Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 01.djvu/198

BALDWIN.BALL. where he remained until 1837. Both the Illinois college and the Monticello female seminary were founded by him, and he was principal of the latter from 1837 to 1843. He also founded the society for the promotion of collegiate and theological education in the west, of which he was for twenty-seven years the energetic and efficient secretary, his headquarters being in the Bible house in New York, and his residence at Orange, N. J. Yale college conferred upon him the degree of A. M. in 1831. and Marietta the degree of S. T. I., in 1862. He died at Orange. N. J., April 10, 1870. BALDWIN, William H., philanthropist, was born at Brighton, Mass., Oct. 20, 1826. After acquiring a business education he obtained employment first in a store in Brighton, and later with a wholesale dry goods house in Boston. In 1850 the firm of Baldwin, Baxter & Curry was organized, with Mr. Baldwin as senior partner. He severed his connection with the firm in 1865, to engage in the dry goods commission business. He was interested in various philanthropic movements, and especially in the welfare of young men. At the organization of the Young Christian Union in Boston in 1868 he was elected its first president, and under his enthusiastic and efficient management the membership of the Union increased to more than five thousand members. Mr. Baldwin became also very active in other philanthropic work, being president of the Children's mission to the destitute; vice-president of the National Unitarian church temperance society, and a director of the Massachusetts society for the prevention of cruelty to animals. In addition to these offices he served as a trustee of the Franklin savings bank, a member of the Boston memorial association, and director of the Unitarian Sunday-school society. BALESTIER, Charles Wolcott, author, was born in Rochester, N. Y., Dec. 13, 1861. After attending Cornell university he gave his attention to journalism. He edited an unsuccessful illustrated newspaper in New York called Time, and wrote short stories for New York newspapers. He left New York to become managing editor of the London Tid Bits, and wrote several books which met with success. Their titles include: "James G. Blaine. A Sketch of his Life, with a Brief Record of the Life of John A. Logan" (1884); "A Patent Philter" (1884); "A Victorious Defeat" (1886); "Reffey"; "My Captain"; "The Average Woman" (1892); "Benefits Forgot" (1894); and with Rudyard Kipling, "The Maulahka; a Story of West and East" (1892). He died in Dresden, Saxony, Dec. 6, 1891. BALL, Ephraim, inventor, was born at Greentown. Ohio, Aug. 12, 1812. After receiving a very limited education he began in 1827 to serve an apprenticeship with a carpenter, which trade he followed until he was twenty eight years old. He then invented "Ball's blue plough," of which he manufactured and sold a large number. Among his other valuable inventions are an improved stove, the "Ohio mower and reaper," the "New American harvester," and the "Buckeye machine." Unfortunately the inventor of these implements lost control of the patents, and missing the enormous profits, died in poverty at Canton, O., Jan. 1, 1872. BALL, Thomas, sculptor, was born at Charlestown, Mass., June 3, 1819, son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Wall) Ball. On the death of his father he was apprenticed to wood engraving. A portrait of his mother gained a first prize at the Mechanics association exhibition. He was a choir singer of note and a soloist in the Handel and Haydn society. His first important painting, "Christ in the Temple," gained him an honorable membership in the Baltimore academy. This and his "King Lear" were purchased by the American Art Union. His first work in clay was the head of Jenny Lind, and his first life-size bust that of Daniel Webster. At Florence, Italy, the "Signing of the Declaration of Independence" for the Greenough statue of Franklin; "The Shipwrecked Sailor Boy"; a bust of Napoleon; a statuette of Washington Allston and a figure of "Pandora" were completed. He modelled the second panel for the Franklin statue, "The Signing of the Treaty of Peace in Paris," in Boston, and in 1859 received there the order for his great equestrian statue of Washington. He returned to Florence in 1865; made the statue of Forrest as "Coriolanus" for Philadelphia, "Eve Stepping into Life" and "La Petite Pensée." In 1873 he revisited America and made the statue of Gov. John A. Andrew for Massachusetts, also "Love's Memories" and "St. John." In 1874 he modelled the "Emancipation Group" for the city of Washington; a replica for Boston: a colossal statue of Daniel Webster for Central Park, New York: and the figures of Charles Sumner and Josiah Quincy for Boston, Then came the groups of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams "Christ with a Little Child," and in 1882 "Paul Revere's Ride." He visited America again in