Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 06.djvu/424

 LEIGH

LEISLER

weight, confirming Leidy's theory that the tex- ture of the brain and not the size is the measure of intellectual power. He died in Philadelphia, Pa., April 30, 1891.

LEIQH, Benjamin Watkins, senator, was born in Chesterfield county, Va., June 18, 1781. He was graduated from William and Mary college in 1803; was admitted to the bar and practised in Petersburg, Va., 1802-13. He was a representa- tive in the state legislature from Petersburg, and presented resolutions, asserting the right of the legislature to instruct the U.S. senators from Virginia. He removed to Richmond, Va., where he continued his law practice; was one of the commissioners to revise the statutes of Virginia; was sent to Kentucky as a commissioner to consult with Henry Clay, representing that state, concerning the " occupying claimants " law, which resulted in an agreement that threatened to annul the title held by Virginia to lands in Kentucky. He was a member of the state con- stitutional convention of 1829-30, was a reporter of the court of appeals of the state, 1829-41 and in 1833 was appointed to the U.S. senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of William C. Rives. He was elected in 1835 for a full sena- torial term, but resigned in July, 1836. The degree of LL.D. was conferred on him by the College of William and Mary in 1835. He pub- lished Reports of Cases in the Court of Appeals and in the General Court of Virginia (1830-44). He died in Richmond, Va., Feb. 2, 1849,

LEIQH, Hezekiah Gilbert, clergyman, was born in Perquimans county, N.C., Nov. 23, 1795. He was a cousin of Senator Benjamin W. Leigh <q.v.). He attended school at Murfreesboro,N.C., and was a teacher for two years. He settled in Boyd- ton, Va., where he condvict- ed a farm. He joined the Virginia conference of the Methodist Episcopal church in 1818, and was a prominent clergyman in Virginia and North Carolina, 1818-53. With Gabriel P. Dis- osway he planned and founded Randolph-Ma- con college in Boydton, Va., named for John Randolph of Virginia and Nathaniel Macon of North Carolina, who lived on opposite banks of the Roanoke and were prominent in their re- spective states. He was a member of the se- lect committee which framed the constitution for the college; was an original trustee, was the first agent and a member of the building committee. He was an organizer of the Metho- dist Episcopal cliurch, south, in 1849. The hon- orary degree of LL.D. was conferred on him by Randolph-Macon college in 1858. He died in Boydton. Va., Sept. 18, 1858.

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LEIQHTON, Nicholas Winfield Scott, painter, was born in Auburn, Maine. He attended the public schools of Gray, Maine, and while at school devoted much of his time to drawing pictures of animals. He earned $2000 in tliree years by horse trading, and removed to Portland, Maine, w^hen seventeen years old and established a studio as an animal painter. The patronage in Portland did not support him and he removed to Provi- dence, R.I., where he engaged in the artistic furniture trade for a short time, and then return- ed to painting, visiting different cities. He finally settled in Boston, Mass., where he studied art and soon became widely known as an animal painter and as the " Landseer of America." He was admitted to membership in the Boston Art club, the Paint and Clay club and other organi- zations. Among his more important paintings are: Here they Come; In the Stable; On the Road; Waiting; The Fearnaught Stallion; Three Veterans; Dogs; Smuggler; The Pets; Ready for Work; Saddled and Bridled; At the Trough; Stable Scene; Sketch from Nature; A Dry Feed; By the Spring; Salting Horses; Sheepford; At the Castle Gate; Towser; Study of a Bull; Study at Claremont, N.H.; A Winter Morning; Stxidy of a Pig; Waiting in the Cold; Sleighing Scene; The Auction; Shut In. A large number of his paint- ings were exhibited and sold in Boston, Mass., after his death. He died at the McLean hospital, Waverly, Mass., Jan. 17, 1898.

LEIQHTON, William, author, was born in Cambridge, Mass., June 23, 1833; son of William and Mary (Needham) Leighton; grandson of Thomas and Anne Leighton, born at Newcastle, England, and came to Cambridge, Mass., in 1825; and of Jasper and Mary Needham. His maternal ancestor came from England to Danvers, Mass., in 1630. He removed with his parents to Con- cord, Mass., in 1838, and was graduated at Har- vard, S.B., 1855. He engaged in the manufacture of glass, first in Massachusetts and after 1868 at Wheeling, W.Va., where he conducted the busi- ness for twenty years. He is the author of nu- merous lyric and dramatic poems and jjrose essays including: Kormak, an Icelandic Romance of the Tenth Century (1860); So7is of Godwin (1876); At the Coxirt of King Edwin (1877); Change: The Whisper of the Sphinx (1879); Shakespeare's Dream and other Poems (1881); The Price of the Present Paid by the Past (1883); a poem read at the unveiling of the Soldiers' Monument at Wheeling, W. Va.; A Sketch of Shakespeare, prose (1874); The Subjugation of Hamlet, prose (1884), and Poems written 1841-90.

LEISLER, Jacob, provisional lieutenant-gov- ernor of New York, was born probably at Frank- fort-on-Main, Germany. He came to New Am- sterdam as a soldier in the service of the Dutch