Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 08.djvu/52

 NASON

NAST

NASON, Elias, clergyman and author, was born in Wrentham, Mass., April 21, 1811. He was graduated from Brown university, A.B., 183o. A.M., 183G. and taught in Cauibridge. Mass., 1835-36, and in Augusta, Ga., 1830-40. He edited the Georgia Courier and delivered lectures on the flora of the south. He edited the Watch Tower, Newburyport, Ma-ss.; was a teacher of the Liitin and higli school, 1840-49, and master of the high school at Milford, Mass., 1849-52. lie was pastor of t!ie Fir.st church (Congregational) at Xatick, 1852-58; pastor at Medford. 1858-60; Exeter. N.H., 1860-65; resided at North Bil- lerica, Mass., 1865-87; wjvs pastor at Dracut, Mass. , 1865-77, and at Lowell, Mass. , 1877-85. He served as a member of the Cliristian commission during the civil war; was a member of the New England Historic Genealogical society; of the New York Historical society, and of the American Antiquarian society. He edited the i\'eic England Historical aiid Genealogical Register and is the author of: Songs for the School Room (1842); Christomathie Frangaise (1849); Memoir of Rev. Xathaniel Howe (1851); Thou Shalt Not Steal (1852); Strength and Beauty of the Sanctu- ary (1854); Congregational Hymn Book (1857); Hymn and Tune Book (1858); Our Obligations to Defend Our Country, and Sermons on the War

(1861): Songs for Social and Public Worship

(1862): Eulogy on Eaivard Everett (1865); Foun- tains of Salvation (1865); Eulogy on Abraham Lincoln (1865); Life of Sir Charles Henry Frank- land (1865); Gazetteer of Massachusetts (1872); Life of Henry Wilson (1872); Lives of Moody and Sankey (1872); Histoi-y of Middlesex County (1872). and left in manuHcript a. History of Hop- kinton and History of the Nason Family. He died in North Billerica, Mass., June 17, 1887.

NASSAU, Charles William, educator, was born in Philadelpliia, Pa., April 12, 1804; son of William anrl Ann (Parkinson) Nassau; grand.son of Charles William and Hester (Clymer) Nassau, and great-grandson of Charles John Von Nassau, the immigrant, who came from the Duchy of Nassau and settled in Pennsylvania, 1745. He was graduated from the University of Pennsyl- vania, A.B., 1821. A.M., 1824; attended Princeton Theological seminary in 1822, and was ordained by the presbytery of Philadelphia, Nov. 16, 1825. He was married in May, 1828. to Hannah, daugh- ter of Robert and Isabella (Todd) Hamill, and granddaughter of Col, Andrew Todd. He was pastor at Norristown, Pa., 1825-28; was teacher of a school for boys in Montgomery Sfiuare, Pa., 1829-32, and pastor in various parts of Pennsyl- vania, 1832-.33. He was professor of Latin and Greek at Marion college, Mo., 1836-38, and at Lafayette college, 1841-50, and vice-president of the latter, 1841-49. Upon the resignation of

President Junkin in 1848, he succeeded him as acting president and professor of mental and moral philosophy, and was president elect of the college, but was never inaugurated, and re- signed in September, 1850. During his presidency the college was connected with the synod of Philadelphia and became a Presbyterian institu- tion. He \va.s proprietor and principal of a young ladies' seminary at Lawrenceville. N. J., 1850-75. The honorary degree of D.D. was conferred on him by Jefferson college in 1850.

NAST, Thomas, caricaturist, was born at Landau, Bavaria, Sept. 27, 1840. He accom- panied his father to New York in 1846, and studied drawing for six months under Theodore Kaufman. He was employed by Frank Leslie, and in 1860 was sent to England to make sketches of a prize fight for the New York Illustrated Xews. He followed Garibaldi's army in Italy, making war sketclies for New Y'ork, London and Paris illustrated newspapers. On his return to New Y^'ork in 1861, he was employed to make war sketches for Harper's Weekly. He attained emi- nence by his caricature work, for Harper's Weekly aimed to ridicule slavery, to sujijiort the administration during the civil war and to pro- mote municipal reform. He began a course of lectures in 1873, and drew his illustrations in chalk on a black surface. He appeared again on the lecture platform in 1885 and 1887, and exe- cuted in the presence of his audience paintings in oil colors and other sketches, with astonishing rapidity. He illustrated several books, including those of Petroleum V. Nasby, and Xast's Illus- trated Almanac, in 1872, and issued a series of sixty caricatures in water colors for Bal d'op^ra, in 1866. By his caricatures he rendered impor- tant service in the overthrow of the Tweed ring in New Y'ork city. He was presented with a sil- ver cup by his friends in the army and navy as a testimonial, in 1879. His oil paintings inchide: Departure of the Seventh Regiment for the War, April 10, ISGl; The Surrender of Appomattox, Peace in Union, April 9, 1SG5; The Immortal Light of Genius, Shakespeare, commission from Sir Henry Irving, and other subjects. He was appointed by President Roosevelt in May, 1902, LT.S. consul-general toGuayacjuil, Ecuador, where he died, Dec. 7. 1902.

NAST, William, educator, was born in Stutt- gart, Germany, June 15, 1807. He was graduated from the University of Tubingen, studied theology, immigrated to the United States in 1828, and was a teacher at the U.S. Military academy. He joined the Methodist Episcopal church in 1835; was licensed to preach at the general conference of 1837; was appointed to estaVjlish a German mission in Cincinnati, Ohio, and subsequently German Methodist cliurches were established all