Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 09.djvu/63

 RECTOR

REDFIELD

member of the military board which raised and equipped forty regiments for the Confederate army in May, 1861, and in June, 1862, was forced to retire from office because the convexition of 1861 Iiad omitted in its enactments to continue the office of governor, and therefore, after a con- test, the state supreme court declared it vacant. He then joined the reserve corps of the Confed- erate array and served as a private until the close of the war, having been refused a commissary or quarter-master's position. He engaged in the cotton business after the war, and was a member of the state constitutional convention in 1868, He died in Little Rock, Ark., in August, 1899.

RECTOR, John Benjamin, jurist, was born in Jackson county, Ala., Nov. 24, 1837. He re- moved with his parents to Texas in 1847, prepared for college and was graduated from Yale in 1859. He was admitted to the bar ; established himself in practice in Austin, Texas ; served throughout the civil war in Terry's Texas Rangers, and in 1865 removed to Bastrop, Texas, and resumed his law practice. He was attorney of the 2d judicial district of Texas, 1866-67 ; judge of the state court, 1871-76 ; engaged in private practice in Austin, 1876-92, and was judge of the U.S. court for the northern district of Texas, 1892-98. He died in Austin, Texas, April 9, 1898.

REDDEN, Laura Catherine. See Searing, Laura Catherine Redden.

REDFIELD, Anna Maria Treadwell, scientist, was born in L'Orignal, Ontario, Jan. 17, 1800 ; daughter of Nathaniel Hazard and Margaret (Piatt) Treadwell, and granddaughter of Judge Charles Piatt. Her father removed liis family to Plattsburgli, N.Y.. in 1812, and she was graduated at the seminary of Mrs. Emma Willard, Middle- bury, Vt., and took a post-graduate course under direction of her uncle, the Rev. Dr. Henry Davis (q.v.), president of Hamilton college. She was married, Feb. 7, 1820, to Lewis H. Redfield, editor of the Register, Onondaga Hollow, N.Y., and re- moved to Syracuse, N.Y., in 1829, when her hus- band consolidated the Register with the Syra- cuse Gazette. Mrs. Redfield made a large collec- tion of shells, minerals and botanical specimens which she used in the preparation of her work, illustrating nature in living forms and in papers prepared for the use of students of nature in Hamilton college, and by the Long Island and Chicago historical societies. At the time she resided in Syracuse, that city was the centre of advanced thought, and she was actively inter- ested in the conventions held there in the in- terest of political economy, religion and educa- tion. Ingham university, Le Roy, N.Y., conferred on her the degree of honor equivalent to master of arts, never before accorded to any woman in America. Her husband died, July 14, 1882, two

sons and four daughters surviving. Mrs. Redfield is the author of : Zoological Science, or Nature in Living Forms, which work Professor Agassiz pronounced " would do credit to the majority of college professors." She died in Syracuse, N.Y., June 15, 1888.

REDFIELD, Isaac Fletcher, jurist, was born in Wethersfield, Vt., April 10, 1804; son of Dr. Peleg and Hannah (Parker) Redfield. His parents removed to Coventry, Vt., in 1805, and he was graduated from Dartmouth college, A.B., 1825, A.M. 1828 ; was admitted to the bar in Orleans county, Vt.. in 1827, andestablislied him- self in practice in Derby, and later in Windsor, Vt. He was state's attorney for Orleans county, 1832-35 ; judge of the supreme court of Vermont, 1835-52; chief- judge, 1852-60, and professor of medical jurisprudence at Dartmouth, 1857-61. He removed to Boston in 1861, and was sent as special counsel of the United States government to adjust claims with Great Britain, and to re- cover property held on behalf of the Southern Confederacy. He was twice married, first, Sept. 28, 1836, to Mary Ward Smith of Stanstead, Vt., and secondly. May 4, 1842, to Catharine Blanchard Clark of St. Johnsbury, Vt. The degree of A.M. was conferred on him by the University of Vermont in 1885, and tliat of LL.D. by Trinity college in 1849, and by Dartmouth in 1855. He edited the American Laiv Register of Philadelphia, 1862-76, and is the author of : Practical Treatise on the Law of Raihoays (1857); Law of Wills (3 parts, 1864-70); Practical Treatise of Civil Pleading and Pract ice loith Forms (1868); The Law of Carriers and Bailments (1869), and Leading American Railway Cases (2 vols., 1870). He also edited Judge Joseph Story's "Equity Pleadings " and " Conflict of Laws " and Greenleaf " On Evidence." He died in Charlestown, Mass., March 23, 1876.

REDFIELD, William C, pioneer railroad pro- jector, was born at Middletown, Conn., March 26, 1789. He was a saddler and harness maker's apprentice, 1803-10; engaged in the business, 1810-27, and in 1827 removed to New York city and interested himself in steam navigation. He introduced a line of large passenger barges towed by a steamboat between New York and Albany ; planned a steam railroad route to connect tlie Hudson and Mississippi rivers, which was after- ward carried into operation by the New York and Erie Railway company ; secured the charter of the New York and Harlem railroad ; was associated with James Brewster in the construc- tion of the Hartford and New Haven railroad, and petitioned the common council of New York city for permission to lay tracks for a street rail- road on Canal street. He became a student of meteorology and geology, and was elected a