Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 03.djvu/414

 EDES

EDES

clouds, Nov. 4, 1893; the first mid-air kite photo- graph ill the western hemisphere, May 30, ltS95; tirst in New York, Sept. 25, l^lio ; first in Boston, Aug. 26, I'^tMJ; first in Phihvdelphia, May 15. 1897; first in Washington, D.C., Sept. 8, 1897; first kite teleplione niess;ige, Dec. 5, ISUO; first simul- taneous mid-air kite, double jjliotograph, June 6, 1897; first aerial camera -obseura, Aug. 15, 1897; first kite photograph of Reading, Pa., June 8, 1898; first of Statue of Liberty, New York har- bor, Oct. 27, 1898; first simultaneous kite-tem- perature taken at New York and Bayonne, N.J., April 9, 1.S98, with Henry L. Allen operating the kites at Bayonne; first kite sustained U.S. flag illumined by colored fire attached to kite cable near the flag. April 30, 1898, and first kite electric test of air surrounding statue of Libert}', New York harbor, Nov. 1, 1898. In 1898 he had made seven inventions in the line of his experiments. In June. 1898, he succeeded in taking an excel- lent photograph of a burning building from an elevation of five hundred feet directly over the conflagration. This demonstrated the use of kite photography in war to determine the enemy's lX)sitiou or strength. On June 17, 1898, he pro- duced an artificial " shooting star " by elevating a lantern with a kite 900 feet, and then, by a jar, detaching the lantern, letting it slide along the line down to the earth. He also displayed colored lights at a great height and originated a code of signals for use at sea or on the battle-field. In August, 1899, in a sei-ies of experiments at Stam- ford, Conn., he denion.strated that the minimum of electric tension was to be found within a radius of half a mile of a mountain peak.

EDES, Henry Herbert, genealogist, was born in Charlestown, Mass., March 29, 1849; great^ grandson of Thomas Edes whose brother Ben- jamin Edes, editor of the Boston Gazette, 1755-98, was the member of the "Sons of Liberty," at whose home the " Boston tea party " met Dec. 16, 1773, and at who.se printing office they ])ut on their disguises as Indians. Thomas Edes's nephew, Peter Edes, was a prisoner in the Boston jail from June 19 to Oct. 6, 1775, and his journal with the list of prisoners taken with him to the jail after the battle of Bunker Hill, June 17, 1775, was published in 1837. Henry Herbert was edu- cated in the schools of Cliarlestown. Mass., and became a merchant in Boston in 1805. He was elected a member of the New England liistoric, genealogical society, Jan. 1, 1868; a life member in 1871 ; was assistant treasurer, 1869-70; a mem- ber of the liegister club, 1870-74, and a member of the publication committee, 1873-76, and after 1877. He was elected a fellow of the American antiquarian society; treasurer of the Colonial society of Massachu.setts ; a member of the ex- ecutive committee of the Boston civil service

reform association in 1881 ; member of the Ameri- can historical association; of the Massachusetts reform club; of the Maine, Rhode Island and Wisconsin historical societies, and of the Essex institute. He undertook ari'auging the Charlcs- tuwn Arrliivcs from 1S20 tu 1S47 in 1809 which completed fill 120 volumes. He is the author of Harvard Church at Charlestoion, IS 15-7 9 (1819); Connecticut Colonial Documents ; 3Iemorial oj Josiah Barker oj Charlestown (1871) ; and Charlestown His- toric Points (1875) ; edited Wyman's Genealogies and Eslates oJ Charlestown (1879) ; and wrote Vol. II. of Foote's Annals of King's Chapel, Boston, and the chajiters on Charle.stown in The Memorial His- tory of Boston (lSNO-81).

EDES, Richard Sullivan, clergyman, was born in Providence, R.I., April 24, 1810; son of Henry and Catharine C. (May) Edes; grandson of Edward and Elizabeth Edes, and of John and Abigail May, and a direct descendant of John Edes, wlio settled in Charlestown, Mass., in 1055, and married Mary Tufts. He was gradu- ated from Brown university in 1830 and entered Harvard law school. lu 1831 he changed to the divinity school where he was graduated in 1834. He w-as ordained a Unitarian minister in 1836 and was pastor at Eastport, Maine, 1836^3, and at Bolton, Iklass., 1843-18. In 1848 he resigned his pastorate, but continued to reside in Bolton, occasionally preaching, but devoting most of his time to farming, literary work and to historical and genealogical research. He was a member of the school committee and town clerk during many years. He was married in 1837 to Mary, daughter of Jerome and Mary (Thaxter) Cushing. He was joint author of: Genealogy of the Descend- ants of John May (1878) ; and editor of Journal and Letters Belative to Two Journeys to the Ohio Country in 1788 and 17 89, made by Colonel John May, tcith a Biographical Sketch (1873). He died at Bolton, Mass., Aug. 20, 1877.

EDES, Robert Thaxter, phj'sician, was born in Eastport, Maine, Sept. 23, 1838 ; son of Richard Sullivan and Mary (Cushing) Edes. He was graduated from Harvard in arts in 1858 and in medicine in 1861. On Sept. 10, 1861, he was ap- pointed acting assistant surgeon in the U.S. navy and ordered to the navy yard at Brooklj-n. In December he was ordered to the mortar flotilla under Commander D. D. Porter and took jjart in the bombardment of the forts below New Orleans. His commission in the regular service was dated Jan. 26, 1862. His vessels participated in the first attack on Vicksburg and in the siege of Port Hudson. In August, 1863, he was transferred to the Black Hawk, the flag-shii> of Admiral Porter in the Mississippi squadron. He was stationed at the naval hospital, Chelsea, Mass., from July 14. 1864, to May 13, 1865, receiving promotion to