Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 09.djvu/128

 KOr.FRT

ROBERT

terian churcli. New York city. 1S34-62. ami for nearly tliirty years was superinteiulentof one of the lar;;est Siuulay-scliools in the city. He gave $1,400 to Hamilton college to aid beneficiary can- didates for the ministry, ami a larger sum to Au- hurn Tlieological seminary; organized and gave ' toward the support of several orplian asylums, a home for aged colored women, and other charit- able and religious institutions; gave §296.000 to the American college at Constantint>ple, which institution was called Robert college in his iionor, and at his death he left to the college $125,000 antl ri:d est.-ite valued at $40,000. He died in Paris. Kraiice. Oct. 2S. 1M7S.

ROBl:RT, Henry Martyn, military engineer and author, was born in IJobertville, S.C, May 2. 18;57; son of the Rev. Joseph T. (q.v.) and Ad- eline (Lawton) Robert. He was appointed to the U.S. Military academy from Ohio, l^ioS, and was graduated in 1857, fourth in a class of thirty-eight and as- signed to the corps of engineers. He was acting assistant pro- fessor of mathematics at the academy in 1856, and assistant profes.sor of natural and experimental phi- losophy and instruc- tor in practical mili- tary engineering, 1857-58. He was com- missioned 2d lieu- tenant of engineers, Dec. 13. 1S58; served at AVest Point and in Oregon and Washington Territory, 18.")7-18G0: in the exploration of a wagon road from Fort Dalles, Oregon, to Salt Lake, Utah, 1859; in the defenses of San Juan Island, of which he was the super- intending engineer, August to November, 1859; and in command of an exploration for a wagon road from Lewis River to Cowlitz Landing, via Toutle Lake, W;i.siiington Territory, with a view to provicling an all-land route connecting Fort Vancouv.-r with Puget Sound, June to September, 1860. He was assistant engineer in the con- struction of the defenses of Washington, D.C., April to Octol)er, 1861, and was promoted l.st lieutenant, Aug. 3, 1861. Ih- was .superintending engineer of the defen.st-s of Philadelpliia, 1861-^2, and of the construction of the defenses of New Bedford, Mass., 1862-65. and was jiromoted cap- tain. March 3, 1863. He was in charge of the de- partment of practical military engineering, and treasurer of the U.S. Military academy, 1865-67; ■was promoted major. March 7, 1867, and served as engineer on the staff.s of Generals Halleck

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George H. Thomas, and Schofield, commanding the military division of the Pacific, 1867-71. He was engineer of the 13th lightliouse district, and superititentling engineer of river and harbor improvements in Oregon and Wasliington Terri- tory, 1871-73; engineer of the Lake Michigan light-houses. 1874-75, and of river and harbor improvements on the lakes north of Milwaukee, 1875-83. He was promoted lieutenant-colonel, Jan. 10, 1883; was superintending engineer of fortifications and river and iiarbor improvements on the Canada border, and on Delaware Bay and its tributaries, 1885-90. He was also engineer of the 4th light-house district in 1885. He was engineer commissioner of the District of Co- lumbia, and member of the Rock Creek National Park commission, 1890-91; in charge of river and harbor improvements and fortifications, 1891-95; promoted colonel, Feb. 3, 1895, was division en- gineer of the Northwest division, 1896-97; of the Southwest division, 1895 and 1897-1901; president of the board of engineers for fortifications, the N.Y. Harbor Line board, the Board for Examina- tion of officers of U.S. Corps of Engineers for Promotion, and the Board of Visitors to U.S. Engineer School, 1895-1901; president of the Philadelphia Harbor Line board, 1894-1901; and of many special boards for designing river and harbor improvements. He was appointed brigadier-general, chief of engineers, U.S. army, April 30, 1901, and was retired May 2, 1901, hav- ing reached the age limit. His most important duty was as president of the Board of Engineers for Fortifications, which had the designing of the defenses of the coast, Atlantic, Pacific, Gulf, and Lake. After his retirement, at the request of the city of Galveston, he served as a member of a commission to design suitable works to protect the city from storms from the Gulf, 1901-02. He •was married first, Dec. 17, 1860, to Helen Maria, daughter of Ebenezer and Elizabeth (Fenner) Thresher of Dayton, Ohio, who died Oct. 10, 1895; and secondly. May 8, 1901, to Isabel Livingston, daughter of William and Christina Hoagland of Oswego, N.Y. He is the author of: Rules of Order, a compendium of Parliamentary Law (1876; rev. ed., 1893), and of Index to the Reports of the Chief of Engineers, U.S. Army, on River and Harbor Lnproveinents from 1SG6 to 1SS7, (2 vols., 1881 and 1889).

ROBERT, Joseph Thomas, clergyman and educator, was born near Robertville, Beaufort dis- trict, S.C, Nov. 28, 1807; sonof James Jehu and Ciiarlotte Ann (Lawton) Robert; grandson of John and Elizabeth Smith (Dixon) Robert and of Joseph and Sarah (Robert) Lawton; and a descendant of Pierre Robert (born in Switzerland, 1658), the first ])astor of the French Huguenot colony which settled on the Sautee River, S.C,