Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 05.djvu/336

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HOLLEY


IIOLLEY


and Coal-Burning Locomotive Boilers of European Railways, with a Comi)arison of the Working Economy of European and American Lines, and the Principles upon which Improvement Must Proceed." He was scientific editor of the New York Times. IS-iS-ii'S, and went to Europe as Times correspondent in 1859 and 18G0, in the lat- ter year corresponding also with the American Biiihrit!/ Rcrieir. In 185!) he took out two patents, one for a variable cut-off gear for steam engines, and tlieotlier for railway cliairs. both largely used. In 18G2 lie was sent abroad by Edwin A. Stevens, who was then urging the acceptance of the Stevens battery by the government, to investi- gate foreign ordnance and armor, and his treatise on the subject, published in 1805, was translated into Frencli, and became a recognized authority. In 1803 he again went to England, where he made a study of the Bessemer steel process, and effected with Corning, Winslow & Co. the pur- cliase of the Bessemer patents, which were sub- sequently combined with Kelly's American patents. In 1805 the Bessemer works at Troy were built and started, and then followed works at Harrisburg, North Chicago, Joliet, Pittsburg, St. Louis, Cambria, Bethlehem and Scranton. Mr. Holley was actively connected with the Bessemer manufacture during the rest of his life, devising numerous valuable improvements and machines which secured convenience in hauling material and reduced the time lost in repairs. The productiveness of the American Bessemer plant increased during Holley's man- agement from a capacity of about 900 tons to more than 10,000 tons per month. Besides the two patents already mentioned, he obtained four- teen others, ten of which were for impro-\'ements in the Bessemer process and plant, two for roll- trains and their feed-tables, one for a water- cooled furnace-roof and one for a steam-boiler furnace, with gaseous fuel. During 1809 be edited Van Nostrand's Electric Emjineering Mag- azine. In June, 1875, he was appointed a mem- ber of the U.S. board for testing structural materials, the formation of which board he liad been active in promoting. He was a trustee of the Rensselaer Polytechnic institute, 1805-67 and 1870-82. and lecturer on the manufacture of iron and steel at the Columbia college sclioolof mines, 1879-82. He was elected a member of the Amer- ican Institute of Mining Engineers in 1872, and its president, in 1875, and was also a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, and a vice-president in 187G ; a founder and member of the American Society of Meclianical Engineers, and a momber of the British Iron and Steel in- stitute and Institution of Civil Engineers. lie receiveil the degree of LL.D. from Brown in 1878. He is the author of : American and Euro-


pean Railivay Practice (1860, new ed., 1867); ^4 Treatise on Ordnance and Armor (1865), and numerous addresses and technical papers, includ- ing forty-one articles on " American I'-on and Steel," contributed in conjunction with Lenox Smith to the London Engineering. By the joint action of the British Iron and Steel institute, of London, and the American Institute of Mining Engineers, a memorial bronze bust of Mr. Holley, modelled by J. Q. A. Ward, was unveiled in Washington square, New York city, Sept. 29, 1890. In 1884 a memorial volume was published by the American Institute of Mining Engineers. In October, 1900, his name was submitted to the board of electors as eligible for a place in the Hall of Fame for Great Americans, New York univer- sity, and received eight votes : Eads, Richardson and Corliss, in the class, with forty-two, thirty- one and twelve votes, respectively, only exceed- ing. He died in Brooklyn, N. Y., Jan. 29, 1882.

HOLLEY, Horace, educator, was born in Salis- bury, Conn., Feb. 13, 1781 ; son of Luther and Sarah (Dakin) Holley, and brother of Myron Holley. He prepared for college at the Williams- town, Mass., academy, and was graduated at Y^ale, A.B., 1803, A.M., 1800; studied law in New Y^ork, but abandoned it for theology, and was ordained in September, 1805. He was mar- ried, Jan. 1, 1805, to Mary Austin. He was sta- tioned at Greenfield Hill, Conn., 1805-08; at the HoUis Street Unitarian church, Boston, 1809-18, and was president of Transylvania university, Lexington, Ky., 1818-27. During his adminis- tration the university rose from a mere name to a flourishing institution. In the sixteen years immediately preceding his term only twenty-two persons received the collegiate honors of the in- stitution, and during his presidency six hundred sixty-six young men were graduated. In 1827 he resigned, having by his liberal teachings in- curred the bitter enmity of a certain element of tlio community, and removed to New Orleans, La. After his death his widow removed to Texas, under the protection of General Austin, She l)ublished a history of Texas (1883), and a memoir of lier husband. See also Discourse on the Genius and Character of the Rev. Horace Holley, LL.D., by Prof. Charles Caldwell, M.D., of Transylvania university. He received the degree of LL.D. from Cincinnati college. He died at sea, near New Orleans, La., July 31, 1827.

HOLLEY, ilarietta, author was born at Ellis- burg. Jefferson county. N.Y., in 1844; daugh- ter of John Milton and Mary (Taber) Holley ; granddaughter of David and Sarah (Southworth) Holley, and of Lemuel and Sarah (Brightman) Taber. She attended the district school and studied Frencli an<l music under private teachers. Her early verses contributed to the local news-