Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 06.djvu/434

 LESTER

LESUEUR

ediderunt W. S. Sullivant et L. Lesquererix (1856 ; 2d ed., 1865). He also assisted Mr. Sullivant in the preparation of the latter's works on the mosses of the Wilkes South Pacific exploring expedition, Whipple's Pacific Railroad exploration, and the Icones Muscorum. In 1850 be began his practical I'esearches in the coal formations of the United States, examining the coal strata of Ohio, Ken- tucky, Illinois, Arkansas and Pennsylvania, and adding memoirs to the state geological surveys. His work in this field is said to have been his most important contriVjution to science. He became a member or officer in the principal scientific societies in the United States and Europe, and in 1864 veas elected the first member of the National Academy of Sciences. He was a close friend and correspondent of all the leading paleontologists of Europe and America. The degree of LL.D. was given him by Marietta college in 1875. His published works include : Catalogue of the Mosses of Stvitzerland, and Memoirs (1840) ; Letters Written on Germany (1856) ; Letters Written on America (1847-55) ; Icones Muscorum (1864); Catalogue of the Fossil Plants which have been Named or Described from the Coal-Measures of North America (1858) ; On Land Plants in the Lower Silurian (1874); The Tertiary Flora (1877) ; The Coal Flora (3 vols, with atlas, 1880-84) ; Manual of the Mosses of North America, with Thomas P. James (1884) ; Remarks on some Fossil Remains Considered as Marine Plants (1890); Tlie Flora of the Dakota Group (edited by F. H. Knowlton (1891), and many memoirs, his works approximating fifty publications. He died at Columbus, Ohio, Oct. 25, 1889.

LESTER, Charles Edwards, author, was born in Griswold, Conn., July 15, 1815. He was ma- ternally a descendant of Jonathan Edwards. After receiving a thorough classical education he travelled in the south and west, studied law for one year in Mississippi, but abandoned law for the ministry, and was a student at Auburn Theological seminary, 1835-36. He was pastor of a Congre- gational church at Liverpool, N.Y., in 1837, but on account of weak lungs gave \i\) the ministry and went abroad in search of health. He visited Great Britain in 1840, as one of the Ameri- can delegates to the Exeter Hall Anti-slavery con- vention ; was U.S. Consul at Genoa, Italy, 1842-47, and then returned to New York city and engaged in literary work until a short time before his death. He edited various journals and magazines, and is the author of : The Mountain Wild Flower (1838); The Glory and Shame of England (2 vols., 1841); Condition and Fate of England (2 vols., 1843) ; The Artist, Merchant a)id Statesman (1845) ; Life and Voyages of Americus Vcsjnirius (1846); Artists in America (1846) ; My Considshij) {2 vols.,

1851); The Napoleon Dynasty (1852); Life and Public Services of Charles Sumner (1874); Our First Hundred Years (1874) ; America's Advance- ment (1878); The Mexican Republic (1878); His- tory of the United States (2 vols., 1883); Life and Achievements of Sam Houston (1883). His trans- lations include: Alfieri's Autobiography (1845); Massimo d'Azeglio's Challenge of Barletta (1845); Machiavelli's Florentine Histories (1845); Ausaldo Ceba's Citizens of a Reimblic (1845). He died in Detroit, Mich., Jan, 29, 1S90.

LESTER, Posey Qreen, representative, was born in Floyd county, Va., March 12, 1850. He remained on his father's farm until 1870, attend- ing the district school in winter, and completed his education in the public school after 1870. He taught for a time in a literary and vocal school, and became an Old-School Baptist preacher in 1876. He travelled and preached in eighteen states. He was a Democratic rei^resentative from the fifth Virginia district in the 51st and 52d congresses, 1889-93. He became in 1883 an asso- ciate editor of Zion's Landmark, an Old-School Baptist monthly established by D. P. Gold, Wil- son, N.C., and also assisted in the publication of a hymn and tune book for use in the Old-School Baptist church.

LESTER, Rufus Ezekiel, representative, was born in Burke county, Ga., Dec. 12, 1837 ; son of Ezekiel and Mary (Lewis) Lester, and grandson of Ezekiel and Elizabeth (Stringer) Lester and of John and Mary (Warnock) Lewis. He was grad- uated from Mercer university, A.B., 1857, A.M., 1860 ; was admitted to the bar in 1859 and prac- tised law in Savannah. In 1861 he entered the service of the Confederate States, rem;iining in the army until the surrender of Appomatox, when he resumed his practice at Savannah. He was state senator from the first district of Georgia, 1870-79 ; president of the Georgia senate, 1876- 79 ; mayor of Savannah. 1883-89, and a Democratic representative from the first district of Georgia in the 51st, 52d, 53d, 54th, 55th, 56th, 57th and 58th congresses, 1889-1905.

LESUEUR, Charles Alexander, ichthyologist, was born at Havre-de-Grace. France, Jan. 1, 1778 ; son of Jean Baptiste Denis Lesueur, an officer of the admiralt}'. He was educated in the schools of France, and developed marked artistic ability. He accompanied the French government expedi- tion of scientific discover}' to the southern part of the eastern hemisphere, 1800-04, and illustrated the private journal of Nicholas Baudin, com- mander of the expedition. Lesueur and Dr. Peron, the zoSlogist, were the only members of the expedition who returned, and their reports showed that the results of the expedition had been the discovery of nearly 2500 new species of fishes. Lesueur came to the United States in 1816, and