Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/588

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OAKES
O'BEIRNE

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OAKES, James, soldier, b. near Limestoneville, Pa., 4 April, 1826. He was graduated at the U. S. military academy in 1846, assigned to the 2d dragoons, served in the Mexican war, and was brevetted 1st lieutenant for gallantry at Medelin, near Vera Cruz, and captain for Molino del Rey. He was then on frontier and garrison duty, being wounded, 12 Aug., 1850, in a skirmish with Indians, and on 3 March, 1855, was promoted captain in the 2d cavalry. After frequent service on scouting parties against Indians, he was made major on 6 April, 1861, and declined the commission of brigadier-general of volunteers on 17 May. He led a regiment in the Tennessee and Mississippi campaign of 1862, and was afterward on mustering and recruiting service, also commanding the district of Illinois in 1863-'6. He was brevetted brigadier-general, U. S. army, on 30 March, 1865, and commissioned colonel, 81 July, 1866. On 20 April, 1879, he was retired from active service.


OAKES, Urian, clergvman, b. in England in 1631 ; d. in Cambridge, Mass., 25 July, 1681. He was iDrought to America in 1634, and while yet very young published in Cambridge a series of astronomical calculations. He was graduated at Harvard in 1649, and. after concluding his theological studies, preached for a short time at Roxbury, and then went to England and was settled as a minister at Tichfield, Hampshire. In 1662 he was forbidden, as a non-conformist, to preach, but he found an asylum among friends, and afterward presided over another congregation. When Jonathan Mitchell died in 1668, he was called to take charge of the church at Cambridge, Mass.. and accepted, but did not begin his pastoral labors till 8 Nov., 1671. After the resignation of Dr. Hoar he assumed the duties of president of Harvard college, 7 April, 1675, but was not formally inaugurated until August, 1680. His commencement sermons are noted for the purity of their Latinity. He published some sermons and a Latin eulogy and an elegy in English verse on his friend Thomas Shepard (Cambridge, 1677). — His brother. Thomas, physician, b. in Cambridge, Mass., 18 June, 1644; d. in Eastham, Mass., 15 July, 1719, was graduated at Harvard in 1662, studied medicine in London, England, and became eminent as a physician. He was a representative in the provincial assembly in 1689, and was chosen speaker. Subsequently he was a member of the council, was agent for Massachusetts in England in 1692, when the new charter was framed, and was again a representative in 1706.


OAKEY, Emily Sullivan, author, b. in Albany, K Y., 8 Oct., 1829 ; d. there, 11 May, 1883. She was graduated in 1850 at Albany female academy, in which she became teacher of rhetoric, English literature, and Latin in 1854, and in later years taught also logic, G-erman, and French till her death. She contributed to magazines and newspapers, was the author of " Sowing the Seed," a popular religious song, and published "Dialogues and Conversations" (New York. 1879) and a volume of poetry entitled " At the Foot of Parnassus" (Albany, 1883).


OAKLEY, Henry Augustus, financier, b. in New York city, 20 Sept., 1827. He received a classical education, and in 1851 became secretary of the Howard fire insurance company, of which he was subsequently chosen vice-president, and Snally president. In 1850-1 he was president of the Mercantile library association of New York. In 1862 he served in the civil war as an officer of New York militia. He was president of the New York Bible society in 1869-'70, of the New York board of underwriters in 1869-'71, of the National board of underwriters in 1871-'6, and has been an officer in many of the principal societies and charities of New York. He has been a frequent contributor to the literary press, and is the author of "A Christmas Reverie, and other Sketches" (printed privately. New York, 1849); "Outline of a Course of English Reading " (1853); "Historical Sketch of the Howard Insurance Company" (1875); and "Addresses as President of the National Board of Fire Underwriters" (1876).


OAKLEY, Thomas Jackson, jurist, b. in Dutchess county, N. Y., in 1783 ; d. in New York city, 12 May, 1857. He was graduated at Y'ale in 1801, studied law, was admitted to the bar, and practised in Poughkeepsie, N. Y. In 1810-'12 he was surrogate of Dutchess county. He was. elected as a Federalist to congress, and served from 24 May, 1813, till 2 March, 1815. In 1816 and 1818 he was a member of the state legislature. He was appointed attorney-general of New York state in 1819, and in 1820 was again a member of the legislature. He was again elected to congress as a Clinton Democrat, and took his seat on 3 Dec, 1827, but resigned in 1828, on receiving the appointment of judge of the superior court of New Y'ork city. When that court was reorganized in 1846 he was elected chief justice, and filled that office until his death. The degree of LL. D. was bestowed upon him by Union college in 1853.


OBANDO, José María (o-ban'-do), Colombian general, b. in Garcia in 1797; d. on the battle-field of Cruz Verde, 29 June, 1861. At the age of two years he was abducted and carried to Popayan, where he was adopted by a gentleman named Obando, and his origin is still unknown. At first he served in the royalist army as a guerilla and obtained the rank of lieutenant-colonel, but in 1822 he united with the Revolutionary party and served under Bolivar in the province of Pasto. After the establishment of independence he was several times minister of state in the department of war and marine, and in 1832 he was appointed minister to Ecuador to negotiate a treaty of peace. He engaged in several revolutionary movements and was persecuted, but afterward cleared himself of all the charges against him. In 1849 he was a member of the Granadian congress and secretary of the chamber of deputies. In 1850 he was appointed governor of the province of Cartagena, and in 1852 he became president of the republic. In June, 1854, there was a revolutionary movement and the constitutional government was replaced by a dictatorship. Gen. Obando was accused of complicity in this revolution and again unjustly persecuted, but in 1860 he was commissioned to suppress a revolution in Cauca, and died in defending the Federal system against the Centralists.


O'BEIRNE, Thomas Lewis, Irish clergyman, b. in County Longford, Ireland, in 1748; d. in County Meath, Ireland, 15 Feb., 1823. He was educated for the Roman Catholic priesthood, in the Jesuit college at St. Omer, France, but took orders in the English church, and in 1775 accompanied Lord Howe to America as chaplain. In 1776 he preached in St. Paul's church in New York city. He became Anglican bishop of Os-