Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/551

 ELLET sury ; from January, 1828, to July, 1830, he was chief secretary for Ireland ; and from July to November, 1830, he was secretary at war. In 1833, upon the decease of his father, he came into possession of the immense estates of the late duke of Bridgewater, and of the picture gallery, valued at 150,000, which had been bequeathed to the duke of Sutherland, with reversion to his second son ; on which occasion he assumed the name of Egerton in the place of his patronymic of Leveson-Gower. In 1835 he was elected member of parliament for South Lancashire, and represented that constituency till 1846, when he was raised to the peerage as earl of Ellesmere, after which he retired from active political life. In 1841 he was elected rector of the university of Aberdeen. While a student at the university he printed a volume of poems for private circulation ; but his first public appearance as an author was in 1824, when he published a translation of " Faust," with versions of popular lyrics from the works of Goethe, Schiller, and other German poets. He subsequently produced " Mediterranean Sketches" (London, 1843), containing "The Pilgrimage," a poem which records the au- thor's tour in Palestine ; " The two Sieges of Vienna by the Turks" (1847); "Guide to Northern Archaeology" (1848); "Life and Character of Wellington " (1852) ; and a num- ber of poems and plays printed for private cir- culation. " The Pilgrimage," after having been withheld from general circulation for many years, was republished in 1856 with a number of additional poems. In 1853 Lord Ellesmere visited the United States. ELLET, Charles, jr., an American engineer, born at Perm's Manor, Pa., Jan. 1, 1810, died at Cairo, 111., June 21, 1862. He planned and built the first wire suspension bridge in the United States, that across the Schuylkill at Fairmount, Philadelphia, the first suspension bridge across the Niagara below the falls, and the first one at Wheeling, Va. He was em- ployed in many other important engineering works, and in 1846-"T was president of the Schuylkill navigation company. During the civil war he urged upon the government the construction of steam rams for use on the large rivers of the west, and after his plans had been rejected by the navy department he presented them to the secretary of war, by whom they were approved. He was commissioned as col- onel of engineers, and converted several pow- erful light-draught steamers on the Mississippi river into rams. With these he engaged in the naval battle off Memphis, June 4, 1862, and sank or disabled several of the confederate vessels. During the battle he was wounded above the knee by a musket ball, from the ef- fects of which he died. He was the author of " The Mississippi and Ohio Kivers," containing plans for their improvement and the protection of the delta (8vo, Philadelphia, 1853), &c. ELLET. I. William Henry, an American chem- ist, born in New York about 1804, died there, 291 VOL. vi. 35 ELLICOTT 543 Jan. 26, 1859. He graduated at Columbia col- lege in 1824. While pursuing his medical studies he gained a gold medal for a disserta- tion on the compounds of cyanogen. In 1832 he became professor of experimental chemistry in Columbia college, and in 1835 of chemistry, mineralogy, and geology in the South Carolina college. In 1848 he returned to New York, where he resided until his death. The legisla- ture of South Carolina presented him with a service of silver plate for the discovery of a new and cheap method of preparing gun cot- ton. During the last five years of his life he was consulting chemist of the Manhattan gas company of New York. II. Elizabeth Fries Lnmmis, an American authoress, wife of the preceding, born at Sodus Point, on Lake Onta- rio, N. Y. She has published a volume of poems (1835), " Scenes in the Life of Joanna of Sicily" (1840), "Characters of Schiller" (1841), " Women of the American Eevolution " (1848), "Evenings at Woodlawn," "Family Pic- tures from the Bible " (1849), " Domestic His- tory of the American Revolution" (1850), " Watching Spirits" (1851), "Pioneer Women of the West " (1852), " Novellettes of the Musi- cians " (1852), " Summer Rambles in the West " (1853), " Women Artists in all Ages and Coun- tries" (1861), "Queens of American Society" (1867), and " Court Circles of the Republic " (with Mrs. R. E. Mack, 1869). She also edited "The Practical Housekeeper," and has con- tributed largely to periodicals. ELLICOTT. I. Andrew, an American astrono- mer and civil engineer, born in Bucks co., Pa., Jan. 24, 1754, died at West Point, N. Y., Aug. 28, 1820. His father, a Quaker, having united with a brother in the purchase of a large tract of wild land on the Patapsco river, in 1774 founded the town of Ellicott's Mills (now Elli- cott City), in Maryland, where the younger days of his son were devoted to the study of the sciences and practical mechanics. His sci- entific attainments early attracted attention, and he enjoyed the friendship and confidence of Washington, Franklin, and Rittenhouse. At various times he was appointed commissioner for marking parts of the boundaries of Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New York. About 1785 he removed to Baltimore, and represented that city in the state legislature. In 1789 he was appointed by Washington to survey the land lying between Pennsylvania and Lake Erie, and during that year he made the first accu- rate measurement of the Niagara river from lake to lake, with the height of the falls and the descent of the rapids. In 1790 he was em- ployed by the government to survey and lay out the federal metropolis. In 1792 he was made surveyor general of the United States, and in 1795 he superintended the construction of Fort Erie at Presque Isle (now Erie, Pa.), and was employed in laying out the towns of Erie, Warren, and Franklin. In 1796 he waa appointed by Washington commissioner on be- half of the United States, under the treaty of