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Biographies — page 68
3,283 public-domain biographies books, summarised. Page 68 of 69.
From Lower Deck to Pulpit
Henry Cowling
This memoir recounts a journey from the harsh discipline of the Victorian-era Royal Navy to the pulpit of a Baptist church, revealing how a young boy’s early yearning for ministry survived years of sea-hardened adversity.
The Empty Sleeve
Henry H. Meacham
The empty sleeve of a carriage-maker turned Union soldier stands as a stark testament to the grueling realities of the Civil War, chronicling a private's journey from naive patriotism through the horrific campaigns of the Wilderness and Petersburg.
Journal of the Waterloo campaign, vol. 2 (of 2)
Cavalié Mercer
Following the smoke of Waterloo, an English artillery officer records the strange, vibrant reality of an occupied Paris and a wounded French countryside.
Life and Death of John of Barneveld, Advocate of Holland
John Lothrop Motley
In the shadow of a brutal execution, a great republic tears itself apart, driving a grieving family from tragic martyrdom into dark, desperate conspiracy.
Reminiscences of service with the Twelfth Rhode Island Volunteers, and a memorial of Col. George H. Browne
Pardon Elisha Tillinghast
A soldier's unvarnished chronicle records the arduous marches, daily camp life, and enduring camaraderie of the Twelfth Rhode Island Volunteers, alongside a loving tribute to their steadfast commander, Colonel George H. Browne.
Abraham Lincoln
T. M. (Thomas Mears) Eddy
The shadow of a martyred leader falls across a nation in mourning, prompting a powerful reflection on the moral duty to preserve the Union and complete the work of emancipation through divine and national resolve.
Interesting Incidents Connected With the Life of George Bickers: Originally a Farmer's Parish Apprentice at Laxfield, in Suffolk, but Now Residing in Oulton
George Bickers
An aging Suffolk artisan traces his journey from a impoverished parish apprentice to an established shoemaker in Oulton, recording seventy years of quiet faith, local tragedies, and changing seasons.
The Affecting Case of the Unfortunate Thomas Daniels: Who Was Tried at the Sessions Held at the Old Bailey, September, 1761, for the Supposed Murder of His Wife
Thomas Daniels
Condemned to hang for murdering his wife by throwing her from a window, an ordinary London carpenter fought his way back from the shadow of the gallows to reclaim his innocence.
Lincoln's Last Hours
Charles A. (Charles Augustus) Leale
The physician who first reached the side of a fallen President recalls the harrowing, minute-by-minute struggle to preserve a life already lost to history. This intimate account bridges the distance between a national tragedy and the singular human experience of those who witnessed it.
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 14, No. 407, December 24, 1829
Various
This nineteenth-century miscellany offers a panoramic view of Georgian life, blending scientific curiosity, literary portraiture, and architectural wonder into a single, eclectic volume of serial entertainment.
The Story of My Life
Georg Ebers
A young student finds his character forged within the mountain-cradled walls of a revolutionary school, where rigorous physical training and the wisdom of veteran soldiers shape the future of a budding intellectual.
The Story of My Life
Georg Ebers
This memoir captures the transition from sheltered youth to the threshold of adulthood, mapping the formative pressures of nineteenth-century German education and the restless, romantic spirit of a young scholar.
Diary of Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys
A meticulous civil servant records the intimate textures of his daily life, capturing the Restoration era’s political maneuvering, personal moral failings, and the relentless pulse of 17th-century London.
A Complete Edition of the Works of Nancy Luce
Nancy Luce
The bond between a suffering woman and her poultry defines this singular testament, a blend of theological fervor, intense personal grief, and surprisingly practical veterinary advice for the nineteenth-century farmyard.
Gen. Cowdin and the First Massachusetts Regiment of Volunteers
Robert Cowdin
A veteran commander recounts his systematic exclusion from military advancement, exposing the bitter friction between battlefield service and the political machinery of the Massachusetts state government during the American Civil War.
Life and Death of John of Barneveld, Advocate of Holland
John Lothrop Motley
The private passions of a king and the public survival of a nation collide in this sweeping account of early seventeenth-century European diplomacy. A monarch’s obsession with a young princess sets the stage for a continent-wide shift in the balance of power.
Life and Death of John of Barneveld, Advocate of Holland
John Lothrop Motley
This account chronicles the final years and eventual execution of the Dutch Republic’s most influential statesman, whose life and death mirror the violent religious and political fractures that defined the era.
Personal Recollections of Chickamauga: A Paper Read before the Ohio Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States
James R. (James Richards) Carnahan
The battle of Chickamauga was not merely a military engagement; it was a defining, indelible trauma painted upon the memories of those who survived it, shaping their understanding of duty, courage, and sacrifice for the rest of their lives.
The life of the departed
I. E. (Ingraham E.) Bill
Know ye not, that there is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel?
Diary of Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys
The private thoughts of a 17th-century naval administrator reveal the unvarnished realities of life, ambition, and domestic strain in Restoration London. This intimate record serves as both a historical cornerstone and a deeply human mirror.
Diary of Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys
This record of a life lived in the corridors of seventeenth-century power reveals the intimate, messy, and strikingly modern anxieties of a man navigating a world in flux.
Memoirs of Jean François Paul de Gondi, Cardinal de Retz
Jean François Paul de Gondi de Retz
The power struggles of the French court are brought to life by a man who navigated the treacherous waters of the Fronde, balancing his sacred duties as a cardinal against his secular ambitions for influence and survival.
Some forgotten Pennsylvania heroines
Henry W. (Henry Wharton) Shoemaker
Pennsylvania’s history is anchored by the quiet, often overlooked courage of women whose lives defined the frontier and the early American spirit. This collection serves as a restorative record, lifting these figures from the shadows of obscurity.
A short account of the extraordinary life and travels of H. L. L.----: native of St. Domingo, now a prisoner of war at Ashbourn, in Derbyshire, shewing the remarkable steps of Divine providence towards him, and the means of his conversion to God
H. L. L.
A young man from St. Domingo recounts a turbulent life of shipwreck, revolution, and capture, ultimately finding his true salvation while languishing as a prisoner of war in the quiet English countryside.
Chickamauga. Useless, Disastrous Battle
Smith D. (Smith Dykins) Atkins
The Civil War’s tragedy is not always found in the fighting, but in the command decisions that turned strategic victory into unnecessary slaughter. This account offers a biting, firsthand critique of the 1863 Chickamauga campaign.
John Lothrop Motley. a memoir
Oliver Wendell Holmes
This memoir of a distinguished American historian and diplomat explores the personal toll of public service, tracking a brilliant mind caught in the gears of political machinery and the volatile climate of the nineteenth century.
My Service in the U.S. Colored Cavalry: A Paper Read before the Ohio Commandery of the Loyal Legion, March 4, 1908
Frederick W. Browne
A veteran’s unvarnished account of military life, mutiny, and the violent end of a service that redefined his world.
Rebecca Jarrett
Josephine Elizabeth Grey Butler
A woman’s crusade for justice reveals the moral hypocrisy of a society that punishes the messenger to protect the status quo. This account serves as both a personal vindication and a stinging indictment of Victorian legal cruelty.
The Story of My Life
Georg Ebers
HOOK This memoir traces a scholar’s arduous transformation from a spirited, careless youth into a disciplined Egyptologist and novelist, shaped by physical suffering and the relentless pursuit of intellectual truth.
Life and Death of John of Barneveld, Advocate of Holland
John Lothrop Motley
In this sweeping examination of early seventeenth-century statecraft, the collision between personal ambition and national survival charts the inevitable descent into the Thirty Years' War. It is a rigorous study of how ideological rigidity and diplomatic failures can dismantle a hard-won peace.
Life of James Mars, a Slave Born and Sold in Connecticut
James Mars
A survivor of Northern slavery recounts his childhood, the desperate flight of his family to escape being sold South, and his eventual journey toward hard-won dignity and civic life.
Personal recollections and experiences concerning the Battle of Stone River
Milo S. Hascall
The clash at Murfreesboro was a crucible of leadership and loyalty, where a professional soldier’s candid account strips away the myth of the battlefield to reveal the friction, politics, and personal prejudices that governed the Union ranks.
Stevenson's Perfect Virtues, as Exemplified by Leigh Hunt
Luther Albertus Brewer
Cheerfulness is not a naive avoidance of pain, but a deliberate, valiant choice to cultivate light in the face of life’s inevitable shadows. This meditation explores that vital philosophy through the example of a nineteenth-century literary soul.
Campaign of Battery D, First Rhode Island Light Artillery
Ezra Knight Parker
HOOK This account documents a battery’s grueling journey from Virginia to the mountains of East Tennessee, culminating in the desperate defense of Knoxville against a seasoned Confederate force.
Life and Death of John of Barneveld, Advocate of Holland
John Lothrop Motley
The life and death of a pivotal statesman captures the intense friction between civil law and military power. This narrative examines how a republic’s internal fractures can undo its greatest achievements.
Old Daniel
Thomas Hodson
HOOK A portrait of faith and village life in 19th-century India, this memoir traces the journey of a washerman who leaves behind ancestral idol worship to become a steadfast, lifelong Christian convert.
Letters to his mother, Ann Borrow, and other correspondents
George Borrow
A restless spirit traverses the globe and the British countryside, chronicling his solitary odysseys and domestic concerns with a sharp, idiosyncratic eye for detail. This collection of letters captures the private voice of a man defined as much by his wanderlust as by his fierce devotion to home.
Memoirs of Madame la Marquise de Montespan
Madame de Montespan
These pages offer a rare, unapologetic window into the glittering and treacherous heart of the court of Louis XIV, as seen through the eyes of the King’s most famous mistress.
Personal Sketches and Tributes: Part 2 from Volume VI of The Works of John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier
These collected reflections offer an intimate, enduring portrait of 19th-century American intellectual life, capturing the moral urgency of the abolitionist movement alongside tender tributes to the literary figures who shaped the era.
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 10, No. 291 - Supplement to Vol 10
Various
This collection serves as a Victorian miscellany, capturing the curiosity of the 1820s through an eclectic blend of biography, scientific discovery, and societal observation.
A Sketch of the Life and Times of Judge Haliburton
R. G. (Robert Grant) Haliburton
The life of a colonial judge turned literary icon serves as a window into the evolution of the British Empire, revealing how one man’s wit shaped public opinion on both sides of the Atlantic.
The Forty-third regiment United States Colored Troops
Jeremiah Marion Mickley
This account serves as both a detailed military chronicle and a passionate argument for the full citizenship of the men who fought for the Union. It captures the essential, often overlooked role of a regiment that helped shape the final victory.
The Will of Samuel Appleton, with Remarks by One of the Executors
Samuel Appleton
This document preserves the final wishes and public memory of a nineteenth-century merchant, offering an intimate look at the private life and final distributions of a prominent Boston benefactor.
Ball's Bluff: An Episode and Its Consequences to Some of Us
Charles Lawrence Peirson
The disastrous defeat at Ball’s Bluff serves as the catalyst for an intimate account of military incompetence, the brotherhood of captive officers, and the early, uncertain months of the American Civil War.
Gwaith Alun
John Blackwell
HOOK A humble cobbler’s apprentice rises to become a celebrated voice of the Welsh language, capturing the landscape, faith, and spirit of his nation in verse.
The Nineteenth Century Apostle of the Little Ones
E. Uhlrich
This account chronicles the life of Giovanni Bosco, a nineteenth-century Italian priest who dedicated his existence to the reclamation and education of neglected youth, transforming a simple act of compassion into a global mission.
The Rhode Island Artillery at the First Battle of Bull Run
J. Albert (John Albert) Monroe
In the humid summer of 1861, a newly formed Rhode Island artillery unit marches toward a conflict they expect to be brief, only to find themselves tested by the grim, chaotic realities of modern war.
An accurate and authentic journal of the siege of Quebec, 1759
Anonymous
The fate of Canada turns on a single, desperate gamble against a towering, fortified cliff. This eyewitness account captures the raw, unfolding reality of a pivotal military campaign that reshaped a continent.