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PREFACE
Lamb’s Biographical
Dictionary of the United States is a record of progress in every branch of
activity dependent on the exercise of human effort. It presents in a
condensed, comprehensive, and convenient form the biographies of the men and
women who have been prominent factors in making United States history, and
of those who are to be a part of the history of the future. While it
incidentally includes the notable names of the early times, its principal
subjects are the active instrumentalities in founding, developing, and
progressing the great American Republic. It is the record of men and women
who have done a marvellous work in one hundred and twenty-five years, and of
those who have gathered from the achievement of the past, the experience and
inspiration necessary to work out the possibilities of the future. In the
busy life of to-day, the book-maker is asked to “condense his narrative and
give the simple facts.” This has been the aim of the editors of this work.
The opinion of biographers, be they never so impartial, is not obtruded; the
passions and prejudices of the times in which the subject lived, make no
part of the sketch: what happened, what was achieved, and when; the heredity
that influenced; the environment that shaped the character; the conditions
under which the work was done; the failures as well as the successes; the
honors conferred and the punishment inflicted, are all stated as facts
without expression of approval or censure, suggesting no more nor less than
can be determined by the narration of duly accredited facts expressed in
definitive words. We spread before our readers a faithful record of work and
result as illustrated in the action and effort of individuals who have
contributed lines or pages to the history of the United States. Stripped of
verbiage, many of the sketches appear at first glance to be unduly brief,
but the student will ask for no fuller detail. Biographies multiply so
rapidly that the popular collections should be condensed within reasonable
limit, and should be so arranged as to allow future revisions to be made
without destroying the value of the preceding volumes. In this respect it is
claimed that the present work excels its predecessors, and that its
information will never be useless by reason of irrelevant contemporaneous
matter. A reference to the list of some of the principal contributors and
editorial helpers will convince the public of the care exercised by the
publishers in securing from every section and state the facts concerning the
people of the locality, and in this distribution of the work avoiding any
charge of sectional bias. Experienced and competent writers are employed as
compilers, revisers, and critical readers. The published lives of the men
and women of the past are carefully revised and compared with
contemporaneous history, and the statements therein verified; while recent
investigations disclosing newly acquired facts, and correcting dates and
occurrences long accepted as history, have given new form to many sketches.
Narrations of incidents which fail to convey to the present day reader a
proper estimate of the labor, the sacrifice, or the purpose of the subject
depicted, are supplanted by a record of deeds which time and modern thought
have magnified and illuminated, — of work done out of season and when
unappreciated, but which now finds a place in history. The permanent product
of the effort of the individual, which remains as a monument to his
achievement, whether it be an invention, a discovery, a college, a hospital,
a play, a song, or a book, is noted, and any published memoir of his life is
designated. Portraits of notable individuals, and as far as possible of
those whose lineaments are the least known, are given, and this feature adds
a peculiar value to the work. The materials which have been wrought into the
foundations of this work have been accumulated from many sources. Every
published biographical work has been diligently consulted; the collected
biographies of the family, town, county, state, section, nation, and
continent have severally contributed to our sources of information, and to
the publishers, editors, and compilers of such works we have laid ourselves
under many obligations which we here acknowledge. To the Boston Public
Library and its librarian and assistant custodians, we are grateful debtors;
no book or manuscript however rare or precious has been denied to our use,
and the freedom of personal ownership would have served us no better than
has this great public storehouse of reference. Equally are we indebted to
the presidents and librarians of the universities and colleges for full
information as to their alumni, and to the state librarians of every state
in the Union upon whom we have imposed our insatiable demand for
information. We thank in advance these our friends and helpers for favors
yet to come, and in this first volume in which we introduce ourselves to the
general public, we ask for a measure of patience and consideration as we,
through our representatives in every state, continue to seek out such of
truth as will enable us to go forward on the lines marked out, to the end of
our gigantic task. We also tender our acknowledgments to all those who have
promised their help: the men of eminence in science, literature, and
official position: our coworkers in the field of research and compilation;
and the patient answerers of innumerable questions upon whom we have no
claim except that of universal brotherhood, and whose effective co-operation
will prove of inestimable value in verifying our data. The volume now
presented will be an earnest of our purpose, and will show the style and
plan of the undertaking. It will be carried on by the same efficient
helpers, augmented by others of equal ability. It is expected that the
matter can be contained in six volumes, and their issue will be so arranged
as to furnish the complete work within a reasonable time. The style and
character of the illustrations, both the full-page portraits and the
thousands of vignettes, will be fully up to the best examples of line
portraiture, and the final result will meet the requirements of modern
bookmaking.
Volume I - Abbe - Chrystal
Volume II - Chubb - Erich
Volume III - Ericsson - Hempstead
Volume IV - Hench - Leaming
Volume V - Leaming - Newton
Volume VI - Newton - Sears
Volume VII - Seaton - Zueblin
Here is one interesting biography of a Scot I
hadn't heard about...
 BRYMNER,
Douglas, historical archivist, was born in Greenock, Scotland, in 1823, of a
prominent family originally from Stirlingshire. His father, Alexander
Brymner, was a man of fine literary attainments, and from him the son
imbibed his strongly marked intellectual and artistic tastes. After a
thorough Scotch education Mr. Brymner engaged in business, which he
prosecuted successfully until compelled to retire in 1856 by failing health.
In the following year he removed to Canada, settling in the eastern
township, province of Quebec. His literary aptitude soon became known, and
he entered journalism as editor of the Presbyterian, the official organ of
the Church of Scotland in Canada. Here his clear and vigorous pen and
straight-forward and independent attitude attracted wide attention. Shortly
afterward he became associate editor of the Montreal Herald, and in 1871 he
was elected president of the press association. In 1872, with the approval
of men of all political parties, Mr. Brymner was appointed to the newly
created office of dominion archivist. His extensive and varied knowledge,
and his powers of research and organization peculiarly fitted him for this
work, and under his management the Canadian archives have grown from
literally nothing to one of the most valuable and orderly collections in
America. His reports are models of accuracy and sound judgment, and that of
1881 (on general methods in archival work) was, on account of the value of
its information, incorporated bodily in a following one of the public
record-offices of England. A growing monument to Mr. Brymner's work is the
constantly increasing acknowledgments of his service by investigators who
avail themselves of his collection. Mr. Brymner's literary work was not
confined to the archives. He was a frequent but generally anonymous
contributor to Canadian and American periodicals, and his efforts have been
widely read and appreciated. Among these contributions may be especially
mentioned a number of translations of the "Odes of Horace" into Scotch
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