Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/564

532 the name of the American museum. He was an artist of some ability, and painted numerous por- traits, including one of Washington. His heads of thirteen notables Washington, Baron Steuben. Silas Deane. Joseph Reed, Gouverneur Morris, Gen. Horatio Gates, John Jay, William H. Drayton. Henry Laurens, Charles Thomson, Samuel Hun- tingdon, John Dickinson, and Benedict Arnold were engraved by Benjamin Reading and published in a quarto volume (London, 1783). He painted also miniatures in water-color, and made some de- signs for publications. Soon after the Declaration of Independence he was employed by a committee of congress to furnish designs for a seal for the new republic. Subsequently he suggested another design, but neither was accepted. His valuable collection of manuscripts and broadsides, forming material for a history of the Revolution and com- prising several volumes, is in the Philadelphia library. Princeton conferred upon him in 1781 the honorary degree of M. A.

SIMKINS, Arthur, legislator, b. on the eastern shore of Virginia about 1750; d. in Edgefield, S. C., in 1826. He emigrated to South Carolina early in life, and ultimately established himself on Log creek, in Edgefield district. Having studied law and been admitted to the bar, he was made county court judge. At the beginning of the Revolutionary war he took sides with the patriots, and his place, known as " Cedar Fields," was burned by the Tories. After the war he was chosen a member of the general assembly, and retained his seat for nearly twenty years. He was also a delegate to the convention that adopted the Fed- eral constitution, and he voted against it on the ground that it took too much power from the states. His son, Eldretl, lawyer, b. in Edgefleld district, S. C., 29 Aug., 1779: d. there in 1832. was well educated at home, and subsequently attended the Litchfield. Conn., law-school, where he remained for more than three years. He then made himself thoroughly acquainted with the local laws of South Carolina, and was admitted to the bar, 7 May, 1805, beginning to practise at Edgefield court- house in 1806, and soon winning a reputation. In 1812 he was elected lieutenant-governor, and five years later he was chosen a member of congress to replace John C. Calhoun, who had accepted a seat in President Monroe's cabinet. He was re-elected and served from 8 Feb., 1818, till 3 March, 1821, but declined a second re-election, and retired in favor of his law-partner, George McDuffie. He was repeatedly a member of the legislature, and in 1825 prepared an act, which was passed, giving jurisdiction to certain courts to order the sale or division of the real estate of intestates not exceed- ing $1,000 in value. He was employed in many important cases, but was always of feeble health, and in later years unable to confine himself closely to his profession.

'''SIMMONS. Franklin''', sculptor, b. in Webster, MP., 11 Jan., 1842. His boyhood was spent in Bath and Lewiston. and his love for sculpture was early developed. Having a facility for portraiture, he made his first attempts in that line. During the last two years of the civil war lie was in Wash- ington, where the members of the cabinet and officers of the army ami navy sal in him for life- size medallion-. They were ca-t in bronze, and most of them were purchased by the I'nion , i if Philadelphia. In 1868 he wvnl to Home. Italy. where he has since resided, lie visited his native land in iwss. His more important works are the statues of Roger Williams, in Washington and Providence ; William King, for the state of Maine : Oliver P. Morton, in Indianapolis ; Henry W. Longfellow (1887). in Portland : " Me- dusa" (1882): "Jochebed with the Infant Moses"; "Grief and History," the group that surmounts the naval monument at Washington ; " Galatea " (1884): "Penelope"; "Miriam": -Washington at Valley Forge"; and " The Seraph Abdiel," from " Paradise Lost " (1886). Among his portrait busts are those of Abraham Lincoln, William T. Sher- man, David D. Porter, James G. Blaine. Francis Wayland, and Ulysses S. Grant (1886). The hono- rary degree of A. M. was conferred on him by Bates college and also by Colby university.

SIMMONS, George Frederick, clergyman, b. in Boston, Mass., 24 March, 1814; d. in Concord, Mass., 5 Sept., 1855. He was graduated at Harvard in 1832, and, after being employed as a private tutor, prepared for the ministry at Cambridge divinity-school, where he completed his course in 1838. He was ordained the same year as an evangelist of the Unitarian denomination, and at once went to Mobile, Ala., where he began his ministry. Owing to his decided opposition to slavery, he remained there only until 1840, when he was obliged to fly for his life, and barely escaped the fury of a mob. In November, 1841, he was ordained pastor of the Unitarian church at Waltham, Mass. Meantime he had become deeply interested in certain theological questions which he felt he could not solve while engaged in pastoral work, and so resigned in the spring of 1843 and sailed for Europe, where he remained until October, 1845, spending most of the time at the University of Berlin, and being brought much in contact with the German historian, Neander. In February, 1848, he was called to Springfield, Mass., as the successor of Dr. William B. O. Peabody. Here, while he was greatly admired by part of his congregation, others regarded him with less favor, and in 1851 he was compelled to resign, after preaching two sermons on a riotous assault that had been made in the town on George Thompson, the English anti-slavery apostle. In January, 1854, he was installed pastor of a church at Albany, N. Y., but in the summer of 1855 he was attacked by typhus fever, from the effects of which he never rallied. Mr. Simmons was distinguished by an acutely philosophical mind, a strong sense of right, and a thoughtful and reverent spirit. &ldquo;I knew him well,&rdquo; said his classmate, Samuel Osgood, &ldquo;loved him much, and respected him even more.&rdquo; He was retiring in his habits, and his somewhat unsocial nature was no doubt an obstacle in the way of his exercising a proper influence on his flock. He published &ldquo;Who was Jesus Christ?&rdquo; a tract (Boston, 1839); &ldquo;Two Sermons on the Kind Treatment and on the Emancipation of Slaves, preached at Mobile, with a Prefatory Statement&rdquo; (1840); &ldquo;A Letter to the So-Called &lsquo;Boston Churches&rsquo; &rdquo; (1846); &ldquo;The Trinity,&rdquo; a lecture (1840); &ldquo;Public Spirit and Mobs,&rdquo; two sermons delivered at Springfield on the Sunday after the Thompson riot (1851); and &ldquo;Faith in Christ the Condition of Salvation&rdquo; (1854). Six of his sermons were published in one volume soon after his death (Boston, 1855).

SIMMONS, James, law-reporter, b. in Middlcburv. Vt., 11 June. 1821. He wa- graduated at Miiidlcbury college in 1S41, removed to Wisconsin, studied law. and was admitted to the liar "I Waiworth county in lS4:i. Besides filling si minor offices, he was clerk of th unty circuit court from isiil till 1S?1. Mr. Simmons has pulilished "Simmons's Wi-con-in DigeM" (Albany. 1868); "Supplements" to the same us; I '9); "Supplcmriii to Wait's Digest, V fork Re-