Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 7).djvu/335

Rh YARDETTI, Otto, R. C. archbishop, b. in Rohrschach, in the Swiss canton of St. Gall, 24 Jan.. 1847. He is descended from an Italian family of Milan. His father sent him to the Jesuit college in Feldkirch. and after finishing his classics there he went to the University of Inns- bruck, where he made a complete course of philo- sophical and theological studies, and was ordained a priest in 1870. In January, 1871, he became a professor in the Seminary of St. George, and was soon after appointed honorary canon of the abbey of St. Maurice, in Wallis. kesolving to devote himself to the American mission, he went to Eng- land to study the English language, and in 187G was appointed a member of the catheilral chapter and custodian of the cathedral of St. Gall. In 1879 he visited America. Returning to St. Gall, he came to this country again in 1881, and became professor of dogmatic theology in .St. Francis's seminary. Milwaukee. In 1887 he was vicar-gen- eral of Bishop Marty of Dakota. In 1889 north- ern Minnesota was created a diocese, with the €piscj>al see at St. Cloud. Dr. Yardetti was ap- pointed its first bishop. After four years' service in northern Minnesota he was appointed to the see of Bucharest. Roiimania, ana raised to the rank of archliistiop in 1894. and has resided there ever since. Among his published works are " Pius the Great" (.St. Gall. 1871) and " Devotions to the Holv Ghost " (Yankton, Dak., 1888).

YARNALL, John Joliffe, naval officer, b. in Wheeling. Va.. in 1786; d. at sea in July. 1815. His ancestors fought in the English civil war, and their (Quaker descendants came to America in 1(W0. Young Varnall entereil the navy. Jan. 11, 1809: served on board the •'Chesapeake.'' the " Revenge." the " Lawrence," the "John Adams," and the "Ouerriere." In the battle of Lake Erie Lieut. Yarnall was left in charge of the flag-ship "Lawrence," while (imniotiore Perry boanled the "Niagara," ami, although thrice wounded, when the flag was lowered he raised it again an<l nailed it to the mast. For his gallant con- duct in the battle of Ijake Erie he re<'eived the thanks of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania and a gold medal. The state of New York passed similar resolutions and presented him with a silver medal ; the general assembly of Vir- ginia presented him with a fine sword in a gold s(abbard fittingly inscribed; and he. with the other ofliccrs of the " Lawrence." wa.s publicly thanked by the nation. Lieut. Yarnall lu-com- panied Commodore Decatur to AJgiers. was badiv wounded in the engagement with the " Mashouda,'' the Algerine admiral's ship, and at the conclusion of hostilities was intrusted with despatches to the government. lie sailed on the "ICpervier." The "fipervicr" was spoken, 14 July. 1815, as she passed through the straits of (iihrnltur. but was never again seen. — His nephew, Monlcfili, astron- omer, b. near Urbana, Ohio, in April, 1810; d. in Washingtyn, 27 Feb., 1879. He was graduated from the school of civil engineering. Bacon col- lege; in 1839 entered the navy as professor of mathematics, serving for thirteen years at sea as naval instructor on the IT. S. ships "Warren," "Columbia," " Imlependence," and "Columbus." In 18,5'.J he was ordered to the naval observatory, where he remained until retired in 1878. Prof. Yarnall was associated with Gen. .Mitchell at the Cincinnati observatory. When the work of the national observatory was mapped out he was ap- pointed to prepare a new catalogue of stars. In 1846 he began the astronomical work of a more extended and precise catalogue of stars than Bessel's " Zone Observations " or .Struve's " Dorpat Catalogue." This work occupied him for twenty- seven years, and embraces more than one hundred thousand observations, giving the places of ten thousand stars. These calculations and observa- tions were reduced by Prof. Yarnall. and were largely the result of his own observations and computations from 1845 to 1877. The stars were observed for right ascension with the transit in- strument and the meridian circle. The most im- portant step in forming the catalogue has been to reduce observations originally having different data to a uniform standard. The work on the "Catalogue of Stars" placed its author in the front rank as an astronomer. The catalogue has passed through three editions by the U. S. govern- ment, the printing of the work having been cxe- cuti'<l under the direction of the author.

YERKES, Charles Tyson, donor, b. in Phila- delphia, Pa., 25 June, 1837. His ancestors were Quakers, who came to this country from Wales a few years before Penn's colony of Friends arrived. He was educated at the Friends' school and the central high-school in his native city, and entered the flour and grain business, but in 1859 became a stock-broker, and in 1863 engaged in banking, but failed during the panic occasioned by the Chicago fire. In 1873 he began to retrieve his fortunes, and in 1881 he removed to Chicago, where he oftened a banking-house. He began to obtain control of street-railroad property there, as he hatl already done in Philadelphia, and soon became known as a large owner or controller of street railways. In 1892 he gave a large sum of money to the University of Chicago for the pur- chase and erection of a telescope. This instru- ment, known as the Yerkes telescope, was put in place in the observatory at Williams Bay, Wis., in the summer of 1897, and was dedicated by exer- cises lasting from 18 Oct. till 22 Oct. "it has the largest object-glass in the world, 40 inches in diameter, exceeding in size that of the Lick telesco[>c (36 inches), which was formerly the largest. Mr. Yerkes's gift was described by Prof. Simon Newcomb in his dedication address as "one of the most muniflcent gifts ever made for the promotion of any single science." (See vignette.) Ilis Fifth avenue residence, fronting on Ceptral park, is among the finest in New York.

YERKES, John Watson, lawyer, b. in Lexington, Ky., 1 Apr., 1854, and was graduated at Cen-