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Washington Island, United States

(Encyclopedia)Washington Island, c.20 sq mi (50 sq km), NE Wis., in NW Lake Michigan, just off the northern tip of the Door Peninsula. The island was visited by the French explorers Pierre Radisson (1657) and Rober...

Weirton

(Encyclopedia)Weirton, city (1990 pop. 22,124), Brooke and Hancock counties, NW W.Va., in the industrial Northern Panhandle, on the Ohio River; settled 1790s, inc. 1947. Its industries include coal mining and the m...

Tirzah

(Encyclopedia)Tirzah tûrˈzə [key], in the Bible. 1 Daughter and coheiress of Zelophehad. 2 City, ancient Palestine, capital of the northern kingdom of Israel from the reign of Jeroboam I to Omri. ...

Posillipo

(Encyclopedia)Posillipo pōzēlˈlēpō [key], volcanic ridge, in Campania, S Italy, projecting into the northern part of the Bay of Naples. The town of Posillipo, a picturesque suburb of Naples, has interesting ru...

Edgeworth, Maria

(Encyclopedia)Edgeworth, Maria, 1767–1849, Irish novelist; daughter of Richard Lovell Edgeworth. She lived practically her entire life on her father's estate in Ireland. Letters for Literary Ladies (1795), her fi...

Deirdre

(Encyclopedia)Deirdre dârˈdrə, dērˈ– [key], beautiful heroine of Irish legend. A druid prophesied at her birth that she would bring great misfortunes. Deirdre, chosen to be the wife of Conchobar, king of Uls...

Conway, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Conway, Thomas, 1735–1800?, general in the Continental army in the American Revolution, b. Ireland. Educated in France, he was an officer in the French army before coming (1777) to America. He fough...

Fair, James Graham

(Encyclopedia)Fair, James Graham, 1831–94, American financier, b. near Belfast, Ireland. He emigrated to America as a child, grew up on an Illinois farm, and went west in 1851 in search of gold. In partnership wi...

absentee ownership

(Encyclopedia)absentee ownership, system under which a person (or a corporation) controls and derives income from land in a region where he does not reside. Abuses existed in absenteeism in pre-Revolutionary France...

Hamilton, Anthony

(Encyclopedia)Hamilton, Anthony, 1646?–1720, French author of Scottish descent, b. Ireland. He spent much time in France, where he became a master of the French language. He fought in the Dutch Wars for Louis XIV...