Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 01.djvu/352

 HLISS.

BLISS.

upwanis of tlireo years. an<l roso to the rank of raptuiii. He sihmU six nioiillis of (his time in the prisons at An-lersonville. Charleston. Macon and CoUiinhia. from which last he made his escape, and after ei;:liteen nip:hts of {perilous travel through iiosttie territory, reached the Union lines. In ISCm he removed to Michigan, and en- giiged in the manufacture of luinher at Saginaw. In 18-'<2 he was elected to the state senate, and in ISSS a representative to tiie 51st Congress. He was eleeted governor of ]\lichigan in 1896, an.l re-elected in lltOO, for the term ending

BLISS, Cornelius Newton, merchant, was born in Fall Kiver. Mivss., Jan. 26. 1833. In 1846 he removed to New Orleans, La., where he was employed in the counting-house of his step-father, Edward S. Kee]). Returning to Massiichusetts, lie accepted a jxjsition in the wholesale dry goods house of James M. Beebe & Co. of Boston, of which he afterwards became a partner. Upon the dissolution of the firm, in 1866, Mr. Bliss be- came connected with the commission house of John S. and Eben Wright & Co., of Boston, from which firm he later established a branch house in New York city, and on the death of John S. Wright was admitted into partnership, the firm name being Bliss & Fabyan. Another branch hou.se was established in Philadelphia, and in 1881 the firm name changed to Bliss, Fabyan & Co., a large business being transacted and many important mills represented, among them the Pepperell, Androscoggin, Otis and Bates mills, and the American printing company. Mr. BILss was made president of the fourtli national bank, a di- rector of the Central trust company, of the Equit- able life assurance company, of the Union league club, and a governor and treasurer of the society of the New York ho.spital. He served as a dele- gate to Republican convention.s, city, county and state, and in 1884 he was made head of the state committee to the national Republican convention in Clii-ago. He was secretary of the interior, 1897-98. antl a niemlier of the board of arbitra- tion in the Industrial department of the National Civic Federation in 1901. He was treasurer of the national liepul)lican committees in 1892 and 1896.

BLISS, George, lawj'er, was born in Spring- n.-M. M.is.s.. Nov. 16, 1793. In 1813 he was gradu- .itfd from Yale college and in 1816 lie opened a law oOiee at Monsr.n. Ma.ss. In 1822 he returned to Springfield, and in 1827 was made a member of the Mas.sachu.setts house of representatives. He was twice re-elected, and in 183.'5 became pres- ident of the state senate. He was a prominent railroad man, at one time acting as president of the mjlroad running between Worce.ster, Mass., and AUiany. N. Y. In 1853 he was elected again

to the state legislature, and filled the speaker's chair during his term. The last twelve years of his life were spent quietly in Springfield, where his deatli occurred April 19, 1873.

BLISS, Qeorge, Jr., lawyer, was born in Springfield, Mass., May 3, 1830; son of George and Mary S. Bliss. His father and grandfather were prominent lawyers of western Mas.sachu- setts. The son received his early education at home and in Europe. He was graduated at Har- vard in 1851. During his college cour.se he was associated with David A. Wells in the publication of the "Annual of Scientific Discovery " and of " Things not Gener- ally Known." After his graduation he spent two years in Eu- rope, studying at the University of Berlin and in Paris, and ' 'Zp ^-^ '

travelling through *^ '' ^/Vx ' Sweden .southern Ger- C'^^W^;^^/*^^^^-***:^.

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Sweden, .southern Ger- many, Switzerland, northern Italy, Sjjain and Portugal. Returning to the United States, he studied law in Springfield, Mass., and at the Harvard law school, and en- tered the office of William Curtis Noyes, in New Y'ork. In the following year he was admitted to the bar. During 1859 and 1860 he was private secretary to Governor Morgan of New York, and in April, 1861, was made a member of his staff. In 1862 he was appointed paymaster -general of the .state, with the rank of colonel. In the same year, as captain in the 4th New York heavy artillery, he was detailed to the staff of Major- General Morgan, commanding the department of New York. In 1862 and 1863 he organized, under authority of the secretary of war, the 20th, 26th and 31st regiments of United States colored troops, representing in this service the Union league club of New York. In 1866 he became the attorney of the metropolitan board of health and metropolitan board of excise, and with Dor- man B. Eaton, as counsel, carried the litigation as to the constitutionality of the boards, and to enforce the acts creating them to a successful close, the final decisions in both being reached only in the court of appeals. Pending the litiga- tion in the excise cases, a thousand injunctions were granted in the common pleas court alone. On Jan. 1. 1873, he was appointed United States attorney for the .southern district of New York, which position he held for more than four years. Notable among the imjwrtant cases during this period were the Robert Des Anges and Lawreacei.