Clay, Cassius Marcellus (19 October 1810–22 July 1903), antislavery politician and diplomat, was born in White Hall, Kentucky, the son of Green Clay, a land speculator, and Sally Lewis. Green Clay was one of the wealthiest landowners and slaveholders in Kentucky, and young Cassius was raised in comfort and affluence. He attended Transylvania University (1829–1831) and Yale College (1831–1832), where he received his bachelor’s degree. After returning to Transylvania to study law in 1832–1833, Clay married Mary Jane Warfield in 1833. The marriage produced ten children....
Article
Clay, Cassius Marcellus (1810-1903), antislavery politician and diplomat
Harold D. Tallant
Image
Clay, Cassius Marcellus (1810-1903)
In
Cassius Marcellus Clay. Daguerreotype from the studio of Mathew B. Brady. Courtesy of the Library of Congress (LC-USZ62-109862).
Article
Levy, Uriah Phillips (1792-1862), U.S. naval officer and philanthropist
Ira Dye
Levy, Uriah Phillips (22 April 1792–22 March 1862), U.S. naval officer and philanthropist, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Michael Levy, a merchant, and Rachel Phillips. He was drawn early to the sea and at age ten ran away to be a cabin boy. After his return two years later, he was apprenticed for four or five years to a Philadelphia ship owner to learn navigation and other maritime skills. By age eighteen he had made several profitable voyages as a mate from Philadelphia to the West Indies....
Article
Otero, Miguel Antonio (1829-1882), politician and businessman
Mark L. Gardner
Otero, Miguel Antonio (21 June 1829–30 May 1882), politician and businessman, was born in Valencia, New Mexico, then a province of the Mexican Republic, the son of Don Vicente Otero and Dona Gertrudis Chaves y Argon. Vicente Otero was primarily a farmer and merchant but also filled local judicial positions under the Mexican government. Miguel Antonio Otero entered St. Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri, in September 1841 and continued his education there until the outbreak of the Mexican-American War in May 1846, at which time his parents sent for him. In 1847 he enrolled at Pingree College, located in Fishkill on the Hudson, New York. Within a short time he became a teacher at the college and also an assistant to the principal. In 1849 Otero commenced the study of law, first with James Thayer, an attorney living in Fishkill on the Hudson, then with a General Sanford in New York City during the winter of 1849–1850, and finally with Trusten Polk in St. Louis, Missouri, from 1851 to 1852. Otero was admitted to the Missouri bar in the spring of 1852, immediately after which he returned to New Mexico, now a U.S. territory. That same year he took a herd of sheep, presumably the property of his brother, Antonio José Otero, overland to California....
