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Appleton’s Cyclopædia of American Biography

Appleton’s Cyclopædia of American Biography

Published between 1887 and 1889, Appleton’s Cyclopædia of American Biography was edited by James Grant Wilson and John Fiske and remains one of the most ambitious biographical reference works of the 19th century. Spanning six volumes, it includes thousands of entries on notable Americans, with particular attention to the Founding generation.

The Cyclopædia provides concise, encyclopedic biographies of all 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence, often accompanied by engraved portraits. Its entries are notable for their editorial consistency, factual density, and early use of cross-referencing. While some entries reflect the biases of the era, the work remains a foundational resource for historians and genealogists alike.

Each signer’s biography is presented in full, with original 19th-century language preserved. Entries are formatted in Markdown with YAML headers for archival ingestion and cross-referenced with other foundational texts such as Lossing’s Lives of the Signers and Goodrich’s Lives of the Signers to the Declaration of Independence.

Source: Wilson, James Grant, and John Fiske, eds. Appleton’s Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1887–1889. Patriot Echoes Archive

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