Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Stevens, family of U.S. inventors. John Stevens, 1749–1838, b. New York City, was graduated from King's College (now Columbia Univ.) in 1768. He studied law (1768–71) and soon joined his father, a...

(Encyclopedia) Updike, John, 1932–2009, American author, one of the nation's most distinguished 20th-century men of letters, b. Shillington, Pa., grad. Harvard, 1954. In his many novels and stories, written in a w...

(Encyclopedia) Preble, Edward prĕbˈəl [key], 1761–1807, American naval officer, b. Falmouth (now Portland), Maine. In the American Revolution he ran away from home to serve on a privateer, entered (1779) the Ma...

(Encyclopedia) John, Saint, one of the Twelve Apostles, traditional author of the fourth Gospel, three letters, and the Book of Revelation (see John, Gospel according to Saint; John, letters; Revelation); it is high...

(Encyclopedia) Brown, Charles Brockden, 1771–1810, American novelist and editor, b. Philadelphia, considered the first professional American novelist. After the publication of Alcuin: A Dialogue (1798), he wrote s...

(Encyclopedia) Lundy's Lane, locality in S Ontario just W of the Niagara Falls, scene of a stubborn engagement of the War of 1812, fought July 25, 1814. The American forces commanded by Gen. Winfield Scott and led b...

(Encyclopedia) shipping, transportation of passengers and goods on waterways. From prehistoric times shipping has had a major influence on human social development. Water routes, unlike roads, did not need building,...

(Encyclopedia) Dexter, Timothy, 1747–1806, American merchant and eccentric, b. Malden, Mass. He gained a fortune from the American Revolution by buying up depreciated certificates of indebtedness that were afterwa...

(Encyclopedia) Hoyt, John Wesley, 1831–1912, American educator, b. Worthington, Ohio, grad. Ohio Wesleyan Univ., 1849. In Madison, Wis., he published the Wisconsin Farmer and Northwestern Cultivator. A founder of ...

(Encyclopedia) Fee, John Gregg, 1816–1901, American abolitionist clergyman, b. Bracken co., Ky. After two years (1842–44) at Lane Theological Seminary in Cincinnati, he devoted himself to the abolitionist cause ...