Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 09.djvu/453

 SMYTHE

SNELL

in Finlea and at the college of Limerick; was graduated from Dublin university; entered a Presentation convent in Youghal, and later the Trappist convent at Mt. Mellerey, Waterford, Ireland, where he founded a college under the control of the monastery. He was ordained priest, May 29, 1841; came to the United States in 1819, for the purpose of obtaining relief for the Irish famine, and founded a new monastery of the Trappist order at New Mellerey, Dubuque county, Io%va. He was consecrated at St. Louis, Mo., May 3, 1857, with the title. Bishop of Tlianasis i.p.i. by Archbishop P. R. Kenrick of St. Louis, assisted by Bishops Henni and O'Regan; was appointed coadjutor to Bishop Loras (q.v.) of Dubuque, Iowa, and succeeded to the see of Dubuque, as bishop. Feb. 20. 1858. He became administrator of the see of Chicago, upon Bishop O'Regan's resignation, May 3, 1858. Dur- ing his episcoijate he established the Society of St. Vincent de Paul throughout the state. He died at Dubuque, Iowa, Sept. 22, 1865.

SMYTHE, William Ellsworth, author and journalist, was born in Worcester, Mass., Dec. 24, 1861; son of William Augustus Somerset and Abigail (Bailey) Smythe; grandson of Freeman and Linnette (Leech) Smith and of John and Adah Bailey, and a decendant of Edward Winslow of the Mayflower party. He attended the common schools, and in 1880 engaged in journalism. He was married, Dec. 28, 1882, to Harriet, daughter of Erastus Taylor and Roxanna (McLain) Bridge, of Haverhill, Mass. He removed west in 1888; was editor of the Enterprise, Kearney, Neb., 1889-90; assistant editor of the Bee, Omaha, Neb., 1890-91; established the Irrigation Age in Denver in 1891, and was its editor until 1896; founded the National Irrigation congress, 1891, and served as its secretary, 1891-93, and as chairman, 1893-95. In the latter year he founded the settlement of New Plymouth, Idaho, and in 1897 removed to Standish, Cal., and in 1901 to San Diego, Cal. He lectured extensively on irrigation and western institutions thoughout the United States, and is the author of contributions on kindred subjects to the Century, Atlantic Monthly and the North American Review, and of The Conquest of Arid America (1900). He founded the California Constructive league, 1901, and became one of the editors of Out West magazine in July, 1901. He was the Democratic nominee for representative in congress from the 8th California district in 1902, but was defeated.

SNEED, John Louis Taylor, jurist, was born in Raleigh, N.C., May 12, 1820; son of Maj. Junius and Julia Rowan (Taylor) Sneed. He was educated at the academy at Oxford, N.C.; studied law, was admitted to the Tennessee bar in 1841, and engaged in practice in Memphis,

He was a representative in the state legislature, 1845-46; served as an officer in the Mexican war, 1846-47, and was married in August, 1848, to Mary Ashe Shepherd, of Hardeman county, Tenn. He was attorney-general of the district of Mem- phis, 1851-54; attorney-general of Tennessee, and supreme court reporter, 1854-59; was judge of the supreme court, 1870-78, and of the court of arbitration in 1879. He was a presidential elector from the state at large on the Hancock and En- glish ticket in 1880; judge of the court of ref- erees, 1883-84; president of the Memphis Law school, 1887-93; and chancellor of the Uth chan- cery division of Tennessee, 1894-1900, after which he retired to private life at Memphis. He edited " Reports of the Supreme Court of Tennessee," 1854-59.

SNELL, Merwln=Marie, orientalist and philos- opher, was born in New Haven. Conn., Aug. 2, 1863; son of the Rev. Moses Porter and Mary Cordelia (Hallock) Snell; grandson of Thomas and Lucretia Colt (Porter) Snell, and of Gerard and Eliza (Allen), Hallock; great-grandson of Dr. Thomas Snell of North Brookfield. Mass., and a descendant of Thomas Snell, who came from Wiltshire, England, to West Bridgewater, Mass., in 1665; of Samuel Porter, Hadley, Mass., 1659; of Peter Hallock, New Haven, Conn., 1640, and of other early New England settlers. He was in scientific service of the United States government, 1882-89, and took an active part in the first international .congress of Catholic scien- tists, Paris, 1887. He was registrar and lecturer on comparative religion at the Catholic Univer- sity of America, Washington, D.C., 1890-92, lecturer on comparative religion at Howard uni- versity, Washington, D.C., 1893, engaged in pri- vate scientific, lecturing and literary work, 1894- 1900, and in the fall of 1900, became rector of Albertus Magnus university, and professor of philosophy and oriental religions there. He was a member of the Sons of the Revolution and Sons of the American Revolution, of the Philosophi- cal, Biological, Anthropological and Geographical societies of Washington, and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science; founded with Dr. Harris, Major Powell and others, the Society of Philosophical Inquiry, 1892; was in charge of preparations for Oriental representation at Chicago World's Parliament of Religions, and chairman of the scientific section of same, and president of international congress on ways and means of universal religious unity, 1893. He is the author of: Hints on the Study of Sacred Books (1895). and The Foinidatioiis of Human Knowledge (1901); translated Ribot's " Dis- eases of the Will" (1893); prepared college edi- tion of Matthew Arnold's " Sohrab and Rustum," with notes, and critical appartus (1897), trans-