Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 08.djvu/194

 PAINTER

PALFREY

member of the coiavention of France. While in the convention he tried to save the life of Louis XVI. by voting for his detention until the close of the war, and upon the accession of the Jacobin party he was denounced, shut out of the convention and was arrested, Dec. 27, 1793, narrowly escaping the guillotine. While dail}' expecting arrest, he wrote the third of his famous books. "The Age of Reason." He was released in 1794, and in September, 1802, left France for the United States. Although anticipa- ting a cordial welcome in the States, his "Age of Reason " had stirred up a strong feeling against him. He took no active part in politics after his return and resided in Xew York at the home of Madame Bonneville until his death. By his own request, his body was buried on his farm at New Rochelle. It was subsequently removed to Eng- land by William Cobbett, the English radical, and finally found sepulture in France. He died in New York city. June 8, 1809.

PAINTER, Franklin Verzelius Newton, author, was born in Hampshire county, Va., April 12, 1852 ; son of Israel and Juliana (Wilson) Painter, and grandson of John Painter and of Isaac N. Wilson, the former of German and the latter of Scotch descent. His boyhood was spent at West Union, now Aurora, W.Va. He was graduated with first honor from Roanoke college, Salem. Va., A.B., 1874, A.M.. 1877, and from the Theological seminary, Salem, in 1878, and was ordained to the ministry of the Lutheran church in 1878. He was married, Aug. 9. 1875, to Laura Trimble Shickel of Salem. He studied in Paris and Bonn, 1882, and was appointed professor of modern languages at Roanoke college in 1882. He was a member of the Modern Language Association of America, and his paper advocat- ing a modern classical course in American colleges was formally approved by that organiza- tion in 1884. The degree of D.D. was conferred on him by Pennsylvania college in 1895. He established the Virginia Teachers' Reading association in 1885, and is the author of : A History of Educntion (1886); Luther on Educa- tion (1889); History of Christian Worshijy (with Prof. J. W. Richard, 1891); Introduction to English Literature (1894); Introduction to Ameri- can Literature (1897); A History of English Literature (1900); Lyrical Vignettes (1900); TJie Reformation Daxrn (1901), and contributions to periodicals.

PALFREY, John Qorham, liistorian, was born in Boston, Mass., May 2, 1796; son of John and Mary (Gorham) Palfrey ; grandson of William (1741-1780) and Susan (Cazneau) Palfrey, and a descendant, probably, of Peter Palfrey, Salem, 1626. His grandfather was a paymaster-general in the Continental army, and was appointed consul-

general to France in 1780 by the unanimous vote of congress, but was lost on the voyage out. John Gorham Palfrey fitted for college at Phillips academy, Exeter, N.H., and was graduated from Harvard, A.B., 1815, A.M., 1818. He studied theology at Harvard, and was ordained pastor of the Brattle Square Unitarian church in Boston in 1818 to succeed Edward Everett. He resigned his pastorate in 1830 to accept the Dexter chair of sacred literature at Harvard. In conjunction with his professorship, he became editor of the North American Review, with which he was con- nected until 1843 ; was dean of the theological faculty, and one of the preachers in the university chapel. He resigned his professorship in 1839 to give more attention to the North American Re- view, and removed to Boston, returning to Cam- bridge in 1843. He was a representative in the state legislature, 1842-43 ; secretary of the com- monwealth, 1844-48 ; a representative in the 30th congress, 1847-49, and postmaster of the city of Boston, 1861-67. He represented the United States in the Antislaverj' congress held at Paris in 1867, and on his return to his home, Cambridge, Mass., devoted himself to literary pursuits. He delivered a series of eight lectures on the Evi- dences of Christianity before the Lowell Institute, 1840-42 ; contributed a series of antislavery articles to the Boston TTJiig, and was a member of the editorial staflf of the Boston Commomcealth. The honorary degree of S.T.D. was conferred on him by Harvard in 1834, and that of LL.D. in 1839, and by St. Andrews, Scotland, 1838. He was at one time a member of the Massachusetts Historical society. He is the author of two dis- courses on the "History of Brattle Street Church," and "Oration at Barnstaple Centennial, 1831"; papers on slave power; "Life of Col. William Palfrey, in Vol. VII., 2d series, Sparks's " Amer- ican Biography;" a "Review of Lord Mahon's History of England," in North American Re- view ; Academical Lectures on the Jewish Scriptures and Antiquities (4 vols., 1833-52); Ele- ments of Chaldee, Syriae, Samaritan and Rab- binical Grammar (1835); Evidences of Christian- ity (Lowell lectures, 2 vols., 1843); Relation be- tween Judaism and Cliristianity (1854); History of New England (5 vols., 1858). He was married in 1823 to Mary Ann Hammond (1799-1897), and their children, Francis Winthrop Palfrey (1831- 1889), and John Carver Palfrey, born in 1833, be- came brigadier-generals by brevet in tlie volunteer army, 1861-65, each contributing valuable papers on the history of the civil war ; their daughter, Sara Hammond Palfrey (q.v.), resided in Cam- bridge in 1902. His name in " Class A," re- ceived one vote for a place in the Hall of Fame for Great Americans, New York university, Oc- tober, 1900. He died in Cambridge, April 36, 1881.