jewellers and engravers in Albany, and in 1810 set- tled in Philadelphia as one of a firm of bank-note engravers. In the war of 1812 he entered the army as captain, and rose to a colonelcy. In 1819 he be- came a partner with Jacob Perkins, and went to England, where he resided and conducted the en- graving business for three years, and then returned to Philadelphia. He contributed much toward the elevation of the art of engraving in the United States.— His brother, David (1783-1815), and Rich- ard (1787-1821), were also engravers.
FALARDEAU, Antony Sebastian, artist, b.
in St. Ambrose, near Quebec, Canada, 13 Aug.,
1822. He manifested from his childhood a strong
love for art, but it met with no encouragement
from his father, who took him from school when
twelve years old and set him to work on a farm.
When he was fourteen years old he ran away to
Quebec, where he endured hardships of every kind,
and was for several years a servant. He still contin-
ued to draw and paint during his hours of leisure,
and after he had succeeded in obtaining employ-
ment as 'clerk in a mercantile house he was en-
abled to take lessons, and some of his pictures begjin
to attract attention. He wished to continue his
studies in Europe, so he sold his pictures for $160,
and, with some help from his patrons, set out for
Montreal in the summer of 1846. Lord Cathcart,
the governor-general, received him kindly, and
furnished him with a letter of reconnnendation
that was afterward of great value to him. He
finally reached Florence, and, after many disap-
pointments, was admitted to the Academy of fine
arts. During the Revolution of 1848 he refused to
enter the civic guard of tlie fine arts, and was
obliged to leave the academy, but re-entered it
after the battle of Novara. From this time he
worked hard, but led a life of great poverty until
1850, when an American gentleman purchased
some of his pictures. He then studied in the prin-
cipal Italian cities, and in 1857, when he was in
Parma, won a prize tliat had been offered for the
best copy of the Saint Jerome of Correggio, excit-
ing much enthusiasm by his work. He was chosen
an honorary member of the Academy of the fine
arts, and afterward presented the picture to the
grand duke, who created him knight of the order
of Saint Louis. After this he had orders for pict-
ures from the empress dowager of Russia and other
persons of rank. In April, 1862, he visited Canada,
where he was received with enthusiasm. His pict-
ures are considered by art critics to be distin-
guished for finish and elegance rather than vigor.
FALCONER, John M., artist, b. in Edinburgh,
Scotland, 22 May, 1820. He was educated at the
high school in Edinburgh, and came to the United
States at the age of sixteen. He studied art in the
National academy of design, and with the Society
of painters in water-colors in New York city, in
the Graham art school and that of the Art associa-
tion of Brooklyn, and in the Louvre at Paris. He
became a member of the New York art reunion and
New York sketch union in 1847, was a member of
the Society of painters in water-colors, and ex-
hibited in their collection in the Crystal Palace,
New York, in 1854. He became an honorary mem-
ber of the National academy of design in 1856, of
the Artists" fund society in 1861, of the American
water-color society in 1872, of the New York
etching club in 1879, and fellow of the Painters'
and etchers' society of Ijondon, England, in 1882.
He proposed the first exhibition of engravings in
the United States, which was successfully held in
Brooklyn in 1864, as part of the art department of
the U. S. sanitary fair, and organized the first
chronological exhibition of American art in the
United States, which was held at the opening of
the galleries of the Brooklyn art association in
1872, and the first exhibition of water-color paint-
ings by the Artists' fund society of New York, out
of which grew the present American water-color
society. He has made numerous paintings in oil
of American "and European subjects, including
" Kenilworth Castle," " House where the Declara-
tion of Independence was Written," and " Robert
Fulton's House in Philadelphia." In water-colors
he produced the " William Penn Mansion," ex-
hibited, with others of his works, by the American
water-color society at the Centennial exhibition in
1876, and a series of "Historic Houses" in enamel
on porcelain, now in the possession of the Long
Island historical society. He has also restored
many oil-paintings, and etched on copper fifty
plates from his own works, and twenty from those
of other artists. He wrote a "Sketch of the His-
tory of Water-Color Painting " for the Society of
painters in water-colors (1852), and has compiled
the " Catalogue Raisonnee of the Chronological
Exhibition of American Art " (Brooklyn, 1872).
FALES, Almira L., philanthropist, b. in New
York; d. in Washington, D. C., 8 Nov., 1868. She
was for some time a resident of Iowa, but her
husband, Joseph T. Fales, having received an appointment
as examiner in the patent-office in Washington,
she thenceforth made that city her home. As
early as 1860, from her extended knowledge of
southern feeling and action, she foresaw and
predicted the approaching struggle, and, much to the
surprise of her friends, began the collection and
preparation of articles for hospital use. At the
beginning of the war she entered, fully prepared,
on the care of sick and wounded soldiers, and at
Pittsburg Landing and other battle-fields of the
west was busy in ministering to the wants of the
sufferers. The government placed an ambulance
at her command, and during the war she was
unremitting in her visits to the hospitals in the
neighborhood of Washington, at Fredericksburg,
on the Peninsula, and elsewhere. In the yard of
her own house she pitched a large tent, into which
she gathered sick and disabled soldiers, and there
ministered to their needs until means could be
provided to send them to their homes. For some time
Mrs. Fales was charged by the government with
the superintendence of soldiers sent from the
hospitals in and around Washington to the hospitals
in New York and elsewhere. Amid all this
activity she found time to correspond extensively
and obtain pecuniary aid to carry on her work.
FALKNER, Thomas, clergyman, b. in
Manchester, Eng., 6 Oct., 1707; d. in Plowdenhall,
Salopshire, England, 30 Jan., 1784. He studied under
his father, who was a distinguished surgeon in
Manchester, and afterward attended the hospitals
in London. He went as a surgeon on board of a
ship, visiting Guinea, and then proceeded to Cadiz,
where he re-embarked in 1731 for Buenos Ayres,
and during an illness there was nursed so devotedly
by the Jesuits, that on his recovery he
determined to join the order. He entered one of
their colleges, and was sent in 1734 to evangelize
the vast territory comprised in the viceroyalty
of Buenos Ayres, and the country south of the Rio
de la Plata. He had extraordinary success in
his missionary labors, which was largely due to
his ability in curing the sick, his dexterity in
surgical operations, and his knowledge of mechanics.
During forty years he lived at different
stations on the Chaco, the Paraguay, the Tucuman,
and on the Pampas. The station of St. George
