Ol'd'iTAKIKS. AMERICAN. (BARTON BELKNAP.) 





was consulting engineer in the erection and equip- 

 ment of tin' Ail' I Ivailroad. Sin.'.- I8i 

 had liad charge of tin- department of mechanical 

 engineering in the " Eailroad Gazette/' Hi- 

 important mechanical work in hi to years was the 

 construction from original designs of standard elec- 

 tric locomotives. In his contributions to technical 

 literature he made a specialty of railroad rolling 

 Mock and locomotive engineering. ( me <>f his most 

 notable papers was on "The Distinctive Features 

 and Advantages of American Loco motive 1'ractice.'' 

 contributed to the International Engineering Con- 

 ot 1 *!:{. 



Barton. Robert M.. jurist, born near Morris- 

 town. Tenn.. June 20. 1820: died in Hill City. 

 Tenn.. Feb. 2S \*W. II is parents were among the 

 early settlers of the State, and their seven 

 were educated for lawyers. In 1860 he was a mem- 

 ber of the State Senate, and in that body, as well as 

 in a canvass of the State, he opposed the secession 

 movement. Subsequently and despite his protest 

 he was elected a delegate to the secession conven- 

 tion. When Andrew Johnson became Governor of 

 Tennessee he appointed Mr. Barton judge of the 

 2d Circuit Court of the State. At the expira- 

 tion of his term he resumed private practice; be- 

 came general counsel for the East Tennessee and 

 Virginia Railway Company: and removed to Chat- 

 ga in l s ?S 



Beach. Alfred Ely. publisher and inventor, 

 born in Springfield. Mass., in 1826 ; died in Xew 

 York city, Jan. 1. 18!)6. He was a son of MOM-S 

 Yale Beach, proprietor of the old Xew York " Sun " ; 

 was educated at Monson (Massachusetts) Academy: 

 and acquired a practical knowledge of newspaper 

 work in his father's establishment. In 1846. in con- 

 junction with Urson I). Munn, a former classmate, 

 he established the " Scientific American." and for 

 nearly fifty years he was active in its editorial man- 

 agement and in the direction of the patent business 

 connected with it. A natural taste for mechanics 

 led him into the field of invention, and about 1S52 

 he perfected a typewriting machine, which was 

 operated at the Crystal Palace and American Insti- 

 tute exhibitions, and was awarded the Institute's 

 gold medal as one of the most ingenious and im- 

 portant inventions of the day. Subsequently he 

 invented the system of carrying letters from street 

 lamp-posts directly to the central post office by 

 means of underground pneumatic tubes, which is 

 now in use between the main post office and the 

 newspaper offices, and. in a modified form, in many 

 of the great office buildings in Xew York city and 

 elsewhere. In 186? he exhibited at the American 

 Institute a working model of a section of a pneu- 

 matic elevated railway, and the favor with which it 

 was received induced him to plan a system of under- 

 ground railways for Xew York. Under authority 

 of the Legislature he began constructing a section 

 under Broadway between Warren and Murray 

 Streets in 1869. the excavation of the tunnel being 

 carried on without interfering with surface traffic 

 by means of a hydraulic shield of his own inven- 

 tion, which was afterward used in the construction 

 of several notable railway tunnels in the United 

 States, Canada, and Europe. Xothing more than 

 the experimental section was ever constructed : but 

 the Broadway tunnel was long a matter of popular 

 and engineering interest. Mr. Beach was a man of 

 large private benevolence, and conspicuous among 

 his acts was the founding of the Beach Institute 

 for Freedmen. at Savannah. Ga. 



Beal, George Lafayette, military officer, born 

 in Xorway. Me.. May 01. 1825 : died there Dee. 11, 

 1896. At" the beginning of the civil war he was 

 captain of the Xorway Light Infantry, and with his 

 company was mustered into the 1st Maine Regiment 

 VOL. xxxn. 35 A 



for the three months' campaign. -\! the end of thi< 

 term lie volunteered for two years, and wa- 

 in isMoned colonel of the l!*th Maine Infantry, which 

 covered thi ;' (Jen. Hanks from Wind, 



to Williamsport. Ya.. and took part in thcl, 



dar Mountain and Antietam. Col. Heal was 

 severely wounded at Antietam: was niuMen-d out 

 with his regiment in May. ls(J3: au r ain voliint--' 

 and was made colonel of the 29th Maine Regiment. 

 With this command he took part in the Red river 

 and Shenandoah valley campaigns, and did much 

 in the first to save the army under (Jen. Banks in 

 the battle of Sabine Crossroads. La., and in th> 

 ond his brigade was the first to advance and break 

 the enemy's lines at Cedar Creek, after Gen. Sheri- 

 dan's arrival from Winchester. lie was promoted 

 brigadier general of volunteers on Nov. 30, 1864. for 

 his services in the Red river campaign. In the 

 early reconstruction days he was in command of the 

 n district of South Carolina. He was mus- 

 tered out of the service with the rank of brevet ma- 

 jor general of volunteers on Jan. 15. I860. Gen. 

 Beal was adjutant general of Maine in 1880-'85 and 

 State Treasurer in 1^8-'!t4. 



Bean. Nehemiah S.. inventor, born in Oilman- 

 ton. X. H.. in 1818: died in Manchester. X. H., 

 July 20. 1806. He was apprenticed to the machin- 

 ist's trade : became overseer of the pattern room of 

 the Amoskeag Company's machine shop in 1*47. 

 and superintendent of the locomotive department 

 in 1850 : and was superintendent of the 1 

 Manufacturing Company in Lawrence. Mass., in 

 1854-'57. During the winter of 1857-'58 he built 

 his first steam fire engine, which he named the 

 ' Lawrence." and sold to the city of Boston. In 

 is')!") he returned to the Amoskeag works in Man- 

 chester, to take the superintendence of the locomo- 

 tive shops. The same year he built the "Amoskeag 

 Steam Fire Engine. No. 1." the first of a class of 

 engines that are now in use in all parts of the 

 world. The success of this engine led the company 

 to make a contract with him for manufacturing 

 under his patents, and for twenty years he superin- 

 tended this work, turning out about 600 engines. 

 Subsequently he and the Amoskeag Company sold 

 out to the Manchester Locomotive Works. 



Besrole. Josiah ~\\.. merchant, born in Grove- 

 land. "N. Y.. Jan. 20. 1815; died in Flint. Mich., 

 June 5, 1896. He acquired a public-school educa- 

 tion, and on attaining his majority removed to what 

 is now the city of Flint. Mich., but was then an 

 almost unbroken wilderness. Besides aiding in 

 building many of the first houses erected in the 

 village, he taught school two winters, and from 

 1839 till 1856 was a farmer. In 1856 he was elected 

 county treasurer, an office he held for eight year-, 

 and in 1863 engaged in lumbering. He joined the 

 Republican party on its organization, and remained 

 with it till after President Grant's second inaugura- 

 tion, when he became a Greenbacker. He was 

 elected to the State Senate iii 1871. and to Coi:_ 

 in 1S72: and in 1^82 was the successful fusion 

 candidate for Governor of Michigan. 



Belk nap. Robert Lenox, philanthropist, bom 

 in Xew York city. July 23. 1*48; died there March 

 13. IMiO. He was graduated at Columbia College 

 in 1869; entered a "mercantile and manufacturing 

 house immediately afterward: became Yice-T 

 dent of the Mercantile Loan and Warehouse Com- 



guiy in 1871. and Treasurer of the Northern Pacific 

 ailroad Company in ls?!i: and subsequently or- 

 ganized and became president of the corporation 

 that laid out the city of W.-M Superior, Wis.. in 

 ls->3. Mr. Belknap 'was widely known for his 

 charitable and philanthropic work, and among the 

 various int. -rests to which he was deeply att;. 

 are the Presbyterian Hospital, American' Bib! 



