Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 01.djvu/373

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BOOTH.


BORDEN.


Henry Byron, caused him to return to the United States, where lie attempted suicide on his way to the south. After this he resided in Baltimore in winter and on his farm in sumnaer. He made a yearly trip to Boston and New Orleans, where he was always enthusiastically welcomed, and occasionally played in other cities. July 18, 1851, a divorce was granted in the Baltimore county court to Mary Christine Adelaide Booth, and Junius Booth was remarried May 10, 1851, to Mary Ann Holmes, the mother of his children. His last appearance in New York was in 1851 ; his last tour one to California, where he played with his sons, Edwin and Junius Brutus, Jr. It was his determination to retire upon his return to the south, but while giving in New Orleans a series of farewell performances he contracted an illness which proved fatal. He died Nov. 30, 1852.

BOOTH, Mary Louise, author, was born at Millville (L. I.), N. Y., April 19, 1831. Her father was a school teacher at Williamsburg, L. I., and at an early age she became his assistant. She abandoned this work, however, to give her time to literary work. She became a popular contrib- utor to periodical literature, and published many translations from the French. When Harper's Bazar was established in 1867 she became its editor, and held the position during the rest of her life. For several years she was engaged in preparing a " History of the City of New York," which, on its publication in 1859, attracted much favorable comment. Her published works, con- sisting chiefly of translations, include the follow- ing: Cousin's "Secret History of the French Court under Richelieu and Mazarin ; or. Life and Times of Madame de Chevreuse " (1859) ; Gas- parin's " The Uprising of a Great People. The United States in 1861" (1861), and "America before Europe: Principles and Interests " (1862) ; Cochin's "The Results of Slavery" (1863); Gasjmrin's " Reconstruction " (1865) ; the Coun- tess de Gasparin's " Human Sorrows, " " Vesper,"' and "Camille '; Laboulaye's "Paris in Amer- ica" (1865), and "Fairy Book" (1867), and Martin's "History of France" (2 vols., 1866). She also compiled the ' ' New and Complete Clock and Watch-maker's Manual (1860). She died in New York city, March 5, 1889.

BOOTH, Newton, senator, was born at Salem, Ind.. Dec. 25. 1825; was graduated from the Asbury university in 1846, and four years later was admitted to the bar, when he removed to California, where he engaged in business in Sac- ramento. He returned to his native state in 1857 and settled in Terre Haute, where for three years he practised the law, but preferring Cali- fornia as a residence he removed to that state, and soon attained prominence in politics as an


opponent of the railroad monopoly. In 1863 he was elected a state senator, and from 1871 to 1875 was governor of the state. In the latter year he was elected to the United States senate, and during his term he opposed Chinese emigra- tion, but favored full protection to those already admitted. The last years of his life were spent in travel. He died at Sacramento, July 14, 1892.

BOOTHMAN, Melvin Morelli, representative, Avas born in Williams county, Ohio, Oct. 16, 1846. He lived on his father's farm until his eighteenth year, when he enlisted in the 38th Ohio infantry, Jan. 4, 1864. On the last day of the Atlanta campaign, Sept. 1, 1864, he received a severe wound, which necessitated the amputation of his leg. Returning to his home, he worked his way through school, receiving the degree of LL.B. from the law department of Michigan university in April, 1871. In October of the same year Mr. Bootlundn was elected treasurer of Williams county, and after the expiration of his second term, he established himself in the practice of law. He was elected a representative to the 50th and 51st congresses.

BORDEN, Gail, inventor, was born in Nor- wich, N. Y., Nov. 6, 1801. In his early years he migrated with his parents from place to place, residing in Kentucky and in Indiana; in 1829 he removed to Texas. He was a delegate to the San Felipe convention, which met in 1833 to petition the Mexican government for a separa- tion from Coahuila ; was superintendent of offi- cial surveys under General Austin, and manager of the San Felipe land office. He compiled the first topographical map of the territory em- braced in the colony of Texas, and he made the first surveys of the city of Galveston. In 1835 he and his brother established the Texas Tele- graph and Land Register, the publication of which was continued for about half a century. It was the only paper issued in Texas during the Texan war for independence. He was the first collector of the port of Galveston, under the newly formed republic, and he acted for twelve years as agent of the Galveston city company, a corporation holding the greater part of the land on which Galveston was built. In 1849 he became interested in providing simple, nutri- tious and easily portable food supplies for emi- grants and exploring parties. After much experimenting he produced Borden's pemmican, meat biscuit, and condensed milk. The pemmi- can was first used by Dr. Kane on his arctic expedition. The meat biscuit was awarded " the great council medal " at the World's fair, Lon- don, in 1852, and won for Mr. Borden, at the same time, an election to honorary membership in the London society of arts. He applied for a patent for the condensed milk in 1853, but it was