Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 06.djvu/357

 LARNED

LARNED

LARNED, Augusta, author, was bora in Rut- laiul, N.Y., April 10, 1835: daughter of Zebedee and Sarah Ann (Etheridge) Earned; grand- daughter of Benjamin Earned, and of Nathaniel Etheridge and a descendant of William Lamed or Learned, who came from England and settled in Charlestown, Mass., about 1G35, and was one of the founders of the First Church at Charlestown. After attsnding the local seminaries of her native section she was graduated at Spingler institute, New York cit}', where she became a newpapcr contributor of both prose and verse. She became the regular New York corresjiondent of the Chris- tian liegister, of Boston, Mass., contributed to the New York Evening Post, and edited the Revolu- tion, a journal conducted by the women allied to the woman's rights cause in 1870-71. Her orig- inal contributions to magazines were re-issued as Home Stories (6 vols., 1872-78), and she is also the author of: Talks ivith Girls (1873); Old Tales Retold from Grecian Mythologij (IS^b); The Norse Grandmother (1880); Village Photographs (1887); In Woods and Fields (1895).

LARNED, Charles William, soldier and edu- cator, was born in New York city, March 9, 1850 ; son of William and IMary (Sherwood) Earned ; grandson of Dr. Henry Hall Sherwood and of John Smith Earned, and a descendant of Samuel Earned, a lieutenant in the colonial wars, and of W^illiam Earned, major in the Continental army in the Revolution. He was appointed to the U.S. Military academy from Illinois in 18G6 and was graduated and promoted 2d lieutenant in the 3d cavalry, June 15, 1870. He was transferred to the 7tli cavalry, Oct. 10, 1870, served with his regiment in Kentucky and the northwest ; was with Custer in the Stanley expedition of 1873, against the Sioux, and in fight at the mouth of Big Horn river ; was assistant professor of draw- ing at the U.S. Military academy, 187-1-7G ; was promoted 1st lieutenant, June 25, 1876, and was made professor of drawing at the military acad- demy, July 25, 1876, with the pay of colonel, which position he accepted, Aug. 14, 1876. He was elected a member of the American Philo- logical association ; the New York Architectural league ; the Society of American Wars ; the Cen- tuiy association ; the Union League club ; the Seventh Cavalry Mess, and the West Point Army Mess. He is the author of articles upon art and education pul)lished in various periodicals.

LARNED, Ebenezer, soldier, was born at Ox- ford, Mass., April 18, 1728 ; son of Col. Ebenezer Earned. He was a captain of rangers during the French and Indian war, and when the news of the distress of the garrison at Fort William Hemy reached him at Fort Edward in 1757, he marciied his rangers to their relief. He was a delegate to the provincial congress that met at Concord,

Mass., in 1774 ; organized a regiment of militia in Worcester county for eight months' service in 1775, and reached Cambridge, Mass., just after the battle of Lexington. He led his regiment in the battle of Buidcor Hill, June 17, 1775; and when the British raised the siege of Boston, he was the first to enter the city, unbarring the gates with his own hands. He was disabled at Dorchester and was ab-sent from the army for nearly a year. In April, 1777, he was appointed brigadier-general by the Continental congress, and commanded a brigade at Saratoga, greatly distinguishing him- self at Stillwater in October, 1777, where he was the first officer to gain entrance to the British stronghold. He served as chairman of the con- vention of 1789, that ratified the Federal constitu- tion. He died at Oxford, Mass., April 1, 1801.

LARNED, Joseph Gay Eaton, lawyer, was born in Thompson, Conn., April 29, 1819; son of George and Anna S. (Gay) Earned : grandson of Gen. Daniel and Rebekah (AVilkinson) Earned, and a descendantof William and Goodith Earned, who came to Charlestown, Mass., in 1682. He was graduated from Yale in 1839 ; taught school in Savannah, Ga., and Charleston, S.C., during the following eight months, and at the same time studied law. He taught school at Waterloo, N.Y,, for a short time, and was a tutor at Yale, 1842-47, and while there, in 1845, organ- ized with others the Free-soil party. He was ad- mitted to the bar in 1847, settled in practice in New Haven, Conn., and in 1852 removed to New York city, where his knowledge of patent law aided him in the development of a number of in- ventions in which he was interested. He was the principal inventor of a steam fire engine which was the first used in the city of New York. In 1855 he engaged in the manufacture of these engines, but met with great resistance in intro- ducing them. He was appointed assistant in- spector of iron clads by the U.S. government in .1863, and served in the Brooklyn navj- yard as supervisor of work until the close of the war in 1865. He returned to the practice of his profes- sion in New York city, and engaged in collecting and compiling genealogical records of his ances- tors in which his sister, Ellen Douglass Earned, author of "History of Windham County " (1874), and " Historical Gleanings of Windham County " (1899), was interested, and from which "The Learned Family " (1882), by "William E. Learned was written. He also contributed a .series of articles entitled Massachusetts vs. South Caro- lina, to the New Englandcr in 1845. He died in New Yoik city. June n. 1S70.

LARNED, William Augustus, educator, was born in Thompson, Conn., June 23, 1806 ; son of George and Anna Dorinda (Brown) Earned, and grandson of Gen, Daniel and Rebekah (Wilkinson)