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Filson, John

(Encyclopedia)Filson, John, c.1753–1788, Kentucky pioneer, b. Chester co., Pa. In 1783 he acquired land in Kentucky, taught school, and wrote Discovery, Settlement, and Present State of Kentucke (1784). This firs...

Fiske, John

(Encyclopedia)Fiske, John, 1842–1901, American philosopher and historian, b. Hartford, Conn. Born Edmund Fisk Green, he changed his name in 1855 to John Fisk, adding the final e in 1860. He opened a law practice ...

Fitch, John

(Encyclopedia)Fitch, John, 1743–98, American inventor, b. Windsor, Conn. Fitch began (1785) work on the invention of the steam engine and steamboat and secured soon afterward the exclusive right to build and oper...

Evans, John

(Encyclopedia)Evans, John, 1814–97, American founder of educational institutions, b. Waynesville, Ohio, grad. Lynn Medical College, Cincinnati, 1838. He practiced medicine in Indiana and was the first superintend...

Evelyn, John

(Encyclopedia)Evelyn, John ēvˈəlĭn, ĕvˈlĭn [key], 1620–1706, English diarist and miscellaneous writer. Although of royalist sympathies, he took little active part in the civil war. After 1652 he lived as a...

Fenwick, John

(Encyclopedia)Fenwick, John, 1618–83, Quaker colonist in America, b. England. Planning to found a Quaker refuge in America, Fenwick obtained (1674) Lord Berkeley's share of New Jersey in trust for the Quaker merc...

Eliot, John

(Encyclopedia)Eliot, John, 1604–90, English missionary in colonial Massachusetts, called the Apostle to the Indians. Educated at Cambridge, he was influenced by Thomas Hooker, became a staunch Puritan, and emigra...

Elmer, John

(Encyclopedia)Elmer, John: see Aylmer, John. ...

Elway, John

(Encyclopedia)Elway, John, 1960–, American football player, b. Port Angeles, Wash. An All-American quarterback at Stanford, he played his entire National Football League career (1983–99) with the Denver Broncos...

Sayles, John

(Encyclopedia)Sayles, John (John Thomas Sayles), 1950–, one of America's most influential independent filmmakers as well as a screenwriter, fiction writer, playwright, and actor, b. Schenectady, N.Y., grad. Willi...