Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 7).djvu/303

Rh settled in New York city, where he became known as a painter of portraits and genre picture;-, and was elected an associate of the National academy of design. Mr. Story is curator of the department of paintings in the iletropolitan museum of art, and has been president of the Artists' fund society.

STRAUS, Oscar Solomon, diplomat, b. in Ot- terberg, Bavaria, 2'S Dec, 18.50. and came to this country, with his family, four vcare later. He was graduated from Columbia and from the Columbia law-school. Engaged in business with his brother in New York, and in 1887 he was appointed min- ister to Turkey, where he remained nearly three years, being reappointed in 18U8. Mr. Straus has been president of the Jewish historical society and National primary league, vice-president of the Koard of trade and trans[)ortation, and active in the National civil service association and other New York associations. He received the degree of L. H. D. from Brown, and lAj. D. from Wasli- ington and Lee university. — His elder brother, IsA- DOR, is a prominent merchant, who has held sev- eral local New York offices, and was elected to congress as a Democrat in 1803.

'''STRONG. Moses McCure''', lawyer, b. at Rut- land, Vt., 20 May, 1810; d. at Mineral Point, Wis., 20 July, 1894. He spent three years in collegiate study, was in a law office, and at the Litchfield law-schof)l. lie practised in his native place, when in 1831 he removed to Mineral Point,and engaged in practice there till his decea.se. In 1837 he was surveyor of government lands in Dubuque and Jackson counties, Iowa; was U. S. attorney for Wisconsin Territory ; a member of the territorial legislative council ; member of the constitutional convention, 1846; and s|ieaker of the house of rep- resentatives, 1850. He was a<;tively connected with the construction of the La Crosse anIil- waukee railroad, and its presi<leiit from 1852-'7, and was otherwise interested in railroads and mining. From 1885 till his death he was presi- <lent of the state board of law examiners, and shortly before his decease was elected chancellor of the Protestant Episcopal diocese of Milwaukee, lie published a " History of the Territory of Wis- consin from 18:«5-'4}^" (Madison, 1885).

STRONG, William L., merchant, b. in Loudon- vilio, Kichlaud co., Ohio, 22 March, 1827. He at- tended the common schools of his native county, and when he was thirteen years of age the respon- sibilities of the home devolved unon him by the death of his father. He was a dry-goods clerk in several towns of (Jhio. but in 1853 removed to New York city. Here he was employed in vari- ous capacities by several <lry-goods {louses until 1803, when he became a member of the Arm of Sutton. Smith & Co.. and in 1870 this firm's name was changed to William L. Strong & Co., and as such has had a prosperous career. 5Ir. .Strong hius held various directorates in corporations, was president of the Centml national bank, and is also vice-president of the New York security and trust company. Apart from his business and financial engagements he has in later years taken a promi- nent part in political alTairs. He organized busi- ness men's clulra during several presidential cam- paigns, and in 1882 was an unsuccessful catididate for congress on the Uepiiblican ticket. In 1894 he was the union candidate for the mayoralty of New York, representing tlie leading political elements ooposed to Tammany Hall. He was elected by a pluriilily, and serveil until January, 1898, giving to the city an administration at once business- like and of great public lienefit. He was the last mayor of the older city prior to its consolidation with contiguous territory as "Greater New York." His only son. Major David Bradlee Strong, served with credit in the Spanish-American war in Cuba, and also in the Philippine islands.

STRYKER, Melancthon Woolsey, educator, b. in Mount Vernon, N. Y., 7 Jan., 1851. He was graduated from llainilton college and Auburn theological seminary, and had charge of Presby- terian churches in' Auburn and Ithaca, N. Y., and Holyoke, Mass.. also the Fourth Presbyterian church in Chicago from 1885 to 1892. In the lat- ter year Dr. Stryker was elected president of Ham- ilton college, from which he had previously received the honorary degree of LL. D. He is known as the author of hymns and poems, and has published various addresses, sermons, and speeches.

STUART, Sir Andrew, Canadian jurist, b. in Quebec. 16 June, 1812: d. there in 1894. He was educated at Chainbly and studied law. In 1834 he was called to the bar of Quebec, and at once engaged in a large practice, his 'ather's clients being numbered among the leading merchants and business men of the ancient capital of Canada. In 18.54 he was appointed a commissioner to con- solidate the statutes of Canada. In 1859 Mr. Stuart became an assistant judge of the superior court for Lower Canada, and a puisne judge of the same tribunal at Quebec the following year. He de- clined, in 1874, a seat in the court of queen's bench, but in March, 1885, on the retirement of Sir William Collis Meredith, he accepted the ap- pointment of chief justice of the superior court of Quebec. Though he never took much part in active politics. Judge Stuart several times acted as provincial administrator in the absence of the lieutenant-governor from the country, fulfilling his delicate duties with great tact on each occasion. In May, 1887, he received the honor of knighthood at the hands of Queen Victoria.

STUART, Mary McCrea, philanthropist, b. in New York city in IHIO; d. there, 30 Dec, 1891, was the daughter of Robert MeCrea, a Scotch mer- chant. She was educated in her native city, and married Robert Leighton Stuart (q. v.). She was gifted with an indomitable Scotch will and with sound judgment ; her vast fortune enabled her to continue the benevolent work of her husband. She gave f 150,000 to Princeton college to found a school of philosophy, and soon afterward gave $50,000 to the Children's aid .society for the build- ing of a newslxiys' l<Hlging-house ; she gave also a plot of ground for the site of the new half-orphan a.sylum building. Mrs. Stuart gave largely to the Presbyterian boards of foreign and home missions and church erection, and subscribed $100,000 toward the j)urcha.se of a new site for the New York historical society. By her will, almost her whole estate, valued at nearly $5,000,000, was left to local institutions of learning and to church societies. To the Lenox library she willed nearly half a million dollars, and all her books, paintings, statuary, bronzes, and other works of art, as well as her collection of sliells. minerals, and other ob- jects Illustrative of natural history, on condition they be placed In a separate room of the building, and to be known as '• the Robert L. Stuart collec- tion, the gift of his widow, Mrs. Mary Stuart."

STUROIS, Russell, merchant, b. in Boston, Mass., 3 Aug.. 18;{1 ; d. in Portsmouth, N. H., 16 Oct., 1899. Tils father was a member of the firm of Russell & (.'o.. Canton, and later of Baring Brothers, of London. The son was educated at Harvard, engaged in the China trade, and was U. S. consul at Canton, but returned to Boston, and became a merchant in that city. In ]862-'3