Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 10.djvu/85

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SULLY


SUMMERS


for promotion, Dec. 28, 1866-Feb. 16, 1867, and was subsequently on special duty under the in- terior department ; was commissioned lieutenant- colonel, 3d infantry, July 28, 1866, and promoted colonel 10th infantry, Dec. 10. 1872. He died at Fort Vancouver, AYashington Territory, April 17, 1879.

SULLY, Thomas, artist, was born at Horn- castle, Lincolnshire, England, June 8, 1783. He came with his parents to the United States in 1792, settling in Charleston, S.C.; entered an insurance office in 1795 ; subsequently studied miniature-painting under his brother-in-law, M. Belzons ; in 1799 went to Richmond, Va., where his brother Lawrence was established as a minia- ture painter, and in 1801 they settled in Norfolk, Va. He engaged in portrait-painting as a pupil of Henry Bembridge, and in 1806 married his brother's widow, whom he had supported since her husband's death in 1804. Of their children, Thomas became a portrait-painter, as did also Jane, who married John C. Darley ; Alfred (q.v.) was an officer in the civil war, and Blanche died in her native city, Philadelphia, in 1898. Thomas Sully was established in New York city, 1806-08, studying for a short time in 1807 under Gilbert Stuart in Boston, Mass. After spending a part of the year 1809 in Philadelphia, he went to London, where he became a pupil of Benjamin West, and on his return in 1810 opened a studio in Philadelphia, receiving orders of several dis- tinguished men for portraits, among them an order from the North Carolina legislature for two full-length portraits of Washington. At his own request the order was changed for a histor- ical reproduction of the crossing of the Delaware ; but when the canvas was finished, no place had been reserved for its reception and he was un- able to dispose of the painting. Eventually it became the property of the Boston Museum. He exhibited several portraits at the Royal Acad- emy, 1820-40, and while in England, 1837-38, painted a full-length portrait of Queen Victoria for the Society of the Sons of St. George of Phil- adelphia. To save the Queen time and fatigue, the artist's daughter, Blanche, wearing the royal robes and jewels, posed for the picture, Victoria posing only for the head and shoulders. Miss Sully was afterward awarded a silver medal by the Queen. Thomas Sully is the author of : "Recollections of an Old Painter " for iJo»?'s at Home (Nov., 1869), and Hints to Young Painters, posthumous (1873). His figure and historical paintings include : Capture of Major Andre (1812) ; Miranda (1815), and among his jjortraits are those of George Frederick Cooke as Richard in. (Pennsylvania Academy) ; Benjamin Rush (1814) ; Commodoi-e Decatur (New York city hall) ; Gen. Jonathan AVilliams (1815) ; Lafayette


(Independence hall, Philadelphia) ; Thomas Jef- ferson (U.S. Military academy, 1821) ; Fanny Kemble and her father, Charles Kemble ; Queen Victoria (Philadelphia, St. George society, 1837- 38) ; Robert F. Stockton (1851). The portraits of James Madison, Andrew Jackson (1825), and one of himself are in the possession of the Cor- coran Art gallery at Washington, D.C. He died in Philadelphia. Pa., Nov. 5, 1872.

SULZER, William, representative, was born in Elizabeth, N. J., March 18, 1863 ; son of Thomas and Lydia Sulzer. His father, who was obliged to leave Germany for his part in the revolution of 1848, landed in 1851 in New York, where he married. The son attended the public schools and Columbia college ; was admitted to the bar, and began practice in New York city, achieving distinction in his profession and as a political orator. He was an active speaker in the Demo- cratic national campaigns of 1884-1888 ; a member of the state assembly, 1890-94, serving as speaker in 1893, and a Democratic representative from the eleventh New York district in the 54th-58th con- gresses, 1895-1905. In congress he introduced many important bills ; was a champion of the Cuban insurgents ; of the Boers in South Africa, and of the interests of organized labor and wage earners. He also introduced a resolution provid- ing for an amendment of the constitution so that U.S. senators must be elected by the people.

SUMMERS, Thomas Osmond, educator, was born in Dorsetshire, England, Oct. 11, 1812 : son of James and Sarah (Cull) Summers. He immi- grated to the United States in 1830 ; was admitted to the Baltimore Methodist conference in 1835 ; was assigned to the Augusta circuit, Va., and was one of the founders of the first Texas confer- ence in 1840. He was married, Jan. 31, 1844, to Miss N. B. Sexton of Tuscaloosa, Ala. He was a member of the Alabama conference, 1844-82, serving as secretary of the Louisville convention in 1845, and as such was influential in establish- ing the Methodist Episcopal church, south. He was editor of the Southern Christian Advocate, 1846-50 ; of the publications issued by the general conference, and of the Sunday-School Visitor, 1854-58, and in the latter year assumed the editor- ship of the Quarterly Review. He served as pastor in Alabama during the civil war ; removed to Nashville, Tenn., whei-e he edited the Christian Advocate, 1806-78, and was professor of system- atic theology in Vanderbilt university at Nash- ville, dean of the theological faculty and ex officio pastor of the university, 1875-82. The honorary degrees of D.D. and LL.D. were conferred upon him. He served regularly as secretary of the Methodist general conferences, 1850-82. He edited an enlarged and revised edition of Watson's " Bib- lical and Theological Dictionary" (1857), and is