FIGUEROA, Francisco, Mexican historian, b. in Toluca about 1780 ; d. in the city of Mexico about 1800. He entered in his youth the order of St. Francis, and was at different times lecturer and rector of studies of the College of Tlaltelolco, su- perior of the convent in Mexico, and provincial of New Spain. When a royal decree of 21 Feb., 1790, ordered the viceroy to collect and send to Spain all the documents that might be useful for compiling the history of Mexico, the task was intrusted to Figueroa, and in less than three years he collected thirty-two folio manuscript volumes in duplicate. One copy was sent to the council of the Indies, and exists to-day, although mutilated, in the Span- ish academy of history. The other copy remained in the office of the secretary of the vieeroyalty, and was afterward transferred to the national gen- eral archives, where they still existed in 1853, but at present their resting-place is unknown. They include diaries of missionaries in the northern provinces (S vols.) ; a " History of the Conquest of New Galicia," by Mota Padilla (2 vols. ; afterward published by the Mexican geographical society) ; the Indian songs of Nezahualcoyot and tales of Ixtlilcochitl, " Cronica Mexicana por Hernando Alvarado Tezozomoc," and " Historia Chichimeca por Ixtlilcochitl " (all three published partly in a translation in Kingsboi-ough's " Antiquities of Mexico) ; " Cronica de Michoaean por Fr. Pablo Beaumont," partly published in Spanish, French, and Italian (8 vols.); "History of the Missions in Old California " (English translation, New York) ; and " Notes on New California " (partly published in French and English translations). Figueroa was also the author of several theological works, most of the manuscripts of which have disap- peared ; but one of them is still preserved in the Biblioteca Nacional of Mexico.
FIGUEROA, Francisco Acniia de (fe-ga-ro-
ah), Uruguayan poet, b. in Jlontevideo in 1791 ; d.
there, 6 Oct., 1862. In 1804 his father sent him to
Buenos Ayres to study at the college of San Car-
los, but the invasion of that city in 1807 by the
British forces obliged him to return to his native
city, where he was employed as a subaltern in the
administration under his father. He began early
to write improvisations and numerous small poems,
but, as at that time no printing-office existed in
Montevideo, none of his works of that period have
been published. During the twenty-two months'
siege of that city by the revolutionary forces in
1812-'14, he kept in verse a diary of daily events,
which was afterward published under the title
" Diario Historico Razonado del sitio de Montevi-
deo en 1812-'13 y '14." In June, 1814, when Mon-
tevideo surrendered, Figueroa emigrated to Rio
Janeiro, where he was employed as secretary of the
Spanish envoy. In 1818, after the conclusion of
peace, he gave up his idea of going to Spain, and
returned to his native city. He was again em-
ployed in the administration, and in 1840 was ap-
pointed director of the national library and mu-
seum, but continued to occupy his leisure by writ-
ing poetry. Marmier, in his " Lettres sur I'Ame-
rique du Sud" (Paris, 1851), compares Figueroa
with the French poet Marot, and places him
at the head of Spanish-American poets. Besides
his historical diary mentioned above, he pub-
lished " Parafrases de los Salmos " ; " Parafrases
de las Lamentaciones de Jeremias " ; and " Las To-
niidas," sketches of Paraguayan customs. The
])()(Mns "La Negra,.," "El Duelo de Montevideo,"
" Ilimno Nacional del Uruguay." and all his
smaller poems, were published under the title of
" Mosaico Poetico " (1857).
FILLEBROWN, Thomas Scott, naval officer,
b. in the District of Columbia, 18 Aug., 1884; d.
in New York city, 26 Sept., 1884. He was appointed
to the navy from Maine as a midshipman, 19 Oct.,
1841 ; was promoted to passed midshipman, 10 Aug.,
1847 ; became lieutenant, 15 Sept., 1855 ; lieutenant-
commander, 16 July, 1862 ; commander, 25 July,
1866 ; captain, 6 Jan., 1874 ; and commodore, 7 May,
1883. He was present in all the operations on the
gulf coast during the Mexican war, and took part
in the North Pacific and Paraguay expeditions.
In 1863 he was placed in command of the steam-
boat "Chenango," and while proceeding down New
York harbor lost four officers and thirty men
through the explosion of a boiler. He also com-
manded the iron-clad " Passaic," operating against
Fort Sumter in May, 1864, the iron-clad "Mon-
tauk," in the attack on Battery Pringle, Stono
river, S. C, in July of the same year, and the
steamer " Sonoma," of the South Atlantic blockad-
ing squadron, in 1864-'5. He was also present at
the engagement with Confederate batteries in Ta-
goda river, S. C, in February, 1865. At the close
of the war he was assigned to special duty at the
navy department in Washington, where he remained
until just before his last illness.
FILLMORE, Millard, thirteenth president of
the United States, b. in the township of Locke
(now Summerhill), Cayuga co., N. Y., 7 Feb., 1800 ;
d. in Buffalo, N. Y., 7 March, 1874. The name of
Fillmore is of English origin, and at different pe-
riods has been variously written. Including the
son of the ex-president, the family can be traced
through six generations, and, as has been said of
that of Washington, its history gives proof " of the
lineal and enduring worth of race." The first of
the family to appear in the New World was a cer-
tain John Fillmore, who, in a conveyance of two
acres of land dated 24 Nov., 1704, is described as a
" mariner of Ipswich." Mass. His eldest son, of
the same name, born two years before the pur-
chase of the real estate in Beverly, also became
a sea-faring man, and while on a voyage in the
sloop " Dolphin," of Cape Ann, was captured with
all on board by the pirate Capt. John Phillips.
For nearly nine months Fillmore and his three
companions in captivity were compelled to serve
on the pirate ship and to submit, during that
long period, to many hardships and much cruel
treatment. After watching and waiting for an
opportunity to obtain their freedom, their hour at
length came. While Fillmore sent an axe crashing
through the skull of Burrall, the boatswain, the
captain and other officers were despatched by his
companions, and the ship was won. They sailed
her into Boston harbor, and the same court which
condemned the brigands of the sea presented John
Fillmore with the captain's silver-hilted sword and
other articles, which are preserved to this day by
his descendants. The sword was inherited by his
son, Nathaniel, and was made good use of in both
the French and Revolutionary wars. Lieut. Fill-
more's second son, who also bore the name Na-
thaniel, and who was the father of the president,
went with his young wife. Phebe Millard, to what
at the close of the past century was the " far west,"
where he and a younger brother built a log cabin
in the wilderness, and there his second son, Millard,
was born. Nathaniel Fillmore was one of " God
Almighty's gentlemen," whose creed was contained
in two words, " do riglit," and who lived to see his
son elevated to a position than which there is none
loftier on earth. Of J:he president's mother, who
died in 1881, little is known beyond the fact that
she was a sensible and, in her later years, a sickly
