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Grellet, Stephen

(Encyclopedia)Grellet, Stephen grĕlĕtˈ [key], 1773–1855, Quaker missionary, b. France; son of well-to-do Roman Catholic parents. His name originally was Étienne de Grellet du Mabillier. He fled France at the ...

Goodman, Benny

(Encyclopedia)Goodman, Benny (Benjamin David Goodman), 1909–86, American clarinetist, composer, and band leader, b. Chicago. Goodman studied clarinet at Hull House. In Chicago he had the opportunity to hear (and ...

Norris, Frank

(Encyclopedia)Norris, Frank (Benjamin Franklin Norris), 1870–1902, American novelist, b. Chicago. After studying in Paris, at the Univ. of California (1890–94), and at Harvard, he spent several years as a war c...

Low, Seth

(Encyclopedia)Low, Seth, 1850–1916, American political reformer and college president, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., grad. Columbia, 1870. He entered his father's tea and silk importing firm, but became interested in politi...

Mendele mocher sforim

(Encyclopedia)Mendele mocher sforim [Yid.,= Mendele the book peddler] shōˈləm yäˈkôv əbräməˈvĭch [key], 1836–1917, Yiddish novelist. Born in Minsk, and orphaned at 14, he traveled with beggars through ...

Lemonnier, Pierre Charles

(Encyclopedia)Lemonnier, Pierre Charles pyĕr shärl ləmônyāˈ [key], 1715–99, French astronomer. For many years he was professor of physics at the Collège de France. He studied the moon and the influence of ...

Wanamaker, John

(Encyclopedia)Wanamaker, John wŏnˈəmāˌkər [key], 1838–1922, American merchant, b. Philadelphia. He went into the men's clothing business in Philadelphia with Nathan Brown, his brother-in-law, in 1861. The f...

Whiskey Ring

(Encyclopedia)Whiskey Ring, in U.S. history, a group of distillers and public officials who defrauded the federal government of liquor taxes. Soon after the Civil War these taxes were raised very high, in some case...

Sully, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Sully, Thomas, 1783–1872, American painter, b. England. Having come to the United States as a child, he first studied with his brother Lawrence, a miniaturist, and later for a brief time with Gilber...

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