Danube, N. Y., 8 June, 1848, was a member of the state house of representatives from 1800 till 1808, and as major in the war of 1812 commanded a battalion of New York volunteers in the defence of Sackett's Harbor on 29 May, 1813. For several years he was a judge of the circuit court, resid- ing at Danube. He was elected to congress as a Democrat in 1816. After removing to Meriden, N. Y., he was again sent to congress in 1822, and re-elected for the following term.
HERMAN, John Gottlieb, Moravian bishop,
b. in Niesky, Prussia, 18 Nov., 1789; d. in Missouri,
20 July, 1854. He was educated at the college and
the theological seminary of the Moravian church
in Germany. He came to the United States in
1817, and labored for twenty-seven years in various
capacities, among others as principal of the
Brown boarding-school for boys at Nazareth, Pa.
Having been elected to the supreme executive
board of the Moravian church in 1844, he returned
to Europe, where he was consecrated to the
episcopacy, 27 Sept., 1846. In that same year he went
out on a protracted official visit to the missions in
the West Indies. Two years later, in 1848, the
general synod of the entire Moravian church, a
body composed of bishops, other clergy, and lay
delegates from many parts of the world, met at
Herrnhut, in Saxony. Of this synod Bishop Herman
was chosen president. But the longer he
remained in Germany the more he was dissatisfied.
He longed for his adopted country, and in the
following year returned to the United States as
the presiding bishop of the southern district. In
1854 he undertook an official visit to the mission
in the Cherokee country. There being comparatively
few railroads in the south at that time, he
travelled all the way in a private carriage. The
hardships of this journey were too great for his
waning strength. On the way back he died in a
log-cabin in the wilderness of southwestern
Missouri. Bishop Herman was noted for his earnest
eloquence and for his genial social qualities.
HERMSTAEDT, Nicholas Piet, Dutch missionary, b. in Haarlem, Holland, in 1521; d. in Para, Brazil, in 1589. He was a Jesuit, went to Brazil in 1545, and prepared himself for missionary work among the Indians, meanwhile teaching in the college in Bahia. He was attached in 1551 to the mission of Pirahguinga, and distinguished himself by his energy and his success with the Indians, who surnamed him Abare bébé (“the flying father”). He organized the Mamaluco half-breeds in a colony, which he named San Antonio, six miles from Pirahguinga, built a college, and trained some Mamalucos as assistants to the missionaries. His popularity with Indians increased as he learned the Tupi, a dialect of the Guarani language, which he spoke afterward more fluently than either Spanish or Dutch. At the invitation of Meen de Saa', governor of Rio de Janeiro, he formed a battalion of Mamalucos, and marched, in 1558, against Ville-gaignon and his French forces, who occupied an island at the entrance of the bay of Rio de Janeiro. But the Tupinambos and Tomayos, allies of the French, invaded the Mamaluco territory, and Hermstaedt, returning for their protection, waged against the hostile Indians a bloody war, which lasted four years, 1558-'62, and was terminated by the treaty of Upabeba, in which the invaders agreed to leave the country. In 1574 Hermstaedt was appointed visitor to the missions between the rivers Plate and Amazon. He built several colleges in Pernambuco and Rio de Janeiro, civilized and organized the Aymaros, forming the villages of the Papanaces in the province of Espiritu-Santo, and founded the city of Rerigtibo on the north bank of the Cabapuana. Hermstaedt is the author of “Arte da Grammatica mais usada na Costa do Brasil” (Lisbon, 1611). His “Drama ad extirpanda Brasiliæ vitia,” “Annales ecclesiasti Brasiliæ,” and other works, were published in the “Bibliotheca Scriptorum Societatis Jesu” (Rome, 1677).
HERNANDEZ, Francisco, Spanish naturalist,
b. in Toledo, Spain, in 1530; d. in Madrid, 28 Jan.,
1587. He was physician to Philip II., and was
sent by him in 1572 to Mexico to study the plants
and animals of that country. Hernandez wrote a
large number of works on the natural history of
Spanish America, some of which are still in
manuscript in the library of the Escurial. Among his
published works is “Francisci Hernandez rerum
medicarum Novae Hispaniae Thesaurus, seu Plantarum,
Animalium, Mineralium Mexicanorum
Historia cum notis Joannis Terentii Lineæi” (Rome,
1648). This appears to be the same as a similar
work in Spanish, entitled “Plantas y Animales de
la Nueva España, y sus virtudes por Francisco
Hernandez, y de Latin en Romance por Fr.
Francisco Ximenez” (Mexico, 1615). The title of the
latter book indicates that it was at first written in
Latin by Hernandez, and the Rome edition is an
extract of the original work.
HERNANDEZ, Joseph Marion, soldier, b. in St. Augustine, Fla. ; d. near Matanzas, Cuba, 8 June, 1857. When Florida was annexed to the United States he became an American citizen, and was elected the first delegate to congress from the territory of Florida, serving from 3 Jan., 1823, to 3 March. 1825. He was a member of the territorial house of representatives, and was chosen its presiding officer. He was a brigadier-general in the Florida militia, and during the war with the Indians entered the U. S. service, and served from 1835 till 1838. The expedition that captured the Indian chief Osceola in 1837 was under his command. He was appointed brigadier - general of mounted volunteers in July, 1837, and on 10 Sept., 1837, took part in an engagement with the Indians
near Mosquito inlet.
HERNANDEZ, Vicente, Spanish missionary, b. in Leon, Spain, about 1480 ; d. in Tlaltelolco, Mexico, in 1543. He was a Franciscan, and went to Hispaniola, in 1520 with Bishop Geraldini. Witnessing there the cruelties of the Spaniards toward the Caribs, which in a few years caused an almost total depopulation of the island, he took the part of the Indians, and strenuously opposed that policy. Hernandez lived several years among the Caribs, learned their language, and had gathered several thousand around his mission, when, in 1524, he was ordered to leave the country at once. He went to New Spain, and founded a convent of his order in Santiago de Tlaltelolco, for the support of which he was given fourteen Indian villages. He also established a model garden for the benefit of the Indians, and that institution, called Tepetlaxtoc, soon became celebrated. Hernandez found that the condition of the Aztecs in New Spain was no better than that of the Caribs in Hispaniola, since the Spaniards treated them as slaves. He sought the help of the pope, and in company with Betanzos, provincial of Guatemala, sailed for Rome, where he laid his complaints before the holy father in 1535. Paulus III. promulgated the celebrated bull "Yeritas Ipsa (1537), in which he reminded the conquerors that Indians are men. The persecutions ceased for a time, but the conquerors revenged themselves by persecuting Hernandez on his return in 1538. He was accused of heresy, which brought about his death.
