Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/467

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FERRER
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breviary, he penetrated into their territory. On 29 June, 1608, the mission of "San Pablo and San Pedro " of the Cofanis was regularly organized. In 1(504 three other villages were brought under the influence of civilization, and the Cofanis ceased to be the terror of the Spanish government. Colo- nists, as a consequence, poured into the adjacent territory. The viceroy of Quito ordered Ferrer in 1605 to civilize the unconquered tribes along the river Napo, and to make a chart of the basin of that stream. He advanced more than 3,600 miles into the interior, and met with a friendly re- ception. He also made a map of the places he had traversed, and brought back a tolerably complete herbarium of the plants that he had found, and presented it to the viceroy of Quito. This voyage of exploration lasted thirty-one months. After resting at his mission among the Cofanis he re- turned to Quito from the north and traversed a hitherto unexplored forest, of which he made a plan. He discovered a large lake and the river Pilcomayo, which, on account of its navigability, was of much service to the colonization of that country. At Quito he received the title of " Chief of the missions of the Cofanis," and was, besides, appointed governor and chief magistrate of the Co- fanis. When Father Ferrer returned to his mis- sions in 1610 he devoted himself to the civilization of the few tribes of the Cofanis that up to this time had not come within his infliience, and met his death at the hand of a chief whom he had obliged to renounce polygamy. The savage surprised Fa- ther Ferrer as he was walking in the neighbor- hood of San Jose, and cast him from a narrow rock which was used to bridge a torrent. The murderer was massacred by the other Cofanis as soon as they learned of his deed. The account of the explorations of Father Ferrer never saw the light, aiui the original manuscript was lost. An extract from it was published in liie collection of the " Lettres Edificantes " by Father Dettre, pub- lished in the last century and reprinted in 1840. Besides this. Father Bernard de Bologne published in the " Bibliotheca Societatis Jesu " the same ex- tract under the title " Relations du pere Ferrer de ses voyages dans I'Amazonie et des missions qu'il a fondees en la nation Cofane " (1763), followed by a notice of Ferrer's life. Father Ferrer published "Arte de la Lengua Cofana" (Quito, 1643), and he translated into the language of the Cofanis the catechism, and selections from the gospels for every Sunday in the year. The original manuscript of this translation was discovered in a Spanish con- vent, and published in Paris.


FERRER, Ventura P., Spanish author, b. in Havana, Cuba, 18 March, 1772: d. there in 1857. He studied in his native city and then went to Spain, where in 1794 he obtained a place among the life- guards of the king. In 1800 the Madrid govern- ment sent him to Mexico on a special commission, and, after fuliilling it, he returned to Spain. In 1805 he was appointed to fill a high office in Carta- gena, Colombia, where he founded a society for the propagation of science and literature, and estab- lished a printing-house and a newspaper. In 1821 he went to Havana, where he was assigned an office in the finance department of the government, and introduced many important reforms. He published " Viaje a la Isla de Cuba," being vol. xx. of " El Viajero Universal " (Madrid, 1793) ; " Ilistoria de los Dictadores de Roma " (Cartagena, 1817) ; " Bal- anza General del Comercio," the first work of this class ever printed in Cuba (Havana, 1826) ; " Arte de Vivir en el Mundo " (1830) ; and several transla- tions from Latin, French, and Italian.


FERRER-MALDONADO, Lorenzo, Spanish navigator, lived in the 16th century. According to Leon Pinelo, he submitted to the council of the Indies a new method of ascertaining longitude, for which a premium of 2,000 ducats had been olfered, but his invention seems to have failed, as the premium was not awarded to him. In 1588 he sailed from Acapulco with an expedition to dis- cover a northeast passage to the Atlantic, and on his return wrote " Relaci6n del Descubrimiento del Estrecho de Anian en 1588," the manuscript of which found its way into the library of the bishop of Segovia and state councillor of Portugal, Ge- ronimo Mascareiios. A copy was presented to the French geographer, Buache, who read a memoir concerning it in the Academy of sciences in Paris, 13 Nov., 1790. There is a copy of both papers in the twenty-third volume of manuscripts of the library of the metropolitan church of Mexico. This " Relacion " gave rise to the subsequent ex- plorations of Fuca and Bartolome Fuentes, but was full of fantastical descriptions, and Ferrer's whole book has been branded as a tissue of im- probabilities and downright falsehoods. Ferrer's other work is of a better character, and was printed and published under the title of " Imagen del Mundo sobre la Esfera, Cosmografia, Geografia y Arte de Navegar" (Alcala, 1626).


FERRERO, Edward, soldier, b. in Granada, Spain, 18 Jan., 1831. His parents were Italian, and he was brought to the United States when an infant. His father's house in New York was fre- quented by Italian political refugees, and he en- joyed the friendship of Garibaldi, Argenti, Albius, and Avazzana. Before the civil war the son con- ducted a dancing-school, and also taught dancing at the U. S. military academy. At the beginning of the war he was lieutenant-colonel of the 11th New York militia regiment. In 1861 he raised the 51st New York regiment, called the " Shepard rifles," and led a brigade in Burnside's expedition to Roanoke Island, where his regiment took the first fortified redoubt captured in the war. He also commanded a brigade at Newbern, and under Gen. Reno, and in 1862 served in Pope's Virginia campaign. He was in the battles of South Moun- tain and Antietam, and for his bravery in the latter engagement was appointed brigadier-general, 19 Sept., 1862. He served at Fredericksburg and at Vicksburg, commanded the 2d brigade of Gen. Sturgis's division, 9th army corps, and a division at the siege of Knoxville. He afterward marched the 9th corps over the mountains, without roads and by compass only, to Cincinnati. Ferrero was in command at the defence of Fort Sanders against the desperate assault of Longstreet, and at the battle of Bean's Station, under General Shackle- ford, by his timely occupation of Kelley's Ford, frustrated Longstreet's attempt to send a detach- ment across the Holston, and so paralyze the Na- tional forces by striking them in the rear. In Grant's final campaign, including the siege of Petersburg, he commanded the colored division of the 9th corps. He was brevetted major-general, 2 Dec, 1864, and mustered out in August, 1865.


FERREYROS, Manuel B. (f er ray -e ros), Peruvian statesman, b. in Lima in 1793; d. there in 1872. He was employed in the treasury offices of the Spanish government in his native city from 1816 till 1821, but, when the viceroy Laserna retired into the interior and independence was proclaimed, 28 June, 1821, Ferreyros joined the patriots and soon became active in politics. In 1822 he was elected deputy to the first constituent congress of Peru, appointed secretary by his colleagues.