Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 10.djvu/272

 VARICK

VASSAR

iam Bradford of Mount Hope, R.I. He was brought up in the care of liis i,'randfatlier Collins ; attended schools in Newport. R:!., and Shrews- bury, N.J.; was graduated from Trinity college, Hartford, Conn., A.B., 1851, A.M., 1854; ad- mitted to the bar, 1853, and practised in Newport, R.I., 1853-94. He served as cit}- solicitor for sev- eral years from 1855 : as clerk of the state liouse of representatives, 1855-57, and was repeatedly a representative in the state legislature from 1857, serving as speaker of the house, 1858-59, 18G6-69 and 1871-73. He was married, Feb. 12, 18G3, to Arazelia. widow of Charles Potter and daughter of Albert Gordon Greene, president of the Rhode Island Historical society. She died in Newport, R.I., in 1899. Mr. Van Zandt was chairman of the state delegations to the Republican national conventions of 1868 and 1876 : state senator, 1873- 74, serving as chairman of the judiciary commit- tee ; lieutenant-governor of Rliode Island, 1873-75, governor. 1877-80, and in 1880 declined the ap- pointment of U.S. minister to Russia, offered him by President Grant. He received the honorary degree of A.M. from Brown in 1867, and from Amherst in 1880. Governor Van Zandt is the author of several orations and poems delivered on special occasions, and of Neu-port Ballads, published posthumousl}'. He died in Brookline, Mass.. June 4. 1894.

VARICK, Richard, soldier, was born in Hack- ensjick, N.J.. March 25, 1753. At the outbreak of the Revolutionary war, he abandoned his legal practice in New York city, to join Col. Alexander McDougall's regiment as captain, later becoming military secretary to Gen. Philip Schuyler. He was appointed deputy muster-master-general, Sept. 25, 1776 ; lieutenant-colonel, April 10, 1777, and took part in the battles of Stillwater and Saratoga. He was appointed inspector-general at West Point in 1780, and first aide-de-camp to Gen. Benedict Arnold, and when the latter's trea- son was exposed, Colonels Varick and Franks were examined by a court of inquiry, which ex- onerated both from complicity. He was record- ing secretary to General Washington ; recorder of the city of New York, 1783-89 ; attorney-gen- eral of the state, 1789-91, and mayor of the city, 1791-1801. In 1786 with Samuel Jones he was appointed to revise the state laws ; was commis- sioned colonel of a regiment on the organization of the state militia and served as speaker of the New York as.sembly in 1787. He was a founder and president of the American Bible society. He died in .lerspy City. N.J., July 30, 1831.

VARNUM, James Mitchell, delegate, was born in Dracut, Mass., Dec. 17, 1748; son of Joseph Varnum, and grandson of Samuel Varnum, who immigrated to Massachusetts from Wales in 1649 and settled in Dracut. James was graduated

from Rhode Island college, Warren, R.I., A.B., 1769, A.M., 1772 ; taught in a classical school ; was admitted to the bar in 1771, and practised in East Greenwich, R.I., 1771-87. He was colonel of the " Kentish Guards," in 1774, and of Varnum's Rhode Island regiment in 1775, and took part in the actions at Roxbury, Harlem Heights and W^hite Plains. He was commissioned colonel, 9th Continental infantry, in 1776 ; brigadier-general of state troops, Dec. 12, 1776: and brigadier-general in the Continental army, Feb. 21, 1777. He com- manded all the Continental troops on the Jersey side of the Delaware, when the British took pos- session of Philadelphia ; was at Valley Forge in 1778 ; commanded a brigade in Sullivan's expe- dition on Rhode Island in 1778, and raised a battal- ion of Negroes in Rhode Island. He was honor- ablv disci larged, MarcJi 5, 1779 ; was appointed major-general of state militia in May, 1779, and resumed his law practice at East Greenwich. He served under the Comte de Rochambeau in July and August, 1780 ; was a delegate to the Conti- nental congress, 1780-82 and 1786-87. and was ap- pointed one of the judges of the Northwest Terri- tory in October, 1787. He removed to Marietta, Ohio, in June, 1788. He was an original member of the Society of the Cincinnati and second presi- dent of the Rhode Island society of that order. He died at Marietta, Ohio. Jan. 10, 1789.

VARNUM, Joseph Bradley, senator, was born in Dracut, Mass., Jan. 29, 1750; son of Joseph Varnum. He received a fair education ; worked on his father's farm and in 1768 was commis- sioned captain in the Massachusetts militia. He commanded a company of minute men in Rhode Island and New York ; was promoted colonel in 1787, being active in the suppression of Shays"s rebellion in that year ; brigadier-general in 1802, and major-general in 1805. He was a representa- tive in the state legislature, 1780-95 ; a member of the governor's council, 1787-95 ; a representa- tive from Massachusetts in the 4th-llth con- gi'esses, 1795-1811, serving as speaker of the house, 1807-11, and was elected U.S. senator from Massachusetts in opposition to Timothy Pickering in 1811, serving till March 3. 1817. He was president pro tempore of the senate, and acting Vice-President of the United States, 1813- 14. He was a member of the state constitutional convention of 1787 ; presiding officer of the con- vention to revise the state constitution in 1820 ; and was defeated for governor of Massachusetts by Caleb Strong in 1813. He was a Jeffersonian Democrat in politics and an abolitionist. He died in Dracut. Mass.. Sept. 21, 1821.

VASSAR, John Quy, philanthropist, was born in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., June 15, 1811 ; .son of John Guy and Margaret (Van Kleeck) Vassar ; grandson of James (q.v.) and Anne (Bennett)