Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/289

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BIGELOW
BIGLER
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Disease," a volume of essays (1854); "A Brief Exposition of Rational Medicine," to which was prefixed "The Paradise of Doctors, a Fable" (Philadelphia, 1858); "History of Mount Auburn" (1860); and "Modern Inquiries" and "Remarks on Classical Studies" (Boston, 1867). Dr. Bigelow was also known as a writer on other than medical subjects. He was a frequent contributor to the reviews and periodicals, and was the reputed author of a volume of poems entitled "Eolopcesis" (New York, 1855), containins: imitations of American poets.


BIGELOW, John, journalist, b. in Maiden, N. Y., 25 Nov., 1817. He was graduated at Union college in 1835, was admitted to the bar in 1839, and practised law in New York for several years, but gradually became identified with journalism to an extent that led him to abandon the law. He was editor of "The Plebeian " and the "Democratic Review," and prepared for the press Gregg's "Commerce of the Prairies" and other books of travel. In 1845-8 he was an inspector of Sing Sing state prison. He became a partner of William Cullen-Bryant in 1849 as joint owner of the "Evening Post," and was managing editor of that journal until 1861, when, after the accession of President Lincoln, he went to Paris as U. S. consul. After the death of Mr. Dayton in 1865 he became U. S. minister to France, where he remained until 1867. During 1867 and 1868 he was secretary of state for New York. In the spring of 1886 he was designated by the New York chamber of commerce to inspect so much of the Panama canal as was then under construction, and on the receipt of his report he was unanimously elected an honorary member of the chamber. The same year he received the honorary degree of LL. D. from Racine college, Wisconsin. By the will of Sanmel J. Tilden (August, 1886) he was appointed a trustee of several million dollars, to be applied to the establishment and maintenance of a public library in New York city, and he is the testator's authorized biographer. His published writings are "Jamaica in 1850; or. The Effect of Sixteen Years of Freedom on a Slave Colony," and "Life of Fremont " (1856) and " Les Etats-Unis d'Amerique en 1863" (Paris). He edited the autobiography of Franklin from the original manuscript, which he found in France (1868), and in 1869 published "Some Recollections of the late Antoine Pierre Berryer." "The Wit and Wisdom of the Haytiens" was published in 1876, and a mono- graph on "Molinos the Quietist" in 1882. In 1888 he issued "France and the Confederate Navy," in 1890 "Life of William Cullen Bryant," and later edited an edition of Mr. Tilden's speeches and the works of Benjamin Franklin.—His son, John, a captain in 10th U. S. cavalry, is the author of "The Principles of Strategy illustrated chiefly from American Campaigns."—His second son, Poultney, has published "Border Land of Czar and Kaiser" (1895); "The German Struggle for Liberty" (1896); and " White Man's Africa" (1897).


BIGELOW, Lewis, lawyer, b. in Petersham, Mass., about 1783 ; d. in Peoria, Ill., 3 Oct., 1838. He was graduated at Williams in 1803, studied law, and practised in Petersham, Mass. He was elected a member of congress, serving from 3 Dec, 1821, till 3 March, 1823. He removed to Illinois, practised law there, and at the time of his death was clerk of court, Peoria co. He was the author of a "Digest of the First Seventeen Volumes of Massachusetts Reports," and also of a "Digest of Pickering's Reports, Vols. II.-VII." (2d ed., Boston, 1825).


BIGELOW, Melville Madison, author, b. in Eaton Rapids, Mich., 2 Aug., 1846. He was graduated at the university of Michigan in 1866, and afterward studied at Harvard, receiving the degree of Ph. D. in 1879. He has published "Law of "Estoppel " (4th ed., Boston, 1886); "Law of Torts" (2d ed., 1882); "Leading Cases on Torts" (1875); "Law of Fraud" (1877); "Elements of Equity" (1879); "History of Procedure in England—Norman Period " (London, 1880); and "Rhymes of a Barrister " (1884). He has edited "Story on Conflict of Laws" (8th ed., Boston, 1883); Story's "Equity Jurisprudence " (13th ed., 1886); and "Placita Anglo-Normannica."


BIGELOW, Timothy, soldier, b. in Worcester,Mass., 12 Aug., 1739; d. there, 31 March, 1790. At the beginning of the revolutionary war he was a blacksmith at Worcester and a zealous patriot. Hearing of the battle of Lexington, he led a company of minute-men to Cambridge, and on 23 May, 1775, became a major in Ward's regiment. He accompanied Arnold in his expedition to Quebec in 1775, and was captured there, remaining a prisoner until 1776. He was made colonel, 8 Feb., 1777, and, when in command of the 15th Massachusetts regiment, assisted at the capture of Burgoyne. He was also at Valley Forge, West Point, Monmouth, and Yorktown. After the war Col. Bigelow had charge of the arsenal at Springfield. He was one of the original grantees of Montpelier and a benefactor of the Leicester, Mass., academy.—His son, Timothy, lawyer, b. in Worcester, Mass., 30 April, 1767; d. 18 May, 1821, was graduated at Harvard in 1786, studied law, and practised at Groton, Mass., from 1789 until 1807, when he removed to Medford and opened a law office in Boston. He was an active federalist, was elected to the legislature in 1790, and served there twenty years, eleven years of the time as speaker of the house. He was also a member of the Hartford convention of 1814. He was an active member of many literary and benevolent societies, a prominent freemason, and stood high in his profession. It is said that in the course of thirty-two years he argued 15,000 cases. He published an oration, delivered before the Phi Beta Kappa society (1797).


BIGGS, Asa, lawyer, b. in Williamstown, N. C, 4 Feb., 1811; d. in Norfolk, Va., 6 March, 1878. He received a common-school education and studied law, beginning practice in 1831, was elected to the state constitutional convention in 1835, to the lower branch of the legislature in 1840 and 1842, and to the state senate in 1844. He was chosen a member of congress in 1845, and was one of the three commissioners appointed in 1850 who prepared the revised code of North Carolina, which went into operation in 1854. In the latter year he was again elected to the state senate, and in 1854 was chosen U. S. senator, which office he resigned in 1858 to accept the judgeship of the U. S. district court of North Carolina. He held this office until the war broke out, and in May, 1861, he was elected to the state convention that passed the ordinance of secession. After the war he resumed the practice of law, and subsequently engaged in the commission business at Norfolk, Va.


BIGGER, David, Moravian bishop, b. in Hagerstown, Md., 26 Dec, 1806; d. in Lancaster, Pa., 2 July, 1875. He prepared for service in the foreign mission field, and went to the West Indies in 1831, where he labored for five years with great zeal and success. His wife's failing health then compelled him to return to the United States, where he successively took charge of the Moravian churches in Philadelphia, New York, and at Bethlehem, Pa. At the place last named he was consecrated to the episcopacy on 31 July, 1864, after which he re-