Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 08.djvu/419

 POYDRAS

PRANG

association ; was president of the Kintball Union Alumni Association of Massachusetts and of the Dartmouth club of Boston ; a member of the Pierce Light Guards and First Corps Cadets, and a life-member of the Veteran Cadet Corps, Mass- achusetts militia. He is the author of several Memorial Day orations.

POYDRAS DE LALANDE, Julien, delegate, was born in Nantes, Fi-ance, April 3, 1746. The young Protestant Frenchman went to Santo Domingo, and thence to Louisiana about 1761, and was disappointed when in 1763 the territory was transferred to Spain. He had sufficient capital to stock a pedlar's pack with salable goods, and he traveled through the outlying parishes of New Orleans, disposing of his wai'es. It svas not long before his possessions became numerous and his home a hospitable mansion where he entertained lavishly, numbering among his distinguished guests, the Duke of Orleans in 1798. He was delegate from the territory of Orleans to the lltli and 12th congresses, having succeeded Daniel Clark, and served from May 31, 1809, to the ad- mission of the state of Louisiana, April 30, 1812. His benefactions were princely for his time. He founded an asylum for orphan boys ; bequeathed $40,000 to the Charity Hospital, New Orleans ; gave $30,000 to establish a college for orphan boys in his parish of Pointe Coupee ; $30,000 to the parish of Baton Rouge, and $30,000 to the parish of Pointe Coupee, the annual interest to be given to young girls of the respective parishes without fortune, wlio should marry within the year. Before he died he made a fruitless effort to give freedom to his slaves. He is the author of : A Defence of the Right of the Public to the Batture of Neiu Orleans (1809); Farther Observa- tions in Support of the Rigid of the Public to the Batture of New Orleans (1809), and B.n Address to the Legislature on the same subject. He died at his home in the parish of Pointe Coupee, La., June 25, 1824.

POYNTER, Wniiam Amos, governor of Ne- braska, was born in Eureka, 111., May 29, 1848; son of the Rev. William Chapman and Huldah Jane (Watkins) Poynter ; grandson of John and Martha Poynter and of "War- ren and Nancy Watkins, and a descendant of English ancestors. He was graduated from Eureka college in 1867, and engaged in farming and stock growing in Albion, Neb. He was married, Oct. 13, 1869, to Maria, daughter of Joseph and Cynthia McCorkle of Eureka, 111. He was a representative in the Nebraska legislature, 1885; a state senator and president pro tempore of that body, 1891 ; the Independent candidate from the third congres-

sional district of Nebraska for representative in the 53d congress in 1893, and was defeated by George D. Meiklejohn, Republican ; a member of the Nebraska state commission for the Trans- Mississippi exposition, 1898 ; governor of Ne- braska, 1899-1901, and on Jan. 1, 1901, was elec- ted supreme commander of the American Order of Protection.

PRANG, Louis, art publisher, was born in Breslau, Germany, March 12, 1824 ; son of Louis Nicholas and Rosina (Scherman) Prang. He was educated in the public schools of Breslau, 1829-38, and in the latter year entered a factory, where he fitted to superintend the manufacture of print cloth. He was married Nov. 1, 1841, to Rosa Gerber of Berne, Switzerland. During 1844-48 he traveled through the manufacturing districts of Europe to study the varying methods of dyeing and calico printing, with a view to establishing a factory in Bohemia. He took part in the Revolutionary movement in Germany in 1848, and in consequence was forced to leave the country. In April, 1850. he settled in Boston, Mass., where, failing to obtain employment in his previous calling, he established himself fii'st as publisher of monumental drawings, and in 1851 as a wood engraver. In 1856 he opened a lithographic establishment under the firm name of Prang and Mayer, and in 1860 became the sole owner of the business, making a specialty of color printing and becoming prominent as the publisher of Christmas cards and other art pub- lications. He inaugurated the offering of prizes for original designs, and wielded a considerable influence in directing the public taste of America toward things artistic. He began the publica- tion of drawing books for the public schools in 1874, and organized the Prang Educational com- pany of Boston in 1881, to which this branch of his business was transferred. Mr. Prang made a lifelong study of color in relation to printing and to the arts in general. Probably his most important work in color printing was the making of the color plates illustrating Mr. W. T. Walters' Collection of Oriental Porcelains, published under the title : "Walters' Collection" (of Oriental pot- tery) (1899). In 1899 he retired from business, consolidating his lithographic establishment with another publishing house under the name of the Taber Prang Art company. He was married, secondly, April 15, 1900, to Mrs. Mary (Dana) Hicks of Boston, Mass. He is the author of: Tlie Prang Standard of Color (1898), and the joint author of Suggestions for Color Instruction (1893).

PRANG, Mary (Dana) Hicks, art educator, was born in Syracuse, N.Y., Oct. 7, 1836; daughter of Major and Agnes Amelia (Johnson) Dana; granddaughter of Major and Mary (Nood) Dana