Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/295

Rh where he built sixty-three vessels in twelve years, chiefly for the U. S. government and large corpora- tions. Among these were six monitors that were < >r- dered during Gen. Grant's administra- tion. The last ves- sels that he built for the U. S. navy were the three cruisers " Chicago," " At- lanta," and " Bos- ton," and the de- spatch-boat " Dol- phin." On the re- fusal of the govern- ment to accept the "Dolphin "in 1885, Mr. Roach made an assignment, and closed his works: but they were reopened when the vessel was accepted. He con- structed altogether about 114 iron vessels, and also built the sectional dock at Prn.-ai'ola. Fh.. and the iron bridge over Harlem river at Third avenue, New York city, in 1860.

ROANE, John Selden, governor of Arkansas, b. in Wilson county, Tenn., 8 Jan., 1817: d. in Pine Bluff, Ark., 7 April, 1867. He was graduated at Cumberland college, Princeton, Ky., and served in the legislature of Arkansas as speaker in 1844. Participating in the Mexican war as lieutenant- colonel of Col. Archibald Yell's Arkansas cavalry, he served with gallantry at Buena Vista, and com- manded the regiment after Col. Yell was killed, bring made colonel on 28 Feb., 1847. From 1848 till 1852 he was governor of Arkansas. Gov. Roane served in the civil war, being appointed brigadier- general in the provisional Confederate army on 20 March, 1862, commanding the district of Little Rock, Arkansas.

ROANE, Spencer, jurist, b. in Essex, Va., 4 April, 1762 ; d. in Sharon Springs, Va., 4 Sept., 1822. He studied law with George Wythe, and also in Phila- delphia, after which he was a member successively of the Virginia assembly, council, and senate. He was appointed a judge in 1789 of the general court, and in 1794 of the court of errors. In 1819 he was one of the commissioners for locating the University of Virginia. His wife was the daugh- ter of Patrick Henry. Judge Roane was a Jeffer- sonian Republican, and wrote several essays under the name of " Algernon Sidney," asserting the su- premacy of the state in a question of conflicting authority between Virginia and the United States, which were published in the " Richmond Enquirer."

ROANE, William Harrison, senator, b. in Virginia in 1788; d. at Tree Hill, near Richmond, Va., 11 May, 1845. After receiving an academical education he was a member of the state executive council and the house of representatives, and was elected to congress as a Democrat, serving from 4 Dec., 1815, till 3 March, 1817. He was afterward chosen U. S. senator in place of Richard E. Par- ker, serving from 4 Sept., 1837, till 3 March, 1841.

ROBB, James, banker, b. in Brownville, Fay- ette co., Pa., 2 April, 1814 ; d. near Cincinnati, Ohio, 30 July, 1881. His father died in 1819. and, after receiving a common-school education, the son left his home at the age of thirteen to seek his fortune, walking in the snow to Morgantown, Va., where he was employed in a bank and became its cashier. In 1837 he went to the city of New Orleans, La., where he remained for twenty-one years, during which time he made six visits to Europe and fifteen to the island of Cuba. He built the first gas-works in the city of Havana in 1840 and was president of the Spanish gaslight company, sharing the capital with Maria Christina, the queen-mother of Spain. He was active in es- tablishing eight banking-houses and commercial firms and agencies in New Orleans, Philadelphia, New York, San Francisco, and Liverpool, four of which were in existence in 1857. He was presi- dent of the railroad convention that met in New Orleans in 1851, and built the first railroad that connected New Orleans with the north. Mr. Robb was a member of the Louisiana senate. In 1859 he removed to Chicago, where he was interested in railroad matters, declined the military governor- ship of Louisiana which was offered by President Lincoln, and the post of secretary of the treasury, to which Andrew Johnson wished to appoint him. Afterward he established in New Orleans the Lou- isiana national bank, of which he was president in 1866-'9. His residence, standing in the centre of a block, was the finest in that city. In 1871 he re- tired from business, and from 1873 until his death he resided in " Hampden Place," near Cincinnati, Ohio. He was a regent of the University of Louisi- ana, and was the author of several reports, essays, and pamphlets on politics and political economy. His son, James Hampden, banker, b. in Phila- delphia, Pa., 27 Oct.. 1846, was graduated at Har- vard in 1866, and studied also in Switzerland, after which he engaged in banking and in the cotton business. He was a member of the legislature of New York in 1882 and state senator in 1884-'5, where he was active in securing the State reserva- tion at Niagara, of which he was a commissioner from 1883 till 1887. He was also appointed com- missioner of the parks of New York city, and he was (1888) president of the board.

ROBB, James Buroh, lawyer, b. in Baltimore, Md., 14 April, 1817; d. in Boston, Mass.. 3 Nov., 1876. In his early years he removed to Washing- ton, D. C., was graduated at Georgetown college in 1831, and then entered the U. S. military academy, but left, owing to impaired health. He was clerk of the U. S. circuit court in Boston, Mass., from 1845 till 1849, when he resigned and became a pat- ent lawyer, in which profession he was successful, practising in Springfield, Mass., where his father was superintendent of the National armory for several years. Mr. Robb prepared and published a valuable compilation of " Patent. Cases in Su- preme and County Courts of the United States to 1850 " (2 vols., Boston, 1854).

ROBBINS, Ashnr, senator, b. in Wethersfield, Conn., 26 Oct., 1757; d. in Newport, R. I., 25 Feb., 1845. After his graduation at Yale in 1782, he was tutor at the College of Rhode Island (now Brown university) from 1783 till 1788. studied law, was admitted to the bar, and began to practise in Providence. He removed to Newport in 1795, was appointed U. S. district attorney, and was a member of the legislature from 1818 till 1825. He was elected to the U. S. senate as a Whig in place of James D'Wolf, serving from 5 Dec., 1825, till 3 March, 1839. after which he served again in the Rhode Island legislature. Brown gave him the degree of LL. D. in 1835. He was an accomplished classical scholar and orator, and published several addresses and orations. His nephew, Royal, clergyman, b. in Wethersfield, Conn., 21 Oct., 1788; d. in Berlin, Conn., 26 March, 1861, was graduated at Yale in 1806, studied theology, and was ordained pastor of the Congregational church at Kensington parish, Berlin, Conn., in 1816, serving until 1859. He contributed