GIDDINGS
(ili'FOuD
Burea, a representative of tlie principle of free-
soil, lu 1S49 his opposition to Wiuthrop for
speaker led to the election of the candidate of
the Democratic party. He opposed the compro-
mise measm-es of 1850. He was repeatedly
attacked on the floor of the house, but always
ably defended himself. In 1861 he was appointed
by President Lincoln consul-general for tlie
United States in British North America, and
hell the office imtil his death. He published a
series of political essays upon the slavery question
imJer the pen name " Pacificus " (1845) ; Speeches
(18.J3) ; Exiles of Florida (1858, newed., 1863) ; and
The liehellioii: its Autlwrs and C'avses (1864). He
die 1 in Montreal, Canada, May 37, 1864.
QIDDINQS, Rockwood, educator, was born in New Hampshire. Aug. 8, 1813. He was gradu- ated from Waterville college, Waterville, JIaine, in 1833, and then removed to Virginia, where he began the study of medicine. He settled in War.saw, Ky. , and completed his medical studies, but abandoned that profession for theology and was ordained to the Baptist ministry in 1835, beoomin;^ pastor of the Baptist church in Shelby- ville, Ky. He was elected ijresident of George- town college, Ky., in 1838, which was at that time without a faculty or an endowment. He speedily organized the institution with a full corps of professors and gathered into it a number of students. Within eight months he raised an endowment of ijJO.OOO in notes, and in an attempt to collect half of that sum for immediate use, he travelle.l long distances, preaching as he went. Under tha strain his delicate constitution gave way while he was preaching and he died at Shelby viUe, Ky., Oft. 29. 1839.
QIFFORD, Oscar Sherman, representative, was born at Watertown, N.Y. . Oct. 20, 1842; son of Ebenez?ranl Mary (Ressequie) Gifford; great- gran.lso:i of Joseph Gifford, who served in the Continental army; and a descendant on his mother's side from Alexander Ressequie, a Freno!i Huguenot, who settled in America about 1703. He received a common school education, attenlgi the neighboring academy, and served as a private in the Union army, 1863-65. He was admittel to the bar in 1870; settled in practice in Canton, Dakota; became di.strict alloiney for Lincoln county, Dakota, in 1874; was mayor of Canton, 1883-83; was a member of the state con.stit'ational convention which met at frioux Falls. Sept. 7, 1883; and was a delegate frrm Dakota to the 49th and Snth congresses, 1885-^9. In 1888 he was elected, as a Republican, a rrf re- sentative-at-large from South Dakota i)i the .'il.'-t compress, servins;, 1889-9!.
QIFFORD, Robert Swain, painter, was born on Naushon island, Dukes county. Jfass , Dec. 23, 1840; son of William A. and Anna (Bassett)
Gifford; grandson of William Tillinghast and
Mary (Robinson) Gifford of Rhode Island, and
of Stephen and Mary (Phillippe) Eldridge of
Massachusetts; and a direct descendant from
WiUiam Gifford, a member of the grand inquest
of Plymouth, Mass., in 1650. When a boy he
removed with his father to New Bedford, Mass.,
where he studied with Albert Van Beest, the
Dutch marine pamter, and assisted that artist by
drawing ships for his views. Subsequently he
went to New York city with Van Beest, with
whom he worked till 1864, when he opened a
studio in Boston, Mass. In 1866 he removed his
studio to New York city, and in 1897 was ap-
pointed professor of art and director at the
Cooper institute. He made a sketching tour in
Oregon and California in 1869, Eui'ope in 1870,
Algiers and the Sahara desert in 1874, and Brit-
tany and southern France in 1875. In 1882 he
travelled with the artists F. D. Millet and Ed-
win A. Abbey through Denmark and northern
Europe in the interest of Harper & Brothers for
their magazine. He was elected a member of the
National academy of design in 1878, of the Amer-
ican society of i:)ainters in water-colors in 1866,
and of the Society of American artists in 1877.
He was also made a member of the American wa-
ter-color society ; of the New York etching club ; of
the British society of painter etchers, and of the
International art jury at the Chicago exposition,
1893. He received a medal for " The Mosque of
Mohammed Ali," hung at the Centennial exposi-
tion, Philadelphia, 1876; and also a third-class
medal for " Near the Coast " at the Paris inter-
national exposition. 1889. On June 9, 1873, he was
married to Frances Eliot of New Bedford, Mass.,
a painter of birds in landscape backgrounds
and also an illustrator. Among his water-
colors are: Deserted Wlialer (1867) ; Day on the Sea
Shore (1869) ; Bloek House at Eastport (1874) ; Ve-
netian Companions (1876) ; and The Oasis of Filiaeh,
AUjerla (1877). Among his oil paintings are:
Seene at Manchester, Cape Ann (1867) ; 3Iount Hood
(1870); Halting for Water and Passenger Boats on
the .Y(7«(1874); The Hossettl Garden {187 r>) ; The
Borders of the Desert and Xeto England Cedars
(1877); Xonqvitt Cliff (1882); New Zaandaam
(1883); 'llie Shores of Buzzard's Bay {1885) ; Kelp
Gatherers (1896); and Clnnd Sliadoins (1898). His
A'ear the Const won a prize of $2500 from the
American art a.ssociation in 1885 and was after-
ward iiurchased by the Metropolitan museum
of irt. New Y..rl< city.
QIFFORD, Sandford Robinson, painter, was l))r:i in Greenfield, N.Y., July 10, 1823. He en- tere I Brown university in 1843, but left at the end of his sophomore year, and removed to New York city in 1845. where he studied art with John Rubens Smith and began to paint portraits.
