Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 03.djvu/413

 EDDY

EDDY

Heview, 1884-91 ; and became editor of the Univer- sulist Begiater in 1887. He received the degree of S.T.D. from Tufts college in 1883. He is the author of: History of the 60th Begiment New York ■State Volunteers (1864) ; Universaliam in America, 1636-18S6 (3 vols., 1884^86) ; Alcohol in History (1881) ; Alcohol in Society (1888); Universalism in Gloucester, 3Iass., 1774-1874 (1893); History of Universalism, A.D., 120-1890, vol. X., American Chiu-ch history series (1894), and numerous ser- mons and addresses.

EDDY, Samuel, representative, was born in Jolinston, R.I., March 31, 1769; son of Eichard and Martha (Comstock) Eddy. His first Ameri- can ancestor, vi^ho immigrated to Plymouth in 1630, was the son of the Rev. William Eddy, vicar of Crainbrook, county of Kent, England. Samuel was graduated from Brown university as salutatorian in 1787, and was admitted to the bar in 1790. On Feb. 38, 1790, he was appointed •a delegate to the state convention which de- cided to adopt the constitution of the United •States. He began practice in Providence, R.I., and was clerk of the Rhode Island superior court, 1790-94; clerk of the general assembl}^, 1793; member of the committee to collect and revise the state laws, 1794, and secretary of state ■of Rhode Island, 1798-1819. He was a represent- ative in the 16th, 17th and 18th congresses, 1819-35. In May, 1836, he was elected fifth jus- tice of the supreme judicial court of Rhode Island, and in 1837 became chief justice, holding the office until June, 1835. He was a fellow of Brown university, 1805-39, and secretary of the -corporation, 1806-39. He was a corresponding member of the Massachusetts historical society. Bi'own conferred upon him the degree of LL.D. in 1801. He published: Scripture Its Ovm Inter- preter in Belation to the Character of Christ (1818), and Seasons Offered for His Opinions, to the First Baptist Church in Providence, from which he was Compelled to Withdraw for Heterodoxy (1818). He •died in Providence, R.I., Feb. 2, 1839.

EDDY, Thomas, i^hilanthropist, was born in Philadelphia, Pa., Sept. 5, 1758 ; son of James and Mary (Darragh) Eddy Avho immigrated to America in 1753 and settled in Philadelphia. In 1771 he was apprenticed to a tanner in Burling- ton, N.J., and in 1779 removed to New York city, where he became a merchant. He was married in 1783 to Hannah Hartshorne of Phila- delphia, and in 1788 removed to Philadelphia, re- turning to New York city in 1791, where he accumulated a large fortune. In 1796 with Gen. Philip Schuyler he drew up a bill for establish- ing a penitentiary system in the state of NeAv York, and on the passage of the bill he was ap- pointed to supervise the construction of the state prison in New York city, where he introduced

single cells. On the completion of the prison he became its director and agent, and in 1801 pub- lished " An Account of the State Prison of New York." In 1793 he was elected one of the govern- ors of the state hospital and in 1795 secured from the state legislature an appropriation to the ho.spital of §10,000 a year for four years, which he succeeded in having extended indefinitely. In 1793 he visited the Six Nations of Indians in be- half of the Society of Friends. He was active in organizing the New York Bible society in 1806, and the American Bible society in 1816. In 1810 he urged the extension of canal navigation, which resulted in the Erie canal, the ' construction of which was begun on July 4, 1817. In 1815 he helped to found the Bloomingdale insane asylum and in 1833 aided in establishing the House of refuge in New York city. See Life of TJiomas Eddy by Samuel L. Knapp (1834). He died in New York city, Sept. 16, 1837.

EDDY, William Abner, inventor, was born in New York city, Jan. 38, 1850; son of the Rev. Dr. Herman J. and Amanda (Doubleday) Eddy; grandson of Seth and Milicent (Huggins) Eddy, .and of Ulysses F. and Hester (Donnelly) Double- day ; and a descendant from John Alden of the Mayflower, and from Samuel Eddy, who arrived in America in 1630. He pur.sued a preparatory course in Chicago university, 1868-69, and then en- gaged in business in Syracuse, N. Y., de- voting his leisure to reading, giving pref- erence to books relat- ing to the natural

sciences. He removed T^c/M^^^J^d^z^ to New York in 1873, i/

Avhere he was employed in the export business and continued his scientific investigations. He joined the New York press club in 1886 and be- came a contributor to the dailj^ journals. He was married in 1887, to Cynthia S. Huggins. He began his experiments in kite-flying as a boy, and connected with the amusement a study of meteorological phenomena, in which science he became an expert. He was appointed by the U.S. signal service as voluntary observer to investigate the phenomena attending tor- nadoes in 1884, and was continued in that branch of service. His first experiments made pub- lic were those of temperature taken at difl'er- ent altitudes, by means of kites, Feb. 4, 1891 ; obtaining a spark from a kite wire, Oct. 8, 1893; first mile of altitude, Nov. 7, 1893; the first kite flown in rain and penetrating low running rain

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