Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/675

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pamphlets, he has published “Prelections on Theology” (Pittsburg, Pa., 1882).


SPRUANCE, Presley, senator, b. in Delaware in 1785; d. in Smyrna, Del., 13 Feb., 1863. He was for some time a resident of the latter place, where he was engaged in business. He was sent to the state senate, of which body he was elected president, and also represented Delaware in the U. S. senate from 6 Dec., 1847, till 3 March, 1853. He belonged to the Whig party in politics.

SPRY, William, jurist, b. in England; d. in Barbadoes, W. I., in September, 1772. He married a niece of the Earl of Chatham, and on 25 Sept., 1764, arrived with his family at Halifax, Nova Scotia, having been appointed judge of the vice-admiralty court over all America, which had been recently constituted by act of parliament. In the proclamation that announces the opening of the court he is styled “The Right Worshipful William Spry, Doctor of Laws.” The other officers of the new court were: vice-admiral, the Earl of Northumberland; registrar, the Hon. Spencer Percival; marshal, Charles Howard, gent. These officers probably expected to fulfil their duties by deputies. Judge Spry opened his court at Halifax on 9 Oct., 1764. Its creation had been opposed in the colonies, and the passage of the stamp-act the next year, with the accompanying disturbances, probably prevented its extension to other provinces. Judge Spry was appointed governor of Barbadoes in June, 1767, and died in office.


SQUIER, Ephraim George, author, b. in Bethlehem. N. Y., 17 June, 1821; d. in Brooklyn, N. Y., 17 April, 1888. In early youth he worked on a farm, attended and taught school, studied engineering, and became interested in American antiquities. He was associated in the publication of the “New York State Mechanic,” at Albany, in 1841-'2, and engaged in journalism in Hartford, Conn., and Chillicothe, Ohio, in 1843-'8, during which period he also investigated the ancient monuments of the Mississippi valley in conjunction with Dr. Edwin Hamilton Davis (q. v.), and prepared the narrative that was published in vol. i. of the “Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge” (Washington, 1848). He also made an examination of the ancient remains of New York state under the auspices of the New York historical society in 1848. He was appointed special chargé d'affaires to all the Central American states in 1849, and negotiated treaties with Nicaragua, Honduras, and San Salvador. In 1853 he made a second visit to Central America to examine a line for a projected interoceanic railroad, and to make further study of the archaeology of the country. In 1856 he received the medal of the French geographical society for his researches. In 1863 Mr. Squier was appointed U. S. commissioner to Peru, where he made an exhaustive investigation of Inca remains and took numerous photographs of them. In 1868 he was appointed consul-general of Honduras at New York, and in 1871 he was elected the first president of the Anthropological institute of New York. In 1874 his health became so seriously impaired as to preclude further original research, and though he subsequently recovered sufficiently to direct the final preparation and revision of his work on Peru for publication, the affection resulted in his death. He was a member of numerous historical, archaeological, and scientific societies, and several years chief editor of Frank Leslie's publishing-house. Besides many official reports, scientific papers, magazine articles, and contributions to the “Encyclopaedia Britannica” and foreign periodicals, his works include “Aboriginal Monuments of the State of New York” (“Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge,” 1849; Buffalo, 1851); “Serpent Symbols” (1852); “Nicaragua: its People, Scenery, and Monuments” (New York, 1852); “Notes on Central America” (1854); “Waikna, or Adventures on the Mosquito Shore” (1855); “The States of Central America” (1857; revised ed., 1870); “Monographs of Authors who have written on the Aboriginal Languages of Central America” (1860); “Tropical Fibres and their Economic Extraction” (1861); and “Peru: Incidents and Explorations in the Land of the Incas” (1877).

SQUIER, Miles Powell, clergyman, b. in Cornwall, Vt., 4 May, 1792; d. in Geneva, N. Y., 22 June, 1866. He was graduated at Middlebury in 1811, and at Andover seminary in 1814, and was licensed to preach by a Congregational association. After laboring at Oxford, Mass., and Vergennes, Vt., and doing missionary work for a year in western New York, he was ordained on 3 May, 1816, the first pastor of the 1st Presbyterian church of Buffalo, N. Y., which relation he maintained until 1824. In 1824-'6 he acted as financial agent of the Auburn theological seminary, and from 1826 till 1834 he was secretary of the Geneva agency of the American home missionary society. In 1831 he founded the Geneva lyceum, and was occupied in superintending its affairs until 1841. The next eight years he resided at Geneva, but supplied the pulpits of various neighboring churches. From 1849 till 1863 he was professor of intellectual and moral philosophy at Beloit, Wis. The remaining three years of his life were spent in Geneva. Dr. Squier was an earnest student and fearless in the expression of opinion, but genial in manner. Besides contributing to the periodical press, he published “The Problem Solved, or Sin not of God” (New York, 1855); “Reason and the Bible, or the Truth of Religion” (1860); “Miscellaneous Writings, with an Autobiography, edited and supplemented by the Rev. James R. Boyd. of Geneva, N. Y.” (1867).

STACY, James, clergyman, b. in Liberty county, Ga., 2 June, 1830. He was graduated at Oglethorpe university, Ga., in 1849, studied theology at Columbia, S. C., and in 1853 was ordained by the Georgia presbytery. After preaching as a supply until 1857, he was called to the pastorate of the Newnan, Ga., Presbyterian church, where he still remains. He has been stated clerk of the presbytery of Atlanta from its organization in 1867 to the present time, and has held the same office in the synod of Georgia since 1876. He is president of the board of directors of the theological seminary at Columbia, S. C. He received the honorary degree of D. D. from Arkansas college in 1876. Dr. Stacy has published a prize essay on the “Holy Sabbath” (Richmond, 1877); “Water Baptism” (1882); and “Day of Rest” (1885).

STADEN, Hans (stah'-den), German traveller, b. in Hesse-Homburg in 1520; d. there about 1565. He had received a good education and was in