Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 01.djvu/350

 BLECKLEY.

BLEECKER.

society, ami tlie loyalty of her followers. The iuuiiversary of her death, known by theosophi.sts as ■• White Lotii.s day."" is eonuuemo rated. Her publisluHl works iiielude: " Lsis Unveiled : a Mas- ter-Key to the ^lysteries of Ancient and Modern Science uml Theology" (1877); "The Synthesis of Science. Religion, and Philosophy" (1888), and "The Voice of the Silence" (1889). (See "The Occult World " (18.H4), and " Memoirs of Madame Blavatsky" (1SS(5), both by A. P. Sinnett). She dieil May 8. l^ttl.

BLECKLEY, Logan E., juri-st, was born at Clayton. Ralniu county, Ga., July 3, 1827. In ISJS he wa.s clerk and read law in the office of his father, who was a lawyer and clerk of the courts, and was admitted to the bar in April, 1846. He was not successful as a lawyer, and from 1848 to 1851 he was employed as book-keeper in the state railroad office at Atlanta. In 1851 he was ap- Itointed secretary to Governor Town. In March. 1850, he opened a law office in Atlanta, and in 1853 was elected solicitor-general, his circuit em- bracing eight counties. After the breaking out of the civil war he served for a short time as a private soldier. In 1864 he was appointed su- preme court reiK)rter and published the 34th and 35th Georgia reports. In 1867 he resigned his office, but continued to practise until appointed to the supreme bench in 1875. He resigned his seat in 1880, and retired to private life until January. 1887, when, on the death of chief justice Jackson, he was returned to the bench as his suc- cessor. He delivered a number of literary ad- dresses, including: " Truth in Tliought and Emo- tion." "Truth in Conduct." and "Truth at the Bar."

BLEDSOE, Albert Taylor, educator, was Iwirn in Frankfurt. Ky., Nov. 9, 1809. He was graduated at West Point in 1830, and served on the frontier until 1832, when he resigned from the army. In 1833-'34 he was teacher of the French language and of mathematics in Kenyon college, Ohio, and in 1835-'36 was professor of mathematics in Miami university. In 1835 he en- ten><l the ministry of the Protestant Episcopal church and served as rector of various Ohio parishes. Before he entered the cliurch he studied law, and in 1838 began its practice at Springfield, 111., continuing it in Washington, D. C, until 1H48. He then accepted the profe.s- wjrship of mathematics in the University of Mis- 8is.sippi. and remained there until 1854, when he transferred his services to the chair of mjithe- matics in the Univer.'iity of Virginia. During tlie ci\il war he took part with the Confederates, en- tering the service as colonel, and being trans- ferred to the war department at Richmond as chief of the bureau and acting a.s.sistant secre- tary of war. He went to £uroi)ein 1863 to collect

material from which he prepared his work on the United States constitution, in which he defended the acts of the Confederate leaders as not violat- ing that instrument. He returned in 1866 to Baltimore, where he took up the publication of the SoiitJiern Review and turned it from a political to a religious journal, making it the organ of the Methodist Episcopal church, south. He was elected principal of the Louisa school, Baltimore, in 1868, and was ordained to the ministry in the Methodist churcli, south, in 1871. He was the author of "An Examination of Edwards on the WMll" (1845); "A Theodicy, or Vindication of the Divine Glory " (1853) ; " Liberty and Slavery " (1857) ; " Is Davis a Traitor? or was Secession a Constitutional Right Previous to the War of 1861?" (1866); and "Philosophy of Mathematics" (1866). He died Sept. 8, 1877.

BLEDSOE, Jesse, senator, was born in Cul- pepper county, Va., April 6, 1776. He was edu- cated at the Transylvania seminary in Kentucky, and was subsequently admitted to the bar. He was appointed by Governor Scott secretary of state in 1808, and in 1812 represented his district in the Kentuckv^ legislature. In 1813 he was sent to the U. S. senate, and held his seat until 1815. Tvp^o years after the expiration of his term he was elected to the state senate and served in that body until 1820, when he was made a presidential elector. In 1822 he became circuit judge in the liCxington district and afterwards accepted the chair of law at Transylvania university. He subsequently resided in Mississippi, removed in 1835 to Texas, and died near Nacogdoches, Texas, June 30, 1837.

BLEECKER, Ann Eliza, poet, was born in New York city in October, 1752; youngest daughter of Brandt Schuyler of New Y'ork. Until her mar- riage at the age of seventeen, to John J. Bleecker, she resided in her native city, but removed soon after to Tomhannock, a small place near Albany, N. Y. She was driven with her children from her home when Burgoyne entered the city, and took refuge in Red Hook, but returned after many hardships. She wrote many poems and prose tales, most of which were not published until after her death. These may be found in " Post- humous W^orks of Ann Eliza Bleecker in Prose and Verse," collated by her daughter, Margaretta V. Faugeres. Her death occurred Nov. 23, 1783.

BLEECKER, Anthony, author, was born in New York city in October, 1770; son of Anthony Lispenard Bleecker. His father owned a large estate in New Y'ork city. In 1791 he was grad- uated from Columbia college, and subsequently was admitted to the bar. Preferring literary work to the practice of law he became well known as a contributor of both prose and verse to cur- rent literature. He published the " Narrative of