Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 08.djvu/100

 XOKDHOFF

NORDICA

NORDHOFF, Charles, author and journalist, was bora in Erwitte, Wostphalia, Prussia, Aur. 31, 1830; son of Charles and Adellieid (Plate) Nordhoflf. His fatlier, an officer who won the "Waterloo medal under Blucher, resigned from the German armj- and immigrated to America in 1835, in order to have his sou educated under democratic institutions. Charles on the death of his father w;is left to the care of Dr. "William NastandDr. J. H. Pulte (q.v.) of Cincinnati. lie attended the public schools and "Woodward college; worked as a printer, 1843—44; served in the U.S. navj- on the old ship Columbus, 1844-47, and in the merchant marine and whale and mackerel fisheries, 1847-53, where he collected material for his books. He was engaged in newspaper work in Philadelphia, Pa., and Indian- apolis, Ind., 1853-57, was editorially connected with Harper & Bros., New York city, 1857-61, and on the staff of the New York Evening Post, 1861-71, where his vigorous editorials in that paper and subsequently in the New York Times were largely influential in the appointment of the committee of seventy and the overthrow of the Tweed ring. He traveled extensively in 1871-72; visited the Sandwich Islands in 1873, and in 1874 became attached to the staff of the New York Herald as an editorial writer and also as the special Washington correspondent. Upon his retirement from that paper in 1891 he made his home in Coronado, Cal. He was married in 1857 to Lida, daugliter of James anil Martha (Fallon) Letford, and their daughter, Evelyn Hunter Nordlioff (1863-1898), was an artist and the first woman to become an expert in artistic book-binding. He eilited an American edition of Kerns " Practical Landscajje Garden- ing" (1855), and "The Tin Trumpet," and is the author of: Man-of-War Life: a Boy's Ex- jierience in the U.S. Navy (1855); Tfie Mer- chant Vessel (1855); Wlialing ami Fishing (1856); Stories from the Island World (1857); Secession is Rebellion: the Union Indissolid)le (I860;; The Freedmen of Sordh Carolina: some Account of their Appearance, Character, Condition and Customs (1863); America for Free Working Men (1865); Cape Cod and All Along Shore; a Collection of Stories (1868); California for Health, Pleasure and Residence (1872); Northern California, Oregon and the Sandwich Islands (1874); Politics for Young Americans (1875), which was written for his young son, and adopted as a text-book in schools and translated into Boliemian and Spanish; 77/e Communistic Societies of the United States (1875), which wa.s translated into Russian and French; The Cotton States in the Spring and Summer of 1S75 (1876). He died in San Fran- cisco, Cal., July 14, 1901.

NORDICA, Lillian, prima donna, was born in Farmington, Maine, Dec. 12, 1859; daughter of Edwin and Amanda Elvira (Allen) Norton; granddaugliter of James Instance and Sarah (Smitli) Norton, and of the Rev. John and Annah (Hersey) Allen, and a descendant of Nicholas Norton of English descent, born in Weymoutli, Mass., and a resident of Duke's count}', Mass., as earl}' as 1609. She removed to Boston, Mass., with her parents in 1863, was educated in the public schools and studied vocal culture under John O'Neil at the New England Conservatory of Mu.sic, graduating in 1875. She sang in choirs and concerts and with the Handel and Haydn society, and studied for a sliort time under Madame Maretzek in New York. She went to Europe as the soloist of Gilmore's band in 1878, and sang at the Crystal Palace, London, and at the Trocadero in Paris. Slie studied under San Giovanni in Milan, Italy, with the determination to become an opera singer, and in six months had a repertory including ten operas. She made her debut in Brescia, Italy, in "La Traviata " in 1879; appeared as Alice in " Roberto " at Novara, Italy, in the same year, and sang the part of Marguerite in " Faust," 1880, She appeared in the operas " Rigoletto," "Faust" and "Lucia" at Aquilla, Italy; in "Mignon," " L'Af ricaine," " Le Nozze di Figaro," "Le Prophete," "Don Giovanni" and " Les Huguenots" in St. Peters- burg. Russia, in 1880, and in 1881 before Ambrose Tliomas and Van Corbeil, who engaged her for the grand opera in Paris. She sang the role of Marguerite in " Faust," in Paris in 1882; made a tour of the United States under Colonel Mapleson in 1883, and in Berlin and London in 1887, becom- ing a great favorite in the latter city, where she received the personal thanks of the Prince and Princess of Wales, and was commanded to sing before Queen "Victoria. She appeared in the Wagnerian role of Elsa in " Lohengrin" at Bey- reuth in 1894, joined the Abbey, Schoffel and Grau Opera company, with whom she made various tours of the United States, singing Elsa in " Lohengrin " and Isolde in "Tristan und Isolde." Her repertory in 1903 consisted of over forty operas and all the standard oratorios. She was decorated by the Duke of Edinburgh and the Duke of Saxe Coburg and Gotha, and also received the title of royal chamber singer, a brooch of precious stones from Queen Victoria, and a tiara of diamonds from the stockholders of the ]\Ietropolitan Opera House of New York city in 1896. She was married, Jan. 22, 1883. to Fred- eric Allen Gower, an aeronaut, who lost his life in 1886, in an attempt to cross the English chan- nel. In June, 1896, she was married to Zoltan Domd, a Hungarian. Madame Nordica was the first foreigner to sing at Beyreuth. and she