Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/249

1853 he became U. S. inspector of steamboat en- gines for the district of New York, and since his retirement from that office he had devoted himself to consultation practice in the specialty of me- chanical engineering, in which branch he was ac- cepted as one of the best authorities in the United States. Mr. Renwick was associated with his fa- ther in the preparation of " Life of John Jay " (New York, 1841). Another son. James, archi- tect, b. in New York city. 3 Nov., 1818 ; d. there, 23 June, 1895. He was graduated at Columbia in 1836, and inherited a fondness for architcci ure from his father. At first he served as an engineer in the Erie railway, and then he became an assist- ant engineer on the Croton aqueduct, in which capacity he superintended the construction of the distributing reservoir on Fifth avenue between Fortieth and Forty-second streets. Soon after- ward he volun- teered to fur- nish a plan for a fountain in Union square, which was ac- cepted by the property-own- ers, who had decided to erect one at their ex- pense. When the vestry of Grace church purchased the property on Broadway at llth street Mr. Renwick sub- mitted designs for the new edifice, which were accepted.

The building.

which is purely Gothic, was completed in 1845. All of the designs and working drawings were made by him. Subsequently he was chosen architect of Calvary church on Fourth avenue, and also of the Church of the Puritans, formerly on Union square, was selected by the regents of the Smithsonian institution to prepare plans for their building, and also built the Corcoran gallery in Washington. In 1853 he, was requested to make designs for a Roman Catholic cathedral to be built on Fifth avenue be- tween Fiftieth and Fifty-first streets. His plans were accepted, and on 15 Aug., 1858, the corner- stone of St. Patrick's cathedral, seen in the accom- panying illustration, was laid. Its architecture is of the decorated or geometric style that prevailed in Europe in the 13th century, of which the cathe- drals of Rheims, Cologne, and Amiens are typical, and it is built of white marble with a base course of granite. On 25 May, 1879, the cathedral was dedicated by Cardinal McC'loskey, and in 1887 the completion 'of the two towers was undertaken. Meanwhile residences for the archbishop and the vicar-general have been built. It is estimated that upward of 2.500,000 will be expended before the group of buildings, as originally designed, will be completed. Later he planned the building for Vaar college, St. Bartholomew's church, and the Church of the Covenant, New York, the last two in the Byzantine style. Besides churches in vari- ous cities, including St. Ann's in Brooklyn, he planned the building of the Young men's Christian association in 1869, and Booth's theatre in the s;imc year, and other public edifices in New York city. Another son, Edward Saliine, expert, b. in New York city, 3 Jan., 1823, was graduated at Co- lumbia in 1839, and then, turning his attention to civil and mechanical engineering, became the su- perintendent of large iron-works in Wilkesbarre, Pa., but since 1849 has been engaged mainly as an expert in the trials of patent cases in the IT. S. courts. In 1862, in connection with his brother. Henry B. Renwick, he devised methods for the re- pair of the steamer "Great Eastern" while afloat, and successfully accomplished it, replating a frac- ture in the bilge 82 feet long and about 10 feet broad at the widest place, a feat which had been pronounced impossible by other experts. He has invented a wrought-iron railway-chair for connect- ing the ends of rails (1850), a steam cut-off for beam engines (1856), a system of side propulsion for steamers (1802), and numerous improvements in incubators and brooders (1877-'86), and was one of the original inventors of the self-binding reap- ing-machine (1851). He has published a work on artificial incubation entitled "The Thermostatic Incubator " (New York, 1883).

REQUIER, Augustus Julian, poet, b. in Charleston, S. C., 27 May. 1825; d. in New York city, 19 March, 1887. His father was a native of Marseilles, and his mother the daughter of a French Haytian planter, who fled to the United States dur- ing I In- servile insurrection. The son received a classical education, wrote a successful play at the age of seventeen, and at nineteen was admitted to the liar. He began practice in Charleston, but soon removed to Marion Court-House, and in October. 1850, to Mobile, Ala. In 1S53 he was appointed U. S. district attorney, in which office he was con- tinued by President Buchanan, and at the begin- ning of the civil war he was judge of the superior court. He was district attorney under the Confed- erate government. At the close of the war he set- tled in New York city, became an active member of the Tammany political society, and was appointed assistant corporation counsel, and later assistant dis- trict attorney. He was a frequent contributor to periodicals. His drama of "The Spanish Exile," in blank verse, after being produced on the stage in Charleston and other places, was published. It was followed by a romance entitled " The Old Sanctu- ary," the scene of which was laid in Charleston be- fore i he Revolution (Boston, 1846). While living in Marion and Mobile he composed many pieces in verse and prose, including a tragedy entitled " Mar- co Bozzaris," an " Ode to Shakespeare," and a long poem called " Christalline." The poems were sub- sequently published in book-form (Philadelphia, 1859). During the war he wrote many poems in praise of the Confederate cause, including an elab- orate " Ode to Victory." An allegory entitled " The Legend of Tremaine " was composed for an English publication in 1864. "Ashes of Glory," a martial lyric, was written as a reply to Father Abram J. Ryan's " Conquered Banner." His later poems have not been collected. A speculative treatise on the lost science of the races of antiquity was left in manuscript.

RESTREPO. José Manuel (res-tray'-po), Colombian historian, b. in Envigado, Antioquia. in 1780: d. in Bogota about 1860. He studied in Bogota under the direction of his cousin. Dr. Felix Restrepo, and was there graduated in law, but gave himself with enthusiasm to the study of history. In the revolution of 1810 he espoused the patriot cause, and in 1814 was deputy to the con- gress of the united provinces of New Granada, and elected a member of the executive junta at Tunjn. He was appointed in 1819 governor of his