Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/139

Rh in 1850, and at Princeton theological seminary in 1853. In June of that year he was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Albany, and he was ordained by the same presbytery on 14 Nov. He was then commissioned missionary to China by the Presbyterian board of foreign missions, and reached Hong Kong in May, 1854. Proceeding to Canton he spent two years in that city studying the lan- guage, and during the Chinese war was in Macao. In November, 1858, he returned to Canton, and soon built a chapel from funds raised chiefly by his own efforts, where he preached until his last illness. He was also the stated supply of the 2d native Presbyterian church in Canton from 1872, and likewise preached regularly in the chapel of the Medical missionary society. Mr. Preston de- voted much time to the translation of the New Testament into the Canton vernacular; he pre- pared a hymn-book in Chinese, and wrote many valuable articles and treatises, besides giving theo- logical instruction to native evangelists.

PRESTON, David, banker, b. in Harmony, N. Y., 20 Sept., 1826; d. in Detroit, Mich., 24 April, 1887. He was educated at common schools. and at the academy in Westfleld, N. Y., meanwhile teaching during the winters. In 1848 he moved to Detroit, where he became clerk in a banking-house. Four years later he established himself as a banker in Detroit and Chicago. Mr. Preston gave about $200,000 to charities, and pledged himself to raise from the people of Michigan $60,000, giving him- self nearly one half this sum, for Albion college, of which he was a trustee from 1862 till his death. During the civil war he was active in the Christ inn commission, and he was president of the Young men's Christian association of Detroit in 1869-'70. He was the candidate of the Prohibition party for governor in 1884. Besides being a delegate to the general conference of the Methodist Episcopal church in 1876, and delegate to the Centenary conference of Methodism in Baltimore in 1884, he was active in other matters pertaining to his de- nomination, and was regarded at the time of his death as the foremost member of the Methodist church in the state of Michigan.

PRESTON, Harriet Waters, author, b. in Danvers, Mass., about 1843. She was educated chiefly at hoipe, and began her literary labors about 1865 as a translator from the French, her first work being " The Life of Mine. Swetchine." Then followed " The Writings of Mine. Swetch- ine"; a selection from Sainte Beuve, "Portraits de femmes"' (first series), under the title of "Cele- brated Women"; " Mine. Desbordes - Yalmore," from the same author; and the "Life of Alfred dc Mu-iset," by his brut her. Paul de Musset. She has also published " Aspendale" (Boston, 1873); a translation of Mistral's "Mireio" (Boston, 1873); " Love in the Nineteenth Century " (Boston. 1 s ; 1 1 : " Troubadours and Trouveres " (Boston, 1876) ; " Is That All r in the "No Name " series ilioston. 1876); a translation of the "Georgics of Virgil" (Boston, 1881); and "A Year in Eden "(1886). She has, -on- tributed frequent critical papers to the " Atlantic Monthly." Miss Preston has resided abroad for some time, mostly in France and Great Britain.

PRESTON, Jonas, philanthropist, b. in Chester county. Pa., 25 Jan., 1764; d. in Philadelphia, 4 Jan.. 1836. His father, of the same name, was a physician. His grandfather, William Preston, a Quaker, in 1718 emigrated from Huddersh'eld. England, and settled in Pennsylvania. Jonas en- tered on the study of medicine under Dr. Thomas Bond, of Philadelphia, and concluded his studies in the medical schools of Edinburgh and Paris, being graduated from the former about 1785. On his return he settled in Wilmington, Del., afterward removed for a time to Georgia, but returning to Chester, Pa., succeeded in establishing an exten- sive practice, particularly in obstetrics, in which he was celebrated. At the period of the whiskey insurrection he volunteered his medical aid, and served with the troops. He was for many years a member of the legislature, serving in both the as- sembly and the senate. About 1812 he removed to Philadelphia, where he took an active interest in several benevolent and other institutions, such as the Pennsylvania hospital, Friend's asylum, Penn bank, and Schuylkill navigation company. His extensive observation in the practice of his profession led him to form the opinion, expressed in his will, " that there ought to be a lying-in hos- pital in the city of Philadelphia for indigent mar- ried women of good character," and he beciueat lied about $400,000 for the founding of such an insti- tution. Within a few months after his death the legislature of Pennsylvania passed an act incorpo- rating " The Preston Retreat." The corner-stone of the hospital building was laid, 17 July, 1837, and the institution is one of the noted charities in Philadelphia.

PRESTON, Marsraret Junkin, poet, b. in Philadelphia, Pa., about 1825 ; d. in Baltimore, Md., 28 March, 1897. She was the wife of Prof. John T. L. Preston, of the Virginia military institute. Her first contributions to the press appeared in "Sartain's Magazine" in 1849-'50, and she subse- quently published a novel entitled "Silverwood " (New York, 1856), but she has sinte devoted her-rlt' to poetical composition. She was an ardent sympa- thizer with the south, and her most sustained vol- ume of verse, " Beechenbrook," a poem of the civil war, enjoyed a wide popularity, and contains the familiar lines on "Stonewall Jackson's Grave "and the lyric " Slain in Battle " (New York, 1866). Her other works include many fugitive poems, " Old Song and New," the dedication of which has been much admired (1870), " Cartoons " (1875), and " For Love's Sake "(1887). Her writings are vigorous, suggestive, and full of religious feeling. Her translation of the " Dies Ira?," which appeared in 1855, has been highly praised.

PRESTON, Samuel, b. in Patuxent, Md., in 1665 ; d. in Philadelphia, 10 Sept., 1743. He was brought up as a Quaker. Removing from Maryland to Sussex county on the Delaware, he was sent to the legislature from the latter place in 1693, and again in 1701, and was chosen sheriff in 1695. About 1703 he took up his residence in Philadelphia, where he became a merchant, and stood among the most influential of the Quakers of his day. In 1708 he was unanimously elected alderman. During the same year James Logan, desiring Penn to consider whom to add to the property commission, wrote to him, saying: "Samuel Preston is also a very good man, and now makes a figure, and, indeed, Rachel's husband ought particularly to be taken notice of, for it has too long been neglected, even for thy own interest." (His wife was daughter of Thomas Lloyd, president of Penn's council.) Almost immediately afterward Preston was called to the council, and he continued a member until he died. He was chosen mayor of Philadelphia in 1711, and in 1714 became the treasurer of the province, retaining the office until his death. In 1726 he became a justice of the peace and of the court of common pleas, and in 1728 one of the commissioners of property, which office he held many years. He was also one of the trustees under William Penn's will.