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Kane, Elisha Kent

(Encyclopedia) Kane, Elisha Kent, 1820–57, American physician and arctic explorer, b. Philadelphia. Seeking adventure after medical school, Kane entered naval service and before he was 30 had seen…

Bell, Gertrude Margaret Lowthian

(Encyclopedia) Bell, Gertrude Margaret LowthianBell, Gertrude Margaret Lowthianlōˈᵺēən [key], 1868–1926, British traveler, author, and government official, one of the builders of the modern state of…

Jaja

(Encyclopedia) JajaJajajäˈjə [key], fl. 1869–87, Nigerian merchant prince. A former slave, he became an important trader in Bonny in the 1860s as a middleman between the coastal markets and the…

Wirral

(Encyclopedia) Wirral, metropolitan borough (1991 est. pop. 322,100), NW England, on the peninsula between the Mersey and Dee estuaries, in the Greater Manchester metropolitan area. Sometimes…

Jefferson, Thomas

(Encyclopedia) Jefferson, Thomas, 1743–1826, 3d President of the United States (1801–9), author of the Declaration of Independence, and apostle of agrarian democracy. After 1809, Jefferson…

Farrar, Frederic William

(Encyclopedia) Farrar, Frederic William, 1831–1903, English clergyman and author, dean of Canterbury (1895–1903), b. Bombay (now Mumbai), India, educated in England. He was assistant master at Harrow…

Byrne, Jane

(Encyclopedia) Byrne, Jane, 1934–2014, American politician, b. Chicago as Margaret Jane Burke. She was Chicago's consumer sales commissioner (1968–77) under Mayor Richard Daley before she became the…

Whitty, Dame May

(Encyclopedia) Whitty, Dame May, 1865–1948, English actress. She made her London debut in 1881. In 1892 she married Ben Webster, an actor, and in 1895 she first appeared in the United States,…

Pitcher, Molly

(Encyclopedia) Pitcher, Molly, 1744–1832, American Revolutionary heroine whose real name was Mary Ludwig Hays or Heis, b. near Trenton, N.J. As the wife of John Hays or Heis, she carried water for…