Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/293

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RIVERS
RIVINGTON

mprfiolil. Ala., where he remained during the war. In isiio he undertook the management cif a Miiall school for young ladies at Somerville, Tenn., and afterward of other schools in the southwest. Since his twentieth year Sir. Rivers has preached as well as taught, has been pastor of various Methodist Episcopal churches, and is now (1888) pastor of the Shelby street (Louisville, Ky.) Methodist Episcopal church. In 1850 La Grange gave him the degree of D. D. He has contributed largely to periodicals, and published text-books on "Mental Philosophy" (Nashville, 1860); "Moral Philosophy " (1866) ; " Our Young People " (1880) ; " Life of Bishop Robert Paine " (1884) ; and edited a volume of sermons (1872).


RIVERS, William James, educator, b. in Charleston, S. C'., 18 July. 1822. After graduation at the College of South Carolina in 1841, he con- ducted a large private school for several years. In 1856 he was elected professor of Greek literature in the College of South Carolina, and, upon the reor- ganization of that institution in 1865, he became professor of ancient languages and literature, and in 1873 became president of Washington college, Md. He has local reputation as a poet, contributed to the periodical press of South Carolina, and published "A Catechism of the History of South Carolina" (Charleston, 1850), and "A Sketch of the History of South Carolina to the Close of the Proprietary Government by the Revolution of 1719 " (1856).


RIVES, John Cook (reeves), journalist, b. in Franklin county, Va., 24 May, 1795; d. in Prince George county," Md., 10 April, 1864. He removed to Kentucky at eleven years of age, was brought up by his uncle, Samuel Casey, acquired a good education, and in 1824 removed from Edwardsville, 111. (in which city he had been connected with a bank), to Washington, D. C., where he became a clerk in the fourth auditor's office. During the early part of President Jackson's administration, with Francis Blair, senior, he founded the " Con- gressional Globe, of which he was sole proprietor till 1864. He possessed much humor, and was gen- erous in the extreme in his public and private bene- factions. Altogether he gave about $30,000 to the wives of soldiers who had enlisted in the National army from the District of Columbia, besides innu- merable smaller amounts to private individuals, and . he subsequently gave $12,000 toward the equipment of two regiments in the District of Columbia.


RIVES, William Cabell, senator, b. in Nelson county, Va., 4 May, 1793 ; d. at his country-seat, called Castle Hill, near Charlottesville, Va., 25 April, 1868. He was educated at Hamp- den Sidney and Will- iam and ^Mary. and studied law and poli- tics under Thomas Jefferson. He served in 1814-'15 with a body of militia that was called out for ne defence of Vir- ginia during the sec- ond war with Great Britain, and was a member of the State constitutional con- vention in 1816 and of the legislature in 1817-'19. He was

elected to congress in

as a Democrat, served three successive terms, and in 1829 was appointed by President Jackson minister to France, where he negotiated the in- demnity tivaiy of 4 July, 1831. On his return in 1832 he was chosen U. S. senator, in place of Lit- tleton Tazewell. as a Van Buren conservative, but he resigned in 1834 in consequence of his unwilling- ness to participate in the senate's vote of censure on President Jackson's removal of the U. S. bank deposits, of which he approved, but which the Virginia legislature reprobated. The political character of that body having changed, he was re- turned to the senate in 1835 in place of John Tyler, who had resigned, and held office till 1845. In January, 1837, he voted for Thomas H. Benton's "expunging resolution," which erased from the journal of the senate the resolution of censure for the removal of the bank deposits. He was again minister to France hi 1849-'53. In 1861 he was one of the five commissioners to the " peace " con- gress in Washington. After the secession of Vir- ginia, with which he was not in sympathy, he served in the first and second provisional Confed- erate congresses. Mr. Rives possessed extensive culture, and a pleasing and popular address. He published numerous pamphlets and addresses, and "Life and Character of John Hampden" (Rich- mond, 1845) ; " Ethics of Christianity " (1855) ; and " History of the Life and Times of James Madison " (4 vols., Boston, 1859-'69). In the preparation of this work he had the advantage of a long and inti- mate acquaintance with its subject, and the use of all his manuscripts and papers. His wife, Judith Pagre Walker, author, b. at Castle Hill, Albe- marle co., Va., 24 March, 1802; d. there 23 Jan., 1882, was educated in Richmond, Va., and at sev- enteen years of age married Mr. Rives. She ac- companied him on both his missions to France, and on her return embodied her recollections of Paris in " Souvenirs of a Residence in Europe " (Philadelphia, 1842) and " Home and the World " (New York, 1857). Her other publications in- clude " The Canary-Bird " (Philadelphia, 1835) and "Epitome of the Holy Bible" (Charlottesville. Va., 1846). Their son, Alfred Landon, engineer, b. in Paris, France, 25 March, 1830, studied at Virginia military institute and at the University of Virginia, and in 1854 was graduated at the Ecole des ponts et chaussees, Paris. He was an assistant engineer in completing the U. S. capitol building, Washing- ton, D. C., and in building the aqueduct there, in charge of the U. S. survey in improving Potomac river, and designed and constructed the Cabin John bridge, near Washington, which at the time of its completion was the largest single-arch stone bridge in the world. Since the civil war he has been general manager of the Mobile and Ohio rail- road, and a vice-president and general manager of the Richmond and Danville railroad, and he was also superintendent of the Panama railroad. His daughter, Am61ie, author, b. in Richmond, Va., 23 Aug., 1863, was educated by private tutors. In June, 1888, she married John Armstrong Chan- ler, of New York city. Her first work was a story in the " Atlantic Monthly," which has since ap- peared with others in book-form under the title of "A Brother to Dragons, and Other Old-Time Tales" (New York, 1888). Her subsequent work includes stories and poems, and a novel entitled " The Quick or the Dead f " (Philadelphia, 1888).


RIVINGTON, James, journalist, b. in London, England, about 1724 ; d. in New York city. 3 July, }802. Early in life he acquired wealth in London as a bookseller, which he lost at Newmarket, and, sailing to this country in 1760, resumed his occupation in Hanover square, New York, in September. He removed to Philadelphia in Janu-