Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 01.djvu/354

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r.LODUET.


r.LOOMEK.


Aml;. ','1. l^'ti'. ami was hrevetted major, Dec. 13, isfi'J. for f^allant and nu>ritorioiis services in the buttle of Fredericksburg and also received the congressional medal of lionor. He commanded the military district of Middle Tennessee, lS63-*64, and a brijjade in the battles of the Wilderness, Sjxatsylvania and Petersburg crater. He was hrevetted lieutenant-colonel, commanded the military district of Cliarleston, S.C., in ISfif), and wiis provost judge in Pennsylvania in 18(50. He was promoted to the rank of major and assigned to the 39th infantry, Aug. 7, 18G7 ; was trans- ferred to the C.'ith infantry March 15, 1869: pro- moted lieutenant-colonel of the 19th infantry, March 4, 1879 ; colonel of the 24th infantry, April '20, 18^0 : brigadier-general in the U.S. army April 2.">, 1895 ; commander of the department of Texas, and major-general in the regular army, ^[ay 14. 1897. He died at Washington D.C., Jan. 2, 1900.

BLODQET, Lorin, physicist, was born near Jamestown. N. Y., May 25, 1823. He was edu- cated at Geneva college. New York, and ac- cepted the position of assistant investigator on climatology at the Smithsonian institution in 1851. From 1852 till 1856 he was attached to the Pacific railroad survey; in the latter part of 1856 he was employed at the war office. He pub- lisned a valuable work on the climatology of the United States, and of the temperate latitudes of the North American continent, embracing a full comparison of these with the temjierate latitudes of Europe and Asia, with isothermal and rain charts, including a summary of meteorological observations in the United States. This w^ork, published in 1857, was highly eulogized by Baron Humboldt and other scientific men. He as- sisted in the surveys of the Pacific railroad, 1852 to 1856, and was secretary of the Philadelphia board of trade several years, at the same time editing the North American. From 18GG to 1875 he held positions in the United States treasury d<partment. He wrote "The Commercial and Financial Resources of tlie United States" (1864). and "Census of the Manufactures of Philadelphia " (1883). He died in Philadelphia, Pa., March 24, 1901. BLODQETT, Rufus, senator, was born in iJorchcster, N.H., Oct. 9, 1834. He received a limitefl educjition ami learned the machinist's trade, working in the locomotive shops in Man- chester, N.H., 18.52-T>6. He removed to New Jersey in 1866, where he was a railroad emidoyee, 1866-'74, superintendent of the New Jersey South- em road, 1874-'84. and of the New York & Long Branch road from 1884. He was a representative in the state legislature. 1878-'80; a delegate to the Democratic national convention of 1880. and a United States .senator, lH87-'93, serving on the committees on censas. fisheries, and pensions.


BLOODQOOD, Delavan, naval surgeon, was born at Springville, N. Y., Aug. 20, 1831. He was graduated at Madison university in 1852, attended the college of physicians and surgeons, New York city, took his degree at the Jeffer- son medical college, Philadelphia, in 1857, and on March 13 of that year was made a.ssistant svir- geon in the navy. He was jiromoted passed assist- ant surgeon, Oct. 24, 18G1, and .surgeon, Jan. 24, 1862. He served efficiently throughout the civil war, and in 1867 was on the Jamestotcn at Panama during the yellow fever epidemic. On. Feb. 23, 1875, he was promoted medical inspector, and on Aug. 22, 1884, medical director, being assigned to duty at the naval laboratory in Brook- lyn, N. Y., where he served until his retirement, Aug. 20, 1893. For thirteen years he served on the sea and for twenty-two years on the shore. He was made a me'mber of many prominent societies, among them the Hamilton club of Brooklyn, the Society of colonial w\ars, the Hol- land society, the Saint Niciiolas .society of Nassau Island, the Saint Nicholas club of New York city. He died in Brooklyn, N.Y., April 4, 1902.

BLOODWORTH, Timothy, statesman, was born in North Carolina in 1T3G. He was a poor boy and his education was wholly self-acquired. He served for many years in the house of repre- sentatives of his native state, and in 1786 was elected a delegate to the Continental Congress. In 1788 and 1789 he was a state senator and in 1790 was elected a representative to the 1st Congress. In 1793 and 1794 he was again elected to the state hou.se of representatives, and from 1795 to 1801 was a United States senator. He was afterwards made collector of customs at Wilmington, and died at Washington, N. C, Aug 24, 1815.

BLOOMER, Amelia Jenks, reformer, was born at Homer, Cortlandt county, N. Y.. May 27, 1818; daughter of Ananias and Lucy (Webb) Jenks. She received a common -school education, and in 1837 became a governess, continuing in this occu- pation until 1840, when she was married to Dex- ter C. Bloomer, a lawj-er and journalist. They took up their residence at Seneca Falls, N. Y., where Mr. Bloomer edited the village paper, to> which his wife became an anonj-mous con- tributor, writing on political, social and tem- perance topics. On Jan. 1, 1849, T?ie Lily. wholly a woman's paper, was started, edited by Mrs. Bloomer, who wrote for its columns many articles on temperance and woman's rights. She became deputj' to her husband, postmaster at Seneca Falls in 1849. and in 1851 ajiproved the idea of a new attire for women in The Lily, the costume to consist of Turkish pantaloons and a short skirt. She followed the example of Mrs. Elizabeth Smith Miller and Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and adopted the costume, which caused