quently took the Yale course with tutors at home. She became interested in woman's enfranchisement in 1869, and has since spoken extensively on that subject, addressing committees of congress and state legislatures on the question. In 1876 she was a member of the delegation from the national association, that presented the woman's declaration of rights in Philadelphia on 4 July, 1876. For five years she has been president of the New York State Woman Suffrage Association, and she was the first person to ask that Columbia college be open to women. Mrs. Blake has taken an active interest in many political campaigns, and was instrumental in securing the passage of the law giving school-suffrage to the women of New York state. She has been twice married: in 1855 to Frank G. Quay Umsted, who died in 1859, and in 1866 to Grenfill Blake. She has written serial stories, short sketches, and letters, for various periodicals and newspapers. Her published works include “Southwold” (New York, 1859); “Rockford, or Sunshine and Storm” (1863); “Fettered for Life” (1873); and “Woman's Place To-day,” a series of lectures in reply to Dr. Morgan Dix's lenten sermons on the “Calling of a Christian Woman” (1883).
BLAKE, Thomas Holdsworth, politician, b. in
Calvert co., Md., 14 June, 1792; d. in Cincinnati,
Ohio, 28 Nov., 1849. He received a common-school
education, and then studied law in Washington, D.C.
In 1814 he served in the militia of the District
of Columbia, and was present at the battle of
Bladensburg. Subsequently he removed to
Kentucky, and thence to Indiana, where he began the
practice of law at Terre Haute, becoming prosecuting
attorney and judge of the circuit courts. He
then relinquished his profession and was engaged
in business for several years, and also for some time
a member of the Indiana legislature. In 1827 he
was elected to congress as an Adams republican,
but he was defeated as a candidate for reëlection.
From May, 1842, till April, 1845, he was commissioner
of the general land office, having received
the appointment to that position from President
Tyler. Later he was appointed president of the
Wabash and Erie canal company, and also sent to
Europe as the financial agent of the state of Indiana,
where he made satisfactory arrangements
with its public creditors.
BLAKE, William Hume, Canadian jurist, b.
in Kiltegan, Wicklow, Ireland, 10 March, 1809; d.
in Toronto, 17 Nov., 1870. He was graduated at
Trinity college. Dublin, and studied surgery under
Surgeon-General Sir Philip Crampton, and also
studied theology, but before completing his course
he emigrated to Canada. He was for some time a
farmer near Strathroy, county of Middlesex,
Ontario, before he removed to Toronto (then known
as York), and studied law. When the Mackenzie
rebellion began in 1837 he was appointed
paymaster of the Royal Foresters. In 1838 he was
called to the bar of Upper Canada, and at once took
a leading place in his profession. In 1847 Mr.
Blake was elected to parliament for East York
(now the county of Ontario), and became
solicitor-general in the Baldwin-Lafontaine ministry. In
November, 1849, he was appointed to the
chancellorship of Upper Canada. He retired from the
bench in 1860. —
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His son, Edward, statesman, was b. in Adelaide, Middlesex co., Ontario, 13 Oct., 1833. He is descended, on his father's side, from the Blakes of Castlegrove, Galway, and on his mother's from William Hume, M. P. for Wicklow. He was born on his father's farm, but was taken to Toronto when a year old. The son followed, professionally, closely in his father's footsteps, as did also his younger brother, Samuel Hume Blake, who never entered public life, but was raised at a very early age to the post of vice-chancellor in the court over which his father formerly presided. Edward Blake was educated at Upper Canada college and University college, Toronto, was graduated from the latter with honors in 1857. He was called to the bar in 1859, and rose rapidly to a foremost position as a chancery practitioner. In 1867 he was a candidate for election at once to the House of Commons of the Dominion, and to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. Having been elected as a member for South Bruce, he was chosen leader of the opposition in the Ontario Assembly very soon after it began its course, and during the first parliamentary term frequently introduced bills, many of which were voted down, only to be taken up afterward and carried through as government measures. A principle that Mr. Blake always kept before the public was the obligation resting on the government to give the people's representatives detailed knowledge of the destination of public moneys before they are voted by parliament. This very principle was the final issue on which the Sandfield Macdonald government was defeated in 1871, and it therefore became the most important plank in the platform of its successor. Mr. Blake retained the leadership of the opposition until 20 Dec., 1871, when he succeeded the Hon. John Sandfield Macdonald as premier of the Ontario legislature, but only retained the office for one session, when he resigned, owing to the passing of the dual representation act. In 1873 the conservative ministry, presided over by Sir John A. Macdonald, was compelled to resign, and the liberal party came at once into power, with Alexander Mackenzie as premier. In November, 1873, Mr. Blake was made a member of the Canadian cabinet under the Mackenzie administration, and he held, for various periods, the office of minister of justice and the portfolio of president of the council. He was offered successively the chancellorship of Ontario and the chief justiceship of the supreme court of the Dominion, both of which he refused. While he was minister of justice it fell to his lot to discuss, by correspond-
