Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/243

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URDANETA
URICOCHEA

expedition, which, under Miguel Lopez de Legaspi, left Acapulco, 21 Nov., 1564. After taking posses- sion of Cebu, and conquering Mindoro, Legaspi de- spatched Urdaneta to New Spain with a request for re-enforcements. He reported afterward to the king at Madrid before returning to his convent in Mexico, where he died. He wrote several memoirs and letters which are preserved in the archives of the Indies at Seville. Among them are " Relation del Viage del Comendador Garcia de Loaysa," " Re- lacion de la expedition del Comendador Miguel Lopez de Legaspi," and " Cartas al rey Felipe II. condescriptiones de los puertos de Acapulco y Na- vidad." In the first memoir he speaks of a strait which the French reported to exist " north of the codfish country " (Newfoundland or Labrador), communicating with the Pacific.


URDANETA, Rafael, Venezuelan soldier, b. in Maracaibo, 24 Oct., 1789 ; d. in Paris, France, 23 Aug., 1845. He took part in the revolutionary movement of 1810, on 25 July was appointed lieu- tenant, and fought in the campaigns of 1811— '12. In 1813, with the auxiliaries of Cundinamarca, he accompanied Bolivar to Venezuela. He entered Caracas on 6 Aug., after which he was promoted brigadier. In March, 1814, he defended the city of Valencia with a small force against the besieg- ing army of 4,000 men under Ceballos till he was relieved on 3 April by Bolivar. He also took part in the victorious battle of Carabobo, 28 May, 1814, and protected the retreat of the patriot army after the defeat of La Puerta, 15 June. He re- tired with a remnant of the army to the western provinces, but after being routed at Mucuchies on 7 Sept. he penetrated into New Granada. There he joined Bolivar, and, after being promoted ma- i'or-general and sent to Cucuta, he was defeated in Jalaga in November, 1815. and with the rest of his forces joined Paez in Apure. He was second in command in the operations against Caracas in 1818, being also appointed member of the council of government in Angostura. The next year he was made general-in-chief of the army that was forming in Margarita from the German and Brit- ish legions and native troops, with which he oper- ated against Cumana and captured Barcelona. In 1821 he obtained the submission of Maracaibo and Coro, and in 1826 was sent to Venezuela, and op- posed the plans of Paez, returning to Colombia in 1827 as commander of Cundinamarca. He was also member of the constituent congress of Colom- bia, and twice secretary of war, occupying, from September, 1830, till April, 1831, the executive of the nation to fill a vacancy. Shortly afterward he returned to Venezuela, where he was successively senator for the province of Coro, governor of Guay- ana, and twice secretary of war. In 1845 he was sent as minister to Madrid, but he died on his way. — His cousin, Francisco, South American soldier, b. in Montevideo, 3 Aug., 1791 ; d. in Bogota in 1861, entered the military service in his youth, and fought against the British in 1806-'7. In 1809 he was called by his uncle, Martin Urdaneta, to Bo- gota, where he entered the Spanish service, but he joined the patriot cause in 1810. In 1819 he par- ticipated in the campaign of Cauca, becoming in 1820 governor of Popayan, and in 1821 of Antio- quia. In 1829 he was promoted major-general. In 1861 he used his utmost efforts to save the lives of the political prisoners in the College of Rosario, and when they were assassinated before his eyes, on 7 March, he retired to his home, where he soon died. URE, Robert, Canadian clergyman, b. in Lan- arkshire, Scotland, in January, 1823. When he was nineteen years old he emigrated to Canada, and settled at Hamilton. He studied theology, and was ordained a minister of the Free Presbyte- rian church in 1850. He was a pastor at Streets- ville in 1850-62. and' since the latter year he has been stationed at Goderich, Ont. He was for two years a lecturer on apologetics at Knox college, Toronto, and has also been a lecturer on the same subject at Queen's university, Kingston. He aided in bringing about the union of the various Presby- terian churches in Canada, and was a moderator of the united churches. He received the degree of D. D. from Queen's university in 1876.


URFE, Gabriel Jules (oor-fay), West Indian navigator, b. in Martinique, W. I., in 1795 ; d. in the Arctic ocean in 1833. He was educated at Paris, entered the navy as a midshipman in 1810, and after the restoration of Louis XVIII., in 1814, was attached as ensign to the frigate " La Rail-' leuse" and sent to South America. After assist- ing in re-establishing French consulates in Brazil, Venezuela, Mexico, and the West Indies, he was a commissioner in 1817 to receive the surrender of the administration of French Guiana from the Portuguese, and afterward took part in a campaign to Martinique and Santo Domingo. Later he was employed at Madagascar and Bourbon, and in 1830 he was attached to the department of charts in the navy office. On 4 July, 1833, he sailed as second in command of the frigate " La Liloise " with Poret de Blosseville for an exploration of the Arctic ocean. They prepared a chart of the west- ern coast of Greenland, which they forwarded in August following to Admiral Duperre, and stopped afterward at Vagna-Fjord, whence they returned in October, navigating along the coast of Green- land. This was the last that was heard of the frigate, and the subsequent expeditions that were sent to search for it failed to discover any trace of the navigators. Urfe's works include, besides several memoirs that are published in the " Annales maritimes et coloniales, "Histoire de la decou- verte du Groenland par les navigateurs Scandi- naves" (Paris, 1831), and "Historique de l'occupa- tion Anglaise a la Martinique " (1832).


URFE, Louis Edouard d', West Indian mis- sionary, b. in Les Saintes, Guadeloupe, in 1699 ; d. in Leghorn in 1762. He was educated in the col- lege of the Jesuits at Bordeaux, entered that order in 1727, and was sent in the following year to Guadeloupe, where he resided several years and had charge of the parish of Capesterre. In 1742 he went to Cayenne, founded several missions among the Galibi Indians, explored Guiana and the basin of the Orinoco, and in 1760 became visitor of his order. He died at Leghorn during a voyage for the purpose of conferring with the gen- eral of the Jesuits. Urfe's works include " Gram- maire Galibi " (Paris, 1755) : " Dictionnaire Galibi " (1757) ; and " Histoire des etablissements de la foi fondes dans la Guiane ou Nouvelle France meri- dionale"(1762).


URICOCHEA, Ezequiel (oo-ri-ko-chay'-ah), Colombian scientist, b. in Bogota in 1834. As early as 1846 he obtained in college the first prize in mathematics, and in 1849 he went to the United States to finish his studies, being graduated in medicine at Yale. In 1852 he went to Germany, and in 1854 was graduated at the University of Gottingen, devoting himself specially to the study of chemistry and mineralogy. He travelled through Europe for two years, and remained six months in Brussels to study astronomy in the observatory of that city. In 1857 he returned to his native country, where he was professor of chemistry till 1868. He founded the Society of naturalists of New