Samuel Damian

Last updated
Samuel Damian
Born
Romania
Occupation Greek Catholic priest
Known for Electrical demonstrations

Samuel Damian (also spelled Samuil Domien) was an 18th-century Romanian Greek Catholic priest from Transylvania who emigrated to North America. [1] [2]

Damian's name first appears in 1748, when he placed an advertisement in the South Carolina Gazette announcing the electrical demonstrations he planned to give, and inviting the public to attend. Letters written in 1753 and 1755 by Benjamin Franklin attest to the fact that the two had met, and had carried on discussions in Latin concerning electricity. [1]

Before settling in Charleston, South Carolina, Damian spent time in Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia.

After living for some years in South Carolina, he traveled to Jamaica, and after that his name disappears from historical records. [3] [4]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benjamin Franklin</span> American polymath and statesman (1706–1790)

Benjamin Franklin was an American polymath: a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and political philosopher. Among the most influential intellectuals of his time, Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States; a drafter and signer of the Declaration of Independence; and the first postmaster general.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Whitefield</span> English cleric and preacher (1714–1770)

George Whitefield, also known as George Whitfield, was an English Anglican minister and preacher who was one of the founders of Methodism and the evangelical movement. Born in Gloucester, he matriculated at Pembroke College, Oxford in 1732. There, he joined the "Holy Club" and was introduced to John and Charles Wesley, with whom he would work closely in his later ministry. Unlike the Wesleys, he embraced Calvinism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albany Congress</span> 1754 meeting of British American colonies

The Albany Congress, also known as the Albany Convention of 1754, was a meeting of representatives sent by the legislatures of seven of the British colonies in British America: Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island. Those not in attendance included Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, New Jersey, Virginia, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Representatives met daily at the City Hall in Albany, New York, from June 19 to July 11, 1754, to discuss better relations with the Native American tribes and common defensive measures against the French threat from Canada in the opening stage of the French and Indian War, the North American front of the Seven Years' War between Great Britain and France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">State of Franklin</span> Former unrecognized proposed US state

The State of Franklin was an unrecognized proposed state located in present-day East Tennessee, in the United States. Franklin was created in 1784 from part of the territory west of the Appalachian Mountains that had been offered by North Carolina as a cession to Congress to help pay off debts related to the American War for Independence. It was founded with the intent of becoming the 14th state of the new United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Bartram</span> American botanist (1699–1777)

John Bartram was an American botanist, horticulturist, and explorer, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for most of his career. Swedish botanist and taxonomist Carl Linnaeus said he was the "greatest natural botanist in the world." Bartram corresponded with and shared North American plants and seeds with a variety of scientists in England and Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pehr Kalm</span> Swedish scientist and priest (1716-1779)

Pehr Kalm, also known as Peter Kalm, was a Swedish explorer, botanist, naturalist, and agricultural economist. He was one of the most important apostles of Carl Linnaeus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benjamin Smith (North Carolina politician)</span> Governor of North Carolina (1756–1826)

Benjamin Smith was the 16th governor of North Carolina from 1810 to 1811.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Romanian Americans</span> Ethnic groups in the United States

Romanian Americans are Americans who have Romanian ancestry. According to the 2023 American Community Survey, 425,738 Americans indicated Romanian as their first or second ancestry, however other sources provide higher estimates, which are most likely more accurate, for the numbers of Romanian Americans in the contemporary United States; for example, the Romanian-American Network supplies a rough estimate of 1.2 million who are fully or partially of Romanian ethnicity. There is also a significant number of people of Romanian Jewish ancestry, estimated at 225,000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benjamin Mays</span> American Baptist minister

Benjamin Elijah Mays was an American Baptist minister and American rights leader who is credited with laying the intellectual foundations of the American civil rights movement. Mays taught and mentored many influential activists, including Martin Luther King Jr, Julian Bond, Maynard Jackson, and Donn Clendenon, among others. His rhetoric and intellectual pursuits focused on Black self-determination. Mays' commitment to social justice through nonviolence and civil resistance were cultivated from his youth through the lessons imbibed from his parents and eldest sister. The peak of his public influence coincided with his nearly three-decade tenure as the sixth president of Morehouse College, a historically black institution of higher learning, in Atlanta, Georgia.

Ann Smith Franklin was an American colonial newspaper printer and publisher. She inherited the business from her husband, James Franklin, brother of Benjamin Franklin. She published the Newport Mercury, printed an almanac series, and printed Rhode Island paper currency. She was the country’s first female newspaper editor, the first woman to write an almanac, and the first woman inducted into the University of Rhode Island's Journalism Hall of Fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Franklin J. Moses Jr.</span> American lawyer, editor, and politician (1838–1906)

Franklin Israel Moses Jr. was a South Carolina lawyer and editor who became active as a Republican politician in the state during the Reconstruction Era. He was elected to the legislature in 1868 and served as Speaker of the South Carolina House of Representatives. He was governor in 1872, serving into 1874. Enemies labelled him the 'Robber Governor'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benjamin F. Cheatham</span> Civil War (CSA) general (1820–1886)

Benjamin Franklin Cheatham was a Confederate general during the American Civil War. He served in the Army of Tennessee, inflicting many casualties on Gen. Sherman at Kennesaw Mountain, Georgia, but took the blame for General Schofield's escape at Spring Hill – a major factor in the Confederate defeat at Franklin, Tennessee in 1864. Later in life, he became a gold miner in California and a plantation owner in his home state of Tennessee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British America</span> Former British territories in North America

British America collectively refers to various European colonies in the Americas prior to the conclusion of the American Revolutionary War in 1783. The British monarchy of the Kingdom of England and Kingdom of Scotland—later named the Kingdom of Great Britain, of the British Isles and Western Europe—governed many colonies in the Americas beginning in 1585.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nikwasi</span> Pre-Columbian archaeological site in North Carolina

Nikwasi comes from the Cherokee word for "star", Ꮓꮘꮟ Noquisi (No-kwee-shee), and is the site of the Cherokee town which is first found in colonial records in the early 18th century, but is much older. The town covered about 100 acres (40 ha) on the floodplain of the Little Tennessee River. Franklin, North Carolina, was later developed by European Americans around this site.

Charles Woodmason was an author, poet, Anglican clergyman, American loyalist, and west gallery psalmodist. He is best remembered for his journal documenting life on the South Carolina frontier in the late 1760s, and for his role as a leader of the South Carolina Regulator movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Franklin McCain</span> African-American civil rights activist (1941–2014)

Franklin Eugene McCain was an American civil rights activist and member of the Greensboro Four. McCain, along with fellow North Carolina A&T State University students Ezell Blair Jr., Joseph McNeil and David Richmond, staged a sit-in protest at the Woolworth lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, on February 1, 1960, after they were refused service due to the color of their skin. Their actions were credited with launching the Greensboro sit-ins, a massive protest across state lines involving mostly students who took a stand against discrimination in restaurants and stores by refusing to leave when service was denied to them. The sit-ins successfully brought about the reversal of Woolworth's policy of racial segregation in their southern stores, and increased national sentiment to the fight of African-Americans in the south.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Hall (printer)</span> Scottish printer and publisher

David Hall was a British printer who immigrated from Scotland to America and became an early American printer, publisher and business partner with Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia. He eventually took over Franklin's printing business of producing official documents for the colonial province of Pennsylvania and that of publishing The Pennsylvania Gazette newspaper that Franklin had acquired in 1729. Hall formed his own printing firm in 1766 and formed partnership firms with others. He published material for the colonial government.

Peter Timothy, originally named Peter Timothee, was an 18th-century Dutch-American printer and politician. He immigrated to the American colonies with his parents, French Huguenots, Lewis and Elizabeth Timothy. Lewis worked for Benjamin Franklin and learned the trade in Philadelphia before moving to Charleston, South Carolina (called Charles Town before the American Revolutionary War. His parents ran the South Carolina Gazette, which was turned over to Timothy after his father's death, his mother's period of operating the printing business, and after he became of age. In addition to running the newspaper, Timothy, ran a printing business, was postmaster, and politician. He was particularly active in the period leading up to and during the war. A notable event was his publication of the Declaration of Independence for public viewing, which included his name as printer. Afraid that his printing press would be damaged or confiscated, there were periods of time, such as during the Siege of Charleston when he had suspended publishing. He was taken prisoner as a traitor and held for ten months at the alligator-protected prison at St. Augustine, Florida. He died during an ocean voyage, after which is wife Ann Timothy took over the printing business.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lily Morehead Mebane</span> American politician and humanitarian (1869–1943)

Lily Connally Morehead Mebane was an American relief worker, politician, and heiress. During World War I, she chaired the Rockingham County Committee of the North Carolina Division of the Woman's Committee of the Council of National Defense. She worked in France and Romania with the American Committee for Devastated France, where she met Queen Marie of Romania. She remained friends with the Queen Marie until the queen's death in 1938. For her relief work during the war, Mebane was awarded the Cross of Mercy by King Peter I of Serbia and was made Knight of the Legion of Honour by the French government.

References

  1. 1 2 Melvin H. Buxbaum (1988). Benjamin Franklin, 1907-1983: A Reference Guide. Boston: G. K. Hall & Co. pp. 446–715.
  2. "Romanian Americans - History, Modern era, The first romanians in america". everyculture.com. Retrieved 2015-10-03.
  3. Wertsman, Vladimir (1975). The Romanians in America, 1748–1974. New York: Oceana Publications
  4. "Romanian Americans history". everyculture.com. Retrieved 2013-04-14.