John Adams : from 1798 till 1801 he was governor of his state. In 1801 and 1802 he was a U. S. circuit judge. Ilis daughter became the wife of James A. Bayard, signer of the treaty of Ghent.
BASSINI, Carlo, musician, b. in Cuneo, Piedmont, Italy, in 1812; d. in Irvington, N. J., 26 Nov., 1870. His parents being musicians, he was
placed at an early age under the best masters in
training for a violinist, and in his twentieth year
had already attained to some distinction as an instrumentalist. Soon afterward he went with a
Genoese operatic company to South America, and
was elected director of the troupe shortly after
their arrival abroad. With the money earned in
South America he came to New York city and
undertook to give a concert, which proved a failure
and exhausted his resources. In this dilemma he
set about giving lessons in vocal music, thereby
relinquishing his prospects as a brilliant orchestral
leader. For years he worked untiringly, often beginning at seven in the morning and working until ten at night. He had not a rich voice, but was an admirable trainer. Among his works are: "Art of Singing" (Boston, 1857); "Melodie Exercises" (1865); " Method for the Tenor" (1866); "Method for the Baritone" (1868); and "New Method"
(1869). Some of the best of his compositions are
"A te Accanto," a love song, dedicated to his wife
shortly before his marriage; "Salutaris," a prayer for a soprano voice, and "There is Light in the Sky," composed shortly before his death.
BASTIDAS, Rodriguez de, explorer, b. about 1460; d. in Santo Domingo. Shortly after the discovery of America he associated with Juan de la Casa in the prosecution of new explorations. Being ordered by the king of Spain to receive twenty
missionaries on board his ship, he sailed along the
coast of Central America and New Grenada in
search of a fit situation for a colony, and finally
selected the district in New Grenada that afterward bore the name of St. Martha, and there he
founded the city of St. Martha. Its prosperity was
so great that in less than two years it was erected
into a bishopric, and Bastidas was appointed governor. Endeavoring to check the cupidity and cruelty of his soldiers in their dealings with the
natives, he was wounded in a sedition, and obliged
to fly to Santo Domingo, where he was arrested by
the governor, Bovadilla, who charged him with
making a treaty with the Indians without authority. He was honorably acquitted, but died of his wounds soon afterward.
BASTIDE, John Henry, British soldier, b. about 1710. He was employed as chief engineer in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland in 1742, and in April, 1745. Massachusetts granted him £140 for
services in the repair and construction of the forts
in that province, particularly Castle William and
Governor's island in Boston harbor, Marblehead,
Cape Ann, and Falmouth (now Portland, Me.).
His services were of great value in preparing the
plans and the means for the capture of Louisburg
in 1745, and were acknowledged by Gov. Shirley,
of Massachusetts, in a message to the house of
representatives. He was afterward employed in
the reduction of Canada from 1756 to 1760, and in
1761-'2 fortified the harbor of Halifax and improved its dockyard. He became lieutenant-general in the British army, 3 April, 1770.
BATCHELDER, John Putnam, physician, b. in Wilton, N. H., 6 Aug., 1784; d. in New York city, 8 April, 1868. He was a great-nephew of
Gen. Israel Putnam. After an academical education,
he began the study of medicine, and in 1807
was licensed to practise. He did not receive the
degree of M. D., however, until 1815, after attendance
on the lectures of Harvard medical school.
He began practice in Charlestown, N. H., removed
thence to Pittsfield, Mass.; afterward to Utica, N.
Y., and in 1843 to New York city. He was
appointed professor of anatomy in Castleton college,
Vt., in 1817, and soon afterward professor of
surgical anatomy in the Berkshire medical institution
at Pittsfield. He was a successful surgeon, and
performed many operations of great importance,
and requiring extraordinary skill and daring. For
many years he made the treatment of diseases of
the eye a specialty. He was president of the Academy
of Medicine, and of the New York medical
association in 1858. He published “Thoughts on
the Connection of Life, Mind, and Matter” (Utica,
N. Y., 1845), besides essays and medical treatises.
BATCHELDER, Samuel, inventor, b. in Jaffrey, N. H., 8 June, 1784; d. in Cambridge, Mass., 5 Feb., 1879. His early life was spent in New Ipswich, whither his parents had removed, and in 1808 he became interested in a cotton factory at this
place, which was the second that was erected in
New Hampshire. In 1825 he removed to Lowell,
where he superintended the erection of the Hamilton
Company's mills. In 1831 he was called on to
undertake the erection of a cotton-mill for the
York Manufacturing Company in Saco, Me., and
to superintend its operations. The mills under his
management were very successful, and the plant
and capital were greatly enlarged. In 1846 he
removed to Cambridge, Mass., where he continued to
reside, and, although a representative in the
Massachusetts state legislature, he yet for many years
continued his relations with the mills, being president
of the Hamilton Manufacturing Company,
the Appleton Company, the Essex Company, the
Everett Mills, the York Manufacturing Company,
and the Exeter Manufacturing Company — having
an aggregate capital of about $5,000,000. About
1832 he devised the first stop-motion to the
drawing-frame, which has since been used in this country
and England. In 1832 he patented the
steam-cylinders and connections now universally used in
dressing-frames for drying yarns. His greatest
invention was the dynamometer used for ascertaining
the power for driving machinery. It was first used
in the York mills in 1837, and was considered
preferable to any known apparatus for determining
the power actually used in driving machinery.
In early life he contributed to the “Boston Monthly
Anthology” and to the “Port Folio,” and he
was the author of the “Responsibilities of the
North in Relation to Slavery” (Cambridge, 1856),
and “Introduction and Early Progress of the Cotton Manufacture in the United States” (Boston, 1863). A sketch of his life was published in
pamphlet form (Lowell, 1885).
BATEMAN, Ephraim, U. S. senator, b. in Cedarville, Cumberland co., N. J., in 1770; d. there, 29 Jan., 1829. After receiving a public-school education he became a mechanic's apprentice, but, leaving his employment, studied medicine, and
afterward was noted in his profession. He was for many years a member of the.state legislature, and was elected to congress as a democrat. He was thrice re-elected, serving altogether from 4 Dec, 1815, to 3 March, 1823, and was a member of the committees on post-offices and accounts. In 1826, as president of the council of the state legislature, he gave the casting vote that elected him to the U. S. senate over Theodore Frelinghuysen. A committee of the senate afterward reported that this action was perfectly legal, and he remained in the senate until he resigned in January, 1829.
