Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume II.djvu/373

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

BAETOW BARUCH 353 Oct. 22, 1831. He was a lieutenant colonel in the state militia when, on the night of July 20, 1777, he crossed Narragansett bay with a small body of men, passed unnoticed three British frigates, landed between Newport and Bristol ferry, reached the house where the English general Prescott was sleeping, and with the assistance of a negro, who broke in a panel of the door with his head, made his way into the room and took him prisoner. For this exploit he received from congress the gift of a sword, a commission as colonel, and a tract of land in Vermont. He retired from active service in August, 1778, after having been wounded at Bristol ferry, and was a member of the convention which adopted the constitution. By some illegality in the trans- fer of a portion of his Vermont land Barton was involved in difficulties, and for several years imprisoned for debt in Vermont till 1825, when Lafayette paid the claim against him. Mrs. C. M. Williams included a life of Barton in her " Biography of Revolutionary Heroes" (Providence, 1839). BARTOW, a N. W. county of Georgia, former- ly called Cass; area, 714 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 16,506, of whom 4,719 were colored. Gold, copper, lead, iron, plumbago, marble, and lime- stone are found in several places. The surface is much diversified, and occupied in part by forests of hickory, pine, elm, and other trees. The Western and Atlantic railroad traverses the county, and it is drained by Etowah river and its branches. The chief productions in 1870 were 136,647 bushels of wheat, 239,197 of Indian corn, 36,284 of oats, and 2,833 bales of cotton. There were 1,045 horses, 1,682 milch cows, 2,552 other cattle, 4,100 sheep, and 11,794 swine. Capital, Cartersville. It UtTKAM. I. John, an American botanist, born at Marple, Delaware county, Penn., in 1701, died in September, 1777. His grand- father was one of the companions of William Penn. He himself supported a large family by his industry as a farmer; but by unremitted application he mastered the rudiments of the learned languages, and made such proficiency in botany that he was pronounced by Linnasus the greatest natural botanist in the world. He made excursions through many regions of North America at a time when they were covered with forests, and he was the first to describe particularly their natural productions. In 1 743 he visited the shores of Lake Ontario, and in 1765 explored the region of the river St. John's in Florida ; and in both of these excur- sions he collected many beautiful plants and trees, which he sent to enrich the gardens of Europe. He was supplied by Linnaeus, Sir Hans Sloane, and others, with books and ap- paratus, and he in return sent them specimens of new and curious American plants. He founded on the bank of the Schuylkill, a few miles below Philadelphia, the first botanic gar- den in America, where he cultivated beautiful and rare American and exotic plants. At the time of his death he was a fellow of several foreign learned societies, and bore the title of American botanist to George III. of England. He published an account of his observations during his travels, and contributed to the Brit- ish "Philosophical Transactions " several pa- pers on scientific subjects. See "Memorials of John Bartram and Humphrey Marshall," by Dr. William Darlington (Philadelphia, 1849). II. William, son of the preceding, born at Kingsessing, Penn., in 1739, died July 22, 1823. He commenced life as a merchant, but accom- panied his father to East Florida and settled on the banks of the river St. John's. In 1771 he returned to Kingsessing, but in 1773, at the request of Dr. Fothergill of London, he made a second scientific journey to Florida, and also to the Carolinas and Georgia. The narrative of his expedition, under the title of " Travels through North and South Carolina, East and West Florida, the Cherokee Country, &c.," was pub- lished in Philadelphia in 1791, and in London in 1792, and again in 1794 with illustrations (French translation by P. V. Benoist, 2 vols., Paris, 1801). One of hisessays, written in 1789, was published in 1 853, in vol. iii. of the " Trans- actions of the American Ethnological Society," under the title of "Observations on the Creek and Cherokee Indians." In 1782 he declined the chair of botany in the university of Penn- sylvania, on account of his impaired sight. He made known and illustrated many of the most curious and beautiful plants of North America, and published the fullest list of American birds previous to Wilson, whom he greatly assisted at the outset of his labors. BARTSCH, Johiiiin Adam Bernhard TOD, a Ger- man engraver, born in Vienna, Aug. 17, 1757, died there, Aug. 21, 1821. He rose to the highest eminence in his art, and became a member of the academy of fine arts and direc- tor of the imperial collection of engravings. He wrote Le peintre-gravcur (21 vols., Vienna, 1802-'21), one of the best accounts of prints ever published, and Catalogues raisonnes of the works of Rembrandt (2 vols., 1797) and other great artists. The catalogue of his own productions, comprising over 500 prints, was published in 1818 by his son FKIEDBICH JOSEPH ADAM TON BAETSCH, born July 12, 1798, who succeeded him as director. BARTSCH, Karl Friedrlth, a German philolo- gist, born at Sprottau, Feb. 25, 1832. He grad- uated at Halle in 1853, was director of the library of the German museum at Nuremberg 1855-7, and professor at Rostock 1858-'71, when he succeeded Iloltzmann in Heidelberg. He has written much on ancient German and French literature, and translated Burns into German (1865). Among his principal works are his critical edition of the Nibelitngcnlied (Leipsic, 1870) and his Grundrisszur Geschichte der Provenzaluchen Literatur (1872). He has edited the Germania since 1869. BARCCH (Heb., blessed), the son of Neriah, a friend and amanuensis of the prophet Jerc-