Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 04.djvu/123

 FISKE

FISKE

of the Hartford, Conn., Courant, 1867; made the four uf Egypt, Palestine and Syria, 1867-08, and vvas professor of North European languages and chief librarian, Cornell university, 1868-83. He made a remarkable collection of Icelandic books, was a writer and lecturer on civil service reform, a member of the American social science associa- tion and a contributor to Swedish, Icelandic and German periodicals. He was a contestant in the chess tournament of 18rj7; edited with Paul Mor- phy the American Chess Monthly, 1857-60; com- piled " Book of the American Chess Congress '' (1839); and edited the "Ten Year Book of Cornell " (^1888), and nmnerous bibliographical publications for the imi versify. He ^Iso made an extended Petrarch book collection. He was married in 1880 to Jennie McGraw.who was born in Dryden, N.Y., in September, 1840; acquired her education in the schools at Canandaigua antl in Westchester county. NY., and by several trips to Europe; and died in 1881, bequeathing the bulk of her estate to Cornell university. Her will, however, failed to be carried out. As a memorial to her mother, the daughter of John Southworth, she gave §30,000 for the building, support and maintenance of a public librarj' in the village of Dryden, which was called the Southworth library. Professor Fiske received the degree of A.M. from Hamilton in 18.56, and that of Ph.D. from the University of Upsala in 1852. In 1883 he resigned from Cornell and made his permanent residence in Florence, Italy. He made (1892-96) the large^it known collection of books relating to Dante (7000 vols.) which he presented to Cornell university, and printed at Florence a series of "Bibliographical Notices." He published (1893-98) a great number of edu- cational and other tracts intended to bring about the application of a modifie<:l Latin alphabet to the spoken Arabic dialect of Eg}-pt and the use of the spoken language as a literary medium.

FISKE, Harrison Qrey, editor and playwright, w;is Ixirn in Harrison, Westchester count)', N. Y., July 30, lS61;son of Lyman and Jane M. (Durfee) Fiske; grandson of William H. and Lois (Wales) Fiske; and a descendant of the Rev. Jolm Fiske, who was born in Suffolk county, England, in 1619, and immigrated to America, settling in Water- town, Mass., in 1643. He was prepared for col- lege under private tutors and entered the University of the city of New York with the class of 1881, but left after his sophomore year, and in 1879 entered journalism as editor and publisher of the Neic York Dramatic Mirror. He was sec- retary of the Actors" fund of America, 1885-88: tnLstee of the same from 1894; secretary of the Goethe society of New York city. 1890-94; and director of the American dramati.st's club. 1K07- 98 On March 19 1890, he was married to Marv

Augusta, daughter of Thomas Davey of Detroit, Mich. She had staiTed for several years under the name Minnie Maddern, and afterward became well known as Minnie Maddern Fiske. Mr. Fiske is the author of the following plays: Fontenelle (1892); Hester Crewe (1893); The District Attorney (1895); The Privateer (1897); 3Iarie Deloche (1895); ,1 Whitf Pink (1895); and Divorrons (1896); the last thriiMi named being adaptations.

FISKE, John, historian, was born in Hartford, Comi. , March 30, 1842; .son of Edmund Brevi-ster and Mary Fiske (Boxmd ) Green; grandson of Hum- phreys and Hannah (Heaton) Green of Delaware, and of John and Jlary (Fiske) Bound of Middle- town, Conn., and a descendant from Phineas Fiske of Fressingfield, Suf- folk, England, who came to America in 1641 and settled in Wenham, Mass. His name was originally Edmund Fiske Green, and in 1855, on the marriage of his wid- owed mother to Ed- win W. .Stoughton, he took the name of his maternal great- grandfather, John Fiske. He

brought up maternal gi-and

mother, who lived at Middletown, Conn., and displayed great precocity as well as diligence in preparing himself for college. He had mastered Euclid, algebra, trigonometry, surveying and navigation at twelve, could read Plato and Herod- otus and had begim German at fifteen, could read Spanish, French. Italian and Portuguese at seventeen, and made a beginning in San.scrit and Hebrew at eighteen, meanwhile continuing an incessant course of reading. He was grad- uated at Harvard in arts in 1863, and in law in 1865, having been admitted to the Suffolk bar in 1864. He was married in 1864 to Abby, daughter of Aaron Brooks of Petersham, Mass. He never practised law, devoting himself to literature, gaining position as an author from the publica- tion of his first article in the Xationnl Quarterly Review in 1861. a review of Buckle's "History of Civilization, " which won for him the consid- eration of editors of both American and English periodicals, and he became a frequent contribu- tor to the leading magazines and reviews. He was university lecturer at Harvard, 1869-71, his subjects being "Positive Philosophy" and the " Doctrine of Evolution." He was instructor in history there, 1^70; assistant librarian. 1872-79; and overseer, 1879-91. He was non-resident lee-

by his (^^y^m/iA/^Mdlo