Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 7).djvu/304

258 he served as captain and major in the 45th Massa- chusetts regiment. He was actively associated with the Young men's Christian association since 1858, as president of the Boston association, chair- man of the state committee, and member of the international committee, and he published numer- ous religious tracts. It was through the efforts of Major Sturgis that an Episcopal oliurch was erect- ed at his summer home in Manohester-by-the-sea, where, in the absence of the rector, it was his prac- tice to read the service on Sundays.

STURGIS, Russell, author," b. in Baltimore county, Md., 16 Oct., 1836, and was graduated at the College of the city of Is^ew York. He studied architecture and practised his profession until 1880, when he went to Europe, residing there for several years, chiefly for the benefit of his health. Returning to New York he became active in the management of art societies and in writing and lecturing on art topics. He was the decorative art editor of the " Century Dictionary," and con- tributed on art to the new " Johnson's Universal Cyclopaedia." Mr. Sturgis is the author of " Man- ual of Jarves Collection of Early Italian Pictures " (New York, 1894); " I*]uropean Architecture a His- torical Study" (1896); "Annotated Bibliography of Fine Art " (Boston, 1897); and "Dictionary of Architecture " (New York, 1900).

SULLIVAN, Alexander, lawyer, b. near Wa- terville, Me., 9 Aug., 1847. His parents were na- tives of Ireland. He acquired reputation as an orator in Michigan before he became of age. He afterward removed to Chicago, and in 1876 killed Francis Hanford, the author of an anony- mous letter calumniating Mr. Sullivan's wife, which had been read at a meeting of the common council. The shooting took place at an interview that Sullivan sought for the purpose of obtaining a retraction, at which not only he was assaulted by Hanford and one of the latter's friends, but his wife was also struck by Hanford when she, fore- seeing an altercation, sought appealingly to stop it. Sullivan was tried and acquitted. He was ad- mitted to the bar and took an honorable place in his profession. In 1883 he was chosen first presi- dent of the Irish national league of America, whose object is to promote home rule in Ireland. This place he resigned in 1884, and now devotes his entire time to his profession. — His wife, Mar- g'aret Frances (Buchanan), has been a leading writer for newspapers and magazines. Mrs. Sulli- van is literary and art editorot the Chicago "Trib- une" and an editorial contributor to the press of Boston and New York. She is author of " Ireland of To-Day" (Philadelphia, 1881), and co-author, with Mary E. Blake, of " Mexico — Picturesque, Political, and Progressive " (Boston, 1888).

SYMONDS, Thomas William, soldier, b. in Keeseville, N. Y., 7 Feb., 1849, and was graduated at the U. S. military academy in 1874, having been appointed from the state of Michigan. He was commissioned in the engineer corps, and has been continuously employed on civil and military en- gineering works in California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, and the Great Lakes for more than a quarter of a century. Major Symonds is now building what is believed to be the largest breakwater in the world at Buffalo, N. Y., and he has charge of all the lighthouses between Detroit and Ogdensburg, N. Y. Among his most important government reports are those on the Columbia river, and concerning " A Ship Canal from the Great Lakes to the Sea."

SYPHER, Jay Hale, lawyer, b. 23 July, 1837, on a farm in Pennsylvania, where his ancestors settled in 1631. He was graduated at Alfred uni- versity in 1859, studied law, and was admitted to the bar. He enlisted as a private soldier in the 1st regiment, Ohio light artillery, in April. 1861, and served during the war, rising through various grades to the rank of brigadier-general, to which he was promoted for "faithful and meritorious services. He was elected a representative as a Republican to the 40th and two succeeding con- gresses from Louisiana, where he settled in 1865, engaging in the cultivation of cotton and sugar. In congress Gen. Sypher advocated general am- nesty and internal improvements and opposed prescriptive legislation for the south. He was the originator and advocate of the movement to secure an adequate commercial channel at the mouth of the Mississippi river for the benefit of the enormous trade and wide-spread commerce of the Mississippi valley.