William cranch bond biography of williams

Although interest in astronomy at Harvard dated to the 17th Century, it was not until 1815 that the Harvard Corporation voted "to consider upon the subject of an observatory," perhaps the first corporate act in the United States toward establishment of an observatory. Unfortunately, the estimated cost of construction and operation far exceeded any resources and plans were suspended. Revivals of the idea in 1822 and 1823, the latter by John Quincy Adams, met similar fates.

Finally, in 1839, the Harvard Corporation voted to appoint Mr. William Cranch Bond, a prominent Boston clockmaker, as "Astronomical Observer to the University" (at no salary) and to arrange the transfer of his personal observing equipment to Dana House, which then stood on the present site of the Lamont Library in Harvard Yard. The instruments were installed that fall, and additional magnetic and meteorological equipment, including barometers and clocks, were added during the next few years.

The observatory was by no means a "first" for Harvard. As a matter of fact, the earliest known permanently fixed American telescope was installed in 1828 at Yale -- a 5-inch refractor on an altitude-azimuth mount set up in a church steeple. In 1836, a modest observatory opened at Williams College, featuring an equatorially mounted refractor in a revolving dome. Several other college observatories followed in quick succession.

Astronomical observations at Dana House were limited by lack of time and equipment until March of 1843 when a comet "of surpassing size and splendor" appeared. Public interest in astronomy was enormous, indeed enough so to complete the subscription of funds for a truly first-class observatory. Preserved on a marble plaque in the dome are the names of the 94 donors who gave a total of $25,730. Their gifts ranged from $10 to $5,500, the latter from David Sears, who had pledged $5,000 with the proviso that others would contribute $20,000 toward the project.

The 15-

Cranch, William

William Cranch served as a federal judge for more than five decades, and was also reporter of decisions for the Supreme Court of the United States from 1801 to 1815.

Cranch was born July 17, 1769, in Weymouth, Massachusetts. His father, Richard Cranch, was a member of the Massachusetts Legislature and judge of the court of Common Pleas, and his mother, Mary Cranch, was the sister of Abigail Adams, wife of the future president John Adams. Educated privately in his early life, Cranch entered Harvard in 1784 and graduated with honors in 1787. He then studied law in Boston and was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1790. He subsequently practiced law briefly, first in Braintree, Massachusetts, and then in Haverhill, Massachusetts.

In 1791, Cranch moved to Washington, D.C., to become a legal agent for a real estate firm that made large and speculative investments in the city based on the municipality's recent selection to be the nation's capital. The venture later proved to be financially disastrous, and Cranch was financially ruined as a result of its collapse. In 1800, John Adams, by then president, came to Cranch's rescue by appointing him a commissioner of public buildings for the District of Columbia. In early 1801, the District of Columbia Circuit Court was established, and Adams appointed Cranch an assistant judge of the court. Cranch was elevated to chief judge in 1805 and served on the court for fifty-four years.

"It often happens that the prisoner seeks to palliate his crime by the pleas of intoxication; as if the voluntary abandonment of reason … were not, of itself, an offense sufficient to make him responsible for all its consequences."
—William Cranch

About the same time Cranch became a judge, the Supreme Court of the United States moved from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C. alexander j. dallas, who had reported some of the Court's decisions on an u

American politician (1792–1864)

This article is about a U.S. Representative from Ohio. For the American astronomer, see William Cranch Bond.

William Key Bond (October 2, 1792 – February 17, 1864) was a three-term U.S. Representative from Ohio from 1835 to 1841.

Early life and career

Born in St. Mary's County, Maryland, Bond attended schools at Litchfield, Connecticut including Litchfield Law School where he studied law.

He moved to Chillicothe, Ohio in 1812. There, he joined a company of the Ohio Militia during the War of 1812.

In July 1813, he was part of the Expedition of Governor Meigs for the relief of Fort Meigs, which had been besieged for a second time by General Henry Procter and Shawnee chief Tecumseh. On the evening of the second day's march, his regimental commander Colonel Ferguson convened a court martial for a member of the regiment, and appointed Bond as Judge Advocate, in his first appearance as a lawyer.

He returned to Chillicothe and was admitted to the bar.

Congress

Between March 4, 1835, and March 3, 1841, Bond served in the United States House of Representatives – as an Anti-Jacksonian to the Twenty-fourth Congress, and as a Whig to the Twenty-fifth and Twenty-sixth Congresses. During his final term, he served as chairman of the Committee on Public Expenditures. He declined to be a candidate for renomination to the Twenty-seventh Congress, instead moving to Cincinnati and continuing the practice of his profession.

Later career and death

He was appointed surveyor of the port of Cincinnati by President Fillmore, serving in that role between May 2, 1849, and September 28, 1853.

Between 1859 and 1862, he was President of the Cincinnati and Zanesville Railroad.

He died in Cincinnati, Ohio on February 17, 1864, and was interred in Spring Grove Cemetery.

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the