Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Raymond, John Howard

RAYMOND, John Howard, educator, b. in New York city, 7 March, 1814; d. in Poughkeepsie, N. Y., 14 Aug., 1878. He was for a time a student in Columbia, but was graduated at Union college in 1832. Immediately thereafter he entered upon the study of the law in New Haven. The constraint of religious convictions led him to abandon this pursuit, and in 1834 he entered the theological seminary at Hamilton, N. Y., with the intention of preparing for the Baptist ministry. His progress in the study of Hebrew was so marked that before his graduation he was appointed a tutor in that language. In 1839 he was raised to the chair of rhetoric and English literature in Madison university, which he filled for ten years with a constantly growing reputation as a teacher and orator. In 1850 he accepted the professorship of belles-lettres in the newly established Rochester university. In 1856 he was selected to organize the Collegiate and polytechnic institute in Brooklyn, and accomplished the task with great success. He was summoned in 1865 to perform a similar service in connection with the recently founded Vassar college at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., where he was made president and professor of mental and moral philosophy. His varied gifts and accomplishments here found scope for their highest exercise. Though an able and eloquent preacher, ministering regularly as chaplain of the college, he was never ordained. His published works were confined to pamphlets and sermons. He received the honorary degree of LL. D. See his “Life and Letters” (New York, 1880).—His brother, Robert Raikes, educator, b. in New York city in 1817; d. in Brooklyn, N. Y., 16 Nov., 1888. He was graduated at Union college in 1839. He edited the Syracuse “Free Democrat” in 1852, and the “Evening Chronicle” in 1853-'4, and was professor of elocution and English in Brooklyn polytechnic institute from 1857 till 1864. He published “Gems from Tupper” (Syracuse, 1854); “Little Don Quixote,” from the German (1855); “Patriotic Speaker” (New York, 1864); and single sermons and addresses.—Robert's son, Rossiter Worthington, mining engineer, b. in Cincinnati, Ohio, 27 April, 1840, was graduated at Brooklyn polytechnic institute in 1858, and spent three years in professional study at the Royal mining academy in Freiberg, Saxony, and at the universities of Heidelberg and Munich. On his return to the United States he entered the army as additional aide-de-camp, with the rank of captain, on 31 March, 1862, and resigned on 6 April, 1864. Subsequently he settled in New York city as a consulting engineer, with special reference to mining property and metallurgical processes. In 1868 he was appointed U. S. commissioner of mining statistics, which office he held until 1876, issuing each year “Reports on the Mineral Resources of the United States West of the Rocky Mountains” (8 vols., Washington, 1869-76), of which several were published in New York with the titles of “American Mines and Mining,” “The United States Mining Industry,” “Mines, Mills, and Furnaces,” and “Silver and Gold.” He was invited to lecture on economic geology at Lafayette in 1870, and continued so engaged until 1882. Dr. Raymond has travelled extensively throughout the mining districts of the United States in connection with his official appointments, and from his knowledge of the subject has been very largely consulted concerning the value of mines, serving also as an expert in court on these subjects. He was one of the U. S. commissioners to the World's fair in Vienna in 1873, and was appointed in 1885 New York state commissioner of electric subways for the city of Brooklyn. Dr. Raymond was one of the original members of the American institute of mining engineers, its vice-president in 1871, president in 1872-'4, and secretary in 1884-'8. In the latter capacity he has edited the annual volumes of its “Transactions” since his election. He is a member of the Society of civil engineers of France and of various other technical and scientific societies at home and abroad. In 1867 he was editor of the “American Journal of Mining,” which in 1868 became the “Engineering and Mining Journal,” of which he continues senior editor. In addition to numerous professional papers, he has published “Die Leibgarde” (Boston, 1863), being a German translation of Mrs. John C. Frémont's “Story of the Guard”; “The Children's Week” (New York, 1871); “Brave Hearts,” a novel (1873); “The Man in the Moon and other People” (1874); “The Book of Job” (1878); “The Merry-go-Round” (1880); “Camp and Cabin” (1880); “A Glossary of Mining and Metallurgical Terms” (1881); and “Memorial of Alexander L. Holley” (1883).