Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/736

he went to Paris for the purpose of continuing his studies, and remained under the instruction of the above-mentioned masters for a year. Returning to Philadelphia, he turned his attention to draw- ing in pen and ink for illustrating books, and to etching. In 1885 he came to New York and made all the pen-and-ink portraits for Scribner"s " Cyclo- paedia of Painters and Paintings," as well as nu- merous others for periodicals. He drew the por- traits for Appletons' "Annual Cyclopaedia" for 1886, 1887, and 1888. Early in June, 1886, he be- gan to execute the sixteen hundred portraits for this work, to which task he gave almost exclusive attention till it was completed in December. 1888.

ROBERTS, George Brooke, civil engineer, b. in Montgomery county, Pa., 15 Jan., 1833. He was graduated at Rensselaer polytechnic institute in 1849, and was an assistant there in mathematics and geodesy in 1 850—' 1 . He entered the Pennsyl- vania railroad service as rodman in 1851. in 1852 became assistant engineer of the Philadelphia and Erie railroad, and for the next ten years was steadily engaged in the location and construction of various roads, returning to the Pennsylvania railroad in 1862, as assistant to the president. He was made fourth vice-president in 1869, then sec- ond vice-president, in 1874 first vice-president, and upon the death of Col. Thomas A. Scott, in May, 1880, he became president of the company.

ROBERTS, George Litch, lawyer, b. in Bos- ton, Mass., 30 Dec, 1836. He was graduated at Wesleyan university, Middletown, Conn., in 1859, and began the practice of his profession in the office of Benjamin R. Curtis. He has taken a prominent part in the Bell telephone cases, and is one of the foremost patent lawyers in the United States.

ROBINSON, James Sidney, soldier, b. in Franklin township, Richland co., Ohio, 14 Oct., 1827. He was educated in the common schools, edited a newspaper in Kenton, Ohio, and was clerk of the Ohio legislature in 1856-'7. He entered the National army in 1861 as lieutenant in the 4th Ohio regiment, became major of the 82d Ohio infantry, and rose to brigadier-general of volunteers, 12 Jan., 1865. He was brevetted major-general of volun- teers, 13 March, 1865. He became commissioner of railroads and telegraphs in Ohio in 1879, was a member of congress in 1881— '5, having been chosen as a Republican, and since 1884 has been secretary of state of Ohio. He was chairman of the Ohio Republican executive committee in 1877-'9.

ROCKWOOD, George Gardner, photogra- pher, b. in Troy, N. Y., 12 April, 1832.. He was edu- cated at the Balston Spa institute, became a reporter on the Troy daily " Times," and at twenty years of age was managing editor of the Troy daily " Post." He l>ecame interested in photography in 1855, was the first to make the carte de visit e. photograph in this country, introduced many of the chief inventions in the art, and constantly contributed to the press both upon scientific and technical subjects. Mr. Rockwood is the author of the scientific hoax, " Brain Pictures," which ap- peared in a New York paper in 1887.

ROGERS, Moses, pioneer steam navigator, b. in New London, Conn., in September, 1780; d. in Cheraw, S. C, 15 Sept., 1822. He was asso- ciated with Robert Fulton in his experiments, in 1808 commanded the '•Clermont," and in June, ISO!), with Robert L. Stevens, had charge of the " Phoenix" in her voyage from New York to Phila- delphia, which was the first trip that was ever made on the. ocean by a steam vessel. Subsequently he commanded the first steamer that went from Charleston to Savannah. In 1818 he was em- ployed by Scarborough and Isaacs to purchase a hull in which he was to have built an engine in order to make a trial-trip across the Atlantic. This vessel was christened " Savannah," and he was made her captain and engineer. She left Savan- nah, Ga., on 28 March, 1819, and went by way of New York to Liverpool, where she arrived on 18 June, thus being the first steam vessel to cross the ocean. After his return Capt. Rogers built and commanded the "Pee Dee." plying between George- town, S. C., and Cheraw, S. O, until his death.

RYAN, William Thomas Carroll, Canadian author, b. in Toronto, Upper Canada, 3 Feb., 1839. He was educated in St. Michael's college, Toronto, served as a volunteer in the Crimean war when little more than a boy, was afterward in an Eng- lish regiment, travelled extensively, and then be- came a journalist. He has written " Oscar, and other Poems " (Hamilton. Ont., 1857) : " Songs of a Wanderer " (Ottawa, 1867) ; " Description of the Route of the Canadian Pacific " (1876) ; and " Pict- ure Poems" (1884). — His wife, Mary Ann Mac- Ivor, is the author of " Poems " (Ottawa, 1870).

SALOMON, Lonis Etienne Felicity, president of Hayti, b. in Aux . Cayes in 1820 ; d. in Paris, France, 19 Oct., 1888. He was of pure African parent- age, but of a wealthy family, and received an excellent educa- tion. In 1838 he entered the public service, and in 1843 joined the revo- lution against Boyer. He rose to the grade of colonel in the army, and in 1848 became minister of fi- nance, foreign relations, in- struction, and

justice. After

the proclamation of the empire he was created Duke de St. Louis du Sud. and he became general-in-chief in 1855. On the fall of Soulouque in 1859, Salomon went to Fiance and later to St. Thomas, whence he participated in the revolutionary attempt of 1862, and was sentenced to death in his absence. In 1867 he was appointed by Salnave minister to England, France, and Spain, but President Nissage Saget dismissed him in 1870, forbidding his return to Hayti, and in 1873 he was again condemned to death in his absence as an instigator of the rebellion of Gonaives. He returned in 1876, and was again exiled in March 1878, but in 1879 went again to Hayti, and was elected president on 23 Oct., being chosen again in 1886 for another term of seven years. Although he was practically a dictator, his administration was beneficial to the country. Honest management of the finances was introduced, and the public credit was raised in such manner that the revenue increased and the balance due to the French government since 1825 was paid. A national exhibition was held in 1881, the country joined the Postal Union, and government bonds were steadily redeemed from the augmented revenue. Revolutionary attempts