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- Description:
With more than thirty thousand entries, this encyclopedia of important Americans spans the history of the nation from the first arrivals in the 17th Century through the end of the 19th Century. Rich in detail, each entry includes a short family history and a record of the important accomplishments of the individual.
Source Information:
Ancestry.com. Biographies of Notable Americans, 1904 [database online]. Orem, UT: MyFamily.com, Inc., 1997. Original data: Johnson, Rossiter, ed. Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans. Volumes I-X. Boston, MA: The Biographical Society, 1904.
Eddy, James, engraver, was born at Providence, R.I., May 29, 1806; son of Benjamin and Sarah (James) Eddy, and descended from William Eddye, vicar of St. Dunstan's church, Cranbrook, England, whose two sons, John and Samuel, came to PlymOuth in 1630. James Eddy was educated in the common schools and early showed talent in the use of the pen and fine tools, making when a lad of fourteen a copy of a bankbill, which was so accurate that an experienced shopkeeper thought it genuine until told by the boy that he had made it. He became a skilful engraver, and also showed ability in fine drawings for architectural purposes, in original portraiture and in copying paintings. Early in life he went to Paris to purchase a set of engraver's tools, and while there visited the art galleries and conceived an idea that good copies of famous paintings would sell readily at profitable prices in America. He invested his funds in that way, and the venture resulted in many subsequent trips abroad for pictures, the engravings finding large sales in the principal cities of the United States. His religious feeling and his desire to further the interests of rational thought, led him to build a chapel on land adjoining his homestead property in Providence, and by his will he left in trust a fund for the support of non-sectarian devotional services therein. This chapel was dedicated by him "To God, to Truth, and to all that ennobles Humanity," and was opened for public and permanent use. Dec. 1, 1889. His writings were edited and published under the title Thoughts on Religion and Morality (1891). He died in Providence, R.I., May 18, 1838.
The First Church of Christ, Scientist
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