Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/695

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STEENDAM
STEINER

lieutenant. 9 May. 1N46, anil brcvotted captain for gallantry at Contreras and Churabusco. He was stationed in Texas from 1849 till 1852, being promoted captain, 10 Nov., 1851, and was then in New Mexico till 1854. From that time till the civil war he was chiefly in Kansis, Dakota, and Nebraska, taking part in several expeditions against hostile Indians. He resigned on 30 May, 1861, joined the Confederate army as colonel of the 7th Texas cav- alry, and took part in Gen. Henry H. Sibley's expedition to New Mexico. On its return he was made brigadier-general, 12 Sept., 1862, and in January, 1863, was assigned to the command of the Department of Western Arkansas and the Indian territory. He commanded at Galveston, Tex., in December, 1863, and had charge of a cavalry division in Louisiana in 1864, where he opposed the Red river expedition of Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks. In 1867 he became a commission merchant in San Antonio, Tex., and for some time after 1874 he was adjutant-general of the state. In this office he did good service by procuring and publishing, at great pains and expense, lists of escaped convicts and other fugitives from justice, which he furnished to the sheriffs of the various counties in the state.


STEENDAM, Jacob, Dutch poet, b.in Holland in 1616. It is uncertain when or where he died. He came to the colony of New Amsterdam about 1632, and stayed there till 1662, when he returned to Holland. During his residence in the Dutch settlement he owned farms at Amersfort and Mespath, a house and lot on what is now Pearl street, and another on Broadway. He left Holland several years after his return, and made a voyage to Batavia, where he may possibly have died. The little that is known of him is due to the researches of Henry C. Murphy, who, when he was U. S. minister to the Hague, discovered some poems written by Steendam on New Amsterdam, and had them printed with an English version in the same metre. The work is entitled “Jacob Steendam noch vaster. A Memoir of the First Poet in New Netherlands, with his Poems descriptive of the Colony” (The Hague, 1861). The poems are “Complaint of New Amsterdam, in New Netherlands, to her Mother, of her Beginning, Growth, and Present Condition,” and “The Praise of New Netherlands: Spurring Verses to the Lovers of the Colony and Brothership to be established on the South River of New Netherland. Peter Cornelison Plockhoy, of Ziereckzee.”


STEENSTRA, Peter Henry, clergyman, b. near Francker, Friesland, Netherlands, 24 Jan., 1833. He emigrated to the United States and entered Shurtleff college, Ill., where he was graduated in 1858. He then became a minister in the Baptist church, but afterward united with the Episcopalians, and was appointed rector of Grace church, Newton, Mass., in 1864. He became professor of Hebrew and Old and New Testament exegesis in the Episcopal theological school of Cambridge. Mass., in 1868. He translated and edited “Judges” and “Ruth” in the American edition of Lange's “Commentary” (New York, 1872). The degree of D. D. was conferred on him by Shurtleff college in 1882.


STEIGER, Ernst, German-American bibliographer, b. in Gastewitz, Saxony, 4 Oct., 1832. He was trained as a book-seller, emigrated in 1855 to New York city, and in 1863 opened an independent business. He became the publisher of important works of German-Americans and of language text-books, and also a manufacturer and importer of all that belongs to the Kindergarten system. Mr. Steiger is the author of “Der Nachdruck in Nordamerika” (New York, 1860); “Das Copyright-Law in den Vereinigten Staaten” (1869); and “Periodical Literature,” a bibliography (1873).


STEIN, Conrad (stine), German historian, b. in Heidelberg in 1701: d. in Breslau in 1762. He was for many years professor of history in the University of Breslau, and afterward made researches in the state and private libraries of Europe and America upon the ancient history of the latter continent. His works include “Abhandlung über die Atlantida der Alten, und ihren Zusammenhang mit Amerika” (Breslau, 1750); “Geschichte der Entdeckungen durch Scandinavische Seeleute vom 12ten zum 15ten Jahrhunderte” (1754); “Geschichte der deutschen Ansiedelungen in Nord-Amerika ” (1755); “Abhandlung über die Spanischen Eroberer Cortes, Pizarro, und Almagro” (1757); “Historische Notizen über die Eroberung von Venezuela durch die Welser” (1758); “Kurze Beschreibung von Amerika” (1759); and “Abhandlung über die Indianer-Rasse oder Rothhaute, deren Geschichte und Zusammenhang mit der germanischen Rasse” (1760).


STEINBEL, Roger Nelson, naval officer, b. in Middleton, Md., 27 Dec., 1810. He entered the navy as a midshipman, 27 March, 1832, and cruised in the schooner “Porpoise” when she was wrecked near Vera Cruz in 1833. He was on duty in New York at the naval school in 1834-'8, and became a passed midshipman, 23 June, 1838. He was commissioned lieutenant, 23 Oct., 1843, served in the coast survey until 1847, and then was on the Brazil station, on special duty in Washington, and in the steamer “Mississippi,” on the East India station, in 1857-'9. When the civil war began he went to Cincinnati to fit out river gun-boats, and then rendered good service in the Mississippi river flotilla. He commanded the river gun-boat “Lexington” at Belmont when Gen. Grant's force was defeated and saved by the gun-boats in November, 1861. From August, 1861, until May, 1862, he participated in several engagements, and contributed greatly to the successes and victories at Lucas Bend, 9 Sept., 1861, Fort Henry, 6 Feb., 1862, Island No. 10 from 16 March until its capture on 7 April, 1862, and in the action with the rams at Fort Pillow in May, 1862. In this last engagement his vessel, the “Cincinnati,” was sunk, and he was seriously wounded. He then had special duty at Philadelphia and Pittsburg until 1865. He was commissioned captain, 25 July, 1866, and commanded the “Canandaigua” in the Mediterranean in 1866-'7. He next served at the rendezvous in Boston, and was commissioned commodore, 13 July, 1870, and appointed commander-in-chief of the Pacific squadron in 1872. He was retired on 27 Dec., 1872, and subsequently promoted to rear-admiral on the retired list, 5 June, 1874.


STEINER, Lewis Henry, physician, b. in Frederick city, Md., 4 May, 1827; d. in Baltimore, 18 Feb., 1892. He was educated at Marshall college, Pa., where he received the degree of A. M. in 1849, and was graduated the same year at the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania. He began to practise in Frederick, but in 1852 removed to Baltimore, where for three years he was associated with Dr. John R. W. Dunbar in the conduct of the Baltimore medical institute, at the end of which time he returned to Frederick. Soon after he began to practise his attention was especially directed to chemistry and the allied sciences, and during his residence in Baltimore his time was largely occupied in teaching. He was professor of chemistry and natural history in Columbian college, Washington, D. C., and also of chemistry and pharmacy in the National medical college, Washing-