Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Rolfe, John

(Encyclopedia)Rolfe, John rŏlf [key], 1585–1622, English colonist in Virginia. He reached the colony in May, 1610, and introduced (1612) the regular cultivation of tobacco, which became Virginia's staple. A wido...

Gros Ventre

(Encyclopedia)Gros Ventre grō văNˈtrə [key] [Fr.,=big belly], name used by the French for two quite distinct Native North American groups. One was the Atsina, a detached band of the Arapaho, whose language belo...

Zeisberger, David

(Encyclopedia)Zeisberger, David zīsˈbərgər [key], 1721–1808, American Moravian missionary, b. Moravia. While a youth, he lived in Holland and later in London, where he met Graf von Zinzendorf, who enabled him...

Good, James Isaac

(Encyclopedia)Good, James Isaac, 1850–1924, American clergyman of the German Reformed Church, b. York, Pa. He held pastorates in York, Philadelphia, and Reading, Pa., and in 1890 he became professor in the School...

Morton, Sarah Wentworth

(Encyclopedia)Morton, Sarah Wentworth, 1759–1846, American author, b. Boston. Under her pseudonym, Philenia, she wrote such works as Ouâbi: Or the Virtues of Nature (1790), a sentimental Native American romance....

Upjohn, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Upjohn, Richard, 1802–78, American architect, b. England. He came to the United States in 1829. A skilled cabinetmaker and draftsman, he lived first in Manlius, N.Y., and then in New Bedford, Mass.,...

Daughters of the American Revolution

(Encyclopedia)Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), a Colonial patriotic society in the United States, open to women having one or more ancestors who aided the cause of the Revolution. The society was organiz...

Ingersoll, Jared, American colonial official

(Encyclopedia)Ingersoll, Jared, 1722–81, American colonial official, b. Milford, Conn. He was made (1751) king's attorney in New Haven, and later he sailed (1758) for England as a colonial agent. From a second tr...

House Un-American Activities Committee

(Encyclopedia)House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), a committee (1938–75) of the U.S. House of Representatives, created to investigate disloyalty and subversive organizations. Its first chairman, Martin ...

Hamilton, Andrew, colonial American lawyer

(Encyclopedia)Hamilton, Andrew, 1676?–1741, colonial American lawyer, defender of John Peter Zenger, b. Scotland. He practiced law in Maryland and then Pennsylvania, where he became (1717) attorney general and he...

Browse by Subject