ELAND
STANFORD was one of the greatest men of the Pacific coast and also
had a national reputation. He was born March 9, 1824, in Albany
county, New York, and passed his early life on his father's farm.
He attended the local schools of the county and at the age of
twenty began the study of law. He entered the law office of
Wheaton, Doolittle and Hadley, at Albany, in 1845, and a few years
later he moved to Port Washington, Wisconsin, where he practiced
law four years with moderate success. In 1852 Mr. Stanford
determined to push further west, and, accordingly went to
California, where three of his brothers were established in
business in the mining towns. They took Leland into partnership,
giving him charge of a branch store at Michigan Bluff, in Placer
county. There he developed great business ability and four years
later started a mercantile house of his own in San Francisco,
which soon became one of the most substantial houses on the coast,
On the formation of the Republican party he interested himself in
politics, and in 186o was sent as a delegate to the convention
that nominated Abraham Lincoln. In the autumn of 1861 he was
elected, by an immense majority, governor of California. Prior to
his election as governor he had been chosen president of the
newly-organized Central Pacific Railroad Company, and after
leaving the executive chair he devoted all of his time to the
construction of the Pacific end of the transcontinental railway.
May 10, 1869, Mr. Stanford drove the last spike of the Central
Pacific road, thus completing the route across the continent. He
was also president of the Occidental and Oriental Steamship
Company. He had but one son, who died of typhoid fever, and as a
monument to his child he founded the university which bears his
son's name, Leland Stanford, Junior, University. Mr. Stanford gave
to this university eighty-three thousand acres of land, the
estimated value of which is $8,000,000, and the entire endowment
is $20,000,000. In 1885 Mr. Stanford was elected United States
senator as a Republican, to succeed J. T. Farley, a Democrat, and
was re-elected in 1891. His death occurred June 20, 1894, at Palo
Alto, California.
TEPHEN
DECATUR, a famous commodore in the United States navy, was born in
Maryland in 1779. He entered the naval service in 1798. In 1804,
when the American vessel Philadelphia had been run aground and
captured in the harbor of Tripoli, Decatur, at the head of a few
men, boarded her and burned her in the face of the guns from the
city defenses. For this daring deed he was made captain. He was
given command of the frigate United States at the breaking out of
the war of 1812, and in October of that year he captured the
British frigate Macedonian, and was rewarded with a gold medal by
congress. After the close of the war he was sent as commander of a
fleet of ten vessels to chastise the dey of Algiers, who was
preying upon American commerce with impunity and demanding tribute
and ransom for the release of American citizens captured.
Decatur
AMES
KNOX POLK, the eleventh president of the United States, 1845 to
1849, was born November 2, 1795, in Mecklenburg county, North
Carolina, and was the eldest child of a family of six sons. He
removed with his father to the Valley of the Duck River, in
Tennessee, in 1806. He attended the common schools and became very
proficient in the lower branches of education, and supplemented
this with a course in the Murfreesboro Academy, which he entered
in 1813 and in the autumn of 1815 he became a student in the
sophomore class of the University of North Carolina, at Chapel
Hill, and was graduated in 1818. He then spent a short time in
recuperating his health and then proceeded to Nashville,
Tennessee, where he took up the study of law in the office of
Felix Grundy. After the completion of his law studies he was
admitted to the bar and removed to Columbia, Maury county,
Tennessee, and started in the active practice of his profession.
Mr. Polk was a Jeffersonian "Republican" and in 1823 he was
elected to the legislature of Tennessee. He was a strict
constructionist and did not believe that the general government
had the power to carry on internal improvements in the states, but
deemed it important that it should have that power, and wanted the
constitution amended to that effect. But later on he became
alarmed lest the general government might become strong enough to
abolish slavery and therefore gave his whole support to the
"State's Rights" movement, and endeavored to check the
centralization of power in the general government. Mr. Polk was
chosen a member of congress in 1825, and held that office until
1839. He then withdrew, as he was the successful gubernatorial
candidate of his state. He had become a man of great influence in
the house, and, as the leader of the Jackson party in that body,
weilded great influence in the election of General Jackson to the
presidency. He sustained the president in all his measures and
still remained in the house after General Jackson had been
succeeded by Martin Van Buren. He was speaker of the house during
five sessions of congress. He was elected governor of Tennessee by
a large majority and took the oath of office at Nashville, October
4, 1839. He was a candidate for re-election but was defeated by
Governor Jones, the Whig candidate. In 1844 the most prominent
question in the election was the annexation of Texas, and as Mr.
Polk was the avowed champion of this cause he was nominated for
president by the pro-slavery wing of the democratic party, was
elected by a large majority, and was inaugurated March 4, 1845.
President Polk formed a very able cabinet, consisting of James
Buchanan, Robert J. Walker, William L. Marcy, George Bancroft,
Cave Johnson, and John Y. Mason. The dispute regarding the Oregon
boundary was settled during his term of office and a new
department was added to the list of cabinet positions, that of the
Interior. The low tariff bill of 1846 was carried and the
financial system of the country was reorganized. It was also
during President Polk's term that the Mexican war was successfully
conducted, which resulted in the acquisition of Califor-
NNA
DICKINSON (Anna Elizabeth Dickinson), a noted lecturer and public
speaker, was born at Philadelphia, October 28, 1842. Her parents
were Quakers, and she was educated at the Friends' free schools in
her native city. She early manifested an inclination toward
elocution and public speaking, and when, at the age of 18, she
found an opportunity to appear before a national assemblage for
the discussion of woman's rights, she at once established her
reputation as a public speaker. From 1860 to the close of the war
and during the exciting period of reconstruction, she was one of
the most noted and influential speakers before the American
public, and her popularity was unequaled by that of any of her
sex. A few weeks after the defeat and death of Colonel Baker at
Ball's Bluff, Anna Dickinson, lecturing in New York, made the
remarkable assertion, "Not the incompetency of Colonel Baker, but
the treachery of General McClellan caused the disaster at Ball's
Bluff." She was hissed and hooted off the stage. A year later, at
the same hall and with much the same class of auditors, she
repeated the identical words, and the applause was so great and so
long continued that it was impossible to go on with her lecture
for more than half an hour. The change of sentiment had been
wrought by the reverses and dismissal of McClellan and his
ambition to succeed Mr. Lincoln as president.
OBERT
J. BURDETTE.--Some personal characteristics of Mr. Burdette were
quaintly given by himself in the following words: "Politics?
Republican after the strictest sect. Religion ? Baptist. Personal
appearance ? Below medium height, and weigh one hundred and
thirty-five pounds, no shillings and no pence. Rich? Not enough to
own a yacht. Favorite reading? Poetry and history--know Longfellow
by heart, almost. Write for magizines (sic) ? Have more 'declined
with thanks' letters than would fill a trunk. Never able to get
into a magazine with a line. Care about it? Mad as thunder. Think
about starting a magazine and rejecting everbody's (sic) articles
except my own." Mr. Burdette was born at Greensborough,
Pennsylvania, in 1844. He served through the war of the rebellion
under General Banks "on an excursion ticket" as he felicitously
described it, "good both ways, conquering in one direction and
running in the other, pay going on just the same." He entered into
journalism by the gateway of New York correspondence for the
"Peoria Transcript," and in 1874 went on the "Burlington Hawkeye"
of which he became the managing editor, and the work that he did
on this paper made both himself and the paper famous in the world
of humor. Mr. Burdette married in 1870, and his wife, whom he
called "Her Little Serene Highness," was to him a guiding light
until the day of her death, and it was probably the unconscious
pathos with which he described her in his work that broke the
barriers that had kept him out of the maga-
ILLIAM
DEAN HOWELLS, one of the leading novelists of the present century
and author of a number of works that gained for him a place in the
hearts of the people, was born March I, 1837, at Martinsville,
Belmont county, Ohio. At the age of three years he accompanied his
father, who was a printer, to Hamilton, Ohio, where he learned the
printer's trade. Later he was engaged on the editorial staff of
the "Cincinnati Gazette" and the "Ohio State Journal." During
1861-65 he was the United States consul at Venice, and from 1871
to 1878 he was the editor-in-chief of the ''Atlantic Monthly." As
a writer he became one of the most fertile and readable of authors
and a pleasing poet. In 1885 he became connected with "Harper's
Magazine." Mr. Howells was author of the list of books that we
give below: ''Venetian Life,'' ''Italian Journeys," '' No Love
Lost," "Suburban Sketches," "Their Wedding Journey," "A Chance
Acquaintance," "A Foregone Conclusion," "Dr. Breen's Practice," "A
Modern Instance," "The Rise of Silas Lapham," "Tuscan Cities,"
others."Indian Summer," besides many He also wrote the "Poem of
Two Friends," with J. J. Piatt in 1860, and some minor dramas:
"The Drawing Room Car," "The Sleeping Car," etc., that are full of
exqusite (sic) humor and elegant dialogue. 
RANKLIN
BUCHANAN, the famous rear-admiral of the Confederate navy during
the rebellion, was born in Baltimore, Maryland. He became a United
States midshipman in 1815 and was promoted through the various
grades of the service and became a captain in 1855. Mr. Buchanan
resigned his captaincy in order to join
ORACE
BRIGHAM CLAFLIN, one of the greatest merchants America has
produced, was born in Milford, Massachusetts, a son of John
Claflin, also a merchant. Young Claflin started his active life as
a clerk in his father's store, after having been offered the
opportunity of a college education, but with the characteristic
promptness that was one of his virtues he exclaimed, "No law or
medicine for me." He had set his heart on being a merchant, and
when his father retired he and his brother Aaron, and his
brother-in-law, Samuel Daniels, conducted the business. Mr.
Claflin was not content, however, to run a store in a town like
Milford, and accordingly opened a dry goods store at Worcester,
with his brother as a partner, but the partnership was dissolved a
year later and H. B. Claflin assumed complete control. The
business in Worcester had been conducted on orthodox principles,
and when Mr. Claflin came there and introduced advertising as a
means of drawing trade, he created considerable animosity among
the older merchants. Ten years later he was one of the most
prosperous merchants. He disposed of his business in Worcester for
$30,000, and went to New York to search for a wider field than
that of a shopkeeper. Mr. Claflin and William M. Bulkley started
in the dry goods business there under the firm name of Bulkley
& Claflin, in 1843, and Mr. Bulkley was connected with the
firm until I851, when he retired. A new firm was then formed under
the name of Claflin, Mellin & Co. This firm succeeded in
founding the largest dry goods house in the world, and after
weathering the dangers of the civil war, during which the house
came very near going under, and was saved only by the superior
business abilities of Mr. Claflin, continued to grow. The sales of
the firm amounted to over $72,000,000 a year after the close of
the war. Mr. Claflin died November 14, 1885. 
HARLOTTE
CUSHMAN (Charlotte Saunders Cushman), one of the most celebrated
American actresses, was born in Boston, July 23, 1816. She was
descended from one of the earliest Puritan families. Her first
attempt at stage work was at the age of fourteen years in a
charitable concert given by amateurs in Boston. From this time her
advance to the first place on the American lyric stage was steady,
until, in 1835, while singing in New Orleans, she suddenly lost
control of her voice so far as relates to singing, and was
compelled to retire. She then took up the study for the dramatic
stage under the direction of Mr. Barton, the tragedian. She soon
after made her debut as "Lady Macbeth." She appeared in New York
in September, 1836, and her success was immediate. Her "Romeo" was
almost perfect, and she is the only woman that has ever appeared
in the part of " Cardinal Wolsey." She at different times acted as
support of Forrest and Macready. Her London engagement, secured in
1845, after many and great discouragements, proved an unqualified
success.
EAL
DOW, one of the most prominent temperance reformers our country
has known, was born in Portland, Me., March 20, 1804. He received
his education in the Friends Seminary, at New Bedford,
Massachusetts, his parents being members of that sect. After
leaving school he pursued a mecrantile (sic) and manufacturing
career for a number of years. He was active in the affairs of his
native city, and in 1839 became chief of the fire department, and
in 1851 was elected mayor. He was re-elected to the latter office
in 1854. Being opposed to the liquor traffic he was a champion of
the project of prohibition, first brought forward in 1839 by James
Appleton. While serving his first term as mayor he drafted a bill
for the "suppression of drinking houses and tippling shops," which
he took to the legislature and which was passed without an
alteration. In 1858 Mr. Dow was elected to the legislature. On the
outbreak of the Civil war he was appointed colonel of the
Thirteenth Maine Infantry and accompanied General Butler's
expedition to New Orleans.
ACHARY
TAYLOR, twelfth president of the United States, was born in Orange
county, Virginia, September 24, 1784. His boyhood was spent on his
father's plantation and his education was limited. In 1808 he was
made lieutenant of the Seventh Infantry, and joined his regiment
at New Orleans. He was promoted to captain in 1810, and commanded
at Fort Harrison, near the present site of Terre Haute, in 1812,
where, for his gallant defense, he was brevetted major, attaining
full rank in 1814. In 1815 he retired to an estate near
Louisville. In 1816 he re-entered the army as major, and was
promoted to lieutenant-colonel and then to colonel. Having for
many years been Indian agent over a large portion of the western
country, he was often required in Washington to give advice and
counsel in matters connected with the Indian bureau. He served
through the Black Hawk Indian war of 1832, and in 1837 was ordered
to the command of the
ELVILLE
D. LANDON, better known as "Eli Perkins," author, lecturer and
humorist, was born in Eaton, New York, September 7, 1839. He was
the son of John Landon and grandson of Rufus Landon, a
revolutionary soldier from Litchfield county, Connecticut.
Melville was educated at the district school and neighboring
academy, where he was prepared for the sophomore class at Madison
University. He passed two years at the latter, when he was
admitted to Union College, and graduated in the class of 1861,
receiving the degree of A. M., in 1862. He was, at once, appointed
to a position in the treasury department at Washington. This being
about the time of the breaking out of the war, and before the
appearance of any Union troops at the capital, he assisted in the
organization of the "Clay Battalion," of Washington. Leaving his
clerkship some time later, he took up duties on the staff of
General A. L. Chetlain, who was in command at Memphis. In 1864 he
resigned from the army and engaged in cotton planting in
Arkansas
E
WITT CLINTON.--Probably there were but few men who were so popular
in their time, or who have had so much influence in moulding
events as the individual whose name honors the head of this
article. De Witt Clinton was the son of General James Clinton, and
a nephew of Governor George Clinton, who was the fourth
vice-president of the United States. He was a native of Orange
county, New York, born at Little Britain, March 2, 1769. He
graduated from Columbia College, in his native state, in 1796, and
took up the study of law. In 1790 he became private secretary to
his uncle, then governor of New York. He entered public life as a
Republican or anti-Federalist, and was elected to the lower
