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Queen Latifah

(Encyclopedia) Queen Latifah , 1970- , African-American rapper, songwriter, and actress, b. Newark, N.J., as Dana Elaine Owens. In a musical style known for its m...

Smith, John, English colonist in America

(Encyclopedia)Smith, John, c.1580–1631, English colonist in America, b. Willoughby, Lincolnshire, England. A merchant's apprentice until his father's death in 1596, he thereafter lived an adventurous life, travel...

Dwight, Harrison Gray Otis

(Encyclopedia)Dwight, Harrison Gray Otis, 1803–62, American Congregational missionary to the Armenians, b. Conway, Mass. He served the Armenian population of Constantinople for 30 years. His travels with Eli Smit...

Nauvoo

(Encyclopedia)Nauvoo nôvo͞oˈ [key], historic city (1990 pop. 1,108), Hancock co., W Ill., on heights overlooking the Mississippi River; inc. 1841. Situated in an agricultural area where fruit, corn, and soybeans...

Seelye, Laurenus Clark

(Encyclopedia)Seelye, Laurenus Clark, 1837–1924, American educator and Congregational clergyman, b. Bethel, Conn., grad. Union College, 1857, and studied at Andover Theological Seminary and in Germany; brother of...

Percy, George

(Encyclopedia)Percy, George, 1580–1631?, English colonial official in Virginia. He sailed to Virginia with the expedition of 1606–7 and was deputy governor (1609–10) after John Smith's return to England and, ...

Taylor, John, Mormon leader

(Encyclopedia)Taylor, John, 1808–87, American leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, b. England. He emigrated in 1832 to Canada, where he was converted (1836) to the Mormon faith. He moved to ...

Strathcona and Mount Royal, Donald Alexander Smith, 1st Baron

(Encyclopedia)Strathcona and Mount Royal, Donald Alexander Smith, 1st Baron străthkōˈnə [key], 1820–1914, Canadian fur trader, financier, and railroad builder, b. Scotland. Coming to Canada in 1838, he was hi...

America, in music

(Encyclopedia)America, in music, a patriotic hymn of the United States. The words (beginning “My country, 'tis of thee”) were written in 1832 by Samuel Francis Smith while he was a theological student in Andove...

Durant, Henry Fowle

(Encyclopedia)Durant, Henry Fowle do͝orăntˈ, dyo͝o– [key], 1822–81, American lawyer and educator, b. Hanover, N.H., grad. Harvard, 1841. Christened Henry Welles Smith, he adopted the name Durant (1851) beca...