Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/660

Rh ents and influence. To him as much as to any one man is ascribed the refusal of Kentucky to join the Confederacy. He became in early manhood a friend of Abraham Lincoln, and their subsequent relations continued to be intimate. When the war came, he promptly yielded to the president's urgent request that he should assist in organizing the National troops in his native state, and he de- voted himself to the cause of loyalty until 1804. when he was made attorney-general of the United States. He was a member of the legislature in 1847, and in 1849 was Emancipation candidate for tin- State constitutional convention, but was de- feated by James Guthrie, Pro-slavery. He was a Unionist state senator in 1861-'3, mustering officer of U. S. volunteers in 1861 for the first call for 7 ~>. 01 ii I men. and U. S. attorney-general from 1864 till 1866, when he resigned from opposition to Andrew Johnson's administration. He was also a delegate to the Republican conventions of 1872 and 1876. His last appearance in public was in delivering an address on Lincoln before the Loyal league of Cincinnati, 4 May, 1887. In 1875 he returned to his law professorship. His brother, Joshua Pry, merchant, b. in Jefferson county, Ky.. 14 Nov., 1814 ; d. in Louisville, Ky.. 2'J May, is*',', was educated at the local schools and at St. Joseph's college, Bardstown. After leaving col- lege he spent some time as a clerk in a wholesale mercantile house in Louisville. He next went to Springfield. 111., where he kept a country store for seven years, and formed a closeand lasting friend- ship with Abraham Lincoln, then a young man. He took a warm inteiv-Jt in public affairs, and for a time assisted in editing a newspaper, and had intimate association with men of widely different politics and opinions. He returned to Kentucky in 1S4V! and engaged in farming in Jefferson county. In 1848 he was elected to the legislature, but was never again willing, though often solicited, to hold office. In 1851 he removed to Louisville, gaining a handsome fortune in the real-estate business. In 1861 he embraced with ardor the National cause, and was intrusted with many delicate and impor- tant missions by President Lincoln, whom he fre- quently visited in Washington. His nephew, John (liliner, b. in 1852, was educated as a civil engi- neer, and held the office of assistant city engineer of Louisville. In 1876 he became connected with tin- transportation bureau of the United States at tin- World's fair held in Philadelphia, and later he went to NY York city, where he joined the staff of the " World." and was successively its managing editor and publisher. Mr. Speed was commis- sioner-general of the Louisville American exhibi- tion, and in 1885 became its secretary. He has conl ributed to periodicals.

SPEER, William, missionary, b. in New Alex- andria, Pa., 24 April, 1822. lie was graduated at Kenyon college, Ohio, in 1840. studied medicine under his father, a surgeon of Pittsburg, Pa., and divinity at the Presbyterian theological seminary, Alleghany City. He was licensed to preach in 1846, and in the same year was sent with two colleagues by the Presbyterian board of foreign missions to es- tablish their first mission in Canton, China. He de- rated himself specially to hospital work and fcrael distribution. In 1S50, having lost his wife ami child, and with failing health, he returned home. In 1*53 he was sent on a mission to the Chinese in ( 'alit'ornia, as tin 1 fii>l inv.-n'licT in thrirown tongue. He soon established a Chinese school, opened a dispensary, lectured on the Chinese in various towns, and largely from the funds thus obi: -d built a brick mission-house. He organized tin- first Chinese Christian church in the New World. He founded, and maintained for two years. " The Ori- ental." a religious and secular paper in Chinese and English devoted to the interests of the emigrants. He greatly influenced religious bodies and thinking people toward throwing open to the Chinese the benefits of Christian civilization. His efforts led to the repeal of the legislative act of 1854 '5, designed ID exclude the Chinese from the mines. After de- voting five years to this mission he was again obliged to go in quest of health. In 1865 he was called to Philadelphia, to be corresponding secre- tary of the Presbyterian board of education, which he aided in reorganizing, a measure that resulted from the reunion of the two branches of the church, which took place in 1869. In connection with his duties on the board of education he prepared a series of publications, some of which are of per- manent value. Relinquishing his educational la- bors in 1876, Dr. Speer travelled in Japan and China, and has since served the cause of missions on both continents. The degree of D. D. was conferred upon him in 1806. His, works include "China and the United States " (Hartford, Conn., 1870); "The Great Revival of 1800" (Philadel- phia, 1872); "God's Rule for Christian Giving" (1875); and sermons, pamphlets, and reviews.

SPEIGHT, Jesse, senator, b. in Greene county, N. C., 22 Sept., 1795 ; d. in Columbus, Miss., 1 May, 1847. He received a public-school education, was a member of the lower house of the legislature in 1N?'J. and in 1823-'7 of the senate, presiding over both bodies. In 1829-'37 he sat in congress, hav- ing been chosen as a Democrat, also serving in 1835 as a member of the convention to revise the constitution of North Carolina, Having moved to Plymouth, Lowndes co.. Miss., he represented that county in the legislature in 1839, serving as speaker, and in the senate in 1844, of which he was made president. In the latter year he was elected U. S. senator, serving until his death.

SPEIR, Samuel Fleet, surgeon, b. in Brook- lyn, N. Y., 9 April. 1838: d. there, 19 Dec., 1895. He was educated at the Brooklyn polytechnic in- stitute and at the medical department of the Uni- versity of the city of New York, where he was graduated in 1860, with three prizes. He received the prize essay gold medal from the American medical association in 1864. After spending two years in study abroad, chiefly in Paris, he settled in his native city, where he practised his profes- sion. Dr. Speir was connected with various hos- pitals and dispensaries, and during the civil war served under the U. S. sanitary commission. He had contributed to professional literature and was the inventor of a new method of arresting surgical haemorrhage by artery-constriction, for which he received a prize from the State medical society in 1871, and a new method for the differential diag- nosis of morbid growths, based on the examina- tion of minute specimens.

SPELMAN, Henry, colonist, b. in England about 1595; d. in Virginia in 1623. He was a sou of Sir Henry Spelman, the antiquary, and came to Virginia in 1609. About 1614 he was one of a party under Capt. Ratcliff, a councillor for Jamestown, who had gone in some small vessels in search of food for the colony. Deceived by the treachery of Powhatan, Ratcliff and his party wen- >lain, two only escaping. Henry, who was saved by Pocahonta's, lived several years among the Indians, when he was rescued from Jopassus, the brother of Powhatan, by another party that had sailed up the Potomac for corn. Ilimni: acquired the Indian language during his captivity, he ns of great use