Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 05.djvu/63

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including tlie Brooklyn Standard Union, of which he became editor in 1890. He made a visit to Cuba as special correspondent of the New York Journal in 1897, and closely studied and largely wrote of the situation there. He was married, March 2, 1857, to Mary, daughter of Hiram and Elizabeth Jane (Cones) Banks, and had twelve children of whom nine were sons. Two sons died early; Clarence, Albert and Robert became journalists; Marshall was appointed U.S. consul to Birmingham, England; Frank, as 1st lieu- tenant, U.S.A., was stationed at Manila, P. I., in 1900; Griffin engaged in business in Washington, D.C., and Willit was educated at the Miami mili- tary academy. He published : The Story of Cuba (1896); Our Country in War (1898); The Story of the Philippines (1898) ; The Official History of Our War loith Spain (1899); lUustrated History of Our New Possessions (1899) ; The Life and Achievements of Admiral Dewey (1899) and is the author of many contributions to periodicals.

HALSTED, Byron David, botanist, was born in Venice, N.Y.. June 7, 1852; son of David and Mary (Mecliem) Halsted. He was graduated at the Michigan agricultural college in 1871, and from Harvard with the degree of Sc.D. in 1878. He was in.sti'uctor in history and algebra at the Michigan agricultural college, 1873-74; assistant in botany at Harvard, 1875-76; a teacher in the Chicago high school, 1878-79 ; editor of the Amer- ican Aciriculturist, 1879-85 ; professor of botany in the Iowa agricultural college, 1885-88, and then became professor of botanj^ and horticulture at Rutgers, and botanist and horticulturist of the New Jersey agricultural experiment station. He was elected a member of the American society of naturalists, the Botanical society of America and other scientific societies, and a fellow of the American association for the advancement of science. He is the author of : The Verjetahle Gar- den (1882); Farm Conveniences (1888); Household Conveniences (1883) ; A Century of American Weeds (1892) ; was associate editor of the Torrey Bulletin and Systematic Flora of Xorth America ; and con- tributed largely to botanical and agricultural journals.

HALSTED, George Bruce, mathematician, was born in Newark, N.J., Nov. 25, 1853; son of Oliver Spencer, Jr., and Adela (Meeker) Halsted, and grandson of Oliver Spencer and Mary (Hat- field) Halsted. and of Samuel and Martha (Har- beck) Meeker. His grandmother, Mary Hatfield, was a granddaughter of Abraham Clark, signer of the Declaration of Independence. He was graduated at the College of New Jersey. A.B., in 1875, with the mathematical fellowship; and A.M., 1878: held a fellowship at Johns Hopkins, 1876-78, and received the degree of Ph.D. from the latter institution in 1879. He was tutor in


the College of New Jersey, 1879-81. and instructor in advanced mathematics there, 1881-84. He then became professor of mathematics in the University of Texas. As expert, he made in 1899 to the American association for the advance, ment of science, by invitation, a report on prog- ress in non-Euclidean geometrj-. He was elected a member of the Societe Mathematique de France; of the Circolo Matemico di Palermo, of the Lon- don mathematical society, and fellow of the American association for the advancement of science. He was the originator of " Halsted's prismoidal formula " and is the author of several text books including: Bibliography of Hyper- Spjace and Non- Eiiclidean Geometry (1878) ; Mensuration (1881; 4th ed., 1892); Metrical Geometry (1885); Elements of Geometry (1885; 6th ed., .1895) ; Lobat- schewsky's Xon- Euclidean Geometi-y (1891 ; 4th ed., 1892); Boryai's Science Absolute of Space (1891; 4th ed., ISdQ) ; and Synthetic Geometry (1892; 2d ed., 1893); besides contributions to scientific journals.

HALSTED, Nathaniel Norris, merchant, was born in Elizabetlitown, N.J., Aug. 13, 1816; a nephew of Caleb O. Halsted, a New York mer- chant, by whom Nathaniel was adopted when a child. He attended school in New York city, and a seminary at Woodbridge, N.J., and entered his uncle's dry-goods store as a clerk. In 1845 he was taken into partnership and remained in the business ten years. He removed to Newark where he was a director and then president of the New Jersey rubber company. In 1861 he was appointed a member of the staff of Governor Olden of New Jersey, ranking as lieutenant- colonel. In 1862 he was brevetted brigadier general and placed in command of the recruiting camps at Trenton. He was a trustee of the Col. lege of New Jersey, 1868-84, and gave to that institution §55,000 for the erection of the Halsted astronomical observatory. He was first presi- dent of the New Jersey agricultural societj-, and a member of the New Jersey historical society. He died in Newark, N.J , May 6, 1884.

HALSTED, Oliver Spencer, jurist, was born in Elizabetlitown, N.J., Sept. 22. 1792. He was graduated from the College of New Jersey in 1810, attended the Litchfield law school, was admitted to the bar in 1814, and opened an office for the practice of his profession in Newark, N..J. He removed his business to Huntsville, Ala., in 1820 and in 1823 returned to Elizabethtown. He was a representative in the state legislature in 1823 and 1834; became surrogate of Essex county in 1828 and mayor of Newark in 1840. He was a member of the state constitutional convention of 1844, and under the constitution then adopted was chancellor and president ex officio of the court of errors and appeals, 1845-52. After that