Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/659

Rh and was settled over societies in Rrewster and liockport. Mass.. Init afterward removed In Boston. where he devoted many years to prison-reform, urging upon legislatures the adoption of measures for the benefit and reformation of convicts. He also visited prisons and took discharged convicts to his own home, sometimes six at a time, keeping them till they found employment. During his last efforts in behalf of the prisoners of war in Washington he contracted a disease which resulted in his death. His second wife, Catharine Swan Brown, is now (1898) writing his life. He pub- lished "Names and Titles of Christ" (Boston, 1842) ; " Essays on the Punishment of Death " (1844) : " Plea' for Discharged Convicts " (1844) ; and " Voices from Prison," a selection of poems (1849). He edited " The Prisoner's Friend " (Bos- ton, 1848-'54), a monthly periodical, and was con- nected with several religious newspapers. His brother, JOHN M., also devoted himself to the cause of prison - reform near Boston, and wrote " Labors for the Prisoner " (Boston, 1848) : " Mes- sages from the Superior State " (1852) ; " Twelve Discourses on Government " (1853) ; and " The Educator " (vol. i., 1857).

SPEAR, Ellis, commissioner of patents, b. in Warren, Knox co., Me.. 15 Oct., 1834. He was graduated at Bowdoin in 1858, entered the Na- tional army in August. 1862, as a captain of Maine volunteers, was promoted through the intermedi- ate grades to colonel, and from October, 1863, till February, 1865. commanded a regiment in the Army of the Potomac. He was brevetted for his services at Peebles Farm, where he was in com- mand of a brigade while holding the rank of major, subsequently received the brevet of colonel for gal- lantry in action, and on 9 April, 1865, that of brigadier-general. He served for a short time as fnspector of division, and at the close of the war was in command of a brigade. He was mustered out in July, 1865. In November of that year he became an assistant examiner of railway and civil engineering in the U. S. patent-office. He was ap- pointed examiner in 1868, examiner-in-chief in the same bureau in 1872, and assistant commissioner of patents in 1874. In 1876 he resigned and en- gaged in private business till January, 1877, when he was appointed commissioner of patents. He held this office till November, 1878, when he again resigned. He has since been in practice as an at- torney and solicitor in patent cases. SPEAR, Samuel Perkins, soldier, b. in Boston in 1815 ; d. in New York city, 5 May, 1875. He enlisted in the U. S. army in 1833, and served in the 3d dragoons in the Seminole war and through the Mexican campaign, in which he was wounded at Cerro Gordo. Subsequently he served on the plains against hostile Indians and in the Utah expedition, and was long sergeant-major of his regiment. In the beginning of the civil war he entered the volunteer army as lieutenant-colonel of the llth Pennsylvania cavalry, his commission dating from 25 Sept., 1861. The regiment was raised as an independent body for scouting ser- vice, under authority of the secretary of war. but in November, 1861, was incorporated in the Pennsyl- vania state organization. Spear became its colonel on 25 Aug., 1862. He commanded several expedi- tions during the war. was brevetted brigadier-gen- eral on 13 March, 1865, received severe wounds at Five Forks, and resigned on 9 May, 1865.

SPEAR, Samuel Thayer, clergyman, b. in Ballston Spa, N. Y.. 4 March, 1812 ; d. in Brook- lyn, 1 April, 1891. He was graduated at a med- ical college in 1833, then studied for the ministry in Troy. N. Y., and was ordained in 1835. In the following year he was installed over the 2d Pres- byterian church of Lansingburg, N. Y.. from which he was called in 1843 to the South Presby- lerian church of Brooklyn, N. Y., holding that pastorate till 1871. since which time he had been connected editorially with the " Independent." He had published " Family Power " (New York, 1846) ; "Religion and State" (1876); "Constitutionality of the Legal-Tender Acts" (revised ed., 1877); -The Law of the Federal Judiciary" (18*3 1; " Tin- Law of Extradition " (revised ed., 1884); and "The BiMe Heaven" (1886). He also published in pamphlet-form eighteen sermons on the rebellion, delivered during the civil war, and ten essays con- tributed to periodicals. He had received the de- gree of D. D. from Union college in 1851.

SPEECE, Conrad, clergyman, b. in New Lon- don, Va., 7 Nov., 1776; d. in Staunton, Va., 15 Feb., 1836. He labored on his fathers farm till he was sixteen years old, then attended a grammar- school near his home, and finished his education at Liberty Hall (afterward Washington college). He studied divinity, and while a tutor in Hamp- den Sidney college in 1799 became a Baptist preacher, but he was licensed in 1801 by the presby- tery of Hanover. He was appointed to mission- ary work, with occasional pastoral charges, in east- ern Virginia and Maryland and in the valley west of the Blue Ridge till 1813, when he became pastor of Augusta church, near Staunton, Va. Here Dr. Speece spent the remaining twenty-two years of his life. He was among the eminent preachers of the day. and of great influence in his denomina- tion. He was also noted for his benefactions, and especially for his strenuous efforts to promote the temperance-reform. He received the degree of D. D. from Princeton in 1820. He published " The Mountaineer." a volume of essays written in 1813-'16 after the manner of " The Spectator," single sermons (1810-'32) : and hymns, the most important of which is " The Cross of Christ," in the general assembly's collection.

SPEED, James', lawyer, b. in Jefferson county, Ky., 11 March, 1812 ; d. there, 25 June, 1887. He was graduated at St. Joseph's college, Bardstown, Ky.. in 1828, studied law at Transylvania, and began practice at Louisville. His ancestors were identified with that state from pioneer days, and were active participants in the best political life of the young common- wealth. Inheriting a repugnance to every form of oppression and injustice, he was naturally opposed to slavery, and his well- known opinions on that subject prevent- ed his taking any prominent part in pol- itics until the opening of the civil war. He was thru nearly fifty years old, but he had established his reputation as a jurist, and was recognized even by those wholly opposed to him on the issues of the time as able, consistent, and upright. He also held at this time a chair in the law department of the University of Louisville. A powerful element in Kentucky strove to commit the state to the disunion cause, and against that element he exercised all his tal-