district of South Carolina, 1801-16. He died in
Charleston. S.C., July 17, 1816.

READ, John Joseph, naval officer, was born
in New Jersey, June 17. 1842. He was appointed
a cadet in the U.S. Naval academy, Sept. 21,
1858, and was ordered into active service in May,
1861 ; promoted ensign, Nov. 25, 1862 ; lieutenant,
Feb. 22, 1864 , lieutenant-colonel. July 25. 1866 ;
commander, Dec. 11, 1877 ; captain, April 27,
1893, and rear-admiral, Nov. 29. 1900. During
the civil war he served on the flagship Hartford,
West Gulf blockading squadron, under Admiral
Farragut, in the battles from Southwest Pass to
Vicksburg, 1862 ; stationed with the South



Atlantic blockading squadron, 1862-64 ; on the
steamer R. R. Cuyler, North Atlantic squadron,
1864-65 ; De Soto and Rhode Island, Atlantic
squadron, 1865-67 ; flagship Susqnehanna, North
Atlantic squadron, 1867-68 ; Michigan on the
Lakes, 1869; Guerriere, European station, 1870-72 ;
Richmond, North Pacific station, 1873-76, and
South Pacific station, 1876-77. He was in com
mand of the bureau of yards and docks, 1877-79 ;
lighthouse inspector, 1879-83, 1886-90, and 1892-
93 ; in command of the Michigan, 1883-86 ; of the
Iroquois, March, 1891-July, 1892 ; inspector, on
temporary duty at Newport, R.I., from May,
1893, until August, 1894, when he was assigned
to the command of the receiving ship Independ
ence. He commanded the flagship Olympia,
Asiatic squadron, 1895-97 ; was on waiting
orders, November, 1897-98 ; commanded the re
ceiving ship Richmond, League Island navy
yard, 1898-1900 ; and on April 1, 1900, was placed
in command of the U.S. naA-y yard at Ports
mouth. N.H., his date of retirement by operation
of law being June 17, 1904.

READ, John Meredith, jurist, was born in
Philadelphia. Pa., July 21, 1797 ; son of the Hon.
John and Martha (Meredith) Read. He was
graduated from the University of Pennsylvania,
A.B., 1812, A.M.. 1816.; was admitted to the bar
in 1818. and established himself in practice in
Philadelphia. He was a representative in the
state legislature, 1822-24 ; city solicitor of Phila
delphia, 1824-27; member of the select council,
1827-30 ; U. S. attorney for the eastern district
of Pennsylvania, 1837-41 ; solicitor for the U.S.
treasury, 1841-45, and attorney-general of the
state in 1846. He was nominated by President
Polk as associate justice of the U.S. supreme
court, but owing to the opposition of the
Southern senators to his free-soil views, he re
quested the President to withdraw his name. He
advocated the annexation of Texas, and sup
ported President Jackson in opposing the charter
for the Bank of the United States. In 1856 he
joined the Republican party, and delivered a
speech on the Power of Congress over Slavery
in the Territories," which was used as a campaign
document during the canvass. He was elected
by the Republican party justice of the supreme
court of Pennsylvania in 1858. serving, 1858-72,
and as chief justice. 1872-73. He was proposed
as the Republican candidate for President in
1860. with Abraham Lincoln for vice-president,
but the arrangement was defeated by Simon
Cameron in the Republican state convention held
in Pennsylvania in 1860. He received sixty votes
for the nomination for President at the Chicago
convention of 1860, but withdrew in favor of
Abraham Lincoln. He was made a member of
the American Philosophical society in 1863. He



[425]



READ



READ



was t\vioe married ; first, to Priscilla, daughter of
the Hon. John Marshall of Boston, and secondly,
to Amelia, daughter of Edward Thompson of
Philadelphia. The honorary degree of LL.D.
was conferred on him by Brown university in
1860. He is the author of : Plan for tJie Aihnin-
istration of the Girard Trust (18:33) ; Vivien on
the Sus2)ension of the Writ of Habeas Coitus
(1863); The Law of Evidence (1864); Jefferson
Davis and Jiis Complicity in the Assassination of
Abraham Lincoln (1866). He died in Philadel
phia, Pa., Nov. 29. 1874.

READ, John Meredith, diplomatist, was born
in Philadelphia, Pa., Feb. 21, 1837; son of John
Meredith Read (q.v.). He attended a military
school and Brown university ; was graduated
from the Albany Law school in 1839; studied

international law in
Europe, and was ad
mitted to the bar in
Philadelphia in 18.19.
He removed to Al
bany, N.Y., in 1860,
and was adjutant-
general of the state,
with the rank of brig
adier-general, 1860-
66, receiving the
thanks of the war
department for his
efficiency in equip
ping and forwarding
New York volun
teers. He was U.S.
consul-general for France and Algeria, 1869-73,
and during the Franco-German war he was
acting consul-general for Germany, 1870-72.
General De Cissy, French minister of war, ap
pointed him president of a commission to con
sider the advisability of teaching the English
language to French soldiers. lie was U.S. min
ister-resident to Greece, 1873-70, and in his
official position he secured the release of the
American ship Armenia, and obtained a revoca
tion of the order prohibiting the sale of the
Bible in Greece. During the Russo-Turkish war
he discovered a single port open in Russia to
foreign commerce, and his report to the U.S.
government led to sending a grain fleet from
Ne%v York to that port, resulting in great gains
to American commerce. He received the thanks
of the U.S. government for his effectual protec
tion of American citizens in Greece, and in 1881
was created a knight of the grand cross of the
Order of the Redeemer, the highest degree in the
gift of the Greek government, by King George.
He was president of the social science congress,
Albany, N.Y., in 1808 ; vice-president of the
social science congress, Plymouth, England, in




1872 ; a trustee of the Albany female academy
and of Cornell university, 1865-73. The honorary
degree of A.M. was conferred on him by Brown in
1866. He is the author of : Relation of Soil to
Plants and Animals (I860) ; First Annual Dis
course before the Delaware Historical Society
(1864) ; Historical Inquiry concerning Henry
Hudson (1866); and many articles on legal,
archaeological and historical subjects. He died
in Paris. France. Dec. 27. 1896.

READ, Opie, author, was born in Nashville,
Tenn., Dec. 22, 1852 ; son of Guilford and Eliza
beth (Wallace) Read : grandson of James and
Lydia Read and of James and Elizabeth Wal
lace, and a descendant of the Reads and Wal
laces who settled in North Carolina and Virginia
early in the seventeenth century. He attended
schools in Gallatin, Tenn., and engaged in news
paper work in Franklin, Ky. He removed to
Little Rock, Ark. ; was editor of the Arkansas
Gazette, 1878-81 ; was connected with the Cleve
land Leader, 1881-83, and established the Arkan
sas Traveler, a humorous paper that gained him
a wide reputation in 1883. He conducted this
paper until 1891, when he removed to Chicago
and engaged in literary work. He was married,
June 30, 1880, to Ada, daughter of Lucinda and
Philo Benham of New York. He is the author
of: Len Gansett (1888); .4 Kentucky Colonel
(1889) ; Einmett Benlore (1891); A Tennessee
Judge (1893) ; Wives of th<> Prophet (1894); The
Jucklins (189.-)) ; My Young Master (1896): Ar-
kansas Planter (1896); Bolanyo (1897); Wafers
of Caney Fork (1899); The Starbucks (1902).

READ, Thomas, naval officer, was born in
Newcastle, Del., in 1740; son of Col. John (the
immigrant) and Mary (Howell) Read, and grand
son of Henry Read, an English gentleman. He
received a liberal education, and was appointed
commodore of the Pennsylvania navy. Oct. 23,
1775, being the first American naval officer to
receive that rank. He successfully defended the
entrance to the Delaware river, and was appoint
ed to the highest grade in the Continental navy,
June 7, 1776. and assigned to the command of
the 32-gun frigate George Washington, still on
the stocks on the Delaware river. While waiting
for his vessel to be launched and fitted for service,
lie was appointed captain in the Continental army
by the committee of safety, and joined General
Washington before the army crossed the Dela
ware. He commanded a battery made up of
guns intended for his frigate, in the battle of
Trenton, and for his part in that battle received
the formal thanks of all the general officers who
took part. He subsequently resigned his com
mission and retired to his estate near Borden-
town, N.J.. and in 1787 was induced by Robert
Morris to take command of the frigate Alliance,



[420]



REAGAN



owned by the former. He made a voyage to the
China seas, for commercial purposes, over a course
that had never been sailed before, and reached
Canton in December, 1787, having been more
than six months on the way. He discovered two
islands, naming them " Morris " and "Alliance,"
which form part of the Caroline group, and made
the first out of season passage to China. He died
at White Hill, N.J., Oct. 20, 1788.

READ, Thomas Buchanan, artist and poet,
was born in Chester county, Pa., March 12, 1822.
After his father s death he was apprenticed to a
tailor, but, disliking the trade, he secretly made
his way to Philadelphia, where for a time he
was employed in a cigar manufactory, and in
1837 went to Cincinnati, Ohio. There he lived
with Shobal V. Clevenger (q.v.), the sculptor;
became a sign-painter, and at times went to
school. After spending a year in Dayton as
employee in a theatre, he returned to Cincinnati
and established himself as a portrait painter
through the kindness of Nicholas Longworth.
He was obliged, however, to earn a precari
ous living by sign-painting in various towns,
by cigar-making, and by giving readings and
dramatic performances. He removed to New
York city in 1841. and soon after to Boston,
Mass., where he began to devote himself to
literary pursuits, and contributed poems to the
Courier, 1843-44. He removed to Philadelphia,
Pa., in 1846; traveled abroad in 18.JO, and in
1853 returned to Italy, where he remained for
art-study in Florence and Rome until 1858, and
after many visits to Philadelphia and Cincinnati,
finally made Rome his permanent home. During
the civil war he recited his National war-songs
in the camps, and devoted the proceeds of his
public readings to the comfort of the wounded
soldiers. His paintings include: " The Spirit of
the Waterfall" ; "The Lost Pleiad ; "The Star
of Bethlehem " ; " Undine " ; " Longfellow s Chil
dren " ; " Cleopatra and her Barge ; " Sheridan s
Ride" ; portraits of Elizabeth Barrett Browning,
George M. Dallas, and Longfellow. He made
his reputation, however, chiefly by his patriotic
poetry, and is the author of: Poems (1847); Lays
and Ballads (1848) ; Tlie Pilgrims of the Great St.
Bernard, a serial romance in prose ; The Neiv
Pastoral (1854) ; The House by the Sea (1856) ;
Sylvia, or the Lost Shepherd, and other Poems
(1857); A Voyage to Iceland (1857); Rural Poems
(London, 1857); Complete Poetical Works (1860);
The Wagoner of the AUeghanies (1862): Sheri
dan s Ride and .4 Summer Story (1865); The Good
Samaritan (1867); Poetical Works (3 vols., 1865;
1867). He died in New York city, May 11, 1872.

READY, Charles, representative, was born in
Ready ville, Tenn., Dec. 22, 1802. He was grad
uated from Greenville college, Tenn.; was ad



mitted to the bar, and began practice in Mur-
freesboro. He was a Whig representative in the
state legislature in 1835 ; in the 33d, 34th and 35th
congresses, 1853-59, and was defeated as the In
dependent candidate for the 26th congress by
Robert Hatton in 1858. He was an active sup
porter of the Confederate States government ;
was identified with the organization of the judi
ciary of Tennessee, and by special permission
twice presided over its supreme court. He re
ceived the degree of A.M. from Nashville uni
versity, and was a trustee of the institution,
1847-78. He died in Murfreesboro, Tenn. , in 1878.
REAGAN, John Henninger, statesman, was
born in Sevier county, Tenn., Oct. 8, 1818 ; son
of Timothy R. and Elizabeth (Lusk) Reagan;

grandson of Richard and (Sliulz) Reagan

and of Joseph Lusk ; great-grandson of Timothy
Reagan, an Irishman, who was a soldier in
the American Revolution and was wounded at
Brandywine, and a descendant of English, Irish,
Welsh and German ancestry. He attended the
Southwestern college, Marysville, Tenn. ; Nancy
academy: Boyd s Creek academy, and for two
years worked in a tanyard, on a farm, on board
a flatboat, managed a flouring and saw mill in
Tennessee, and was overseer of a large planta
tion in Mississippi. In 1838 he went to Texas,
joined the army of the republic, and took part in
battles with the Cherokee Indians, July 15-16,
1839. He was deputy surveyor of public lands,
1839-43 ; was elected captain of a company of
militia, and justice of the peace, and in 1846 was
elected probate judge and lieutenant-colonel of
Henderson county militia. He was temporarily
licensed to practice law in 1846, and regularly
licensed in 1848 ; was a repi esentative in the
Texas legislature in 1847-48 ; judge of the 9th
judicial district of Texas, 1852-57 ; a Democratic
representative in the 35th, 36th congresses, 1857-
1861 ; presidential elector in 1860 ; a member of
the secession convention of Texas in 1861 ; a dele
gate to the provisional congress of the Confederate
States in 1861 ; postmaster-general of the Con
federate States,

1862-65, and sec- " <AF " T 1 -

retary of the
Confederate
States treasury
ad interim on
the resignation
of Secretary
Trenholm in
1865. He es
caped from Richmond with President Davis and
was made a prisoner of war, May 10, 1865, with
President Davis, Governor Lubbock, Col. Wil
liam Preston Johnston and Burton Harrison,
and was taken to Macon, Ga., thence to Hampton




REAVIS



RECTOR



Roads, Va., and finally with Vice-President
Alexander H. Stephens to Fort Warren, Boston
harbor, where he was confined until October,
1865. He returned to Palestine, Texas, and
worked on his farm in order to support his family.
He declined the appointment of military governor
of Texas in 1867 from Governor Griffin ; resumed
his law practice, 1868 ; was a member of the state
constitutional convention of 1875, and chairman
of the judiciary committee. He was a represen
tative in the 44th-49th congresses, 1875-87, and re
signed before taking his seat in the 50th congress
to take that of U.S. senator, serving, 1887-91.
He resigned his seat in the senate in 1891 to
become chairman of the railroad commission of
Texas by appointment of Gov. James. S. Hogg ;
was re-appointed in 1893, and by Governor C. A.
Culberson in 1895, and was elected to the same
position in 1896, serving 1897-1903. He retired
from public life in 1903, holding the unique dis
tinction of having served under three govern
ments without removing from the state of his
adoption, in each of which he was honored with
high public office.

REAVIS, James Bradley, jurist, was born in
Boone county, Mo., May 27, 1848; son of John
Newton and Elizabeth (Preston) Reavis ; grand
son of Marcus A. and Lucy (Bradly) Reavis and
of John and Jane (Ramey) Preston, and a des
cendant of a refugee, who landed with Ashley
Cooper s expedition at Albemarle Sound, N.C.,
and adopted the name of Reavis, and in the
maternal line descended from the Lees of Lees-
burg, Va. He was a student at Kentucky uni
versity, 1868-71 ; was admitted to the bar at
Hannibal, Mo., in 1872; edited the Monroe City,
Mo., Appeal, 1872-74, and in the latter year re
moved to California. In 1880 he opened a law
office in Goldendale, Washington Territory. He
was a member of the upper house of the terri
torial legislature, 1888. and a regent of the
Territorial university, 1888-89. On the admission
of Washington as a state he was Democratic
candidate for justice of the supreme court and
was defeated. He was married, May 27, 1891, to
Minnie A. Freeman, daughter of Smith and
Martha (Butler) Freeman of Nashville. Tenn.
In 1896 he became chief-justice of the supreme
court of Washington.

REAVIS, Logan Uriah, editor and author, was
born in Sangamon Bottom, Mason county, 111.,
March 26, 1831. He attended the grammar and
high schools ; taught school 1851-55 ; was an edi
tor and part owner of the Gazette, which name he
changed to the Central Illinoian, Beardstown, 111.,
1855-57; resided in Nebraska, 1857-60; repurchased
and edited The Central Illinoian, 1860-66, and
through lectures and otherwise, inaugurated a
movement looking to the removal of the national



capital to St. Louis, earning for himself the
sobriquet of " The Capital Mover, 1866-79.
He also began a movement. 1879, to promote im
migration to Missouri ; made two lecturing tours
of England to further the scheme, and in the
same interests published : The Neiu Republic, or
the Transition Complete, ivith an Approaching
Change of National Empire, based upon tJie
Commercial and Industrial Expansion of Hie
Great West (1867) ; St. Louis the Future Great
City of the World (1867) ; and A Change of
National Empire, or Arguments for the Removal
of the National Capital from Washington to the
Mississippi Valley, with maps (1869). He also is
the author of : A Representative Life of Horace
Greeley, with an Introduction by Cassius 31. Clay
(1872); Thoughts for the Young Men and Women
of America (1873); Life of Gen. William S.
Harney (1875), and Railway and River System
(1879). He died in St. Louis, Mo., April 25, 1889.
RECTOR, Henry Massey, governor of Ark
ansas, was born in St. Louis, Mo., May 1, 1816;
son of Elias and Fannie B. (Thruston) Rector;
grandson of John Rector, and of the Hon. John
Thruston of Kentucky, and great-grandson of
Frederick M. Rector,
who emigrated from
Wurtemburg, Sax
ony, and settled in
Fauquier county, Va. ,
during Lord Dun-
more s administra
tion, as a fief of
the British crown-
Henry spent his early
years as a laborer
in Missouri, attended
school in Louisville,
Ky., 1834-35. and in
1835 removed to Ar
kansas to look after
landed interests in
herited from his father. He was married in 1839
to Miss Field, and a second time to the daughter of
Albert Linde. He was teller of the State bank of
Arkansas, 1839-40 ; engaged in farming in Saline
county. Ark., in 1841, and studied law. He was
appointed U.S. marshal for the district of Ark
ansas by President Tyler, serving, 1842-45 : was
elected to the state senate in 1848, and engaged
in the practice of law in Little Rock in 1854,
confining himself chiefly to criminal law. He
was elected a judge of the supreme court in 1859,
and governor of Arkansas as an Independent
Democrat for a four years term. He refused to
furnish Arkansas s quota of 750 men in response
to Lincoln s call in 1861. and seized the arsenal
at Little Rock and the Fort at Fort Smith, with
all arms, ammunition and stores. He was a




[428]



RECTOR



REDFIELD



member of the military board which raised and
equipped forty regiments for the Confederate
army in May, 1861, and in June, 1862, was forced
to retire from office because the convention of
1861 liad omitted in its enactments to continue
the office of governor, and therefore, after a con
test, the state supreme court declared it vacant.
He then joined the reserve corps of the Confed
erate army and served as a private until the close
of the war, having been refused a commissary or
quarter-master s position. He engaged in the
cotton business after the war, and was a member
of the state constitutional convention in 1868.
He died in Little Rock, Ark., in August, 1899.

RECTOR, John Benjamin, jurist, was born
in Jackson county, Ala., Nov. 24, 1837. He re
moved with his parents to Texas in 1847, prepared
for college and was graduated from Yale in 1859.
He was admitted to the bar ; established himself
in practice in Austin, Texas ; served throughout
the civil war in Terry s Texas Rangers, and in
1865 removed to Bastrop, Texas, and resumed
his law practice. He was attorney of the 2d
judicial district of Texas, 1866-67 ; judge of the
state court, 1871-76 ; engaged in private practice
in Austin, 1876-92, and was judge of the U.S.
court for the northern district of Texas, 1892-98.
He died in Austin, Texas, April 9, 1898.

REDDEN, Laura Catherine. See Searing,
Laura Catherine Redden.

REDFIELD, Anna Maria Treadwell, scientist,
was born in L Orignal, Ontario, Jan. 17, 1800 ;
daughter of Nathaniel Hazard and Margaret
(Platt) Treadwell, and granddaughter of Judge
Charles Platt. Her father removed his family to
Plattsburgh, N.Y.,in 1812, and she was graduated
at the seminary of Mrs. Emma Willard, Middle-
bury, Vt., and took a post-graduate course under
direction of her uncle, the Rev. Dr. Henry Davis
(q.v. ), president of Hamilton college. She was
married, Feb. 7, 1820, to Lewis H. Redfield, editor
of the Register, Onondaga Hollow, N.Y., and re
moved to Syracuse, N.Y., in 1829, when her hus
band consolidated the Register with the Syra
cuse Gazette. Mrs. Redfield made a large collec
tion of shells, minerals and botanical specimens
which she used in the preparation of her work,
illustrating nature in living forms and in papers
prepared for the use of students of nature in
Hamilton college, and by the Long Island and
Chicago historical societies. At the time she
resided in Syracuse, that city was the centre of
advanced thought, and she was actively inter
ested in the conventions held there in the in
terest of political economy, religion and educa
tion. Ingham university, Le Roy, N.Y., conferred
on her the degree of honor equivalent to master
of arts, never before accorded to any woman in
America. Her husband died, July 14, 1882, two



sons and four daughters surviving. Mrs. Redfield
is the author of : Zoological Science, or Nature
in Living Forms, which work Professor Agassiz
pronounced " would do credit to the majority of
college professors." She died in Syracuse, N.Y.,
June 15, 1888.

REDFIELD, Isaac Fletcher, jurist, was born in
Wethersfield, Vt., April 10, 1804; son of Dr.
Peleg and Hannah (Parker) Redfield. His
parents removed to Coventry, Vt., in 1805, and
he was graduated from Dartmouth college, A.B.,
1825, A.M. 1828 ; was admitted to the bar in
Orleans county, Vt., in 1827, and established him
self in practice in Derby, and later in Windsor,
Vt. He was state s attorney for Orleans county,
1832-35 ; judge of the supreme court of Vermont,
1835-52 ; chief-judge, 1852-60, and professor of
medical jurisprudence at Dartmouth, 1857-61.
He removed to Boston in 1861, and was sent as
special counsel of the United States government
to adjust claims with Great Britain, and to re
cover property held on behalf of the Southern
Confederacy. He was twice married, first, Sept.
28, 1836, to Mary Ward Smith of Stanstead,
Vt., and secondly, May 4, 1842, to Catharine
Blanchard Clark of St. Johnsbury, Vt. The
degree of A.M. was conferred on him by the
University of Vermont in 1835, and that of LL.D.
by Trinity college in 1849, and by Dartmouth in
1855. He edited the American Law Register of
Philadelphia, 1862-76, and is the author of:
Practical Treatise on the Lair of Railways (1857);
Law of Wills (3 parts, 1864-70); Practical Treatise
of Civil Pleading and Practice with Forms (1868);
The Law of Carriers and Bailments (1869), and
Leading American Railway Cases (2 vols., 1870).
He also edited Judge Joseph Story s "Equity
Pleadings " and (i Conflict of Laws " and Greenleaf
" On Evidence." He died in Charlestown , Mass.,
March 23, 1876.

REDFIELD, William C., pioneer railroad pro
jector, was born at Middletown, Conn., March 26,
1789. He was a saddler and harness maker s
apprentice, 1803-10; engaged in the business,
1810-27, and in 1827 removed to New York city
and interested himself in steam navigation. He
introduced a line of large passenger barges towed
by a steamboat between New York and Albany ;
planned a steam railroad route to connect the
Hudson and Mississippi rivers, which was after
ward carried into operation by the New York
and Erie Railway company ; secured the charter
of the New York and Harlem railroad ; was
associated with James Brewster in the construc
tion of the Hartford and New Haven railroad,
and petitioned the common council of New York
city for permission to lay tracks for a street rail
road on Canal street. He became a student of
meteorology and geology, and was elected a



[429]



REDPATH



REDWAY




member of the American Association of Natural
ists and Geologists, and its president in 1843.
The honorary degree of A.M. was conferred on
him by Yale college in 1839. He is the author of
" Atlantic Storms " and " Hurricanes and Storms
of the United States and West Indies," published