Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) McGill, Ralph Emerson məgĭlˈ [key], 1898–1969, American journalist and publisher, b. E Tenn. A proponent of civil rights, he was expelled from Vanderbilt Univ. for expressing his beliefs. Beginni...

(Encyclopedia) Helper, Hinton Rowan, 1829–1909, American writer, b. Davie co., N.C. He was in California during the gold rush and later returned east to write The Land of Gold (1855). His next book, The Impending ...

(Encyclopedia) Grundy, Felix, 1777–1840, American political leader, b. Berkeley co., Va. After a successful career in Kentucky, he moved to Nashville, Tenn., where he became a noted criminal lawyer. A member (1811...

(Encyclopedia) Verga, Giovanni jōvänˈnē vĕrˈgä [key], 1840–1922, Italian novelist, b. Sicily. He abandoned the study of law for literature and wrote several novels of passion in the style of the French real...

(Encyclopedia) O'Connor, Thomas Power, 1848–1929, Irish journalist and politician, known as Tay Pay [i.e., T. P.] O'Connor. In 1879 he won public notice for his hostile biography of Benjamin Disraeli. In Parliamen...

(Encyclopedia) Henryson, Robert, c.1425–c.1506, Scottish poet. It is thought that he was a schoolmaster at Dunfermline Abbey. His principal poem is The Testament of Cresseid, which was written as a harshly moral e...

(Encyclopedia) Dennie, Joseph, 1768–1812, American Federalist journalist, b. Boston. As editor, he made the Farmer's Weekly Museum at Walpole, N.H., an influential paper, particularly because of the “Lay Preache...

(Encyclopedia) Dummer, Jeremiah, 1645–1718, early American silversmith and engraver, b. Newbury, Mass. He was apprenticed (1659) to John Hull and set up as a silversmith in Boston c.1666. He held several public of...

(Encyclopedia) Crittenden, Thomas Theodore, 1832–1909, governor of Missouri (1881–85), b. Shelby co., Ky.; nephew of John J. Crittenden. In the Civil War he served (1862–65) as lieutenant colonel of a Missouri...

(Encyclopedia) Watt, James, 1736–1819, Scottish inventor. While working at the Univ. of Glasgow as an instrument maker, Watt was asked to repair a model of Thomas Newcomen's steam engine. He devised improvements t...