Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 02.djvu/347

 COLMAN

COLQUITT

date for lieutenant governor of the state. In 1874 he was elected lieutenant-governor by 50,000 majority and served, 1875-77. He organized and helped to sustain the principal agricultural asso- ciations of the state and some of national charac- ter, being president of the State horticultural society, of the State live stock breeders' associa- tion; of the State board of agriculture and a trustee for fifteen years of the Missouri state university. He was president of the State press association for two years. On April 2, 1885, President Cleveland appointed him U.S. commis- sioner of agriculture and upon the passage of the bill to enlarge the powers and duties of the department of agriculture and to create an ex- ecutive department to be known as the depart- ment of agriculture, approved by the President, Feb. 11, 1889, Mr. Colman was appointed secre- tary of agriculture the same day, and was insti- tuted a member of the cabinet of President Cleveland. On the accession of Benjamin Harri- son to the presidency, March 4, 1889, he resigned and was succeeded by Jeremiah McLain Rusk. He returned to his home in St. Loviis, and con- tinued the publication of his journal and the prosecution of his farming business. He received from the president of the republic of France, through its minister of agriculture, the cross of " Officier du Merite Agricole " accompanied by a gold medal and decoration of the order. His wife Kate (born Oct. 2, 1843, died in September, 1897) was the daughter of Capt. George Wright of Loutre Island, Montgomery county. Mo.

COLMAN, Samuel, painter, was born in Port- land, Maine, March 4, 1832 ; son of Samuel and Pamela Atkins (Chandler) Cohnan ; grandson of Joel and Pamela (Mitchell) Chandler, and a de- scendant of William Colman, brother of George Colman the younger, the English author and playwright. His father was engaged in publish- ing in New York cit3% whither the boy removed in 1839. He studied art under Asher B. Durand from 1849 to 1852 and studied and travelled abroad, 1860-62 and 1871-76. After his return to America he devoted much time to the plains and de.serts of the west. He was elected an associate of the National academy of design in 1860, and a member in 1862. In 1866 he contributed to the founding of the American society of painters in water-colors, and was its president, 1866-71. He was also one of the founders of the Socuety of American artists in 1878. Among his more im- portant works are: Bay of Gihrnltar (1862); Tlie mil of the Alhamhra, Spain (1868); The Ships of the ]Vester)i Plains (1871) ; Andernach on the lihine (1879) ; Street Scene in Caen, Normandy (1879) ; Arab Caravansary (1879); Market Day i)i Brittany (1880); Arab Buryiug-Ground {imO) ; Dutch Boats

off the Coast of Holland (1880); Misty Afternoon in Venice (1881); Zandam in Holland (1882); Exiins of Mosque in Algeria (1882) ; Tower of Giralda (1884); Moonrise in Venire (1890).

COLONNA, Benjamin Azariah, geodetician and civil engineer, was born in Accomack county, Va., Oct. 17, 1843; son of John Wilkins and Margaret (Jones) Colonna; grandson of Benjamin Colonna; and a descendant of Owen Colonna, who emigrated from England and set- tled in Accomack on the eastern shore of Vir- ginia about 1697, where the male members of the family were prominent as soldiers taking j)art in the Revolutionary war, the war of 1812 and the civil war. He was a student at the Virginia mil- itary institute and with his fellow students en- tered the service of his state Aug. 3, 1860, and was graduated in 1864, serving at the time in the Confederate army as cadet captain. Company D, corps of cadets, which he commanded at the battle of Newmarket, Va. He attained the rank of captain in the Confederate army and sur- rendered with Johnston's army at Greensboro, N.C., April 26, 1865. He returned to his home in Accomack county where he engaged in teaching, surveying and farming until July, 1870, when he attached himself to the U.S. coa.st survey under Gen. R. D. Cutts. He was employed on various duties, passed through several grades in the service, and on July 24, 1885, was assigned to duty as assistant in charge of office and topog- raphy in the U.S. coast and geodetic survey at Washington, D.C. In March, 1895, he resigned from the coast and geodetic survey and at once began the construction of a large marine railway at Norfolk, Va. This led to his taking up the study of steel floating dry docks of the latest im- proved construction and to his advocating them for adoption in the United States for docking ships of the merchant marine and of the navy. Such a dock was provided for in the naval appro- priation bill for 1899.

COLQUITT, Alfred Holt, senator, was born in AValton county, Ga., April 20, 1824 ; son of Walter T. and Nancy (Lane) Colquitt. He was gradu- ated at the College of New Jersey in 1844 and the following year was admitted to the Georgia bar. In 1846-48 he served in the war with Mexico having the rank of staff major. He was a repre- sentative in the 33d congress, 1853-55; a member of the Georgia legislature in 1859; a presidential elector -at -large in 1860; and a delegate to the state secession convention in 1861. He entered the Confederate army at the beginning of the civil war as captain, and was shortly afterward made colonel of the 6th Georgia infantry. He was promoted brigadier-general in 1862 and major-general in 1863. After the war he re- turned to his law practice and in 1876 was elected