lican state committee and of the executive com
mittee of the Republican national committee.
He received the honorary degree A.M. from Yale
in 1876
PLATT, William Henry, clergyman and
author, was born in Amenia, Duchess county,
N.Y., April 16, 1821. He was admitted to the
bar in 1840, and practised in Alabama until 1844,
when he began his preparation for holy orders.
He was admitted to the diaconate in 1851, and
advanced to the priesthood in 1852 ; was rector
of St. Paul s, Selma, Ala.; Grace church, Peters
burg, Va. ; at Louisville, Ky. ; San Francisco,
Cal., and of St. Paul s church in Rochester, N.Y.
[280]
PLATT
PLEASANTON
He resided in the missionary jurisdiction of
Olympia after 1892. He received the degree
D.D. in 1878, and LL.D. later, from the College
of William and Mary. He is the author of : Art
Culture (1873) ; Influence of Religion in the De
velopment of Jurisprudence (1877) ; After Death,
what? (1878) ; Unity of Law or Legal Morality
(1879) ; God out and Man in, a reply to Robei t
G. Ingersoll (1883). He died in Petersburg, Va.,
Dec. 18, 1898.
PLATT, Zephaniah, delegate, was born in
Duchess county, N.Y., in 1740. He was ad
mitted to the bar; practised in his native county;
was a delegate from New York to the Continental
congress, 1784-86 ; judge of the circuit court of
New York for several years ; an originator of the
Erie canal, and the founder of Plattsburg, N.Y.,
where he died, Sept. 12, 1807.
PLATT, Zephaniah, jurist, was born in Platts
burg, N.Y., in 179G ; son of Judge Zephaniah
Platt (q.v.) He removed to Michigan territory,
where he practised law and was U.S. attorney to
settle claims on the Pacific coast. He was
attorney-general of Michigan, 1841-43, and sub
sequently attained high rank at the bar. He
removed to Aiken, S.C., in 18G6, and served as
judge of the 2d circuit, 1808-71. He died in
Aiken, S.C., April 20, 1871.
PLEASANTON, Alfred, soldier, was born in
Washington. D.C., June 7, 1824. He was gradu
ated from the U.S. Military academy in 1844,
and assigned to the 1st dragoons. He served on
frontier duty, 1844-46 ; was promoted 2d lieu
tenant of 2d dragoons, Nov. 3, 1845 ; served in
the war with Mexico, 1846-48 ; was brevetted 1st
lieutenant, May 9, 1846, for gallantry at Palo Alto
and Resaca de la Palma, and was 011 frontier
duty in New Mexico, 1848-52. He was promoted
1st lieutenant, Sept. 30, 1849 ; was engaged in
scouting and Indian skirmishes in New Mexico
and Texas, 1852-56 ; was promoted captain, March
3, 1855 ; was acting assistant adjutant-general
of the department of Florida, 1855-57 ; was en
gaged in quelling the Kansas disturbances, 1857-
58, and was acting assistant adjutant-general of
the department of Oregon, 1858-60. He com
manded a regiment in the department of Utah,
June- Aug., 1861, which he marched to Washing
ton, and was transferred to the 2d cavalry, Aug.
3, 1861, and was engaged in the defences of
Washington, D.C. He was promoted major,
Feb. 15, 1862, and served in the siege of York-
town and in the seven days battle before Rich
mond. He was commissioned brigadier-general,
U.S. volunteers, July 16, 1862, and commanded
the advance cavalry division of the Army of the
Potomac in the Maryland campaign, Sept. 8 to
Nov. 18, 1862. He was brevetted lieutenant-
colonel, U.S.A., Sept. 17, 1862, for services at
[281]
Antietam ; was in the Rappahannock cam
paign, Dec., 1862-June, 1863; commanded the
cavalry corps, Army of the Potomac, in the
Pennsylvania campaign, June- July, 1863 ; was
engaged in the battles at Culpeper C.H. and
Brandy Station, Va. , and was transferred to the
department of Missouri, March 23, 1864, where he
was engaged in the defence of Jefferson City,
Oct. 8, 1864, and in command of cavalry in pur
suit of Gen. Sterling Price, routing him near the
Marais des Cygnes river, Kan., Oct. 25, 1864. He
was promoted major-general, U.S. volunteers,
June 22, 1863, and brevetted colonel, U.S.A., July
2, 1863, for services at Gettysburg ; brigadier-
general, U.S.A., March 13, 1865, " for gallant and
meritorious services during the campaign against
the Confederate forces under General Price in
Missouri," and major-general, March 13, 1865, for
services in the field. The 37th congress recom
mended him through a committee for the com
mand of the Army of the Potomac. He was
mustered out of volunteer service, Jan. 15, 1866,
after having been engaged in 105 battles and
skirmishes, and he resigned his commission in
the regular army in 1868. He was U.S. collector
of internal revenue in New York city for several
years ; president of the Terre Haute and Cincin
nati railroad, and in May, 1888, was placed on
the retired list with the rank of colonel. He
died in Washington, D.C., Feb. 17, 1897.
PLEASANTON, Augustus James, soldier, was
born in Washington, D.C., Aug. 18, 1808. He
was graduated from the U.S. Military academy
in 1826, assigned to the 6th infantry, and pro-
aioted 3d lieutenant in 3d artillery, July 1, 1826,
being transferred to the 1st artillery, Oct. 24,
1826. He served at the artillery school for prac
tice at Fort Monroe, Va., 1826-27 ; on topographi
cal duty, 1827-30 ; resigned his commission in
the army, June 30, 1830, and was admitted to
the Philadelphia bar in 1832, where he practised
law, 1832-94. He was brigade-major of Penn
sylvania militia, 1833-35, and colonel, 1835-45, and
was severely wounded, July 7, 1844, while com
manding his regiment in a desperate conflict
with armed rioters in Southwark, Philadelphia
county, Pa. He was assistant adjutant-general
and paymaster-general of the state of Pennsyl
vania, 1888-39. On May 16, 1861, he was ap
pointed brigadier-general of Pennsylvania militia,
and organized and commanded a Home guard of
10,000 men, 1861-65. He devoted his leisure time
to farming and to scientific research, and claimed
that the blue light from the sky had an important
effect on the growth of living organisms. He
produced this light artificially by means of tinted
glass, and obtained a patent on "an improve
ment in accelerating the growth of plants and
animals "in 1871. In May, 1871, he lectured on
PLEASANTS
PLUMB
the " Influence of the Blue Ray," which resulted
in the short-lived " blue glass craze." the appli
cation of blue glass light being applied to all
sorts of infirmities and wonderful cures reported.
He died in Philadelphia, Pa., July 26, 1894.
PLEASANTS, James, senator, was born in
Goochland county, Va., Oct. 24, 1769 ; son of
James and Anne (Randolph) Scott Pleasants ;
grandson of John and Susanna (Woodson) Pleas-
ants and of Isham and Jane (Rogers) Randolph ;
great-grandson of Joseph and Martha (Cocke)
Pleasants, and great 2 -grandson of John Pleasants
of Norwich, England, and of
"Curies," Va., who married
Jane, widow of Samuel
Tucker. His mother Anne
Randolph, married (1st) Dan
iel Scott, (3d) John Pleasants,
and (3d) James Pleasants.
He was instructed by private
tutors, studied law under Judge Fleming and
practised in Goochland county. He was married
to Susanna, daughter of Col. Hugh of Geddes"
and Caroline Matilda (Jordan) Rose of Bucking
ham county, Va. He was a Republican repre
sentative in the state legislature, 1796-1803 ; clerk
of the house, 1803-11 ; a representative in the
12th-15th congresses, 1811-19, and U.S. senator,
1819-22, resigning his seat to become governor of
Virginia, serving 1822-25. He was a delegate to
the Virginia constitutional convention of 1829-
30, and twice declined high judicial appointments
from the governor of Virginia. The county of
Pleasants, Va., was named in his honor. He died
at his homestead in Goocliland, Va., Nov. 9, 1839.
PLEASANTS, John Hampden, journalist, was
born in Goochland county, Va., Jan. 4, 1797 ;
son of James and Susanna (Rose) Pleasants. He
attended the College of William and Mary,
studied law, and was admitted to the bar. He
engaged in journalism and established the Lynch-
burg Virginian, which he edited for several
years. He was twice married, first to Ann
Irving, by whom he had no issue, and secondly,
to Mary, daughter of Capt. Henry and Susan Pres
ton (Lewis) Massie, by whom he had two children,
James and Ann Eliza. He removed to Rich
mond, Va., where in 1824 he founded the Con
stitutional Whig and Public Advertiser, of which
he was editor-in-chief, 1824-46. He became in
volved in a political quarrel with Thomas Ritchie,
Jr., editor of the Richmond Enquirer, which
resulted in a duel in which Pleasants was killed.
The Virginia Whigs erected a monument to his
memory. He died in Richmond, Va., Feb. 27, 1846.
PLEHN, Carl Copping, political economist,
was born in Providence, R. I., June 20, 1867 ; son of
Julius and Mary(Copping)Plehn; grandson of Mar
tin and Deborah (Averhoff) Plehn(of Schleswig-
Holstein) and of John and Helen(Wallace) Copping
(of London ) . He was graduated from Brown uni
versity, A.B., 1889, and fromGottingen university,
Ph.D., 1891. He was professor of history and
political science at Middlebury college, 1891-93,
and was at the University of California as as
sistant professor of political economy, 1893-96;
became associate professor of finance and statis
tics in 1896, and dean of the college of commerce
in 1898. He was married May 16, 1894, to
Elizabeth, daughter of Ezra Brainard (q.v.). He
was supervisor of the census for the first district
of California. 1900, and chief statistician of the
Philippine Islands with the Philippine commis
sion, 1900-01. He was elected a member of the
American Economic association, the American
Academy of Political and Social Science and the
American Statistical association. His published
writings, chiefly of a statistical or economic
nature, include : Das Kreditwesen der Staaten
und Stadte der nordamerikaniscJien Union (Jena,
1891); Introduction to Public Finance (1896);
General Property Tax in California (1897):
Taxation of Mortgages in California (1899), and
many contributions to periodicals.
PLUMB, Charles Sumner, agriculturist, was
born in Westfield, Mass., April 21,1860; son of
David Henry and Helen Mar (Wallace) Plumb ;
grandson of David and Hannah (Doty) Plumb,
and a descendant of John Plumbe, who came
from Essex county, England, to Hartford, Conn.,
about 166o. He was graduated from the Massa
chusetts Agricultural college, Amherst, Mass.,
B.Sc. in 1882; was associate editor of the Rural
New Yorker, 1883-84, and first assistant at the
State Agricultural Experiment station, Geneva,
N.Y., 1884-87. He was married Oct. 14, 1886, to
Helen P., daughter of Llewellyn and Salena
Purple (Gates) Gladwin of Westfield, Mass. He
was professor of agriculture at the University of
Tennessee and assistant director of the Tennes
see Agricultural Experiment station, 1887-90,
and in 1890 became connected with Purdue uni
versity, Lafayette, Ind., as professor of agricul
tural science, and witli the Indiana Experiment
station as vice-director. He founded in 1887 and
published and edited until 1891, Agricultural
Science, a monthly ; and in 1891 he became
director of the Indiana Agricultural Experiment
station, at Lafayette, Ind. He was elected pres
ident of the American Cheviot Sheep society in
1900, president of the Indiana State Dairy associa
tion, 1901 and 1902, and secretary of the Indiana
Wool Growers association in 1900 and 1901 ; was
elected a member of the executive committee of
the Society for the Promotion of Agricultural
Science, and its secretary and treasurer for four
years. He was also lecturer at the Graduate
Summer School of Agriculture, 1902, at Ohio State
[282]
PLUMB
PLUMER
university, Columbus, and a fellow of the
American Association for the Advancement of
Science. His published writings include : Bio
graphical Directory of American Agricultural
Scientists (1889); Indian Corn Culture (1895);
and numerous monographs and contributions to
periodicals.
PLUMB, Preston B M senator, was born in
Delaware county, Ohio, Oct. 12, 1837. He received
a limited education, served an apprenticeship to
a printer, 1849-52, and was editor of the Xenia
News, 1852-56. He removed in 1856 to Emporia,
Kan., where in 1857 he founded the Weekly Neics,
which he conducted alone ; and he became a
prominent member of the free soil party in
Kansas. He was secretary of the Free State
convention of 1857; a member of the state constitu
tional convention of 1859 ; was admitted to the bar
in 1861, and was a representative in the Kansas
state legislature in 1862. He served as reporter
of the state supreme court, and in August, 1863,
enlisted in the Federal army, and was appointed
2nd lieutenant in the llth Kansas infantry. He
served throughout the civil war, receiving the
promotions of captain, major, and lieutenant-
colonel. He was a representative in the state
legislature, 1867-68 ; speaker of the house in
1868 ; prosecuting attorney for Lyon count}-,
Kansas, and was president of the First National
Bank of Emporia, 1873-77. He was a member of
the Republican state convention in 1876 ; was
elected U.S. senator by the Republican legisla
ture of Kansas in 1877, to succeed James M.
Harvey, and was re-elected in 1883 and 1889, his
third term expiring March 3, 1895. He was
married to Carrie Southwick, of Ashtabula,
Ohio. He edited and adapted Practice before
Justice Courts in Kansas (1875). He died in
Washington, B.C., Dec. 20, 1891.
PLUME, Joseph William, soldier, was born in
Troy, N.Y.. Aug. 23, 1839; son of William and
Eliza (Turk) Plume; grandson of Joseph and
Lucetta (Plum) Plume and of William and Eliza
(Livingston) Turk, and a descendant of Robert
Livingston on one side, and of Captain Bastian
Visscher on the other. He attended the public
school, became a bank clerk in Newark, N.J. ;
enlisted in the 3d New Jei-sey volunteers, and was
commissioned adjutant, May 29, 1861 ; was made
aide-de-camp to Gen. W. II. French, Feb. 15, 1862 ;
acting assistant adjutant-general, 3d brigade,
Stunner s division, June 1. 1862, and acting as
sistant adjutant-general, 3d division, 3d corps,
Sept. 8, 1862. He served in the battles of First
Bull Run, Yorktown, Fair Oaks, Seven Pines,
Gaines s Mill, Peach Orchard, Saratoga Station,
White Oaks Bridge, Malvern Hill, Second Bull
Run, xVntietam and Fredericksburg. At the end
of two years service he was mustered out and
returned to his bank in Newark, where he was
made cashier in 1870 and subsequently vice-presi
dent. He was married, Dec. 4, 1883, to Eleanor,
daughter of John A. and Sarah J. (Davies) Miller
of Newark, N.J. He joined the National Guard
of New Jersey as a private in 1859 and rose to the
rank of major-general, resigning, Feb. 6, 1899.
He was commissioned brigadier-general of volun
teers, June 24, 1898, commanded the first brigade,
first division, 2d corps in the war with Spain, and
was mustered out Oct. 31, 1898. He then re
sumed his banking business in Newark.
PLUMER, William, senator, was born in
Newburyport, Mass., June 25, 1759 ; son of
Samuel and Mary (Dole) Plumer, and a descend
ant of Francis Plumer, who came from the west
of England, and settled in Newbury, Mass., in 1635.
He attended school at Epping, N.H. ; was mar
ried, Feb. 12, 1788, to Sally, a daughter of Philip
Fowler of Newmarket, and was a successful at-
torney-at-law in Epping, 1787-1820. He was
county solicitor ; a representative in the state
legislature for eight terms, speaker of the house
for two terms, and state senator, 1810-11. He was
a member of the state constitutional convention,
1792; U.S. senator, 1802-07, elected to fill a va
cancy caused by the resignation of James Sheafe ;
governor of New Hampshire, 1812-16 and 1817-18 ;
was a presidential elector in 1820, and voted for
John Quincy Adams, being the only opposing
voice in the re-election of President Monroe. He
retired from public service in 1820, and devoted
himself to literary pursuits. He is the author of :
Appeal to the Old Whigs (1805) ; Address to the
Clergy (1814), and many contributions to the
press under the pen name " Cincinnatus." He
died in Epping, N. H., Dec. 22, 1850.
PLUMER, William, representative, was born
in Epping, N. H., Feb. 9, 1789, son of William
(q. v.) and Sally (Fowler) Plumer. He was
graduated from Harvard, A.B., 1809, A.M., 1812 ;
studied law with his father, and was admitted to
the bar in 1812. He was U.S. commissioner of
loans, 1816-17 ; representative in the state legis
lature in 1818, and a Democratic representative in
the 16th, 17th and 18th congresses, 1819-25. He
was married, Sept. 13, 1820, to Margaret F. Mead.
He was state senator, 1827-28 ; declined the ap
pointment of district attorney in 1830 ; was a
member of the state constitutional convention
in 1850. and in that year retired from active par
ticipation in public affairs, devoting himself to
literary work. He was a member of the New
England Historic-Genealogical society ; the au
thor of two volumes of poems (1841-43) ; Lyrica
Sacra (1845); Pastoral on the Story of Ruth
(1847), and was a co-editor with Andrew P.
Peabody of the Life of William Plumer (1857).
He died in Epping, N. H., Sept. 18. 1854.
[283]
PLUMER
PLYMPTON
PLUMER, William Swan, clergyman, was
born in Griersburg, Pa., July 26, 1802. He was
graduated from Washington college, Va., in 1822
and attended Princeton Theological seminary,
1824-25. He was ordained by tbe presbytery
of Orange, May 19, 1827 ; served as stated supply
and evangelist in southern Virginia and North
Carolina. 1826-29 ; was pastor at Petersburg, Va.,
1830-34 ; Richmond, Va., 1834-4G ; Baltimore, Md.,
1847-54, and Allegheny, Pa., 1855-G2. He was
professor of didactic and polemic theology at the
Western Theological seminary, Allegheny, 1854-
62 ; pastor at Pottsville, Pa., 1865-66 ; professor of
didactic and polemic theology at Columbia Theo
logical seminary, S.C., 1867-75, and of historic,
casuistic and pastoral theology, 1875-80. The
honorary degree of D.U. was conferred on him by
the College of New Jersey, Lafayette and Wash
ington colleges in 1838 and that of LL. D. by the
University of Mississippi in 1857. He founded an
institution for the deaf, dumb and blind at Staun-
ton, Va.. in 1838, and established and was editor
of the Watchman of the South, Richmond, Va. ,
1838-46. He is the author of : The Bible True,
and Infidelity Wicked (1848) ; Plain Thong] its for
Children (1849) ; Short Sermons to Little Chil
dren (1850) ; Thoughts Worth Remembering (1850) ;
The Saint and the Sinner (1851) ; The Grace of
Christ (1853) ; Rome against the Bible and the Bible
against Rome (1854) ; Christ our Theme and Story
(1855) ; Tlie Church and Her Enemies ( 1856) ; Vital
Godliness (1865) ; Jehovce Jireli (1866); Studies in
the Book of Psalms (1866) ; The Rock of our Sal-
vation(l867) ; Words of Truth and Love (1868) ;
Commentaries on the Epistle to the Hebrews
(1870), and on the Epistle to the Romans (1870) ;
He died in Baltimore, Md., Oct. 22, 1880.
PLUMMER, Mary Wright, librarian, was born
at Richmond, Ind., in 1856 ; daughter of Jona
than Wright and Hannah Ann (Ballard) Plum-
mer ; granddaughter of John Thomas and Hannah
(Wright) Plummer, and descended from the
PI umtners of Maryland, and the Ballards of Vir
ginia. She was graduated from the Friends
academy, Richmond, Ind., 1872; pursued special
studies at Wellesley college, Mass., 1881-82, and
took a course in library science at Columbia
university, 1886-88, when she became head of the
cataloguing department in the St. Louis Public
library, and in 1890 librarian of the Pratt Institute
Free library, Brooklyn, N.Y., of which she was
also appointed director in 1896. She was presi
dent of the New York Library club, 1896-97 ;
vice-president of the Long Island Library club,
1900-01, president, 1901-02 ; a member of the
council, 1897-1901 ; vice-president of the Amer
ican Library association, 1900, and a delegate to
the International congress of libraries at Paris,
France. 1900. Her published works include :
Hints to Small Libraries (1894, 3d ed., 1902) ;-
Verses, (privately printed, 1896) ; Contemporary
Spain as Shown by her Novelists (1899), and con
tributions to periodical literature.
PLUNKET, James Dace, physician, was born,
in Franklin, Tenn., Aug. 20, 1839 ; son of James
and Anna (Smyth) Plunket : grandson of P.
Dace and Mary Ross (Real) Plunket. and a des
cendant of Scotch-Irish ancestors. He studied
medicine with Dr. Joseph Leidy and was gradu
ated from the University of Pennsylvania, M.D.,
1863. He was assistant surgeon in the Confeder
ate hospital at Knoxville, and later was promoted
full surgeon and assigned to the 40th and sub
sequently to the 52d Georgia infantry, Stovall s
brigade, Clayton s division. He returned to
Nashville in May, 1865, and in 1872 was married
to Jane Eliza, daughter of John and Frances
(Hunton)Swope of Danville, Ky. He was elected
professor of surgical anatomy in the medical de
partment of Cumberland university, 1868. Owing
to his effort a city board of health was formed,
in Nashville in 1866, of which he was secretary,
and he was president of the city sanitary com
mission during the deadly epidemic of cholera,
1873. He was president of the state board of
health, 1877-97, and his strenuous but intelligent
and successful effort to quarantine Memphis dur
ing the yellow-fever epidemic of 1879 confined
the epidemic to the city, but brought him into
antagonism with certain commercial interests in
that city. In 1879 he was elected president of
the sanitary council of the Mississippi valley,
which position he still held in 1903. He was
elected a member of the American Medical as
sociation, the American Public Health associa
tion, the State Medical association, and the
American Association for the Advancement of
Science, serving as chairman of the committee
on meteorology in 1878.
PLYMPTON, George Washington, civil en
gineer, was born in Waltham, Mass., Nov. 18,
1827 ; son of Thomas Ruggles and Elizabeth
(Holden) Plympton ; grandson of Peter Plymp-
ton and of Lewis Holden, and a descendant of
Thomas Plympton, who emigrated from Sud-
bury, England, in 1640 and was one of the pioneer
settlers of Sudbury, Mass. He attended the
public schools of Waltham, Mass., and obtained
a position in a machine shop in 1844, where he
became a practical mechanic and engineer. He
was graduated from Renssalaer Polytechnic in
stitute. Troy, N.Y., C.E., 1847 ; was instructor in
geodesy and mathematics in the institute, 1847-
48, and engaged in civil engineering in Massa
chusetts, New York and Ohio, 1848-52. He was
professor of chemistry and toxicology in the
Long Island College hospital, 1844-45 ; of en
gineering and architecture in Western Reserve,
28 tj
POE
POE
university, Cleveland, Ohio, 1852-53 ; of mathe
matics in the state normal school, Albany, N.Y.,
1853-55, and of physics and engineering at the
Normal school, Trenton, N.J., 1857-59 ; of physi
cal science in the Brooklyn Polytechnic institute,
1803-69 ; of physics and engineering at Cooper
Union, Ne\v York city, 1869-79, and became
director of the Cooper Union night school in
1879. He was chief engineer of the water board
of Bergen, N.J.,and was appointed commissioner
to supervise the construction of electrical sub
ways in Brooklyn, N.Y. He was twice married ;
first on Dec. 17, 1855, to Delia M., daughter of
Thomas Bussey of Troy, N.Y., and secondly, July
3d, 1861, to Helen M. Bussey, her sister. The
honorary degree of A.M. was conferred on him
by Hamilton college in 1854 and that of M.D. by
Long Island College hospital. He edited Van
Nost rand s Engineering Magazine (1870-86), and
is the author of : The Blowpipe, a Guide to its Use
in the Determination of Salts and Minerals (1858) ;
^4. Translation ofJannetlaz s " Guide to the Deter
mination of Rocks" 1 (1877) ; The Star Finder or
Planisphere witJi a Movable Horizon (1878) ; Tlie
Aerinoid, and How to Use it (1880).
POE, Edgar Allan, author, was born in Boston,
Mass., Jan. 19, 1809 ; son of David and Elizabeth
(Arnold) Poe. His grandfather, David Poe,
fought in the Revolutionary and 1812 wars, and
his father, who had been educated for the law,
had become an actor, married an actress, and
was playing in Boston, when Edgar Allan, his
second son, was born. His parents died when he
was but, two years old, and John Allan, a wealthy
merchant of Richmond, adopted him. He at
tended school at Stoke Newington, England, and
a private school in Richmond, Va., and entered
the Univer
sity of Vir
ginia, Feb. 14,
1826. He re
mained there
but one year,
worked in Mr.
Allan s count
ing-room a
few months,
and in 1827
went to Bos
ton, where, at