(Encyclopedia) Sayles, John (John Thomas Sayles), 1950–, one of America's most influential independent filmmakers as well as a screenwriter, fiction writer, playwright, and actor, b. Schenectady, N.Y…
(Encyclopedia) Robinson, John, 1576?–1625, English nonconformist pastor of the Pilgrim Fathers in Holland. In 1592 he entered Cambridge; in 1597 he received a fellowship and was ordained. Soon…
(Encyclopedia) Roebuck, John, 1718–94, English physician, chemist, and inventor. He acted as a chemical consultant to local industries in Birmingham and invented the lead chamber process of…
(Encyclopedia) Rolfe, JohnRolfe, Johnrŏlf [key], 1585–1622, English colonist in Virginia. He reached the colony in May, 1610, and introduced (1612) the regular cultivation of tobacco, which became…
(Encyclopedia) Rolph, JohnRolph, Johnrŏlf [key], 1793–1870, Canadian physician and politician, b. England. He studied law and medicine in England and served in the Legislative Assembly of Upper…
(Encyclopedia) Selden, John, 1584–1654, English jurist and scholar. He studied at Oxford, was called to the bar in 1612, and was elected to Parliament in 1623. He had already assisted in preparing…
(Encyclopedia) Sevier, JohnSevier, Johnsəvērˈ [key], 1745–1815, American frontiersman and political leader. He was born near the site of New Market, Va., the town he founded in his young manhood. In…
(Encyclopedia) Barry, John, 1745–1803, U.S. naval officer in the American Revolution, b. Co. Wexford, Ireland. He went as a youth to Philadelphia, where he was a trader and a shipmaster. In the…
(Encyclopedia) Sherman, John, 1823–1900, American statesman, b. Lancaster, Ohio; brother of William Tecumseh Sherman. He studied law, was admitted (1844) to the bar, and practiced law several years…
(Encyclopedia) Barth, JohnBarth, Johnbärth [key], 1930–, American writer, b. Cambridge, Md. He attended Johns Hopkins (B.A. 1951, M.A. 1952), and, beginning in 1973, taught writing at its graduate…