Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 03.djvu/409

 ECKERT

EDDY

ECKERT, Thomas Thompson, telegrapher, was born in St. Clairsville, Ohio, April 28, 1825. He learned telegraphy as a boy and when ap- pointed postmaster of Wooster, Ohio, in 1849, he established a telegraph office in that city. In 1852 he constructed a telegraph line between Pittsburg and Chicago, and was made its superin- tendent. After the line was absorbed by the Western Union telegraph company his duties were greatly increased. In 1859 he resigned the posi- tion to manage a gold-mining company in Mont- gomery county, N.C. His operations there were stopped by the civil war and he then became head of the U.S. militarj^ telegraph, established by General McClellan at Cincinnati, Ohio, and in 1862 he was transferred to the department of the Potomac with the rank of captain and assist- ant quartermaster. In September, 1862, he was promoted major and was directed to establish military telegraph headquarters at the war de- partment, in Washington. In 1864 he received the brevets of lieutenant -colonel and brigadier- general and was appointed by President Lincoln assistant secretary of war. In 1866 he resigned the secretaryship and his position in the army to assume the general superintendency of the east- ern division of the Western Union telegraph com- pany. In 1875 he organized and became president of the Atlantic & Pacific telegraph company, and' in 1880 was elected president of the American Union telegraph companj-. When these com- panies were consolidated with the Western Union telegraph company in 1881, he became vice-presi- dent and general manager of the latter company and in 1893 was elected to the presidency to suc- ceed Dr. Norvin Green, deceased.

ECKFORD, Henry, shipbuilder, was born in Irvine, Scotland, ]\Iarch 12, 1775. His uncle, John Black, owned extensive shipyards in Quebec, and Henry removed to America and studied naval architecture while working in his uncle's yards. He removed to New York city in 1796, found em- ployment readily in the shipyards and soon estab- lished himself in the business of shipbuilding. From the master of his first ship he gained infor- mation enabling iiim to improve on the construc- tion of the second, and so his successive ships became models and his shipyard took rank as the best in America. He constructed the sloop-of- war Madison of twenty -four guns, in a rude ship- yard on Lake Ontario in forty days after the trees were felled that furnished the timber for building the vessel. After the close of the second war with England he built the Sobert Fulton, a steamboat which was afterward converted into a sloop-of-war, sold to Brazil, and became the swiftest of the naval fleet of that nation. In 1820 he was employed in the Brooklyn navy yard, where he modeled and constructed six ships-of-

the-line which became the glory of the American navy, and of which the Ohio was the most noted. He then left the government service on account of disagreement with the naval commissioners and was employed by both Brazil and the Euro- pean powders in building naval vessels. He sub- mitted, at the request of President Jackson, a plan for reorganizing the United States navy. He was planning the foundation of a professor- ship of naval architecture in Columbia college, with an endowment of $20,000, when his fortune was swept away. He built a sloop-of-war in 1831 for the Sultan of Turkey, was invited to become superintendent of the navy yards of the empire, and he went to Constantinople, where he established a uavj- yard. His vessel subsequently became the model of the Turkish navy. He died at Constantinople, Nov. 12, 1832.

ECKLES, Delane R., jurist, was born in Ken- tucky in 1806. He acquired his education in his native state and in 1838 removed to Greencastle, Ind., where he was admitted to the bar. He was elected first mayor of Greencastle, and in 1846^8 served in the Mexican war, gaining the rank of captain. He was a judge of the circuit court for sixteen year's and in 1857 was appointed by Presi- dent Buchanan chief -justice of the United States courts in Utah Territory, serving until 1861. He died in Greencastle, Ind., Oct. 29, 1888.

ECKLEY, Ephriam Ralph, representative, was born in Jeft'erson county, Ohio, Dec. 9, 1811 ; son of Ephraim and Sarah (Vangilder) Eckley; grandson of Peter and Esther (Ralph) Eckley, and a descendant of Thomas Ralph Eckley, who emigrated from Wales to America. His grand- father and four paternal and one maternal great- uncles served in the Revolutionary war, in which three of them lost their lives and the other three, including his grandfather, were wourided. He was admitted to the bar in 1837 and practised in Carrollton, Ohio. He was a state senator in 1843, 1845 and 1849, and a state representative in 1853. He was the Whig candidate for governor of Ohio in 1851, and also a Whig candidate for United States senator in 1854, being defeated in both in- stances with the whole Whig ticket. In 1861 he volunteered in the army and served as colonel of the 26th Ohio volunteers, later being transferred to the command of the 80th volunteers. He was a representative in the 38th, 39th and 40th con- gresses, serving, 1863-69. After the expiration of his term he returned to the practice of law at Carrollton, Ohio, where he resided in 1899.

EDDY, Clarence, organist, was born at Green- field, Mass., June 23, 1851. He was educated in music from early childhood, and in 1867 was sent to Hartford, Conn., where he studied the organ under Dudley Buck for one year. He was then appointed organist at the Bethany Congregational