Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 08.djvu/334

 PICKENS

PICKERING

Rebecca Calhoun, was married to John E. Bacon of Edgefield, at that time secretary of legation. As governor of South Carolina, 1858-60, he demanded the surrender of Fort Sumter from Major Anderson and gave the order to tire upon the Stur of the West. He died at Edgewood, Edgefield district, S.C, Jan. 25, 1S09.

PICKENS, Israel, governor of Alabama, was born in Cabarrus county, N.C., Jan. 30, 1780; son of Samuel Pickens, an oflicer in the American army. 1776-8-1. He was graduated in 1802 with the fii-st class that left Jelferson college. Canons- burg, Pa., and he settled in the practice of law in Burke county, N.C. He was a mem- ber of the house of commons of North Carolina in 1807, state senator in 1809, and Democratic representative from the twelfth North Car- olina district in the 12th, 13th and 14th congresses, 1811-17. He was appointed register of the land ofiiceat St. Stephens, Mississippi Territory, which included the present state of Alabama, in 1817, and represented Washington county in the con- vention that framed the Alabama constitution in 1819. He was governor of Alabama, 1821-25; was appointed to the U.S. senate from Alabama to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Henry Chambers, and served, April to December, 1826, and was appointed U.S. district judge for Ala- bama by President Adams in 1827, but declined on account of ill health. He died in Matanzas, Cuba, W.I., April 24, 1827.

PICKERING, Charles, naturalist, was born at Starrucca, Susquehanna county, Pa., Nov. 10, 1805; sou of Timothy and Lurena (Cole) Picker- ing; grandson of Zebulon and Sarah (Hart) Cole, and of Timothy Pickering (q.v.). Charles was taken by his grandfather, Timothy Pickering, to Wenham, and later to Salem, Mass., where he prepared for college, entering Harvard with the class of 1823. He did not complete his course in arts but was graduated in medicine in 1826, and in 1827 began practice in Philadel- phia, Pa., some years later removing to Bos- ton, Mass. He was married to Sarah Stoddard, daughter of Daniel and Sally (Stoddard) Ham- mond. He devoted much of his time to the study of natural science and was naturalist to the Wilkes exploring expedition of 1838-42. In 1843-45 he traveled in Egypt, Arabia, eastern Africa and western and northern India. Harvard conferred upon him the degree of A.B. in 1849 and that of A.M., in 1H50, placing his name on the records with the class of 1823. He was a member of tiie American Oriental society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosopliical society and the Academy

of Natural Sciences in riiihidelphia. He is the author of: The Races of Mcai and their Geoffvaphi- eal Distribution (1848); Geographical Distribution of Animals and Plants (1854); Geographical Dis- tribution of Plants (1801); Plants and Animals in their Wild State (1870); Chronological History of Plants: Man's Record of his own Existence Illustrated through their Names, Uses and Com- panionship (1879). He died in Boston, Mass., March 17, 1878.

PICKERING, Charles Whipple, naval officer, was born in I'ortsmoulli, N.H., Dec. 23, 1815, He joined the U.S. navy as midshipman, May 22, 1822; was promoted lieutenant, Dec. 8, 1838; commander, Sept. 14, 1855; captain, July 15, 1862, and com- modore, Dec. 8, 1807. He was executive offi- cer of the Cyane,

and conveyed _ -^ _:». » - the Strain sur- * r^ x ~^ -5 z-^^^^-^'' veying party to ^^

the Isthmus of "'SS. kearsarce..

Darien in 1854. He was ordered to Greytown, Nicaragua, to investigate the treatment of Ameri- can citizens, and finding it outrageous, he bom- barded the town and completely reduced it in four hours. He was inspector of a liglit-house district near Key West, Florida; was the first to command the U.S.S. Kearsarge, and was trans- ferred to the Housatonic, commanding that ves- sel when she was sunk by a submarine torpedo near Charleston, S.C, Feb. 17, 1865. He later commanded the Vanderbilt; was ordered to the Portsmouth navy yard in 1865, and was retired, Feb. 1, 1867. He died in St. Augustine, Fla., Feb. 29. 1888.

PICKERING, Edward Charles, astronomer, was born in Boston, Mass., July 19, 1846; son of Edward and Charlotte (Hammond) Pickering; grandson of Timothy and Lurena (Cole) Picker- ing and of Daniel and Sally (Stoddard) Hammond, and great-grandson of Timothy Pickering (q.v.). He prepared for college at the Boston Latin school; was graduated from the Lawrence Scientific school. Harvard, in 1865; was in.structor of mathematics there, 1865-67; and Thayer profes- sor of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1807-77. He was married, IMarcii 9, 1874, to Lizzie Wadsworth, daughter of Jared and Mary (Silsbee) Sparks of Cambridge, Mass. He established the pliysical laboratory at the Institute of Teclinology, which was the first of its kind in the United States, and made a special study of light and spectra of the stars. He was director and Phillips professor of astronomy at the astronomical observatory at Harvard, 1876- 87, was elected director and Paine professor of