Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 03.djvu/418

This page needs to be proofread.

EDMANDS


EDMONDS


for the magnetic separatiDU of iron from the rock with which it is associatetl in the mines, the i)ro- cess being purely automatic. He tirst inventeil a cruslier capable of reducing ten tons of rock to dust every minute; he then invented apparatus whereby the iron ore was separated from the dust


'^csrnj:^


in5C>NJ >TtA«-J«OVEI. FOB A\rf4lAI<j |R0« ORE.

by means of a magnet, and after six months' trial was able to compress this iron ore dust into brisquettes easily handled and transported to the blast furnace. He had this vast plant in active oi)eration in the summer of 1897. He was mar ried in 1873 to Marj' G. Stilhvell. who had been for a time an emj)loyee in his establishment in Newark, N.J. The Life and Inveiitinnx of TJiomas A. Edison, by Dixon, was published in Ifi'.n.

EDMANDS, John, librarian, was born in Framingham, Mass., Feb. 1, 1820; son of Jona- than and Lucy (Nourse) Edmands; grandson of Jonatlian and Hannah Edmands; and a descend- ant of Walter Edmands, who came from England and settled in Concord, Mass., in 1639. He was graduated from Yale, 1847, taught one year at Rocky Mount, N.C., and studied at the Yale divinity school, 1848-.51. He was librarian for the Society of brothers in unity at Yale, 1846-47, and a.ssistant in the Yale college librarj', 1851-56. He published in 1847: Stihjects for Debates xmth Refer- ence to Authorities, out of which germ was evolved Poole's Index to Periodicals, and in June, 1856, he became chief librarian in the Mercantile library, Piiiladelphia. He prepared bibliographies of Dies Jr'je and oi Junius, and a list of historical prose fic- tion, ami edited the Quarterly Bulletin of the Mer- cantile Library from 1882. He is the author of frequent contrilmtions to the Library Journal.

EDMOND, William, representative, was born in South Britain, Conn., Sept. 28, 1755. He was graduated from Yale in 1777, and served in the Revolutionary war. He wa.s licen.sed to practice law and settled at Newtown, Conn., acquiring a liigh reputation at the bar. He was repeatedly elected to .state officee and was a judge of the supreme court of Connecticut. He was a repre- sentative in the 5th and Gth congre.s.ses, 1797-1801. He died in Newtown, Conn., Aug. 1, 1838.


EDMONDS, Francis Williams, painter, was born at Hudson, N.Y., Nov. 22, 1806. He at- tended scliool until fifteen years of age, when he found employment in a bank in New York city. He devoted his leisure hours to art and in 1827 was admitted as a pupil to the newly organized National academy of design. In 1830 he was elected cashier of a bank in Hudson, N.Y., and later accei>ted a similar position in New York city. In 1835 he sent a picture entitled " Sammy, the Tailor," to the National academy under the name of F. "Williams. He was made an associate national academician in 1838 and an academician in 1840. He subsequently studied in Europe, and from 1860 to 1863 was secretary of the American banknote company. He was one of the founders of the New York gallery of fine arts, and was at one time city chamberlain of New York. His more important pictures include: Dominie Samp- son (1837); TJie Fenny Paper (1839); Sparkling (1840); Vesziviiis and Florence (1844); Commodore Trunion (1846); The Sleepy Student (1846); Trial of Patience (1848); The Specnlator (lSr)2); Taking the Census (1854); The Thirsty Drover (1856); Bar- gaining (1858); The New Bonnet (1859); Barn- yard (1860); Sewing Girl (1861); Grinding the Scythe (1861); and Mechanic (1862). He died at Brouxville, N.Y., Feb. 7, 1863.

EDMONDS, John Worth, jurist, was born in Hudson, N.Y., March 13, 1799. He was gradu- ated from Union college in 1816, and in 1820 became a practising lawyer in his native city where he served as mayor and as chief engineer of the fire department. He gained promotion in the state militia to the rank of colonel. He was recorder of the state under appointment by Gov. De Witt Clinton. He was a member of the assembly of the state in 1831, a state senator 1832-36, Indian commissioner, 1836-38, and in 1841 removed from Hudson to New York city, where he continued the practice of law. He was an inspector of the Sing Sing state prison, 1843, and founded there a prison reform association, through which, among other radical reforms, corporal punishment was abolished, a sj^stem of rewards for good conduct inaugurated and meas- ures in.stituted for the care of convicts after the expiration of their term of service. He was a judge of the circuit court under the old constitu- tion, 1845-47; a member of the state supremo court, 1847-52, and an associate judge of the com-t of api)eals of the state, 1852-53. He became a convert to spiritualism in 1851, and published in connection with Dr. George M. Dexter Spiritu- alism (1853-55) and individually from a London publishing house, Letters and Tracts on Spiritual- ism (1X74). He also published JReport of Select La, I- Cases (1868). He died in New York city» April 5, 1874.