Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 02.djvu/410

 CORCORAN

CORLISS

Francis Meagher, another Irish patriot, near Fairfax Court House, Va., he was killed by the falling of his horse. He died Dec. 22, 1863.

CORCORAN, William Wilson, philanthropist, was born in Georgetown, D.C., Dec. 27, 1798; son of Thomas and Hannah (Lemon) Corcoran. His father was born in Limerick, Ireland, came to America in 1783, settled in Georgetown in 1788, and became an influential - citizen, being chosen magis- trate, postmaster and college trustee. For a time the son attend- ed Georgetown col- lege, but at the age of seventeen he be- came a clerk in the dry goods and auction .■-tore of his two older brothers. In 1828 he entered the employ of the Washington branch of the United States bank, where he had charge of its real estate. In 1835 he was married to Louise Amory. daughter of Com. Charles Morris. In 1837 he began busi- ness on his o^vn account as a banker and broker in Washington. In 1840 he formed a copartner- sliip with George W. Riggs, and in 18-15 the house used by the L^nited States bank was occupied by the firm. In 1841 he became the financial agent for the state department and obtained for the gov- ernment 85,000,000 on bonds which other bankers faUed to market. At the time of the Mexican war he sold $45,000,000 in government bonds in England and in 1848 made another large sale of government securities. In 1854 Mr. Corcoran retired from the banking business and devoted himself to art and objects of benevolence. Among his benefactions are Oak Hill cemeterv. the Louise

C0RCOR>\N ART <j

home for indigent gentlewomen and the Corcoran gallery of art, all of Washington, and gifts to Columbian university, the University of Vir-

ginia, and William and Mary college, amounting to several millions of dollars. He died in AVash- ington. D.C.. Feb. 2-1, 1888.

COREY, Charles Henry, educator, was born in New Canaan. N.B., Dec. 12. 1834. He was graduated at Acadia college in 1858, and at New- ton Tlieological seminary in 1861, and entered the Baptist ministry. He served one j-ear in the Ciuistian Commission, and then became a mis- sionary to the freedmen in South Carolina, and was made president of Richmond, Va., Theolo- gical Seminary in 1868. He is the author of Tltivtn Years' Labor a)noiig the Colored People of the Sonth. He died in Seabrook. N.H., Sept. 5, 1899.

CORLEY, Manuel Simeon, repre.sentative, was born in Lexington count}', S.C., Feb. 10, 1823. He became a tailor, and invented a system of garment-cutting. He eiHted the South Carolina Temperance Standard in 1855-56. served in the Confederate army, was a member of the state constitutional convention in 1868. and was then elected as a Republican to congress. He was com- missioner of agricultvu'al statistics of South Caro- lina in 1870 : and county treasurer in 1874.

CORLISS, George Henry, inventor, was born at Easton, Washington count}', N.Y., June 2, 1817 ; son of Dr. Hiram and Susan (Sheldon) Corliss. In 1825 his father removed to Green- wich, N.Y., and the son attended an academy at Castleton, Vt.. and subsequenth' taught school for a time. In 1837 he found employment in tlie store connected with the Greenwich cotton mill, and displayed his mechanical skill by constructing an emergency bridge where a freshet had cut off conmiunication with the village, accomplishing the undertaking, which had been pronounced impossible by local engineers, in ten days at an outlay of only fifty dollars. In 1838 he established himself in business as a country storekeeper in Greenwich, N.Y., and in 1839 was mar- ried to Phebe F. Frost of Canterbury, Conn., who died in Provi- dence, R.I., March 5, 1859, leaving one daughter, Maria

Louisa, and one son, George Frost. His

first invention was a sewing machine for stitch- ing leather, by which he passed the needles and threads through the leather in opposite directions at the same time. This machine was operated before Howe's original sewing machine was invented. He went to Providence

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