Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1892, volume 3).djvu/64

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HALL
HALL

he wrote in the office of the clerk of the circuit court, and devoted his leisure to the study of law. He was licensed in 1820, and afterward made attor- ney and councillor of law in the supreme court of Indiana and in the district court of the United States. He was elected to the legislature in 1829, and re-elected for a second term, being appointed chairman of the judiciary committee, in which ca- pacity he introduced many reforms. He was elected judge of the 4th judicial circuit in 1832, but resigned in 1834. In 1836 the state of Indiana en- gaged in schemes of internal improvement which would have cost $30,000,000. A board of public works was created in 1837 by the general assem- bly, and Judge Hall was elected one of its nine members. He endeavored to check the extrava- gant appropriations, but, failing in this purpose, resigned his office after seven months' service. He was lieutenant - governor of the state in 1840-'3, was appointed one of the vice-presidents of the Whig convention at Nashville in 1840, and of the Baltimore convention in 1844, and was a delegate to the State constitutional convention of 1850.


HALL, Samuel Read, educator, b. in Crovdon, N. H., 27 Oct., 1795 ; d. in Bennington, Vt., 24 June, 1877. He began to teach in Rumford, Me., in 1814, and in 1822 was principal of an academy in Fitchburg, Mass., being also licensed as a Con- gregational minister. He removed to Concord, Vt., in 1823, and organized the first school in the United States for the training of teachers, which he conducted until 1830. He was chosen in that year principal of the English department of Phillips Andover academy, and in 1829 he aided in found- ing the American institute of instruction. He removed to Plymouth, N. H., in 1837, and kept a teachers' seminary there until 1840, when he went to Craftsbury, Vt., and established in connection with the academy a teachers' department, which he taught until 1846. He published the " Instruc- tor's Manual, or Lectures on School-Keeping " (Boston, 1829) ; " Lectures on Education, and " Geography for Children."


HALL, Sarah, author, b. in Philadelphia, Pa., 30 Oct., 1761 ; d. there, 8 April, 1830. She was a daughter of the Rev. John Ewing, provost of the University of Pennsylvania, and in 1782 mar- ried John Hall, of Maryland, whose father had come to that state with Lord Baltimore. She re- moved with her husband to his home, but in about eight years they returned to Philadelphia, where Mr. Hall became secretary of the land-office and U. S. marshal for the district of Pennsylvania. They lived in Lamberton, N. J., in 1801-5, and then in Maryland again until 1811, when they settled permanently in Philadelphia. In spite of these changes, Mrs. Hall continued her studies with diligence. She was one of the chief contribu- tors to the "Port-Polio," established by Joseph Dennie in 1800, and when that magazine was edit- ed by her son she aided him. She was fond of study on religious subjects, and learned Hebrew for the purpose of research. Mrs. Hall published "Conversations on the Bible" (1818; 2d ed., 2 vols., 1821; reprinted in London). A small vol- ume, containing selections from her miscellaneous writings and a sketch of her life, was published by her son, Harrison (Philadelphia, 1833).— Her eldest son, John Elihn, author, b. in Philadelphia, 27 Dec, 1783 ; d. there, 11 June, 1829, was educated at Princeton, studied law, and in 1805 began to practise in Baltimore, where he was appointed pro- fessor of rhetoric and belles-lettres in the Univer- sity of Maryland. He was an active Federalist, was severely wounded in the Baltimore riots of 1812 (see Hanson, Alexander C), and was one of the nine that were thrown into a heap as killed. He edited "The American Law Journal" (1808-'17), and removed to Philadelphia and edited the " Port- Folio" there from 1817 till 1827, contributing to it the " Memoirs of Anacreon," which attracted much attention. In 1827 he edited " The Phila- delphia Souvenir " and published original and se- lected " Memoirs of Eminent Persons." He also published " The Practice and Jurisdiction of the Court of Admiralty " (Baltimore, 1809) ; a " Life of Dr. John Shaw," prefixed to his collected poems (1810) ; an English edition of Emerigon's " Mari- time Laws," with other matter (1811) ; " Tracts on Constitutional Law, containing Mr. Livingston's Answer to Mr. Jefferson" (Philadelphia, 1813); and an edition of William Wirt's " British Spy," to which he contributed several letters. — Another son, Harrison, author, b. in Octorara, Cecil co., Md., 5 Nov., 1785 ; d. in Cincinnati, Ohio, 9 March, 1866, published the "Port-Folio" and wrote a work on " Distillation " (1815 ; 2d ed., 1818 ; reprinted in England), which was com- mended by Dr. Hare and other scientists. — An- other son, James, author, b. in Philadelphia, Pa., 19 Aug., 1793 ; d. near Cincinnati, Ohio, 5 July, 1868. studied law, but left it in 1812 to join the army as a volunteer in the Washington giiards. He commanded a detachment from his company at Chippewa in 1814. and was present at the battle of Lundy's Lane and at the siege of Fort Erie, being commended officially for his services. He was then made a lieutenant in the 2d artillery and stationed at Fort Mifflin. He went with De- catur in 1815 in his expedition to Algiers, serving on the U. S. brig " Enterprise," commanded by Lieut. Lawrence Kearney. Returning in the fol- lowing year, he was stationed at Newport, R. I., and at Pittsburg, Pa., on duty in the ordnance de- partment, during which time he completed his law studies and was admitted to the bar in 1818. In 1820 he removed to Shawneetown, 111., where he practised his profession and edited the " Illinois Gazette," a weekly newspaper. He was appointed public prosecutor, and held this office four years, when he was made judge of the circuit court till its abolition three years later. He then became state treasurer and removed to Vandalia, where he edited the " Illinois Intelligencer " and the " Illinois Monthly Magazine." He removed to Cincinnati in 1833, became cashier of the commer- cial bank there in 1836, and in 1853 its president, which office he held until his death. He devoted his time to literary pursuits and edited his maga- zine under the title of the "Western Monthly Magazine." Besides numerous contributions to periodicals, he published " Letters from the West," originally printed in the " Port-Folio," and after- ward collected bv his brother (London. 1829) ; " Legends of the West " (Philadelphia, 1832) ; " The Soldier's Bride, and other Tales " (1832) ; " The Harpe's Head, a Legend of Kentucky" (1833); " Tales of the Border " (Philadelphia, 1835) ; " Sketches of the West " (2 vols., 1835) ; " Statistics of the West'" (1836; re-issued with additions as "Notes on the Western States," 1839); "Life of Gen. William Henry Harrison " (1836) ; " History of the Indian Tribes," in conjunction with Thomas L. McKenney (3 vols., folio, 1838-'44); "The Wil- derness and the War-Path " (New York, 1845) ; " Life of Thomas Posey, Governor of Indiana," in Sparks's " American Biography " (1846) ; and " Ro- mance of Western History " (Cincinnati, 1847). A uniform edition of his works has been published (4 vols., 1853-6). — Another son, Thomas Mifflin,