Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

451 results found

Davies, Joseph Edward

(Encyclopedia)Davies, Joseph Edward dāˈvēz [key], 1876–1958, American diplomat, b. Watertown, Wis. Admitted to the bar in 1901, he was commissioner of corporations (1913–15) and chairman (1915–16) of the F...

Choate, Rufus

(Encyclopedia)Choate, Rufus chōt [key], 1799–1859, American lawyer and Congressman, b. Essex co., Mass.; uncle of Joseph Hodges Choate. Admitted to the bar in 1823, Rufus Choate gained national reputation as a l...

Healy, Timothy Michael

(Encyclopedia)Healy, Timothy Michael, 1855–1931, Irish statesman, first governor-general of the Irish Free State (1922–27). Elected to Parliament in 1880, he worked closely with Charles Stewart Parnell until th...

Greenleaf, Simon

(Encyclopedia)Greenleaf, Simon, 1783–1853, American legal writer, b. Newburyport, Mass. A member of the Maine bar, he won a high reputation for legal scholarship early in his career. With the admission (1820) of ...

Ames, Fisher

(Encyclopedia)Ames, Fisher, 1758–1808, American political leader, b. Dedham, Mass.; son of Nathaniel Ames. Admitted to the bar in 1781, he began political pamphleteering and by a speech in the Massachusetts conve...

Jarvis, Thomas Jordan

(Encyclopedia)Jarvis, Thomas Jordan, 1836–1915, governor of North Carolina (1879–85), b. Jarvisburg, Currituck co., N.C., grad. Randolph-Macon College (B.A., 1860; M.A., 1861). Wounded at Drewry's Bluff (1864) ...

meter, unit of measure

(Encyclopedia)meter, abbr. m, fundamental unit of length in the metric system. The meter was originally defined as 1/10,000,000 of the distance between the equator and either pole; however, the original survey was ...

McCormick, Robert Rutherford

(Encyclopedia)McCormick, Robert Rutherford, 1880–1955, American journalist, b. Chicago. He held local public offices, was admitted (1907) to the bar, and practiced law in Chicago. He worked with his brother, Jose...

Martin, François Xavier

(Encyclopedia)Martin, François Xavier fräNswäˈ zävyāˈ märtăNˈ [key], 1762–1846, American jurist, b. Marseilles, France. He emigrated to the United States (c.1786) and was admitted to the North Carolina ...

Lanston, Tolbert

(Encyclopedia)Lanston, Tolbert tŏlˈbərt [key], 1844–1913, American inventor, b. Troy, Ohio. Lanston spent his youth on an Iowa farm and served in the military throughout the Civil War. For 22 years he was a cl...