Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 02.djvu/330

 COLBURX

COLBY

tic in 1834, revised in 1833, and an Algebra in 1837. He died in Lowell, Mass., Sept. 13, 1833.

COLBURN, Zerah, educator, was born in Cabot, Vt.. Sept. 1. 1804. son of Abia Colburn. As a boy he showed remarkable powers of compu- tation, and his father refused him a college education proffered by President "Wheelock of Dartmouth, and exhibited him through the United States and in England and France as a mathematical prodigy. While in England he performed mathematical calculations for Dr. Thomas Yovmg, secretary of the board of longi- tude. He attended school in France where he devoted himself to acquiring a knowledge of the French language; and then studied at West- minster, England, for three years. His father died in 1824 and he returned to the United States, attended the University of Vermont and supported himself by teaching French. He became a Methodist minister and after preach- ing ten years accepted the chair of modern lan- guages in Norwich university, Vermont. Upon reaching manhood he lost his faculty for mental computation. He published his memoirs in 1833. He died in Norwich. Vt., March 2, 1840.

COLBURN, Zerah, engineer, was born in Sara- toga, N.Y., in 1832; a nephew of Zerah Colburn, the mathematical prodigy. He was a machinist in Lowell and Boston, Mass., and superintended locomotive works in Boston and at Paterson, N.J. At the latter place he invented valuable improve- ments in freight engines. He became connected ■\vith the Bailroad Journal; and established the HaHroad Advocate in 1854, of which he was editor and owner for one year. In 1855 he went to Europe where he examined machine and iron works, and reported his observations in the Advo- cate. In 1858 he published the result of his inves- tigations on a second visit to Europe in company with Mr. Holley. In 1858 they resumed their researches in Europe and Mr. Colburn began to write for the London Eiujineer and was for several years its editor. He then established in Phila- delphia an American Engineer, and after is.suing a few numbers, resumed his connection with the London paper which he edited until 1866, when he established in London Engineering, a rival paper. He visited America in 1870 to rest fi-om overwork, but became demented and died by his own hand in a country town in Massa- chusetts. He wrote valuable papers on the sub- jects of iron bridges and American locomotive and rolling stock, for which he received medals. He published TJie Locomotive Engine (1851), and wrote a supplement on American Practice for Clark's Locomotive Engine (1859). The date of Ms death is May 4, 1870.

COLBY, Anthony, governor of New Hamp- shire, was born in New London, N.H., Nov. 13,

1795; second son of Joseph and Ann (Heath) Col by ; and of English ancestry. He was married in early manhood to Mar\' Everett. He became identified with the militia as major-general, with railroads as president, with manufactories as an owner, with the legislature as a member, and with the religious and educational advancement of the state. He was first elected a member of the state legislature in 1838 and was several times re- turned. He ^vas governor of the state in 1846. He was a trustee of Dartmouth college, 1850-70, and received from that institution the honorary degree of A.M. in 1850. He was adjutant -general of the state during the civil war and was untiring in his devotion to the welfare of the New Hamp- shire troops in the field. Colby academy, New London, N. H., of which he was a principal bene- factor, was named in his honor by the trustees. He died in the house in which he was born, at New London, N.H., July 20, 1875.

COLBY, Charles Qalusha, editor, was born in Rochester, N.Y., in 1830. He was graduated at Wesleyan university in 1848. He gave special attention to the study of astronomy and geog- raphy, and was associated with Prof. William Cranch Bond of Harvard. At the college obser- vatory he calculated the eclipses of July, 1851, and while at the observatory contributed an article to the New York Independent on telescopes. The results of his calculations of the July eclipses Avere published in Harper's Magazine. In 1852-53 he assisted in the preparation of '" Fisher's Sta- tistical Gazetteer of the United States," of the "American Statistical Annual" (1853), and in editing Hunt's Merchants' Magazine, continuing with the latter publication for some years. He removed to Boston in 1861 and was an editor of the Commercial Bulletin until 1864, when he re- turned to New York city. He did the descriptive and statistical work in Morse's Geography of the World and in his Diamond Atlas. He died in New York city, Oct. 30, 1866.

COLBY, Gardner, pliilanthropist, was born in Bowdoinham, Maine, Sept. 3, 1810 ; son of Josiah C. and Sarah (Davidson) Colby. His father died poor when Gardner was quite young, and his mother, to meet the wants of her children, removed to Charlestown, Mass. Gardner secured a fair education and engaged in mercantile pirrsuits in Boston in 1830. He was interested in various enterprises, including the china trade, real estate and manufacturing woolen goods. He gained a large fortune, principally through the sale of woolens during the civil war, and through the rapid rise in Boston '" South Cove " lands. He Avas elected in 1870 president of the Wisconsin central railroad and built a line of 340 miles of railway, penetrating the forests of the state. During his lifetime, even when a clerk, he was