Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 01.djvu/316

 BIGELOW.

BIGELOW.

chusetts medical scxiety, and of the American society of arts and sciences. Dr. Bigelow is the author of many valuable volumes on various sub- jects, amonj: wliichare: "' Florula Bostoniensis " (1814); "American Medical Botany" (3 vols., 18l7-"'2l) ; " The Useful Arts Considered in Con- nection with the Applications of Science " (1849) ; '* Nature and Disease " (1854; ; " A Brief Exposi- tion of R.itioual Medicine" (1858); "History of Mount Auburn" (1860); "Modern Inquiries"' and " Remarks on Classical Studies " (1867). He •lie.l in Boston, Jan. 10. 1879.

BIGELOW, John, author, was born in Maiden, Ulster county, X. Y., Nov. 25, 1817. He entered Union college at an early age, and was grad- uated in 1835. On leaving college he entered the office of Robert and Theodore Sedgwick, New York city, and in 1839 began the practice of law. He became a frequent contributor to leading jt)urnals, and editor of the Plebeian and the Demo- cratic Review. His articles attracted much at- tention, especially those on " Constitutional Reform"; "The Reciprocal Influences of Relig- ious Liberty and Physical Sciences," and "Ex- ecutive Patronage." In 1844 he prepared a work entitled " Commerce of the Prairies," and was otherwise engaged in literary pursuits. He was appointed inspector of Sing Sing state prison by Governor Wright in 1845 and held the office three years. During his term of service he made three important reports to the state legislature con- cerning a more discreet and economical manage- ment of the institution. He gave up the prac- tice of law in the fall of 1849, and became joint editor and proprietor, with William Cullen Bryant, of the New York Evening Post. He vis- ited the island of Jamaica in 1850 and after- wards c jUecteJ his letters to the Evening Post, and published them in book form under title, " Jamaica in 1850; or the Effect of Sixteen years of Freedom on a Slave Colony." He also visited Hayti, and made a careful study of the resources and government of that island, which was given to the Evening Post in a series of let- ters. In 1856 he wrote a biography of John C. Fremont. In 1859 and 1860 he was in Europe, and during his absence continued to write to the Post sketches of his travels, articles on the politi- cal questions of the day, and carefully studied essays on conspicuous Frenchmen, sucli as Mon- tesquieu and Buffon. In 1861 he was appointed consul-general to Paris by President Lincoln, and while there he published his " Les Etats-Unis d'Amerique en 1863." In 1865, Mr. Bigelow was appointed charge d'affaires, and as soon as the sentiments of the French government could be a.scertained. he was confirmed envoy extraordinary and minister plenif>otentiary to France, and .served as such until 1867. Return-

ing home he was elected secretary of state for New York and served during 1867 and 1868. He re-visited Eurojje in 1870, taking up his residence in Berlin, and during the period of the Franco- German war remained in that city. He then returned home and was in 1875 appointed a com- missioner of state canals by Governor Tilden. In the same year he was re-elected secretary of state. In 1874 he compiled a "Life of Frank- lin " based upon the "Autobiography of Dr. Franklin," which, after much diligent search, he had found in France. In 1880, under the authority of the New York cliamber of com- merce, he made an important report concerning the Panama canal, in recognition of which he was elected honorary member of the chamber. In this year he also received from Racine college, Wisconsin, the degree of LL.D. By the will of Samuel J. Tilden, Mr. Bigelow was appointed his biographer and a trustee of the bulk of his estate set apart for the establishment of a public library in New York city. After Mr. Tilden's death, Aug. 4, 1886, the will was broken by the heirs, after a memorable litigation, the court of appeals making the final decision, Oct. 27, 1891. One of the heirs, Mrs. William B. Hazard, a niece, relinquished to the trustees over two million dollars of her share of the estate to aid in carrying out her uncle's wishes. On Feb. 22, 1895, a joint committee, representing the Tilden fund and the Astor and Lenox libraries, agreed to the establisluiient of a great public library, to be known as the New York public library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden foundations, incorpor- ated by act of the legislature, and on May 27, 1895, Mr. Bigelow was elected president of the consolidated board of trustees and was after- wards appointed chairman of the executive com- mittee and of the committee on library books. He wrote and published: "Les Etats-Unis d'Amerique en 1863" (1863); "Some Recollec- tions of the Late Antoine Pierre Berryer " (1869) ; " The Wit and Wisdom of the Haytians " (1876) ; "MoUnos the Quietist " (1882); "The Life of William Cullen Bryant " (1886) ; " Emanuel Swedenborg " (1888); " France and the Confed- erate Navy, 1862-1868" (1888); "The Life o' Samuel J. Tilden" (2 vols., 1895), and "The Mystery of Sleeji " (1S96).

BIGELOW, Melville Madison, author, was born near Eaton Riipids, Mich., Aug. 2, 1846. He de.scended in the seventh generation from John Bigelow, or Bageley, who came from Wrentham, England, to Watertown, Ma.ss. , as early as 1636. He was graduated at the University of Michigan in 1866, and was lecturer on equity and insur- ance in tluit institution 18S7-"88 and "89. He continued his studies at Harvard university, and obtained the degrees of A.M. and Ph.D. in 1879.