, was graduated at Yale in 1808, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1811. He was a member of both houses of the legislature for several terms, and secretary of the state of Connecticut in 1843-'4. He published " History of Simsbury, Granby, and Canton, Conn., from 1642 to 1645" (Hartford, 1845) ; and " History of the Copper Mines and Newgate Prison at Granby " (1845). — another son of the first Noah, Guy Rowland, capitalist, b. in Simsbury. Conn., in April, 1802 ; d. in Hartford, Conn., 18 March, 1869, was graduated at the medical department of Yale in 1825, and began practice in New York city, but retired on account of the failure of his health. In 1846 he founded the Coimecticut mutual life-insurance company, and he was its president until his death. He originated the return-dividend system, in contradistinction to the reversionary plan, and was the author of that plan which permits the policy-holder to anticipate the presumed surplus by an increased insurance from the beginning. — Another son of the first Noah, George Dwight, philanthropist, b. in Simsbury, Conn., in 1803 ; d. in New York city, 31 Aug., 1872, accumulated a large fortune in business in New York city, and was active in benevolent enterprises, contributing large sums annually to religious and charitable institutions. He was the first president of the New York young men's society, which was founded in 1831, and was the precursor of the Young men's Christian association.

PHELPS, William Franklin, educator, b. in Auburn, N. Y., 15 Feb., 1822. He was graduated at Union college in 1852, elected principal of the state normal school in Trenton, N. J., in 1855, the next year was placed in charge of the Farnxim pre- paratory school in Beverly, N. J., and held both offices until 1864, when he became president of the first state normal school in Winona, Minn. He held this office till 1876, was then president of the Wisconsin normal school for two years, returned to Minnesota in 1879, and was superintendent of public schools there in 1879-'81 and 1883-'5. He was president of the American normal school association from 1856 till 1860, of the National educational convention, and vice-president of the first international conference of educators in 1876. In 1878 he received a silver medal from the Paris exposition as an educational collaborator and au- thor. He edited the " Chicago Educational Week- ly " in 1867-'8, and has published " The Teachers' Hand-Book " (New York, 1875) ; five brochures for the Chautauqua circle, entitled " What is Education?" "Socrates," " Horace Mann," " Pestalozzi and Froebel," and "John Sturm"; and reports of the New Jersey and Minnesota normal schools.

PHELPS, William Walter, b. in New York city. 24 Aug., 1839 ; d. in Teaneck. N. J., 17 June,. 1894. The first of his ancestors in this country was a brother of the John Phelps that was Oliver Crom- well's private secretary. He came to this country in 1630, and settled near Simsbury, Conn. The descendants long remained there, and one of them, William Walter's great-grandfather, represented the town for thirty consecutive terms in the Con- necticut assembly. The grandson, John J. Phelps, was the first to leave Simsbury for New York, where he made a fortune in business, organized and became president of the Delaware, Lacka- wanna, and Western railroad, and left the bulk of his property to his only son, William Walter. The latter was early sent to Yale, and, in spite of an affection of the eyes, which took him out of col- lege for a year, and for another year prevented him from reading, he won many honors and stood second in his class at his graduation in 1860. In the Columbia law-school he secured the valedictory in 1863. Entering active practice, he became counsel for the Rock Island and the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western railroads, the United States trust company, the City bank, and other corporations, before he was thirty years old. Gov. Reuben E. Fenton offered him a judgeship, which he declined, and in 1869 the death of his father compelled him to retire from practice and give his time to the management of the estate and the trusts connected with it. Retaining an active in- terest in his college, he led in the " Young Yale " movement, which resulted in giving the alumni a share in the government of the institution. He was at once elected to the board of trustees by a heavy vote, and by successive elections has been kept there ever since. He had always taken a keen interest in politics, and was an enthusiastic Re- publican during the civil war. He had been the successful counsel for his sister's father-in-law, William E. Dodge, in his noted contest for a seat in the house of representatives, and in 1872 he was himself elected to the house from the New Jersey district where his country-place was situated. He took high rank as a debater almost at once, and became noted as one of the few men to whom the house would always listen. He discussed, in his first term, questions of banking and currency, the franking privilege, the Pacific mail subsidy, and the government of the southern states. The house