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West, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)West, Benjamin, 1738–1820, American historical painter who worked in England. He was born in Springfield, Pa., in a house that is now a memorial museum at Swarthmore College. After some instruction ...

Singleton, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Singleton, Benjamin, c. 1809–c. 1900, African-American leader of post–Civil War black resettlement in the West, b. Davidson co. (now coextensive with Nashville), Tenn. He escaped slavery in 1846, ...

Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Benjamin [Heb.,=son of fortune], younger son of Jacob and Rachel, eponymous ancestor of one of the 12 tribes of Israel. His mother, dying, named him Benoni bĕnōˈnī [key] [Heb.,=son of my sorrow]. ...

Ewell, Benjamin Stoddert

(Encyclopedia)Ewell, Benjamin Stoddert yo͞oˈəl [key], 1810–94, American educator, b. Georgetown, D.C., grad. West Point, 1832; brother of Gen. R. S. Ewell. He taught mathematics at West Point, Hampden-Sidney C...

Franklin, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Franklin, Benjamin, 1706–90, American statesman, printer, scientist, and writer, b. Boston. The only American of the colonial period to earn a European reputation as a natural philosopher, he is bes...

Benjamin, Judah Philip

(Encyclopedia)Benjamin, Judah Philip, 1811–84, Confederate statesman and British barrister, b. Christiansted, St. Croix, Virgin Islands, of Jewish parents. His family moved (c.1813) to Wilmington, N.C., and final...

Pratt, Matthew

(Encyclopedia)Pratt, Matthew, 1734–1805, American portrait painter, b. Philadelphia. After he was an apprentice to his uncle, a painter in Philadelphia, he practiced portrait painting and then studied under Benja...

List, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)List, Benjamin, 1968–, b. Frankfurt, Germany. German chemist, Managing Director of the Max Planck Institute for Coal Research and Professor of organic...

Kennicott, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Kennicott, Benjamin kĕnˈĭkət, –kŏtˌ [key], 1718–83, English clergyman and biblical scholar. His long career at Oxford was one of devotion to learning. He was rector of Culham, Oxfordshire, f...

Lundy, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Lundy, Benjamin, 1789–1839, American abolitionist, b. Sussex co., N.J., of Quaker parentage. A pioneer in the antislavery movement, Lundy founded (1815) the Union Humane Society while operating a sa...