PREFACE. nnH£R£
is
not extant any one volume or set of volumes
that contains biographies of even one-half of the
noted personages who have risen to eminence in the United States.
OF
Hence, the purpose of Hi:rrinc;shav's Library is to meet this glaring inade-
Amlricax Bicgkaphy
quacy, and to present in Five
Compact Vilumes
the lives
and achievements of thirty- five thousand of the most celebrated men and women who have been the founders, defenders and builders of this Great Republic of the United States of America, including every name of eminence it has produced from its formation to the present time. It is also illustrated with over Three Thousand Vignette Portrait Engravings.
The most attractive form which perpetuates the memory
of history
aptly illustrating the conduct of lessons.
History,
it
is
Biography,
of individuals, and, while
conveys important
life,
has been well said, does not
much
re-
gard fertile soil or material wealth hut the admirable men and women that a country produces they are the glory In everv city, town and village are men of the country.
—
and
women
of character
and influence, who have conand thrift, by their activity
tributed by their enterprise
and sagacity in business, their zeal in educational, in reand in political matters, to the moral and spiritual advancement as well as to the material prosperity of the communitv in which they live. Lirkarv oi A^^ERICAx Biography H^:RRI^liSHA^^ ligious,
includes accurate biographies of
all
the Presidents
and
I.
