ports" (1873-7 and 1882); and " Simraons's New Wisconsin Digest " (1886). He has ajso published several local histories, is the author of various ar- ticles in Wait's " Actions and Defences " (187S-'!I). and has edited ' Digest of English Reports " (2 vols., Chicago, 1878-'83). and " Wisconsin Reports " (vol. xxix.. 1873; vol. Ixix., 1888).
SIMMONS, James Fowler, senator, b. in Lit-
tle Compton, Newport co., R. I.. 10 Sept., 1795 ; d.
in Johnson, R. I., 10 July, 1864. He received a
good English education, and was first a farmer,
and subsequently a manufacturer. He was a inein-
ber of the state ium-c of representatives from 1828
till 1841, when he was chosen to the U. S. senate,
and served from 31 May of the latter year till 3
March, 1847. Ten years later he was again elected
to the senate as a Whig for the full term from 4
March. 1857, but he resigned in 1862.
SIMMONS, Joseph Edward, banker, b. in
Troy, N. Y., 9 Sept., 1841. He was graduated at
Williams in 1862, studied law. and was admitted
to the bar in 1863. After practising in Troy until
the close of 1860, he abandoned the profession and
removed to New York city, where he has since en-
gaged in banking. He became a member of the
Stock exchange in 1872, and was elected its presi-
dent in 1884. He was re-elected in 1885, but declined a renomination in 1886. He was appointed a commissioner of education in 1881, reappointed in 1884, and again in 1887. He was unanimously
eleeted president of the board of education in 1886. and re-elected in 1887-'8. In the latter year he was also made president of the Fourth national bank of New York city. Mr. Simmons received
the decree of LL. D. from the University of Norwich. Northfield, Vt., in 1885.
SIMMONS, William Hayne, poet. b. in South
Carolina about 1785. He studied medicine in the
medical department of the University of Pennsyl-
vania, where he was graduated in 1806. He never
practised his profession, but resided for some time
in Charleston, S. C.. whence he removed to East
Florida. While in Charleston he published, anony-
mously an Indian poem entitled " Onea." He is
also the author of "A History of the Seminoles."
His younger brother. James Wright, poet, b. in
South "Carolina, studied for a time at Harvard,
travelled in Europe, and settled in one of the west-
ern states. He published " Blue Beard, a Poem"
(Philadelphia, 1821) and "The Greek Girl" (Bos-
ton, 1852). A series of metrical tales, " Wood-
Notes from the West," remain in manuscript.
Verses by both the brothers may be found in
Duyckinck's " Cyclopaedia of American Literal lire."
SIMMONS, William Johnson, educator, b. in
Charleston, S. C., 29 June, 1849; d. 30 Oct., 1890.
He was of African descent. After studying in
Madison and Rochester universities, he was gradu-
ated at Howard university in 1873, taught in Wash-
ington and in Ocala, Fla.. and in 1879 entered
the ministry of the Baptist church. In that year
he was called to a church in Lexington, Ky., and
in 1880 he was elected president of the State uni-
versity. He became editor of the " American Bap-
tist" in 1882, called together and organized the
American Baptist national convention in 1886,
and was president of the colored National press
convention in the same year. He was appointed
district secretary of the American Baptist home
mission society for the. south in 1887. Wilber-
force university gave him the degree of D. D. in
1885. Dr. Simmons published ' Men of Mark "
{Cleveland, Ohio, 1877). and a pamphlet on "In-
dustrial Kducation " (1H86), and also wrote a " His-
tory of the Colored Baptists of Kentucky."
SIMMS, Jeptha Root, author, b. in Canterbury, Conn., 31 Dec., 1807; d. in Kr! Plain. N. Y., 31 May. 1883. His father was a hat-manufacturer. The son was educated at an academy in a neigh-
boring town. In 1829 he began the retail dry-goods business in New York city, but, his health failing after three years, lie removed to Schoharie county, N. Y., and entered into business there in
1832, but failed in 1834. For a few years after 1842 he filled the office of toll-collector for the New York and Erie canal at Fultonville, and for nine years he was ticket-agent for the New York Central railway at Fort Plain. His spare hours were employed in writing historical and other works, besides which he collected and labelled a large assortment of fossils, many of them rare, and sold them for $5,000 to the state of New York for the Geological museum at Albany. He was a corresponding member of the Oneida historical society, and rendered it much aid in collecting funds
for the; erection of the monument on the battlefield of Oriskany. He was a rapid writer and a voluminous contributor to the popular press throughout the state. He published "History of Schoharie County, N. Y." (Albany. 1845); "The American Spy, Nathan Hale" (18'46); "Trapper of New York " (1850) ; and " The Frontiersmen " (2 vols., 1882-'3). He also composed several poems, Fourth-of-July orations, and lectures on different topics, which he delivered at various places in the central counties of New York. His nephew. Jo-
seph, physiognomist, b. in Plainfield Centre, Otsego co., N. Y., 3 Sept., 1833, attended the academy at West Winfield. Herkimer co., N. Y., several terms. During four more he was employed in
teaching, and in 1854 he began to lecture on phy-
siognomy and physiology. From childhood the
bent of his mind toward the study of character by
external signs had shown itself in scanning and
measuring the features of his companions. He
studied medicine at the Universities of New York
and Columbia, and was graduated in New York
in 1871, then devoted himself to making and pro-
mulgating new discoveries in physiognomy. In
pursuit of his study he afterward explored the
United States, Canada, and part of Mexico, and
continued his observations in Europe, Egypt, Nu-
bia, Algiers, Morocco, Syria, Arabia, and Palestine.
He has lectured with success in this country and
abroad. From 1881 to 1884 he delivered scientific
lectures in Melbourne, in Sydney, and in the Aus-
tralasian colonies. In 1884 he gave up lecturing
and visited Europe again, collecting new facts and
preparing material for works on physiognomy and
physiology. He has published a " Physiognomical
Chart " for recording and reading character (Ilia
gow, 1873) ; " Nature's Revelations of Character "
(London, 1874 ; several eds. in New York) ; a
"Book of Scientific Lectures "on physiology and
physiognomy (London, 1875); "Health and Char-
acter " (San Francisco, 1879) ; and " Practical and
Scientific Physiognomy" (1884).
SIMMS. William Gilmore, author, b. in Charleston, S. C., 17 April, 1806 ; d. there, 11 June, 1870. He was a precocious child, and his passion for writing, which continued unabated till his
death, manifested itself as early as his seventh year. His whole academic education was received in the school of his native city, where he was for a time a clerk in a drug and chemical house. Though his first aspirations were for medicine, he studied law at eighteen, but never practised to any extent. In 1827 he published in Charleston a volume of "Lyrical and other Poems" his first attempt in literature. In 1828 he became editor and partial
