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The National Cyclopaedia of American
Biography: New York: James T. White &
Company |
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Pages 140-193 He contributed to " The Wittenberger" in 1877-79 a series of thirteen articles on "Average," which are believed to be the first articles published on that subject in this country. He has also been a contributor to English mathematical periodicals, including the " Lady's and Gentleman's Diary" (1868-1871), the "Messenger of Mathematics," the "Educational Times" and its "Reprints" (1868). The "Reprints " contain a large number of his solutions of difficult "average " and "probability" problems. In June, 1881, he was elected professor of mathematics in the Normal School at Warrensburg, Mo., but did not accept the position. In recognition of his ability as a mathematician, Yale gave him the degree of A.M. in 1877; Rutgers, Ph.D., in 1882, and Hillsdale, LL.D., in 1885. He was elected a member of the London Mathematical Society in 1878; the Societe Mathematique de France in 1884; the Edinburgh Mathematical Society in 1885; the Philosophical Society of Washington, D. C., in 1886; Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1890; and member of the New York Mathematical Society in 1891. In 1885 Dr. Martin was appointed librarian of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, and has since resided in Washington, D. C. He owns a large and valuable library of mathematical works, many of which are rare and interesting. His collection of American arithmetics’ and algebras’ is one of the largest in this country. {Source: The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Volume 2; Publ. 1906, by James T. White, George Derby; Pgs. 140-193; Submitted by Andrea Stawski Pack.} |
Page 156 BRYANT, Joseph Decatur, surgeon, was born at East Troy, Walworth ??., Wis., March 12, 1845, son of Alonzo A. and Harriet (Adkins) Bryant. His parents, both natives of the state of New York, early removed to Wisconsin but returned to western New York and engaged there in farming. The family of Bryant is of English origin, running back to 1450, many members having been knighted during the wars of that period. Dr. Bryant received his early education at the Norwich Academy, Norwich, N. Y., working on his father's farm during the summer and thereby laying the foundation for a rugged constitution that has since stood the strain of an exacting professional life. Determining to take up the profession of medicine, he entered Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York city, where he was graduated M.D. in 1808. The following year and a half he spent as intern at Bellevue Hospital. In 1871 he became assistant to the chair of anatomy in the Bellevue Hospital Medical College, and served as lecturer on surgical anatomy in the summer course, 1873-77; demonstrator in anatomy, 1875-77; lecturer on general descriptive and surgical anatomy, 1877-78; professor of anatomy during 1878-98; associate professor of orthopedic surgery during 1883-90; and professor of the principles and practice of operative and clinical surgery of the University and Bellevue Hospital Medical College since 1897. During 1873- 79 he was sanitary inspector of the New York city board of health, and in 1887-93 was commissioner of the New York city health department, and the New York state board of health. In these last positions he gained prominent recognition for the reforms and regulations suggested by him in the conduct of sanitary affairs. Dr. Bryant was surgeon of the 71st regiment, N. G. N. Y., during 1873-82, and in 1882 was appointed by Gov. Cleveland, whose intimate friend and medical adviser he afterwards became, to be surgeon-general of the New York state national guard, which position he retained on the staffs of Governors Hill and Flower, organizing the first medical department of the state militia during this time. He has been visiting surgeon to Bellevue Hospital and consulting surgeon to the New York Insane Asylum since 1882 and visiting surgeon to St. Vincent s Hospital since 1887. Dr. Bryant is the author of a "System of Operative Surgery," 2 vols. (1887, fourth edition 1900), and senior editor of "American System of Surgery," 8 vols. (1907), besides having written various pamphlets and articles on medical and surgical topics. He is a member of the International Society of Surgeons, the American Medical Association, (president 19074)8), and fellow of the American Surgical Association and the New York Academy of Medicine (president 1895-97). He is also a member of the New York State Medical Society (president in 1900), the New York county medical, surgical, and practitioners' societies (president of the latter in 1903-04), the Physicians' Aid Society, and of the Manhattan and New York Athletic clubs of New York. The degree of LL.D. was conferred upon him by New York University in 1900. He was married at Bath, Steuben co., N. Y., Sept. 29, 1874, to Annette, daughter of Samuel Crum, and has one daughter, Florence A. Bryant. |
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Page 464 SWETLAND, Roger Williams, educator, was born at Harrison Valley, Pa., Sept. 28, 1801, son of Austin Aaron and Susan Agnes (Thomas) Swetland. The first of the family in America was William Swetland, who came over in 1676 and settled at Salem, Mass., and from him and his wife Agnes the line of descent is traced through their son Joseph, who served as deputy for the town of Hebron, Mass., and was also an officer in the training band of the village, and who married Mercy Babcock; their son William, who married Johanna Pummery; their son Aaron, who served in the revolutionary war and who married Lois Allen ; and their son Harmon, who married Rosamond Watrous, and was the grandfather of the subject of this biography. His father (1832-99) was a member of the 189th New York volunteer regiment in the civil war, and subsequently was justice of the peace in Pennsylvania. Prof. Swetland was educated in the public schools of Pennsylvania. He early displayed a special aptitude for teaching, and began this vocation at the age of sixteen years. He was graduated B.E. at the State normal school in 1882, and B.A. at the University of Rochester in 1894, receiving the degree of M.A. in the following year. He was successively principal of the Union school at Troupsburg, N. Y., in 1884-8.5; the Harrison Valley high school, 1885-86; the Woodhull (N. Y.) Union school, 1887-90, and the Cook Academy at Montour Falls, N. Y., during 1894-98. At the expiration of his term here he became principal of the Peddie Institute at Hightstown. N. J., a college preparatory institution fitting for all the leading American colleges and scientific and technical schools. The school was originated under the support of the Baptist church in 1866 as the New Jersey Classical and Scientific Institute. It had a precarious financial existence, and was finally sold at sheriff's sale in 1878. A reorganization was effected largely through the beneficence of Hon. Thomas B. Peddle, who contributed to its support during his lifetime and bequeathed additional funds for its maintainance in his will. Under Prof. Swetland 's administration the traditional high standard of the school has been maintained ; it is on the approved list of New Jersey schools, and its diploma is accepted in place of academic examinations for admission to the practice of law and medicine in the state. The aim of the school is to develop scholarship and character, and while its religious and moral atmosphere is excellent, no denominational or sectarian teachings are permitted. He is a member of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, the American Historical Association and the National Geographic Society. He was married May 31, 188.3, fo Carrie ?., daughter of John W. Thomas of Harrison Valley, Pa., and has two children : Mark W. and Ruth K. Swetland. |
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Page 494 BARKER, James Madison, jurist, was born at Pittsfield, Mass., Oct. 23, 1849, son of John Vanderburgh and Sarah (Apthorp) Barker. His first American ancestor, James Barker, came to this country with his wife Barbara Dungan from England about 1663, and settled in Rhode Island, where his name may be found in the original charter of that colony, granted by Charles II. From them the line of descent is traced through his son James, who married Sarah Jeffries; their son James, who married Mary Cooke ; their son James, who married Margaret Werden; their son John, who married Lucretia Newhall ; and their son Gardner Thurston, who married Harriet Lyon, and who was the grandfather of the subject of this sketch. His father, a woolen manufacturer, secured the insertion of a long and short haul freight clause in the act consolidating the Boston and Worcester and Western railroads into the Boston & Albany Railroad Co., and this clause was drafted by James Madison Barker, then a lawyer of three years' standing. Later, in 1876, it was extended to all railroads in the state, eventually becoming part of the interstate commerce act. Mr. Barker's education was exceptionally thorough; after attending various public and private schools of Pittsfield and several Massachusetts academies he entered Williams College where he was graduated in 1860. He then took a course in the Harvard Law School and was admitted to the bar in 1863, receiving the degree of LL.D. from Yale College in 1891. In 1865 he formed a partnership with Maj. Charles N. Emerson, of Pittsfield, which continued until 1865, when he became associated with Thomas P. Pingree. They continued as partners until 1882 when Mr. Barker was nominated for the supreme court bench. In 1872 Mr. Barker went to the state legislature. He served on the committee on railroads, and on the commission to revise the state laws relative to taxation, and to revise the public laws of Massachusetts. The report of these commissioners became the public statutes of Massachusetts, enacted Nov. 19, 1881. In 1880 he was chosen a delegate to the Republican national convention at Chicago, where, in the issue between the reformers of civil service and those who labored for its spoils, he worked zealously for its betterment and with gratifying results, as the civil service reform plank was adopted. In 1882 he was appointed to the Massachusetts supreme court, and in 1891 to the supreme judicial court of Massachusetts. He made many contributions to literature worthy of lasting renown, among them "Shire Town Stories" (1890), being collections of narratives of bench and bar, and biographical and historical papers. His love of nature and outdoor life was unbounded; fishing, hunting, tramping, golfing claimed all his leisure moments and few knew so well as he the untrammeled beauties of his native county, Berkshire. Judge Barker possessed a keenly analytical mind, eminently judicial, which won for him a long and honorable career in the high station to which he was called. He was genial and ever fair-minded, with an attractiveness of manner and speech added to a reserve strength and firmness of character rarely combined. He was a director and in 1876 became vice-president of the Berkshire Life Insurance Co.; director of the Pittsfield National Bank and the Pontoosuc Woolen Co.; president of the Berkshire Athenieum (1903-05); and a trustee of Williams College. He was a member of the Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, the Massachusetts Historical Society, the Bunker Hill Monument Association, University Club of Boston, Union Club of Boston, Monday Evening Club of Pittsfield, D. K. E. fraternity, Oakley Country Club, Country Club of Pittsfield, and the Windsor Club of Windsor. Judge Barker was married, Sept. 21, 1864, to Helena, daughter of Levi Whiting, of Bath, Steuben ??., N. Y., and had seven children, five of whom survived him: Olive P., Sarah Elizabeth, Mrs. Harry G. Day, Mrs. Harían H. Ballard, Jr., and John Barker. H? died in Boston, Mass., Oct. 2, 1905. |