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Townsend, Francis Everett

(Encyclopedia)Townsend, Francis Everett tounˈzənd [key], 1867–1960, American reformer, leader of an old-age pension movement, b. Fairbury, Ill., grad. Univ. of Nebraska medical school, 1903. He practiced medici...

Midwest

(Encyclopedia)Midwest or Middle West, region of the United States centered on the western Great Lakes and the upper-middle Mississippi valley. It is a somewhat imprecise term that has been applied to the northern s...

Atchison, David Rice

(Encyclopedia)Atchison, David Rice ăchˈĭsən [key], 1807–86, U.S. Senator, b. Frogtown, Ky. A lawyer and politician in Missouri, he served in the Senate from 1843 to 1855. As a proslavery Democrat, Atchison wa...

Wade, Benjamin Franklin

(Encyclopedia)Wade, Benjamin Franklin, 1800–1878, U.S. senator from Ohio (1851–69), b. near Springfield, Mass. He moved (1821) to Ohio and studied law. He was successively prosecuting attorney of Ashtabula co.,...

Bell, John

(Encyclopedia)Bell, John, 1797–1869, American statesman, b. near Nashville, Tenn. A leading member of the Nashville bar, he served in the U.S. House of Representatives (1827–41), was speaker in 1834, and for a ...

crane, in zoology

(Encyclopedia)crane, large wading bird found in marshes in the Northern Hemisphere and in Africa. Although sometimes confused with herons, cranes are more closely related to rails and limpkins. Cranes are known for...

Kearny, Stephen Watts

(Encyclopedia)Kearny, Stephen Watts kärˈnē [key], 1794–1848, American general in the Mexican War, b. Newark, N.J. At the beginning of the Mexican War he was made commander of the Army of the West with the rank...

artesian well

(Encyclopedia)artesian well, deep drilled well through which water is forced upward under pressure. The water in an artesian well flows from an aquifer, which is a layer of very porous rock or sediment, usually san...

Winnebago

(Encyclopedia)Winnebago, Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Siouan branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). When Father Jean Nicolet encountered them (1634), th...

Great Plains

(Encyclopedia)Great Plains, extensive grassland region on the continental slope of central North America. They extend from the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba south through W central Unite...