irig the Bessemer process for the manufacture of steel. He returned after purchasing the American rights of the Bessemer patents, which were sub- sequently combined with the conflicting Amer- ican patents of William Kelly. The first Bessemer plant was established at Troy in 1865 under his supervision, and enlarged in 1867. He also built the works at Harrisburg in 1867, and later planned those at North Chicago and Joliet, the Edgar Thompson works at Pittsburg, and the Vulcan works at St. Louis, besides acting as consulting engineer in the designing of the Cambria, Bethle- hem, Scranton, and other works. The history of his career after 1865 is substantially that of the Bessemer manufacture in the United States. After the formation of the Bessemer association he issued confidential reports to it on the various branches of steel manufacture. During his lifetime the capacity of the American Bessemer plant was raised from that of about 900 tons a month to more than 10,000 tons for the same period. In 1875 he was appointed a member of the U. S. board for testing iron, steel, and other metals, and was one of the most laborious of its members. Four years later he became lecturer on the manufacture of iron and steel at the Columbia school of mines, and continued this work until his death. Mr. Holley obtained about sixteen patents, of which several were for improvements in the Bessemer process, and of these his last, that of the detached converter-shell, is perhaps the most important. In 1878 he received the degree of LL. D. from Brown, and he was a trustee of the Rensselaer polytechnic institute from 1865 till 1867 and from 1870 till 1882. He was president of the American institute of mining engineers in 1875, vice-president of the American society of mechanical engineers in 1880, and vice-president of the American society of civil engineers in 1876. In addition to the books already mentioned, Mr. Holley was the author of numer- ous technical papers. From 1877 till 1880 he pre- pared, with Lenox Smith, a series of forty-one articles on " American Iron and Steel," which were published in the London "Engineering." A statue to his memory is to be erected in Central Park by the societies of mining, civil, and me- chanical engineers, from a design furnished by John Q. A. Ward. See " Memorial of Alexander Lyman Holley " (New York, 1884).
HOLLEY, Myron, reformer, b. in Salisbury,
Conn., 29 April, 1779 ; d. in Rochester, N. Y., 4
March, 1841. He was graduated at Williams in
1799, studied law, and was admitted to the bar
in 1802. He began practice in Salisbury, but in
1803 settled in Canandaigua, N. Y. Finding the
law uncongenial, he purchased the stock of a
local bookseller and became the literary purveyor
of the town. In 1810-'14 he was county-clerk,
and in 1816 was sent to Albany as an assembly-
man. The project of the Erie canal was at that
time the great subject of interest, and through the
efforts of Mr. Holley a board of commissioners was
appointed, of whom he was one. His work thence-
forth, until its completion, was on the Erie canal.
For eight years his practical wisdom, energy, and
self-sacrifice made him the executive power, with-
out which this great enterprise would probably
have been a failure. On the expiration of his term
of office, in 1824, as canal-commissioner and treas-
urer of the board, he retired to Lyons, where with
his family he had previously removed. The anti-
Masonic excitement of western New York, arising
from the abduction of William Morgan, soon drove
Mr. Holley into prominence again. This move-
ment culminated in a national convention being
held in Philadelphia in 1830, where Henry I).
Ward, Francis Granger, William H. Seward, and
Myron Holley were the representatives from New
York. An " Address to the People of the United
States," written by Holley, was adopted and signed
by 112 delegates. The anti-Masonic adherents pre-
sented a candidate in the next gubernatorial can-
vass of New York, and continued to do so for sev-
eral years, until the Whigs, appreciating the ad-
vantages of their support, nominated candidates
that were not Masons. This action resulted, in
1838, in the election of William H. Seward. Mean-
while, in 1S31, Mr, Holley became editor of the
Lyons "Countryman," a journal devoted to the
opposition and suppression of Masonry ; but after
three years, this enterprise not having been suc-
cessful, he went to Hartford, and there conducted
the " Free Elector " for one year. He then re-
turned to Lyons, but soon disposed of his property
and settled near Rochester, where for a time he
lived in quiet, devoting his attention to horticulture. When the anti-slavery feeling began to
manifest itself Mr. Holley became one of its adher-
ents. At this time he was offered a nomination to
congress by the Whig party, provided he would not
agitate this question ; but this proposition he de-
clined. He participated in the meeting of the
anti-slavery convention held in Cleveland in 1839,
and was prominent in the call for a national con-
vention to meet in Albany, to take into considera-
tion the formation of a Liberty party. At this
gathering the nomination of James G. Birney was
made, and during the subsequent canvass Mr.
Holley was active in support of the candidate, both
by continual speaking and by his incessant labors
as editor of the Rochester " Freeman." Mr. Hol-
ley's remains rest in Mount Hope cemetery, at
Rochester, and the grave is marked by an obelisk,
with a fine medallion portrait in white marble, the
whole having been paid for in one-cent contribu-
tions by members of the Liberty party, at the sug-
gestion of Gerrit Smith. See "Myron Holley;
and What he did for Liberty and Tine Religion."
by Elizur Wright (Boston," 1882).— His brother, Horace, educator, b. in Salisbury, Conn., 13 Feb.
1781 ; d. 31 July, 1827, was graduated at Yale in 1803, and studied law for a short time in New
York, but, abandoning this for theology, was ordained at Greenfield Hill, Fairfield co., Conn., in September, 1805. In 1809-'18 he was pastor of
Hollis street church (Unitarian), Boston. He was president of Transylvania university, Lexington,
Ky., in 1818-'27. A plan was formed for erecting a seminaiy in Louisiana, to be placed under
his charge, but while at New Orleans in the summer of 1827 he became ill, and died while on the
passage to New York. He had a great reputation as a pulpit orator, published several sermons and addresses, and contributed papers to the " Western Review " and other periodicals. See a discourse on his life and character by Charles Caldwell, M. D. (Boston, 1828). — Horace's wife, Mary Austin, d. in New Orleans, 2 Aug., 1846, married Mr. Holley in 1805, and in 1831 emigrated to Texas under the protection of Gen. Austin. She published a " History of Texas" (Baltimore, 1883), and a memoir of her husband. — Another brother, Orville Luther, editor, b. in Salisbury, Conn., 19 May, 1791 ; d. in Albany, N. Y., 25 March, 1861, was graduated at Harvard in 1813, studied law in New York city, and practised successively at Hudson, Canandaigua, and the city of New York. He edited in succession the "Anti-Masonic Magazine" in New York, the " Troy Sentinel," the Ontario " Repository," the Albany " Daily Advertiser," and the " State Regis-
