Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 01.djvu/158

ATCHISON.ATHERTON. commerce and navigation, and public expenditures. He was a defeated candidate for Congress in 1880, was appointed United States minister to Italy by President Arthur in 1882, to succeed G. P. Marsh, residing in Rome until 1885, when he was succeeded by John B. Stallo. In 1878 he married Mary, daughter of James W. Paul of Philadelphia, and a niece of Admiral Dahlgren and of Abbott Lawrence of Boston. During her husband's ministry to Italy, she became famous in Rome for her charming hospitality and her great beauty, Queen Margherita declaring her to be the most beautiful woman in all Italy. While in England she won the friendship of the Princess Louise, Marchioness of Lorne. Mrs. Astor died near London, Eng., Dec. 23, 1894, and was buried in Trinity churchyard. New York city. Mr. Astor published two Italian romances, "Valentino" (1886), and "Sforza, a Story of Milan" (1889). By the death of his father in 1890 he became the head of his family and inherited an estate estimated to be worth $200,000,000. On his property on Fifth avenue, New York, in 1893, he built the Waldorf hotel, at the time the finest and best equipped hostelry in America. He took up his residence in London in 1891; in 1893 purchased the Pall-Mall gazette and budget, and in the same year bought the historic estate of Cliveden-on-the-Thames, then in the possession of the Duke of Westminster. ATCHISON, David R., senator, was born at Frogtown, Ky., Aug. 11, 1807. He was well educated, and being admitted to the bar in 1830 began the practice of law in Missouri. In 1834 and 1838 he was a member of the state legislature, and in 1841 circuit judge of the Platte county circuit court. In 1843 he was elected U. S. senator, and was re-elected in 1849, retaining his seat until 1855. During this period lie officiated frequently as president pro tem of the senate, and by virtue of that position was President of the United States on March 4, 1849. Inauguration day falling on a Sunday in that year, General Taylor was not sworn into office until Monday, March 5. Senator Atchison was a zealous pro-slavery advocate, and a prominent leader in the disturbances connected with the admission of Kansas as a state in 1856-'57. The last twenty years of his life were spent in obscurity and comparative poverty. He died in Clinton county, Mo., Jan. 26, 1886. ATHERTON, Charles Gordon, senator, was born at Amherst, N. H., July 4, 1804; son of Charles Humphrey Atherton, a prominent lawyer. In 1822 he was graduated from Harvard college, and after studying law in the office of his father, he was admitted to the bar in 1825 and began to practise in Dunstable (Nashua, N. II.). For many years he represented his district in the New Hampshire legislature, serving as speaker of the house for three years. He was a representative from New Hampshire in the 25th, 26th and 27th U. S. congresses. In Congress he introduced "the Atherton gag," a resolution passed in 1838 and in effect until repealed in 1845, tabling without debate all resolutions on the subject of slavery. In 1843 he was elected United States senator, and served until 1849. He was again elected in 1852, to succeed John P. Hale, but was stricken with paralysis in that same year. He was a member of the New Hampshire historical society and the author of several articles and memoirs of historical value. He died at Manchester, N. H., Nov. 15, 1853. ATHERTON, George W., educator, was born in Boxford, Essex county, Mass., June 20, 1837, and descended from Humphrey Atherton of the Massachusetts colony. He was educated at Phillips Exeter academy, and in 1860 entered Yale college, from which he was graduated in 1863. He served in the civil war, being a 1st lieutenant in the 10th Connecticut volunteers, which formed a part of the Burnside expedition against North Carolina. After the battle of Newbern he was promoted to a captaincy, and took part in the movement from Hilton Head, S. C., against Charleston. He was repeatedly detailed as judge-advocate of regimental and brigade court-martial. In 1863 the impairment of his health led him to resign. He was professor in the Boys' Academy, Albany, 1864-"67; at St. John's College, Annapolis, Md., 1867-'68; at the Illinois state university in 1868, and at Rutgers college, where he held the chair of history, political economy and constitutional law. 1868-82. He was a member of the board of visitors to the U.S. naval academy in 1873 and 1891; of the commission to investigate charges of fraud at the Red Cloud Indian agency in 1875, and chairman of a commission to prepare a revision of the system of taxation in New Jersey in 1878. He was admitted to the bar in 1878, and practised as a consulting attorney; became president of the Pennsylvania state college in 1882 and received the degree LL.D. from Franklin and Marshall college in 1883. He was the first president of the American Association of Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations, and was chairman of a commission in 1887 to report the practicability of introducing manual training into the public schools of Pennsylvania. ATHERTON, Gertrude Franklin, author, was born in San Francisco, Cal., daughter of Thomas L. and Gertrude (Franklin) Horn, and a great grandniece of Benjamin Franklin. She was educated at St. Mary's Hall, Benicia, Cal., and at Sayre Institute, Lexington. Ky., and was married to George H. Bowen Atherton of Menlo Park, Cal. After Mr. Atherton's death she went abroad,