Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 08.djvu/363

 PITKIN

PITTENGER

in 1829. He is the author of : Statistical Vieio of Commerce of the United States of America (1816, 3d ed. 1835) ; A Political and Civil Histoid of the United States of America from the Year 17Go to the Close of Washington's Administration {2 vols., 1828), of which he left a continuation in MS., bringing it down to the close of his public career. He died in New Haven, Conn., Dec. 18, 1847,

PITKIN, William, governor of Connecticut, was born in Hartford, Conn., April 30, 1694; son of William (1664-1723) and Elizabeth (Stanley) Pitkin, grandson of William (163.'i-1694) and Hannah (Goodwin) Pitkin, and of Capt. Caleb and Hannah (Cowles) Stanley. His father, a noted jurist, prepared him for the law, and in 1715 he became town collector. He was married to Mary, daughter of the Rev. Timothy and Mabel (Wyllys) Woodbridge of Hartford, Conn, He represented Hartford in the colonial assem- bly, 1728-34, serving as speaker in 1732; was captain in the colo- nial militia in 1730 and colonel in 1739 ; was a member of the colonial council' 1734 ; judge of the county court, 1735-41 ; judge of the superior court. 1741-54 ; and chief justice, 1754-66 ; lieu- tenant-governor of Connecticut. 1754-66 ; and a delegate to the Albany convention of June 19, 1754, where he was chosen a member of the com- mittee to prepare a plan of colonial union. He was the first to resist the " stamp act," 1765, re- fusing with Governor Fitch and the members of his council to take the oath to support it. He was governor of Connecticut, 1766-69, defeating Governor Fitch by a majority so great that the votes were not counted. Jonathan Trumbull was at the same time elected lieutenant-governor, and succeeded to the governorship. Governor Pitkin died in East Hartford, Conn., Oct. 1, 1769. PITKIN, William, jurist, was born in Hart- ford, Conn., in 1725 ; son of Governor William and Mary (Woodbridge) Pitkin. He was edu- cated for the law, and in 1758 was appointed major of the Connecticut forces, raised for the expedition against Canada, and served through the campaign under General Abercrombie. He was married to Abigail, daughter of James and Abigail (Stanley) Ciuirch. He was appointed colonel of militia in 1762. was a member of the Connecticut council, 1766-85, and a member of the council of safety, 1775-84. He was judge of the state superior court for nineteen years, judge of the supreme court, 1784-89, and chief justice in 1789, and was a delegate to the convention that ratified the constitution of the United States in 1788. and signed the instrument. He began to manufacture gunpowder for the Revo- lutionary war in 1775, in the mills owned by his

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father and uncle, where the iron industries had been prohibited by the British in 1750. He died in Hartford, Conn., Dec. 12. 1789.

PITMAN, Benn, educator and author, was born in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England, July 24, 1822 ; son of Samuel and Mariah Pitman, He was educated in Trowbridge, and in 1837 as- sisted his brother, afterward Sir Isaac Pitman, in perfecting his system _

of phonography. He ^

taught in his brother's ^'^ ^ ^^

academy; lectured on the system through- out Great Britain, 1843-52, and helped to compile the English text books. He was married in England in 1849, to Jane, sister of William Bragg, of the Sheffield Atlas Steel works, the first to develop the Besse- mer process of con- verting iron into steel ; and secondly, in 1882, to Adelaide, daugh- ter of Caleb B. Nourse of Cincinnati, Ohio. He came to the United States at the request of his brother in 1853, and lectured and taught phono- graphy first in Philadelphia. Pa., and then in Day- ton, Ohio, and finally located in Cincinnati, where he established the Phonographic institute, and became its president. He invented the electro- process of relief engraving in 1855, for which he was awarded a silver medal by the Cincinnati Mechanics Institute in 1857, and in 1867. in con- nection with Dr. J. B. Burns, succeeded in pro- ducing relief stereotype plates by the photo-gela- tine process. He served in the ranks during the early part of the civil war, and afterward as mili- tary recorder of state trials. He lectured on art and taught artistic wood carving in the Cincin- nati art academj', 1873-92. He edited and com- piled the printed reports of the state trials which he reported, and is the author of: The Reporter's Companion (1854) ; Mamial of Phonography (1855) ; Phonographic Teacher (1857) ; History of Shorthand (1858); A Plea for American Deco- rative Art (1895); a Phonographic Dictionary, with Jerome B. Howard (1901) ; and Sir Isaac Pitman's Life and Labors (1902).

PITTENGER, William, author, was born in Knoxville, Ohio. Jan. 31, 1840, son of Tliomas and Mary (Mills) Pittenger, and a grandson of William Pittenger and of Robert and Margaret (Stuart) Mills. He attended a scientific school in Princeton. N.J., 1875-76, and tlie school of elocution and oratory in Philadelphia, 1877-78. In April, 1861, he enlisted as a private in the 2d