Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 09.djvu/172

 ROLLINS

ROMEYN

daughter of Francis E. Pecker of Concord. He en- gaged in banking in Concord; was a Republican state senator. 1895-97; president of the senate, lS9.'J-99, and was governor of New Hampshire, Ib09-190L During his administration lie inaugu- rated the Old Home Week custom, the governor appointing one week in the Autumn of each year to be set apart for the meeting and entertaining of the scattered families at the old homes. He is the author of: The Ring in the C/(J(lb87); The Twin Hussars (1890); Break o' Day Tales (1895); Vie Lady of the F/o/efs (1898); Old Home Week Speeches (1900).

ROLLINS, James Sidney, representative, was horn ill Richmoiul. Ivy., April 19,1812; son of Dr. Anthony Wayne and Sallie Harris (Rodes) Rollins; grandson of Henry Rollins, who emi- grated from county Tyrone, Ireland, to Pennsyl- vania previous to the Revolution, and of Judge Robert Rodes of Madison county, Kj'. He was graduated at the University of Indiana, A.B., 1S30. and at Transylvania university. Kentucky, LL.B., 1834, and settled in the practice of law in Boone county. Mo., in 1834. He served on the staflf of Gen. Richard Gentry during the Black Hawk war in 1832, and became editor of the Pa- triot, a Whig journal, at Columbia, Mo., in 1836. He was married, June 6, 1837, to Mary E. Hick- man of Howland county, Mo. He represented Boone county in the state legislature, 1838-43 and 1854-.56; was a delegate to the Whig national convention of 1844; served in the state senate, 1846-50, where he opposed the extension of slavery, and was defeated as the Whig candidate for governor of Missouri in 1848 and in 1857. He was a member of the board of visitors for West Point in 1850, and a presidential elector in 1852. He was a Conservative Democratic representative from the ninth Missouri district in the 37th and 38th congresses. July 4, 1861-March 3, 1865, in- troducing the bill that led to the construction of the Union Pacific, the Klansas Pacific, and the the Central Pacific railroads, and also voting for the adoption of the thirteenth amendment to the

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constitution, although a large slave-holder at the time. He was a representative in the Missouri legislature, 1866-68; a member of the Missouri

senate, 1868-72; was a director of the Union Pacific railroad company, lb07-08; a member uf the board of curators of University of Missouri, 1847-49, and president of the board, 1869-86, and was declared the father of the university by this board in 1872. He received the honorary degree of LL.D. He died in Columbia, Mo., Jan. 9, 1888.

ROMAN, Andrew Bienvenu, governor of Lou isiaiia, was burn in OpeU)UMis, Lu., March 5. 1795, of Creole parentage. He was brought up on his father's sugar plantation in St. James parish and was graduated at St. Marys college, Baltimore, Md., 1815. In 1816 he purchased a sugar planta- tion in St. James parish. He was a representa- tive for St. James in the Louisiana legislature for several years after 1818, and was speaker of the house for four years. He was subsequently parish judge until 1830, and governor of the state, 1831-35. As governor he was instrumental in the founding of Jefferson college, the clearing of the water courses of the state for navi- gation, the draining of swamp lands and building levees, the incorporation of the New Orleans Chamber of Commerce, and the forma- tion of a state agricultural society. He was again governor of the state, 1838-41; a member of the constitutional conventions of 1845 and 1852, and of the secession convention of 1861. He was one of the three provisional commissioners sent to Washington in 1861 to effect a peaceable sep- aration of the states; refused to take the oath of allegiance to protect his property when Louisiana fell into the hands of the Federal army, and after the war was recorder of deeds and mortgages in New Orleans. He died suddenly on Dumaine street, New Orleans. Jan. 26, 1866.

ROMEYN, James, clergyman, was born in Greeubusii, N.Y., Sept. 30, 1797; son of the Rev. James Van Campen (1765-1840) and Susanna (Van Vranken) Romeyn; grandson of the Rev. Thomas (1729-1794) and Susanna (Frelinguysen) Romeyu; great-grandson of Nicholas Romeyn; great^ grandson of John and Lammetje (Bougeart) Romeyn of Hackensack and greaf^-grandson of ClaasKuyper (Janse) and Christiantje (Terhune) Romeyn or Romaiue, who came from Holland about 1653. He graduated from Columbia, A.B., 1816; and entered the ministry of the Reformed Dutch church in 1819; preaching at Nassau. N.Y., 1820-27; Six Mile Run, N.J., 1827-32; Hacken- sack, N.J., 1833-36; Catskill, N.Y., 1836-40; Leeds, N.Y., 1842-44; and Bergen Neck, N.J., 1844-50; (emeritus, 1852), when he retiied from the active ministry on account of ill health. In the pulpit he was very rapid but forceful of speech, reading from manuscript without the aid ui