Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 01.djvu/334

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BLArKFOUD.


BLACKMAR.


Ohio, in 1894. Retween INGl aiul 186G lie wrote nine Sumlay-scliool luKjks, cliiefly for the Pres- byterian boaril of publication, ami in 18G6 a work on tiie Reformation in Switzerland. He also published a " Life of St. Patrick " (I8fi7); '•Admiral ColiRny. and the Rise of the llu- Kuenots" (18GS), the first historical biography of Coligny baseil on original documents written in the English language: and "The History of the Christian Church from its Origin" (1879). He died in 1900.

BLACKFORD, Eugene Gilbert, pisciculturist, wjvs iRirn in Morristown. X. J., Aug. 8, 1839. He attended the Brotiklyn public schools until his fourteentli year, when he engaged as office boy, freight clerk, railroad clerk, dry goods clerk and botikkee|)er, and in 1867 established himself as a fish dealer in Fulton market. The business in- creased rapidly, from one stand to twenty-two, finally including a large wholesale department. In 1872 Mr. Blackford first began to study pisci- culture, and he soon became an authority on the subject. His fame spread abroad, and natural- ists from all parts of the world sent to him for items of information, for specimens, and for sta- tistics. He was for many years president and treasurer of the American fish culturist associa- tion, and he served on the fish and fisheries commission of the state of New York from 1879 to 189-2. He was the manager of the fish exhibit at the Centennial, and of the American exhibits at the International fish exhibition held in Berlin in 1880. His own exhibits received med- als both at Philadelphia and Berlin. In 1875 he held his first trout exhibit, in New York, which attracted Lirge crowds of admiring spectators. He introduced into the New York market several varieties of fish much prized by epicures, and he originated a number of highly successful meth- ods of freezing, storing and shipping fish. He wrote a number of valuable papers on the subject of legislative protection of fisheries, and was in- strumental in establishing, at Cold Spring, L. I., N. Y., the hatching stations for both sea and fresh-water fish, becoming the president.

BLACK HAWK, Indian chief, was born at Kaskaskia, 111., in 1767. He was chief of the Sac and Fox Indians, and while quite young led several parties of warriors in successful raids on the Osage and Cherokee tribes. He was made grand chieftain of the Sacs when he was about twenty -one j'earsold; in 1804 he vigorously op- posed the contract made between the Sacs and Foxes and thf United States, whereby, for an annual 8tij)end of one thousand dollars, the Indians were to relinqui.sh their rights to aV)out seven hundred miles of territory along the Mis- si.ssippi river. For a short time during the war of 1812, Black Hawk, with five hundred war-


riors, fought on the British side, but he soon withdrew from the war because of many dis- heartening defeats. In 1823, when, led by Keokuk, the greater part of the Sacs and Foxes emigrated to the reservation beyond the l\Iissis- sippi. Black Hawk and a few followers would not go, although the land on which they were living had been signed away to the whites by several of the Indian cliiefs. They remained on the east- ern side of the Mississippi, planting their crops and living peaceably until the white men declared that they must leave, and emphasized the command by confiscating their crops. The Indians at once took measures to secure revenge and were driven back by the militia to the west of the Mississippi, they, meanwhile, destroying every white settlement that came in their way. Finally the small remaining forces of the red men were captured by the whites, and Black Hawk himself and his two sons were imprisoned in Fort Monroe. In 1833 they were liberated, but Black Hawk was no longer chief of the Sacs and Foxes, Keokuk having been given his place. A " Life of Black Hawk,"' dictated by him to J. B. Patterson, was published in 1834. W. J. Snelling and Benjamin Drake have also written accounts of his life. He died while encamped on the Des Moines river, Oct. 3, 1838.

BLACKMAR, Frank Wilson, educator, was born in Erie county. Pa., Nov. 3, 1854. In 1874 he completed the course of instruction in the Northwestern state normal school at Edinboro, Pa. After teaching one year in his native state he went to California, where he continued in the profession for three years. At the end of this period he entered the University of the Pacific, from which he took his degree in 1881. After graduation he taught one year in the San Jose high school and was then called to fill the chair of mathematics in the university, which he held for four years. He entered the Johns Hopkins university in 1886, where he pur- sued special studies for three years. He was in- structor in history, 1887-'88, and of history and politics, 1888-'89. He received the degree of Ph. D. in June, 1889. At the close of his course of study at Johns Hopkins he was elected professor of his tory and sociology in the University of Kansas Dr. Blackmar, aside from his regular university work, lias actively engaged in the movement for