Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Goupil, René

(Encyclopedia)Goupil, René (Saint René Goupil) rənāˈ go͞opēlˈ [key], c.1607–1642, French missionary, one of the Jesuit Martyrs of North America. He went to Canada in 1640, spent two years assisting the Je...

Ford, Paul Leicester

(Encyclopedia)Ford, Paul Leicester lĕsˈtər [key], 1865–1902, American historian and novelist, b. Brooklyn, N.Y. His father, Gordon L. Ford, then possessed probably the best library of Americana in the country;...

Ford, Worthington Chauncey

(Encyclopedia)Ford, Worthington Chauncey, 1858–1941, American historian and editor, b. Brooklyn, N.Y. He was joint editor, with his brother Paul Leicester Ford, of Winnowings in American History (15 vol., 1890–...

Gaines, George Strother

(Encyclopedia)Gaines, George Strother, c.1784–1873, Alabama pioneer, b. Stokes co., N.C.; brother of Edmund Pendleton Gaines. From 1806 to 1819 he was U.S. factor and Indian agent at Saint Stephens, a strategic p...

Ames, Oakes

(Encyclopedia)Ames, Oakes, 1804–73, American manufacturer, railroad promoter, and politician, b. Easton, Mass. With his brother Oliver he managed the family's well-known shovel factory at Easton. The business gre...

Francis II, king of France

(Encyclopedia)Francis II, 1544–60, king of France (1559–60), son of King Henry II and Catherine de' Medici. He married (1558) Mary Queen of Scots (Mary Stuart), and during his brief reign the government was in ...

Abu al-Abbas as-Saffah

(Encyclopedia)Abu al-Abbas as-Saffah äˈbo͞o äl-äbäsˈ äs-säfäˈ [key], d. 754, 1st Abbasid caliph (749–54). Raised to the caliphate by the armed might of Abu Muslim, he took the reign name as-Saffah [she...

Eggleston, Edward

(Encyclopedia)Eggleston, Edward, 1837–1902, American author, Methodist clergyman, b. Vevay, Ind., educated in frontier schools. Before 1870 he was a Bible agent, a farm worker, a circuit rider in Minnesota and In...

Douglas, William, 6th earl of Douglas

(Encyclopedia)Douglas, William, 6th earl of Douglas, 1423?–1440, Scottish nobleman, eldest son of Archibald Douglas, 5th earl of Douglas. In answer to an invitation from the young James II, who was at that time c...

Du Bellay, Guillaume

(Encyclopedia)Du Bellay, Guillaume gēyōmˈ dü bĕlāˈ [key], 1491–1543, French diplomat under King Francis I; brother of Jean Du Bellay. He was employed in negotiations regarding the Treaty of Cambrai (1529) ...