Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Butterfield, John

(Encyclopedia)Butterfield, John, 1801–69, American stagecoach proprietor and expressman, b. near Albany, N.Y. Beginning as a stage driver out of Albany, he rose to ownership of a large network of stage lines. He ...

Butterfield, William

(Encyclopedia)Butterfield, William, 1814–1900, English Gothic-revival architect. Favored by the Ecclesiological Society for his Puginlike correctness in recalling Gothic forms, Butterfield rose to prominence in t...

O'Hara, John

(Encyclopedia)O'Hara, John, 1905–70, American novelist and short-story writer, b. Pottsville, Pa. He worked at a number of jobs and ultimately became a newspaperman before the appearance of his first novel, Appoi...

Hickok, Wild Bill

(Encyclopedia)Hickok, Wild Bill, 1837–76, American frontier marshal, b. Troy Grove, near Ottawa, Ill., as James Butler Hickok. He took part in the Kansas struggle preceding the Civil War, was a driver of the Butt...

St. John, John Pierce

(Encyclopedia)St. John, John Pierce, 1833–1916, American political reformer, b. Brookville, Ind. He traveled in the West and in South America, fought in the Union army in the Civil War, and after 1869 practiced l...

Brulé, Étienne

(Encyclopedia)Brulé, Étienne ātyĕnˈ brülāˈ [key], c.1592–1632, French explorer in North America. He arrived (1608) in the New World with Samuel de Champlain, who sent him (1610) into the wilderness to lea...

Taylor, Elizabeth, Anglo-American film actress

(Encyclopedia)Taylor, Elizabeth, 1932–2011, Anglo-American film actress, b. London. Regarded as one of the world's most beautiful women, Taylor went from child star and typical teenager roles to a series of ladyl...

Bancroft, Marie Effie Wilton, Lady

(Encyclopedia)Bancroft, Marie Effie Wilton, Lady, 1839–1921, English actress and manager. She made her debut (1856) at the Lyceum Theatre, London, and in 1865 became joint manager of the Prince of Wales's Theatre...

Devoy, John

(Encyclopedia)Devoy, John dĭvoiˈ [key], 1842–1928, Irish-American journalist and Irish revolutionary, b. Ireland. He joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood (see Fenian movement) in 1861. For proselytizing with...

Dewey, John

(Encyclopedia)Dewey, John, 1859–1952, American philosopher and educator, b. Burlington, Vt., grad. Univ. of Vermont, 1879, Ph.D. Johns Hopkins, 1884. He taught at the universities of Minnesota (1888–89), Michig...