Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/489

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SEMPLE
SEPTENVILLE

of 1816. For some time previous to the arrival of Gov. Semple there had been a conflict of authority between the Hudson bay company and the North- west trading company,.which resulted in bloodshed on several occasions. On 19 June, 1816, Cuth- bert Grant, a half-breed, representing the North- west company, in command of a band of Indians and others, marched against Foil Douglas, alt.-ii'kcd Guv. Semple while he was parleying- with them, and killed him and twenty-seven others. He is represented as a mild, just, and honorable man. Among other works he wrote " Walks and Sketches at the Cape of Good Hope" (London, 1803); " Charles Ellis, or the Friends," a novel (1806) ; " A Journey through Spain and Italy " (2 vols., 1807) ; "Spanish Post-Guide" (1808); "Second Journey in Spain " (1810) ; " State of Caraccas " (1812) ; and " Tour from Hamburgh " (1814).


SEMPLE, Robert Baylor, clergyman, b. in King and Queen county, V v a., 20 Jan., 1769; d. in Fredericksburg, Va., 25 Dec., 1831. After receiv- ing a good education he taught in a private family and then began to study law, but abandoned it and devoted himself to the ministry. In 1790 he was chosen pastor of the Bruington Baptist church, and he continued in this relation until his death. He soon became one of the most useful and popular men in Virginia, performed frequent and extensive preaching tours, and with equal vigor and wisdom promoted the new enterprises of benevolence that were beginning to attract the attention of his de- nomination. The interests of missions and education found in him a powerful friend. He received many testimonies of public confidence and esteem. He was for some time financial agent of Columbian college, and president of its board of trustees, de- clined an invitation to the presidency of Transyl- vania university in 1805, and in 1820 was elected president of the Baptist triennial convention, con- tinuing to hold this office until his death. He re- ceived the honorary degree of D. D. from Brown in 1816. Dr. Semple was the author of a "Cate- chism" (1809); a "History of Virginia Baptists" (1810); "Memoir of Elder Straughan"; "Letters to Alexander Campbell," etc.


SENECAL, Louis Adelard, Canadian senator, b. in Varennes, Lower Canada. 10 July, 1829 ; d. in Montreal. 11 Oct., 1887. He was educated in his native place and in Burlington, Vt., and after- ward engaged in business. He was a member of the Quebec assembly for Drummond and Arthabaska from 1867 till 1871. and of the Dominion parlia- ment for Yamaska from 1807 till 1872. and became a member of the Dominion senate, 12 March. 1887. In 1857 he opened to navigation the Yamaska river between Sorel and St. Airne. and the St. Francis river between Sorel and St. Francis. He has con- structed numerous railways, including the ice rail- way on the St. Lawrence from Montreal to Long- ueuil, which he worked for two winters. Under his management the Richelieu line was extended from Hamilton and Toronto to Chicoutimi, a distance of about 1,000 miles. He was a general superintend- ent of the government railways of the province oi Quebec, president of the North Shore railway, the Montreal City Passenger railway, and the Richelieu and Ontario navigation company. He was a com- mander of the French Legion of honor.


SENER, James Beverly, lawyer, b. in Fred- ericksburg, Va., 18 May, 1837. He received an academic preparation, attended lectures at the University of Virginia as a state student, and was graduated in several of the schools of the univer- sity. He then studied law at Lexington, Va., was admitted to the bar in March, 1860, and served as sergeant (or sheriff) of the city of Fredericksburg, Va., in 1863-'5. He was army correspondent of ,he Southern associated press, with Gen. Lee's Army }f Northern Virginia in 1862-'5, and from 1865 till 1875 was editor of the Fredericksburg " Ledger." VIr. Sener was a delegate from Virginia to the National Republican conventions of 1872 and 1876 and served on the National Republican committee 'rom 187ii till 18SO. He was a member of congress in 1873-'5, and was the chairman of the committee on expenditures in the department of justice, be- ing the first chairman of such a committee. He was chief justice of Wyoming territory from 18 Dec., 1879, till 10 March, 1884.


SENEY, Joshua, member of the Continental congress, b. on the eastern shore of Maryland in 1750; d. there in 1799. He was educated by pri- vate tutors, engaged in planting, and supported the patriot cause during the Revolution. He was a member of the Continental congress in 1787-'8, and of the 1st congress in 1789, and served by re- election till 1 May, 1792, when he resigned. He was a presidential elector in that year, supporting Washington and Adams. He married Frances, daughter of Com. James Nicholson. His grandson, George Ingraliam, banker, b. in Astoria. L. I., 12 May, 1826 ; d. in New York, 7 April, 1893. was the son of a clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal church. Georg'e was a student in 1845 at Wesleyan, from which he received the degree of A. M. in 1866, was graduated at the University of the city of New York in 1847. entered the banking business, and rose from the post of paying-teller in the Metropolitan bank, New York city, to the presidency of that in- stitution, holding the latter office in 1877-'84, when the bank was suspended and Mr. Seney lost a for- tune of several million dollars, a large part of which he afterward regained. His contributions to chari- table and educational institutions include $410,000 to the Methodist general hospital of Brooklyn, $100,000 to the Long Island historical society, .|250,000 to Emory college and Wesleyan female college, Macon, Ga., and $100,000 to benevolent objects in Brooklyn. He founded the Seney schol- arships and largely endowed Wesleyan university, and had contributed to miscellaneous charities more than $400.000. His gallery of pictures, num- bering 285 specimens, was sold in 1885, and he also presented several valuable paintings to the Metro- politan museum of art, New York city.


SENTER, Isaac, physician, b. in New Hamp- shire in 1755 ; d. in Newport, R. L. 20 Dec., 1799. He went to Newport. R. L, early in life, studied medicine with Dr. Thomas MofEat, was a surgeon in the Revolutionary army, and accompanied Benedict Arnold's expedition to Quebec, an inter- esting account of which he published in the " Bul- letin of the Historical S_oeiety of Pennsylvania." He afterward practised in Pawtucket, but finally settled in Newport, and became one of the most eminent surgeons and practitioners in the state. He was an honorary member of the medical so- cieties of London, Edinburgh, and Massachusetts, and for many years was president of the Society of the Cincinnati of Rhode Island. He contributed to the medical journals, and published " Remarks on Phthisis Pulmonalis " in the " Transactions of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia" (1795).


SEPTENVILLE, Charles Edourd Langlois (say-tong-veal), Baron de, French author, b. in Paris. 17 Nov., 1835. He inherited a fortune, and devoted himself to historical researches, especially upon the early history of South America. In March, 1876, he was elected a deputy by the city of Amiens, and he is member of various learned