Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/196

RANDALL, Alexander Williams, statesman, b. in Ames, Montgomery co., X. V., 31 Oct., 1819; d. in Elmira, N. Y., 25 July. 1872. His father, Phineas, a native of Massachusetts, resided in Mont- gomery county, N. Y.. from 1818 till 1851, was judge of the court of common pleas there in 1837-'41, and removing to Waukesha,Wis., died there in 1853. Alexan- der received a thorough aca- demic educa- tion, studied law, was admit- ted to the bar, and began to practise in Wau- kesha in 1840. He became soon afterward post- master of that place, and in 1847 was chnst'ii a member of the

convention that

framed the state constitution. He then devoted him-elf to his profession till 1855. when he was elected to the state assembly. The same year he was an unsuccessful candidate for the attorney- generalship, and was appointed judge of the Mil- waukee circuit court to fill an unexpired term. In 1857, and again in 1859, he was elected governor of Wisconsin, and at the beginning of the rivil war, and pending the convening of the legislature, in extra session, he called the 2d regiment into ex- istence, and used the public funds in advance of lawful appropriation ; but he was fully sustained by the legislature when it assembled. At the close of his gubernatorial term, 1 Jan., 1861, he was dis- suaded from his purpose of entering the army by President Lincoln, and appointed U. S. minister to Italy. On his resignation and return in 1862, he was made first assistant postmaster-general, and in July, 1866, postmaster-general, and served in that capacity till March, 1869.

RANDALL, David Austin, author, b. in Col- chester, Conn., 14 Jan., 1813 ; d. in Columbus. Ohio, 27 June, 1884. He was educated at country schools and at Canandaigua, N. Y., academy, and became a Baptist clergyman. He was chaplain of the Ohio asylum for the insane in 1854'66, pastor of a church in Columbus in 1858-'66, and correspond- ing secretary of the Ohio Baptist conference in 1850-'63. Mr. Randall was for many years editor of the " Washingtonian," the first temperance paper in Ohio, and in 1845-'53 edited the " Cross and Journal," a Baptist newspaper. He was widely known as a lecturer, and was also a member of a book-selling firm and director of a bank. He travelled in Egypt and Palestine in 1861-'2, and wrote " God's Handwriting in Egypt, Sinai, and the Holy Land " (2 vols., Philadelphia, 1862), and " Ham-Mishkan, the Wonderful Tent : a Study of the Structure, Significance, and Symbolism of the Hebrew Tabernacle " (Cincinnati, 1886).

RANDALL, Georce Maxwell. P. E. bishop, b. in Warren, R. I.. 23 Nov., 1810 ; d. in Denver. Col.. 28 Sept., 1873. He was graduated nt lirown in 1835, and at the Episcopal general theological seminary. New York, in 1838. Ilr was ordained deacon in St. Mark's church. Warren. 17 July, 1838. by Bishop Griswold. and pi-ir-t. in the same church, 2 Nov., 1839, by the sum' ln-lmp. His first parochial charge was that of the Church of the Ascension. Fall River, Mass. In 1844 he ac- cepted the rectorship of the Church of the Messiah, Boston, Mass.. which post he held for twenty-one years. He received the degree of D. D. from B'rown in 1856. He was a clerical deputy from the diocese nf Massachusetts from 1850 till 1865, inclusive, and was chosen secretary to the house of clerical and lay deputies in 1862 and 1865. He was appointed by the general convention to be missionary bishop of Colo- rado, and was consecrated in Trinity church. Bos- ton, Mass., 28 Dec.. 1865. Bishop Randall published numerous sermons, addresses, and lectures, and contributed freely to church literature, chiefly through the columns of " The Christian Witness and Church Advocate," of which he was editor for many years. He also published a tract entitled Why I am a Churchman." which has had a very large circulation, and " Observations on Confir- mation " (6th ed.. 1868).

RANDALL, James Ryder, song-writer, b. in Baltimore, Md.. 1 Jan., 1839. He was educated at Georgetown college, D. C., but was not graduated, and afterward travelled in South America. When he was a young man he went to Louisiana and edited a newspaper at Point Coupee, and after- ward was engaged on the New Orleans " Sunday Delta." His delicate constitution prevented him from entering the Confederate army, but he wrote much in support of the southern cause. His " Maryland, my Maryland." which was published in Baltimore in April. 1861, was set to music, and became widely popular. It has been called "the Marseillaise of the Confederate cause." Other poems from his pen were " The Sole Sentry," " Ar- lington," " The Cameo Bracelet." " There's Life in the Old Land Yet," and " The Battle-Cry of the South." After the war he went to Augusta, Ga., where he became associate editor of " The Consti- tutionalist," and in 1866 its editor-in-chief.

RANDALL. John Witt, poet, b. in Boston. 6 Nov.. 1813 ; d. there. 27 Jan.. 1892. He was gradu- ated at Harvard and at the medical department. While in college he devoted his attention to scien- tific studies, especially entomology, and also culti- vated his taste for poetry. His attainments as a naturalist gained for him the honorary appoint- ment as zoologist in the department of inverte- brate animals to the South sea exploring expe- dition sent out by the United States under Com- mander Charles Wilkes. But the delays in the sailing of the expedition caused him to resign the appointment, and he then turned his attention to his favorite pursuits. He had been largely occu- pied with the cultivation of an ancestral country- seat in Stow, Mass., and had accumulated one of the rarest and most original collections of engravings in the United States. Dr. Randall has contributed a paper on the "Crustacea" to the "Transactions of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences," and two on insects t" the "Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History," and he pre- pared a volume on the "Animals and Plants of Maine" for the geological survey of that state, but the manuscript was lost. Besides doing other literary work, he has written six volumes of poems, of which only one has been published. "Consola- tions of Solitude" (Boston. 1856).

RANDALL. Robert Richard. philanthropist, b. in New Jersey about 1740; d. in New York city. 5 June, 1801. He was a son of Thomas Randall, who was one of the committee of 1IH I chi i~, n t . i CMMtrol the affair of t he city. .t' New York in 17?.