BLAKE.
BLAKE.
ethifutioii. aiul under the instnu-tiou of tutors took
the regular Vale ct>lh>go course lit liome. lu 1855
she was married to Frank ii. i^. Umstead, a young
Pliiladelpliia lawyer, who died in 1859, leaving
her with two young children. Prior to this time
she wrote a story, " A Lonely House." which ap-
I)eareil in the Atlantic Monthly, and she published
"Southwold," a novel, which met with success.
She now became dependent on her pen for sup-
jmrt. having lost the fortune which she had in-
herited!. Her second novel, "Rockford" (1862),
was followed by a number of romances. In 1866
she was married to Grenfill Blake, a New York
merchant. Her interest in woman's enfranchise-
ment was thoroughly enlisted in 1869, and after
that time she devoted a large share of her time,
energy, and talents to the cause,— arranging con-
ventions, holding public meetings, addressing
legislative bothes and congressional committees,
making lecture tours, and writing articles. In
1878 she addressed a formal appeal to the trustees
of Columbia college for the admission of women
to the college courses on a footing with men, and
she presented at the doors of the institution a
class of girl students, qualified to pass the regular
entrance examination. Though the class was
not admitted. Barnard college, opened some years
later, was the direct result of the agitation thus
begun. Mrs. Blake was a member of the dele-
gation, which, on July 4, 1876, made public
proclamation at Philadelphia, of the "Woman's
Declaration of Rights." She held the office of
president of the New York state woman's suffrage
association from 1879 to 1884. Among the many
successful beneficent measures championed by
her were: securing matrons to take charge of
women detained in police stations; the employ-
ment of women as census takers; providing seats
for saleswomen, and compelling the employment
of woman physicians in every insane asylum ad-
mitting women patients. She founded the
" SfK-iety for jKilitical study," and originated the
'■ Pilgrim mothers' dinner." In 1886 Mrs. Blake
was elected president of the New York city
woman .suffrage league. She published: "The
Hypocrite: Sketches of American Society " (1874);
"Fettered for Life" (1874); "Woman's Place
To-day. "and "A Daring E.xperimeut" (1892). In
1^*06 slie was again wirlowed.
BLAKE, Lucien Ira, educator, was born at Mansfield, Mass., Sept. 12, 1856. He was gradu- ate<l at Amherst college in 1877, received the de- gree f)f Ph.D. at the University of Berlin in 1883, and during his second yeiir at the university, the first award of the John Tyndall fellowsliip. Soon after his return to America, he was appointed assistant in mathematics in the Adelphi academy, Brrxiklyn, N. Y., and was afterwards made full professor of physics and electrical engineering at
the Rose Polytechnic, Terre Haute, Ind. In 1887
he resigned to accept the professorsliip of pliysics
and electrical engineering at the State university
of Kansas. In 1892-'93 he delivered courses of lec-
tures upon electricity and its modern applications
before university extension classes in Kansas city,
Mo.; Topeka, Kan.; and Wichita, Kan. In 1894
he was appointed constructing electrical engineer
of the U. S. light-house board, and invented a
system of telephonic communication without
wires for light-ships, which was apjjlied under his
personal direction to the Scotland light-ship off
Sandy Hook, N. Y., and operated by the light-
house department. His publications include:
"Uber die electrische Neutralitat des von ruhigen
electrisirten Flu-ssigkeitsflsechen aufsteigenden
Dampfes," " Wiedermann's Annalen der Physik
und Chemie " (Band 19) 1883, and, in American
scientific journals, articles on the " Production of
Electricity by Evaporation," "The Evaporative
Power of Kansas Coals," the "Method of Tele-
graphic Communication Between Ships," "The
Theory of the Artificial Production of Rain " in
1891, and "The Effect of the Electrical Current
Upon Friction Between Metallic Surfaces."
BLAKE, Mortimer, clergyman, was born in Pittston, Me., June 10, 1813; son of Ira Blake, a native of Wrentham, and descendant of John Blake of Sandwich, who removed to Wrentham with the returning settlers after its destruction in King Philip's war. He was graduated at Amherst college in 1835. For three j-ears he was principal of Hopkins academy, Hadley, Mass., and for sixteen years was pastor of the First Con- gregational church, Mansfield, Mass., in 1868 receiving the degree of D.D. from Amherst col- lege. For twenty nine years he was pastor of the Winslow Congregational churcli, Taunton, Mass. He was a member of the Massachusetts historical society, and president of the Old Colony historical society. He was a member of the school board, a trustee of Bristol academy, Taun- ton, and president of the board of trustees of Wheaton female seminary, Norton, Mass. He was an officer of the Home missionary society, and secretary of the Congregational publishing society, Boston, Mass. He pub- lished " Gethsemane and Calvary " ( 1844 ); " Address at the Erection of the Emmons Monu- ment at Franklin, Mass. " (1846); "Import of the Covenant" (1846); "The Maine Preventive" (1852); " History of the Mendon As.sociation " (1853); "History of Franklin" (1880), besides several pamphlets, sermons and magazine arti- cles. In 1837 he was married to Harriet Louisa Daniels; two sons were born to tliem, — Percy Mortimer, a .sanitary engineer of Boston, and Lucien Ira, profes.sor of physics of Kan.sas state university. He died Dec. 22, 1884.
