Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 09.djvu/489

 STEARNS

STEARNS

STEARNS, Eben Sperry, educator, was born in Bedford, Mass., in 1821. He was graduated at Harvard, A.B., 1841, A.M., 1846; was master of the Normal school at Framingham, Mass., the first state normal school in America; of the Albany, N.Y., Female academy, and from Sept- ember, 1875, until his death, was chancellor of the University of Nashville, and president of the state normal school, which latter he inaugurated and which he saved from removal to Georgia. He received from Amherst the degree of D.D. in 1876, and from the University of Nashville that of LL.D. in 1885. He died in Nashville, Tenn., April 11, 1887.

STEARNS, John Newton, reformer, was born in New Ipswich, N.H., May 24, 1829. He pre- pared for college, but did not attend because of poor health. He removed to New York city in 1850, and in 1858 became owner and editor of Merry's Museum. He became identified with the temperance movement in America, and in 1865 was editor of the National Temperance Advocate, and corresponding secretary of the National Tem- perance society. He was Most Worthy Templar of the Supreme Council of the Templars of Honor and of Temperance of North America, 1876-78. He edited the National Temperance Almanac and Teetotaler's Year Book, and wrote: The Temper- ance Chorus (1867); The Temperance Speaker (1869); The Centennial Temperance Volume{lS16); Tlie Prohibition Songster (1885); One Hundred Years of Temperance (1885). He died in Brook- lyn, N.Y., April 21, 1895.

STEARNS, John William, educator, was born in Sturbridge, Mass., Aug. 10, 1839; son of Orrin O. and Nancy C. (Valentine) Stearns. He was grad- uated at Harvard, A.B., 1860, A.M., 1864. He was married, Sept. 23, 1862, to Florence Ella, daughter of David and Sarah (Davis) Blood of Dracut, Mass. He was tutcr of Latin in the Uni- versity of Chicago, 1865; professor of Latin there, 1868-74, and director of the National Nor- mal school of Tucuman, Argentine Republic, 1874-78. He was president of the Wisconsin state normal school at Whitewater, 1878-85; pro- fessor of the science and art of teaching in the University of Wisconsin, 1885-88, and in 1888 became professor of philosophy and pedagogy in the same institution, and in 1897 he became also the director of the school of education. He received the degree of LL.D. from the University of Chicago in 1877.

STEARNS, Marcellus Lovejoy, governor of Florida, was born in Lovell, Maine, April 29, 1839: son of Caleb and Eliza Ward (Russell) Stearns; grandson of David and Sally (Andrews) Stearns and of George and Sally (Wright) Rus- sell, and great-grandson of Maj. Benjamin Rus- sell (q.v.) and of Capt. Abraham Andrews of

the Revolutionary war. He attended Waterville academy, Maine, and matriculated at Waterville college (Colby) in the class of 1863, leaving in his junior year (November, 1861), to enlist as a private in Company E, 12th Maine volunteer in- fantry. He was commissioned 2d lieutenant in 1862, serving with General Butler in New Orleans, La., and temporarily commanding the govern- ment schooner Hortense on lake Ponchartrain; was promoted 1st lieutenant in 1863, and was one of the volunteers of the "Forlorn Hope" at the siege of Port Hudson, to whom congress voted medals in honor of their bravery. He also served with General Banks in the Red River expedition in 1864, and while leading a charge at the battle of Winchester, Va., Sept. 19, 1864, his right arm was shattered, necessitating amputation. He was subsequently transferred to the Veteran Re- serve corps, U.S.A., and assigned to Company H of the 20th regiment, reading law while on waiting orders. He was afterward stationed at Wheeling, W. Va., and in the department of the Freedmen's bureau under Gen. O. O. Howard at Quincy, Fla., where he was mustered out of service, Jan. 1, 1868, and where he continued to make his home. He was a member of the state convention; of the state legislature, 1869-72, serving as speaker of the house; surveyor-general of Florida, 1869-73; lieutenant-governor of Flor- ida, 1873, and governor of the state, 1874-77, and served by appointment from President Hayes as a member of the U.S. commission at Hot Springs, Ark., 1877-80. He was married, Dec. 12, 1878, to Ellen Austin, daughter of the Rev. Horace D. and Mercy (Mason) Walker of Bridge- water, Mass. He subsequently visited the Pacific coast, and upon his return made a tour of Florida for government improvements; traveled in Eu- rope, 1886, and in 1887 removed to Atlantic, Iowa, where he served as president of the National bank until 1890, when for the benefit of his health, he took up his residence in Palatine Bridge, N. Y. He received the honorary degree of A.B. from Colby university in 1877; was president of the Delta Upsilon convention at Rochester, N.Y., 1885. and frequently a delegate to the national convention of the Republican party. He died in Palatine Bridge. N.Y., Dec. 8, 1891.

STEARNS, Oliver, educator, was born in Lunenburg. Worcester county. Mass., June 3, 1807; son of Thomas and Priscilla (Gushing) Stearns; grandson of Josiah. an officer in the Revo- lutionary war, and a descendant of Isaac Sterne, who emigrated with his wife Mary, from Suffolk county, England, with Governor Winthrop's com- pany in the ship Arbella, in 1630, and was one