Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 01.djvu/377

 BOTTOMLEY.

BOUCICAULT.

of the Medical missionary society. Slie edited the King's Daughters department in the Ladies' Home Journal and is the author of "The Guest Chamber;" "Crumbs from the King's Table": Death and Life"; "Seven Questions after Easter "; " A Sunshine Trija to the Orient."

BOTTOMLEY, Thomas, clergyman, was born in Conuonly, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England, June 2,- 1805. He joined the Wesleyan Methodist connection when he was twelve years old, and. was licensed as a local preacher when he was seventeen. In 1828 he came to America and located at Paterson, N. J., where he was licensed to preach in the M. E. cliurch, on Feb. 28, 1829. From Paterson he went to Richmond, Va., later settling at EUicotfs Mills, Md. In 1832 he was ordained deacon by Bishop McKendree, at Baltimore. In March, 1840, he was admitted into the travelling connection, on trial, by the Baltimore conference, and was ordained elder by Bishop Waugh, who transferred him to the Ar- kansas conference. On the way to his new mis- sion his wife's illness compelled them to stop at Louisville, Ky., where, becoming much at- tached to the people, he decided to remain, and at the session of the Kentucky conference for 1840 he joined that body. In the division of the conference in 1846 he became a member of the newly organized Louisville conference, where he served during his lifetime. He was a mem- ber of the general conference of 1874. He preached for more than seventy -two years, and attended fifty-four conferences. He died at Hopkinsville, Ky., Sept. 27, 1894.

BOTTS, John Minor, statesman, was born at Dvimfries, Prince William county, Va., Sept. 16, 1802. Both his jjarents perished at the burning of the theatre at Richmond, where they were residing, leaving him orphaned at the age of nine years. He began the study of law when very young, was admitted to the bar in 1820, and practised successfully until 1826, when he aban- doned the profession to engage in agricultural pursuits. From 1833 to 1839 he served in the state legislature, and from 1839 to 1843 as repre- sentative in the 26th and 27th congresses, and from 1847 to 1849 in the 30th Congress. He was a stanch supporter of Henry Clay, and labored for his election in the presidential campaign of 1844. In 1852 he resumed his law practice at Richmond, and in 1856 joined the Native Ameri- can party. He retired to his farm, near Culpeper Court House, upon the beginning of the civil war. ■ He remained faithful to the government, and opposed secession with fervid earnestness. In 1862 he was arrested, by order of the Confed- erate government, on suspicion of being engaged in preparing a secret history of the rebellion. A rigid search failing to disclose the suspected man-

uscript he was released after eight weeks' soli- tary confinement in prison. The suspicions had been well founded, however, for at that time he had in preparation " The Great Rebellion, its Secret History, Rise, Progress and Disastrous Failure," published in 1866. Mr. Botts was a delegate to the southern loyalists' convention at Philadelphia, in 1866, and he was one of the signers of the bail-bond of Jefferson Davis in 1887. He died at Culpeper, Va., Jan. 7, 1869.

BOUCHER, Jonathan, clergyman, was born at Blencow, Cumberland, England, March 12, 1738. In 1754 he removed to America and en- gaged as a teacher. He afterwards took holy orders, became rector of Hanover, then of St. Mary's parish, Va., and also of St. Anne, Annapo- lis, and Queen Anne, St. George's Co.,Md. He was, however, obliged by his parishioners to leave America, because of his opposition to the spirit of independence, and he returned to England in 1785, where he obtained a cure at Epsom. He is the author of "The Cumberland Man" (1792); "A View of the Causes and Consequences of the American Revolution " (1797), and " Two Assize Sermons" (1799). He occupied the last four- teen years of his life by working on a glossary of provincial and archaic words, which was, in 1831, purchased from his heirs by the EngUsh publishers of Webster's dictionary, for use as a supplement in that work. In 1802 he published "Linguae Anglicanae Veteris Thesaurus.'' He died in Epsom, England, April 27, 1804.

BOUCICAULT, Dion, playwright, was born in Dublin, Ireland, Dec. 26, 1822. He was of French parentage, and his father, a merchant, had him carefully educated, intending him to become a civil engineer and architect. The son, however, abandoned this profession, and before leaving his teens wrote a drama entitled " London Assur- ance,'' which was highly successful. His talent as a playwright lay not in literary work, nor in originality of thought and plot, but in happy dialogue, in clever mechanical stage settings, and in startling and impressive incidents. Among the more jjopular of his dramas are: ' ' The Colleen Bawn, " " Love in a Maze, " "Used Up," "The Corsican Brothers," " Louis XL," and "The Long Strike." It was said that "After Dark" de- pended for its success upon the movement of a sham train, and " Flying Scud " upon puppet horses. It is undeniable that the stage devices of Mr. Boucicault were at that time ^unequalled. His faculty of writing dialogue, witty or pathetic as the occasion might require, was an admirable point in his plays, for which he received larger prices than had ever before been given to a play- wright. In 1853 he married Agnes Robertson, a London actress, and after his marriage he also began to act, attaining some popularity. He