Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/246

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VAIL, Stephen, manufacturer, b. near Morris- town, N. J., 28 June, 1780 ; d. there, 12 June, 1864. He received ordinary educational advantages, and in 1804 became the owner of the Speedwell iron- works, near Morristown, N. J. At these works the engine of the " Savannah," the first steamship to cross the Atlantic (1819), was built. Later he con- tributed money to aid in the construction of the electric telegraph, and at his place the first prac- tical exhibition of the new invention was made. He was one of the lay officers that are required on the local bench, and so acquired the title of judge. — His son, Alfred, inventor, b. in Morristown, N. J., 25 Sept., 1807; d. there, 18 Jan., 1859, was edu- cated at Morris academy, and as a youth showed a fondness for study and investigation in natural science. In accordance with the wishes of his father, he entered the Speed- well iron-works, but on attaining his majority he determined to pre- pare for the Presbyte- rian ministry, and in consequence was grad- uated at the Univer- sity of the city of New York in 1836. While in college he became interested in the ex- periments that Prof. Samuel F. B. Morse

was then conducting

for the purpose of perfecting a system of telegraphy. Vail became con- vinced of the possibility of the scheme of elec- tric communication, and his mechanical knowl- edge led to various suggestions on his part to Prof. Morse. This acquaintance developed into an offer of partnership, and he obtained permission to invite Prof. Morse to Speedwell, where he per- suaded his father to contribute $2,000 toward the completion of the apparatus. In 1837 an agree- ment was signed by Mr. Vail, in which it was stipu- lated that he should construct at his own expense, and exhibit before a committee of congress, one of the telegraphs " of the plan and invention of Morse," and that he should give his time and per- sonal services to the work and assume the expense of exhibiting the apparatus and of procuring pat- ents in the United States. In consideration, Vail was to receive one fourth of all rights in the invention in this country. Thereafter, until con- gress appropriated money for the building of the initial line between Baltimore and Washington, Vail was active in developing the practical parts of the telegraph. His mechanical knowledge applied to the experimental apparatus resulted in the first available Morse machine. He invented the first combination of the horizontal lever motion to actu- ate a pen, pencil, or style, and then devised a tele- graphic alphabet of dots, spaces, and dashes which it necessitated. The dot-and-dash system had al- ready been invented by Morse for use in a code, but Mr. Vail claimed that he was the first to apply it alphabetically. He then devised in 1844 the lever and grooved roller, which embossed on paper the alphabetical characters that he origi- nated. In March, 1843, he was appointed assistant superintendent of the telegraph that was to be constructed between Washington and Baltimore under the government appropriation. On the com- pletion of the line he was stationed at Baltimore, and there invented the finger-key and received at the Mount Claire depot the first message from Washington that was sent over the wires, on 24 May, 1844, at the formal opening of the line. (See Morse, S. F. B.) The practical improvements in the original instrument that are of value in teleg- raphy were invented by Vail. Prior to 1837 the apparatus embodied the work of Morse and Joseph Henry alone. From 1837 to 1844 it was a com- bination of the inventions of Morse, Henry, and Vail, but gradually the parts that Morse contrib- uted have been eliminated, so that the essential features of the telegraph of to-day consist solely of the work of Joseph Henry and Alfred Vail. The business relations that existed between Morse and Vail made it impossible' for the latter to claim what might have been used against the validity of Morse's patents. In the years that followed, when Prof. Morse was universally hailed as the inventor of the telegraph, the reputation of his modest part- ner was allowed to suffer. Amos Kendall, the as- sociate and friend of both, said, at the meeting of the directors of the Magnetic telegraph company that was held to take action on the death of Mr. Vail: "If justice be done, the name of Alfred Vail will forever stand associated with that of Samuel F. B. Morse in the history and introduc- tion into public use of the electro-magnetic tele- graph." Mr. Vail was the author of " The Ameri- can Electro-Magnetic Telegraph " (Philadelphia, 1845). — His brother, George, congressman, b. in Morristown, N. J., 21 July, 1809 ; d. there, 23 May, 1875, received an academic education, and was as- sociated with his father in the Speedwell iron- works. He also aided his brother, Alfred, with funds when the latter was engaged in perfecting the electric telegraph. In 1851 he was appointed by the gov- ernor of New Jersey to represent that state at the World's fair in London. Subsequently he was chosen to congress as a Democrat, and with re-elec- tion served from 5 Dec, 1853, till 3 March, 1857. In 1858 he was appointed U. S. consul at Glas- gow, Scotland, but he returned to this country in 1861, settled in Morristown, N. J., and was for many years a member of the court of pardons.

VAlL, Stephen Montford, clergyman, b. in Union Dale, Westchester co., N. Y., 10 Jan., 1818; d. in Jersey City, N. J., 26 Nov., 1880. He was graduated at Bowdoin in 1838, and at Union theological seminary in 1842, having in the mean time been licensed to preach in the Methodist Episcopal church, and founded the first church of that denomination in Brunswick, Me. He became professor of languages in Amenia seminary in 1843, was subsequently pastor in Fishkill, N. Y., Sharon, Conn., and Pine Plains, N. Y., and in 1847-'9 was president of the New Jersey conference seminary at Pennington. While occupying that post he induced, the trustees of the institution to admit women as pupils, and he was tried before the ecclesiastical court of his church for advocating in his writings the cause of an educated ministry. He became professor of Oriental languages in the General biblical institute of the M. E. church at Concord, N. H., in 1849, and held that chair until failing health required his resignation. In 1869 he became U. S. consul for Rhenish Bava-