Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/183

Rh '''RABAUD. Charles Hector''' (rah-bo), French administrator, b. in Dieppe in 1711 ; d. in Paris in 17(54. He c-ntrred the colonial administration, held employments in Canada, Louisiana, and the Lee- ward and Windward islands, and from 1756 till his death was assistant colonial intendant of justice and police in Santo Domingo. While he was there he collected the materials for his " Recueil des lois, arretes et ordonnances royales, des arrets des con- seils superieurs, et des modifications introduites par les cours de justice en appliquant la coutume de Paris, pour les colonies des iles du vent et sous le vent " (6 vols., Paris, 1761-'5). This work is invalu- able to the historian that studies the colonial ad- ministration under Louis XIV. and Louis XV., as the archives of the French colonies in the West Indies were for the most part scattered or lost dur- ing the colonial insurrections.

RABOURDIN, Henry Etienne (rah-boor- dang). French historian; b. in Cambraiin 1711 ; d. there in 1764. It is said that he was the natural son of a high dignitary of the church. He entered clerical life, was appointed abbot of a rich abbey, and afterward held the office of assistant deputy- keeper of the logs and charts in the navy department at Paris. His works include " Relation des voyages et decouvertes des Francais dans les deux Ame- riques" (4 vols., Paris, 1759) ; " Histoire de la de- couverte de I'Amerique " (2 vols., 1761) ; and " Les precurseurs de Christophe Colomb," in which the author contends that Columbus was not the dis- coverer of America (2 vols., 1764).

RABIN, William, statesman, b. in Halifax county, N. C., 8 April, 1771 ; d. at Powelton, Han- cock co., Ga., 24 Oct., 1819. To this place his father had removed from North Carolina when he was a youth. The son was frequently elected to the legislature. In 1817 he was president of the state senate, and as such became ex-officio governor of the state on the resignation of Gov. Mitchell. In the following year he was elected to the same post by popular vote, and died in office. W T hile he was governor he had a sharp correspondence with Gen. Andrew Jackson growing, out of the Seminole war, then in progress. Gov. Rabun's devotion to the church of which he was a member was not sur- passed by his fidelity as a civilian. While he was governor he performed the duties of chorister and clerk in the Baptist church at Powelton.

RACINE, Antoine, Canadian R. C. bishop, b. in Quebec, 26 Jan., 1822; d. 24 July, 1893. His ancestors came to Canada in 1638. One of them was Abraham Martin, who gave his name to the Plains of Abraham. Antoiue received his early education from an uncle, who was pastor of a neigh- boring parish, and in 1834 entered the Petit semi- naire of Quebec. He afterward studied theology in the Grand seminaire, and was ordained priest on 12 Sept., 1844, held various charges, took much interest in colonization, and put forward his views, with others, in a journal that he founded and called the "Canadien emigrant." He was trans- ferred to the Church of St. John in Quebec in 1853. On 1 Sept., 1874, he was nominated first bishop of the newly created diocese of Sherbrooke, and he was consecrated by Archbishop Taschereau on 18 Oct. following. He took possession of his see two days afterward, and at once proceeded to erect an ec- clesiastical college in his episcopal city, which he opened on 30 Aug., 1875, and dedicated to St. Charles Borromeo. This had become a flourishing institution under his patronage. Bishop Racine hadalso established several other religious, charita- ble, and educational institutions. His diocese con- tains 7 convents, a hospital, an asylum, 140 schools, 2 colleges, 62 priests, and a Roman Catholic popu- lation of more than 47,000.

RADA, Juan de (rah-dah), Spanish captain, b. in Navarre, in the latter half of the 15th century ; d. in Jauja, Peru, in 1543. In 1534 he went to IVru with the expedition of Pedro de Alvarado, and af- terward served under the orders of Diego Almagro. He soon won the esteem of Almagro, was appointed mediator in the arrangement with Francisco Pi- zarro about the government of the province of New Toledo, and took part in the battle of Salinas. After Almagro's death, Rada took charge of his son, as tutor, and was the principal instigator of the plot against the Marquis Pizarro, and the leader of the eighteen men that penetrated into the governor's house on 26 June, 1541, and murdered him. Rada proclaimed the son of Almagro governor of Peru, and concentrated troops to attack the partisans of Pizarro in Cuzco, but died on the march in Jauja.

RADCLIFFE, Thomas, Canadian soldier, b. in Castle Coote, County Roseommon, Ireland, 17 April, 1794; d. on Amherst island, Ontario, 6 June, 1841. He was the eldest son of the Rev. Thomas Rad- cliffe, rector of St. Paul's Episcopal church, Dub- lin, was educated at Trinity college in that city, and entered the army in 1811. He served as a lieu- tenant of the 27th regiment in the peninsular war, and saw service in the war with the United States, being present at the battle of Plattsburg. He was with the army of occupation in France, and on its reduction in 1816 was placed on the half-pay list. In 1832 he came to Upper Canada and set- tled in Adelaide, London district. He served dur- ing the rebellion of 1837, and commanded the troops that captured the schooner " Anne." which formed part of the expedition against Amherstburg. At the beginning of the trouble he raised a body of militia, to the command of which he was appointed by Sir John Colborne. After the suppression of the rebellion, Col. Radcliffe was a member of the legis- lative council, in which he sat till his death.

RADDI, Giuseppe (rad-dee), Italian botanist, b. in Florence, Italy, 9 July, 1770; d. on the island of Rhodes, 6 Sept., 1829. He was apprenticed to a druggist, but obtained employment in the Museum of natural history of Florence. The grand duke, Ferdinand III., afterward became his protector, and in 1817 sent him to Brazil to study the cryptogams of the country. Raddi explored the basins of Orinoco and Amazon rivers, and formed a collection of plants and animals. In 1828 he was appointed a member of the commission that was charged with studying the Egyptian hieroglyphs under the direction of Champollion, but he was taken sick and died in Rhodes on his return to Florence. His works include &ldquo;Crittogame Brasiliane&rdquo; (2 vols., Florence, 1822); and &ldquo;Plantarum Brasiliensium nova genera et species novae vel minus cognitæ&rdquo; in which he described 156 new species of ferns, etc. (1825). Leandro de Sacramento (q. v.) gave the name of Raddia Raddica to a cryptogamous plant, and Candolle has retained the name in his classification of the American flora.

RADEMACHER, Joseph (rah-de-mah -ker), R. C. bishop, b. in Westphalia. Mich., 3 Dec., 1840; d. in Fort Wayne, Ind., 12 Jan., 1900. He was graduated at St. Michael's seminary, was ordained