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Tracy, Benjamin Franklin

(Encyclopedia)Tracy, Benjamin Franklin, 1830–1915, American lawyer, cabinet member, and soldier, b. Owego, N.Y. He was admitted to the bar in 1851 and later served (1853–59) as district attorney of Tioga co., N...

Norfolk, Thomas Howard, 4th duke of

(Encyclopedia)Norfolk, Thomas Howard, 4th duke of, 1536–72, English nobleman, son of Henry Howard, earl of Surrey. He succeeded his grandfather, the 3d duke, in 1554. He was favored by Queen Elizabeth I, although...

Bayard, James Asheton, 1767–1815, U.S. Representative and Senator from Delaware

(Encyclopedia)Bayard, James Asheton bīˈərd [key], 1767–1815, U.S. representative (1797–1803) and senator (1805–13) from Delaware, b. Philadelphia. Admitted to the bar in 1787, he began practice at Wilmingt...

Stettinius, Edward Reilly, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Stettinius, Edward Reilly, Jr. stətinˈeəs [key], 1900–1949, American statesman and industrialist, b. Chicago. He held (1926–34) several executive posts in the General Motors Corp., and in 1938 ...

Bonanno, Joe

(Encyclopedia)Bonanno, Joe (Joseph Bonanno), 1905–2002, American crime boss nicknamed “Joe Bananas,” b. Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily. He came to the United States illegally in 1924, settled in Brooklyn, an...

Buckner, Simon Bolivar

(Encyclopedia)Buckner, Simon Bolivar, 1823–1914, Confederate general, b. Hart co., Ky., grad. West Point, 1844. In 1860, Buckner, a Louisville businessman, secured passage of a bill creating a large Kentucky mili...

Kuroda, Kiyotaka

(Encyclopedia)Kuroda, Kiyotaka, 1840–1900, Japanese political leader. Born into a samurai family in Satsuma, he was active in overthrowing the Tokugawa shogunate and promoting the Meiji restoration. In 1874, as f...

Merchants of the Staple

(Encyclopedia)Merchants of the Staple or Merchant Staplers, English trading company that controlled the export of English raw wool. The first wool staple (i.e., a place designated by royal ordinance as a special ce...

Lie, Trygve Halvdan

(Encyclopedia)Lie, Trygve Halvdan trügˈvə hälvˈdän lē [key], 1896–1968, Norwegian statesman, first secretary-general of the United Nations. A lawyer and Labor party leader, he was Norwegian minister of jus...

kapok

(Encyclopedia)kapok kāˈpŏk, kăpˈək [key], name for a tropical tree of the family Bombacaceae (bombax family) and for the fiber (floss) obtained from the seeds in the ripened pods. The floss has been important...