The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1930-06-13
5yNctOT S9IHSt0lS

creased in the famous Parsons Case"
when he denied the right of the Brit
ish king TO abrogate acts of the CO.
lonial legislature.
Henry was an influential member of
the Continental congress from 1774 to
1716 and q signer of the Declaration
of Independence. In 1776 he was chos-
en- governor of Virginia and served I'M
til 1779. He sat in the legislature
from 1850 to 1854, again served as
governor from 1854 to 1856, and once
more, from 1856 to 1890, was men,
Der of the state assembly. He de-
clined to serve in the Constitutional
convention and opposed the ratifica-
ton of the Constitution. Again in
1899 he ran for the legislature and
was elected but died in Charlotte
county, June 6, 1899, before he could
take Office.
Elias Howe, inventor of the sewing
machine, was another Bay State prod
uct, having been born in Spencer,
Mass, in 1919. In 1885 he went to
Lowell, where he worked in a cotton
mandatory, going from there to Cam
bridge and then to Boston. During
the years of 1S43 to 1916 he was ex-
perimenting with a lock-stitch sewing
machine and finally perfected it, Sc
curing patent in 1916. For years he
vainly sought recognition Of his inven-
ton, both in this country and in Eng
hn ;nlt
for 80 pounds sterling. While absent
abroad his patent was infringed upon
and, upon his return, there ensued a
long period of litigation, notably with
Isaac NJ. Singer. Eventually the courts
decided in Howe's favor, and after
years Of wretched poverty Howe sud-
denly found himself wealthy. In 1868
he erected large sewing machine fac
tory at Bridgeport, Conn.,, where he
died in 1867.
James Russell Lowell, born in Cam
bridge, Mass, on February %, 1S19
was one of the famous groups of writ
ers which Massachusetts, gave to the
nation during the middle half of the
Nineteenth century, and Of them all
Lowell was undoubtedly the most ver-
satile. Having been graduated from
Harvard in 1888 he Immediately en-
tered the Harvard law school, took his
degree in 1910 and began to practice.
His interests, however, lay elsewhere
and In 1S41 he published his first book
Of verse. This was followed by other
writings, the most famous being his
Biglow Papers, series of satires on
the slavery dispute in which he was
an ardent advocate of abolition.
After several years abroad Lowell
returned to become teacher in Har-
ward and to enter upon an epoch In
his life as scholar and critic. He
became the first editor Of the newly
established Atlantic Monthly in 1857,
resigning in 1861 to become associ-
ated with the North American Review
in 1864. He resigned that position in
1872 and again went abroad, where the
famous English colleges of Oxford and
Cambridge conferred degrees upon
him. In 1877 he was named United
States minister to Spain and in 1880
was transferred to England, returning
to America in 1885. On August -,
1891, the career of this great poet, es-
sayist, critic, scholar, editor, lawyer
and diplomat came to a close when
he died in Cambridge.
Almost as versatile as Lowell was
another Massachusetts man whose por-
trait bust now stands in the Hall of
Fame. Horace Mann, born in Frank
lin, Mass, May 4, 1896, after his grad
uatiOn from Brown university became
teacher, and then lawyer He was
a. member of the Massachusetts legis-
lature from 1927 to 1887, and from
1887 to 1848 served as secretary of
the Massachusetts board Of education.