Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 07.djvu/430

This page needs to be proofread.

MIZNER


MOELLER


wick, N.J., 1826-30 ; surgeon-general of the state militia, 1817-22, and a founder of the New York Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, 1815, the New York Literary and Philosophical society, 1816, and the Lyceum of Natural History, 1817, of which last he was president, 1817-23. He helped to establish the Medical Repository in 1797 and was its editor-in-chief, 1797-1813. He received the honorary degree of A.M. from Olurabia in 1788 and that of LL.D. from the University of Penn- sylvania in 1819. The extent of his political knowledge won for him the title of the " Con- gressional Directory." He was also known as the •• Nestor of American Science." He is the author of : Address to the Fredes or People of the United States (1801); Aildress on the Completion of the Erie Canal (1825); several poems and nursery songs, a humorous book, A Picture of New York, and numerous scientific papers. He died in New York city, Sept. 17, 1831.

MIZNER, John Kemp, soldier, was born in Geneva, N.Y., March 2, 1837 ; son of Lansing B. Mizner. He was graduated at the U.S. Military academy, July 1, 1856 ; served in the 2d dragoons on the frontier, 1857-61 ; was promoted 2d lieu- tenant, Feb. 28, 1857 ; 1st lieutenant. May 9, 1861 ; was transferred to the 2d cavalry, Aug. 3, 1861, and served in the defenses of Washington, D.C., 1861-68. He was promoted captain, Nov. 12, 1861 ; was appointed colonel of the 3d Michigan cavalry, March 7, 1862 ; commanded the regiment in the operations again.st Island No. 10, resulting in its capture'; participated in the Mississippi campaign and the siege of Corinth ; commanded the cavalry brigade in the pursuit of the Confed- erates and in guarding the railroad, and had several skirmishes with the Confederate cavalry. May to September, 1862. He commanded the cavalry division. Army of the Mississippi, in the battles of luka and Corinth, and in the pursuit of the enemy to Ripley in October, 1862. He was brevetted major U.S.A., Oct. 4, 1862, for Corinth. He was chief of cavalry of the district of Jackson, Tenn., in 1863, and engaged in the skirmishes at Brownsville and Clifton. He was chief of cavalry of the left wing of the 16th army corps, in the operations in northern Mississippi, May to Septeml>er, 1863 ; was brevetted lieutenant-col- onel U.S.A., June 12, 1863. for gallantry at Panola, Miss., and commanded a brigade of cavalry, 1863-

64. He operate<l in Missouri and Arkansas, 1864-

65. and took part in the last operations against Mobile, Ala., 1865. He was brevetted brigadier- general of volunteers, March 13, 1865, for services during the war. He commanded a brigade and the post at San Antonio, Texas, and was acting assistant inspector-general on the staff of General Merritt the latter part of 1865 ; commanded mili- tary districts in Texas, 1866, and was mustered


out of the volunteer service Feb. 12, 1866. He served on frontier duty, 1866-84, commanding important posts in New Mexico and Arizona, and the recruiting depot at Jefferson Barracks, Mo., 1884-S6. He was promoted major and transferred to the 4th cavalry, Jan. 26, 1869 ; lieutenant- colonel and transferred to the 8th cavalry, Jan. 9^ 1886 ; and commanded Fort Brown and Concho, Texas, 1886-88, and Fort Meade, Dakota, 1888-90. He was promoted colonel and transferred to the 10th cavalry, April 15, 1890 ; was promoted brig- adier-general U.S.A., May 26, 1897, and was re- tired June 7, 1897. He died in Wasliington, D.C., Sept. 8, 1898.

MOAK, Nathaniel Cleveland, lawyer and au- thor, was born at Sharon, N.Y., Oct. 3, 1833. His father was a farmer and he attended the dis- trict school and the academies at Cherry Valley and Cooperstown, N.Y., studied law, and was ad- mitted to the bar in 1856. He practised in Sharon, N.Y., 1856-67 ; and in 1867 became a member of the law firm of Smith, Bancroft & Moak in Albany, N.Y. He made a reputation as a trial lawyer in the case of Joseph H. Ramsay vei'sus James Fisk, Jr., and Jay Gould, for the possession of the Susquehanna railroad, in which he ap- peared as counsel for the plaintiff. He was dis- trict attorney of Albany county, 1872-75. He lectured before the Albany Law school upon

  • ' Books, Their Use and Abuse," and " Courts and

Judicial Systems." He collected a large law library containing all the English, Scotch, Irish and Canadian reports ; all the state and Federal reports, besides law periodicals and text books. This library was purchased by the widow and daughter of Judge Douglass Boardman, former dean of the law faculty of Cornell, 1887-91, and justice of the New York supreme court, and presented to the law school of Cornell university in 1893. He contributed articles upon Bribery and Capital Punishment to the encyclopaedias, wrote for various legal periodicals, and published : Clarke's Chancery Reports with notes (1869); Moak's English Reports (35 vols., 1872-84); Moak's English Digest (2 vols., 1872), and Moak's Edition of Van Santvoord's Pleadings (1873). He died in Albany, N.Y., Sept. 17, 1892.

MOELLER, Henry, R. C. bishop, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Dec. 11, 1849; son of Bernard and Teresa (Witte) Moeller. He attended St. Joseph's parocliial school, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1856- 63 ; St. Francis Xavier college, Cincinnati, 1863-69, and studied philosophy and theology, Rome, Italy, 1869-76. He was ordained in the church of St. John Lateran. Rome, June 10, 1876; was pastor of St. Patrick's, Bellefontaine, Ohio, 1876- 77 ; professor at Mt. St. Mary's seminary, 1877- 79 ; temporary secretary to Bishop Cliatard, Indianapolis, Ind., 1879-80, and chancellor of the