The Biographical Dictionary of America/Augur, Hezekiah

AUGUR, Hezekiah, sculptor, was born in New Haven. Conn., Feb. 21, 1791. He was a shoemaker and enjoyed few educational opportunities. He became a wood carver and invented a woodcarving machine and a number of other ingenious devices, including a machine for weaving worsted lace. He then developed a taste for sculpture and made some wonderfully accurate copies of a head of Apollo, a bust of Washington and a statue of Sappho. His "Jephtha and his Daughter," said to be his best work, is in the Trumbull gallery at Yale college. The honorary degree of A. M. was conferred upon him by Yale college in 1833. He died at New Haven, Jan. 10, 1858.