Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/613

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

Calubco, and in 1730 he was in Concepcion during the earthquake of July, which destroyed that city. His frequent voyages gave him an opportunity to study the archives of the company of Jesus, and about 1736, in Santiago, he began to compile his history. From 1740 till 1758 he served in the mis- sions of Araucania, where he learned the language of the Indians. He intended to write a complete history of Chili, when a decree of Chai'les III. ex- iled the Jesuits, and, notwithstanding his advanced age, Olivares had to leave the country. In Lima, by order of the viceroy, Manuel de Amat, he was robbed of his manuscripts, and the viceroy's secre- tary, Jose Perfeeto Salas, obtained the second part of the " Historia militar, civil y sagrada de lo acae- cido en la conquista y pacificacion del Reino de Chile." From Imola he tried to recover his manu- scripts, and the king himself ordered the president of Chili to send them to Spain, which was done by Ambrosio O'Higgins {q. v.), but Olivares died before their arrival in Madrid. A complete edition of the work and a " Historia de la Compaiiia de Jesus en Chile 1593-1736," with notes by the Chilian his- torian Barros Arana, appeared in Santiago in 1870. OLIVE, Chai'les, surnamed 1' (o-leeve), French buccaneer, b. in Dieppe about 1630 ; d. in Santo Domingo in 1673. He came in his youth to Tor- tuga as an " engage," and after serving three years in that capacity was received among the bucca- neers. He took part in the expedition against Panama under Henry Morgan in 1671, and com- manded several others in association with various chiefs, but was captured by Spanish soldiers in the interior of Santo Domingo, and carried to the capi- tal. During their confinement in the dungeon he and his companions contracted yellow fever. The day set for their execution having arrived, they were carried to a place outside the city to be be- headed, and released at the last moment by the sudden attack of some fellow-buccaneers; but the latter, on being told by them of their frightful disease, fled in terror. The captives soon died in chains on the place of execution, as nobody dared to touch them, and the epidemic, spreading, de- vastated the city. The memory of this event lived long in the colonies, and painters have reproduced it on canvas. Novelists also have taken it as a theme, among them Emmanuel Gonzales in his " Brethren of the Coast." L'Olive was said by some to be the son of a nobleman, either the Count de Casse-Brissae or the Marquis de Rochefort, who are believed to have joined the buccaneers — one through disappointment in love, and the other to escape capital punishment for a crime.


OLIVEIRA, Candido Baptista de (o-lee-vay- e-rah), Brazilian statesman, b. in Porto Alegre, 15 Feb., 1801 ; d. at sea, 26 May, 1865. He studied in the Seminary of Rio Janeiro in 1817-'20, but, not feeling inclined to enter the priesthood, went in the latter year to Coimbra, where he was graduated in mathematics in 1824. He then went to Lisbon, and in 1825 to Paris to attend the polytechnic school, where he gained the friendship of Arago. On his return to Rio Janeiro in 1827 he was ap- pointed teacher at the military academy, and be- came shortly afterward professor of mechanics. In 1830 he was elected deputy to the general assembly, and in 1831 he was appointed inspector-general of the national treasury. He reformed that depart- ment and its dependencies, introducing the use of stereometry, till then unknown in the custom- house, a new formula for measuring vessels for the payment of anchorage dues, and systematized weights and measures. In 1836 he was appointed minister resident in Turin, but remained only a few months, and in 1837 returned to his place as inspector of the treasury. In April, 1839, he was called to take the portfolio of the treasury and foreign relations, and in 1840 and 1843 he was sent on diplomatic missions to St. Petersburg and Vien- na. In 1844 he was recalled, and resumed his place in the military academy, and from 22 May, 1847, to March, 1848, he was secretary of the navy, where he introduced many reforms and organized the corps of marines. During 1848-'9 he was com- missioned to execute a topographical exploration of the southern frontier of the empire, and in 1851 he was appointed director of the Botanical garden of Rio Janeiro, and was elected vice-president of the Historical and geographical society of Brazil. He afterward sailed for Europe in quest of health, and died on board the French mail-steamer before arriving in Bahia. He wrote " Systema Financial do Brazil " (St. Petersburg, 1842).


OLIVEIRA, Manoel Antonio Vital de, Bra- zilian naval officer, b. in Recife, 28 Sept., 1829; d. in Paraguay, 2 Feb., 1867. He entered the naval school at the age of fourteen, soon afterward became midshipman, and as sub-lieutenant on board the "Don Affonso" took part in the fight of 2 Feb., 1849, at Recife, which had been attacked by insurgents. In 1854 he was promoted lieutenant, and drew a chart of the coast of Brazil between Petimbu and Sao Bento, accompanying it with a report. He also made a plan of the Shallows das Rosas, near the island of Fernando de Noronha, and of the two lakes in the province of Alagoas, which he surveyed to establish steam navigation. He published in 1862 five hydrographic charts from Mossoro river, in the province of Rio Grande do Norte, to Sao Francisco river, and he also ex- amined many other points on the south coast. After this he began to prepare a general chart of the coast of Brazil, and for upward of two years he continued this work, which, unfortunately, he did not finish. In 1866 he was sent to France to bring out the iron-clad " Nemesis," which he ac- complished under very difficult circumstances. He joined the Brazilian fleet, which, on 2 Feb., 1867, attacked the fortress of Curupaity and penetrated into Lake Piris. Oliveira led one division in the " Silvado," and while standing on the bridge was killed by a cannon-ball.


OLIVEIRA, Manoel Botellio de, Brazilian poet, b. in Bahia in 1636; d. in 1711. Little is known of his life except that he was a nobleman of the royal household, and graduated at the Uni- versity of Coimbra. In 1705 a quarto volume of 340 pages was published in Lisbon containing the poetical works of Oliveira, with the title " Musica do Parnaso, divido em quatro coros de riinas por- tuguezas, castelhanas, italianas e latinas, con seu descante comico reduzido em duas comedias." This is a rare work and but little known, and if it has no great poetical merit, it has that of being recommended by the Academy of Lisbon, which declared the language of the part written in Portu- guese to be classical.


OLIVER, Andrew, lieutenant-governor of Massachusetts, b. in Boston, Mass., 28 Ma'i-ch, 1706; d. there, 3 March, 1774. His father, Daniel, a member of the council, was a son of Peter, an eminent merchant, and grandson of Thomas, an elder of the church, who arrived in Boston in 1631. The son was graduated at Harvard in 1724. He was chosen a member of the general court, and afterward of the council. In 1748 he was sent with his brother-in-law. Gov. Thomas Hutchinson, as a commissioner to the Albany congress that met to conclude peace with the heads of the Six Nations