Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 04.djvu/419

 GREENE

GREENE

entific study and literaiy work, directing his attention mainly to etymologic and ethnographic studies after 1887. He edited Lippincotfs Gazet- teer (1879) ; Worcester's New School Dictionary (1883) ; and Lippincotfs Biographical Dictionary (188C) ; and is the author of Animals; Their Somes and Habits (1886); llirds ; Their Homes and Habits (1880); and numerous contributions to periodicals and encyclopa'dias.

GREENE, Christopher, soldier, was born in Warnick. R.I., May 13, 1737; son of Philip Greene, .judge of the court of common i)leas of Kent county. 17.59-84; and a de.scendant of John Green, the first settler in America by that name. Christopher received a good education and repre- sented his town in the colonial legisla- ture, 1770-72. He was elected a lieutenant of the Kentish Guards on its organization and in May, 1775, was made major in the army of observation commanded by Gen. Nathanael Greene. He entered the Conti- nental service as cap- tain of a company of infantry and he was taken ])risoner while leading an assault at Quebec under Montgomer}-. After a long impris- onment he was exchanged and was made major of the regiment commanded by Gen. J. M. Var- nuni and in 1777 received command of a regi- ment and of Fort Mercer on the Delaware which he defended against a superior force of Hessian soldiers, and for this action, Nov. 4, 1777, he was voted a sword by congress. He was on detached service under Gen. John Sullivan in Rhode Island in 1778 and in 1781 while in the advance of the Continental army he was surprised by a bodj' of Tories under Colonel DeLancey and after defending himself valiantly for some time at the cost of several Tory lives he was overpowered and slain. He was married to Anne Lippitt, who with three sons and four daughters, sur- vived him. He died at Croton River, We.st- chester county, N.Y., May 13, 1781.

QREENE, Dascom, educator, was born in Richmond, Ontario county, N.Y., June l.'j, 182.'); son of Benoni and Oracy (Clark), grandson of Moses and Jerusha (Wiswall). great-grandson of Isaac Adams and Hannah (Pierce), great^ grand- son of Samuel and great* grandson of Benjamin Greene. His ancestors were from New England and he descended on the maternal side from Col. William Clark of the Revolutionary army. Dur-

ing his years in school he became impressed by the glaring defects in the methods of instruction then prevalent, and his views on that subject were afterward embodied in a series of articles on science teaching published in 1855, in which he suggested some of the improvements in methods of elementary instruction afterward adopted. His interest in that subject led him to enter upon a course of study at the Rensselaer Polytechnic institute, Troy, N.Y., the pioneer institution in the United States in the use of practical methods in higher education. He was graduated at the Institute in 1853, was assistant in mathematics, 1853-55, professor of mathe- matics and astronomy for thirty-eight years, 1855-93, and was made professor emeritus in 1893. From 1864 till the time of his resignation he served as librarian of the institute. In 1868 he became a member of the American a.ssocia- tion for the advancement of science. He declined an appointment to the chair of mathematics and astronomy in Lehigh university in 1874, and an informal offer of a like position at Cornell uni- versity in 1875. He was married in 1859 to Sara Irene Parsons of Utica, N.Y., who died in 1861, and their only son, William, died in 1864. He was married in 1866 to Elvira Dickerman of Troy, N.Y. Professor Greene is the author of a te.Kt-book on Spherical and Practical Astronnmii (1S!)1 1: Iiifr,/riil Calculus (ISm). Hedied in Troy. N.Y., AiiT. 0, I'JOO.

QREENE, Edward Lee, botanist, was born at Hopkinton, R.I., Aug. 20, 1843: son of William Maxson and Abby Maria (Crandall) Greene; grandson of the Rev. John Greene, a well-known evangelist in New England and New York in the early part of the 19th century; and a descendant of John Greene who came from England and set- tled in Rhode Island in 1643. He was gi-aduated from Albion college. Wis., Ph.B. in 1866. He was instructor in botany and German at Albion academy. Wis., in 1868; was ordained to the Episcopal ministry in 1871, and was instructor in botany at Jarvis Hall, Golden City, Col., 1871- 73; and rector of churches at Greeley, Pueblo and Georgetown, Col., and at Berkeley, Cal., until 1882. He was a lecturer in botany at the University of California. 1882-83; and in 1885 he renounced the Episcopal ministry and became a Roman Catholic laj'man. He was instructor in botany, 188.5-87; assistant professor of botany, 1887-88; as.sociate professor of botany, 1888-90; and professor of botany, 1890-95, at the Univer- sity of California; and was made professor of botany at the Catholic universitj' of America at Washington, D.C., in 1895. He established the Pittonia in 1887, and the Erythea in 1893. He received the degree of LL.D. from the University of Notre Dame, Ind., in 1895. Ilis