The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924092234321 CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 1924 092 234 321 E NC YCLOP^E DI A OP CONTEMPORAEY BIOGKAPHI OF NEW YORK, VOL. I, ILLUSTRATED WITH PORTRAITS ON STEEL. NEW YORK: ATLANTIC PUBLISHING AND ENGRAVING. COMPANY. 1878. Enteredj.accordihg to Act of Congress, in the year 1877," by The Atlantic PiiBUsmNG and Engraving Company, In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Wasliington. PREFACE In the preparation of this volume, the editors and publishers have aimed to assemble, in permanent and attractive form, correct life sketches of citizens of the State, who are, or have been, conspicuous in official or civil station, illustrated in many cases by reliable portraiture. The value of such a work will be readily recognized, when it is remembered that, apart from its high standard of literary and artistic excellence, it is intended to contain such a collection (comprising, perhaps, several volumes) of thorough and authentic sketches of Contemporary Biography, as will assure to the readers of the present and the future, a full treasury of reference and information. The selection of subjects has been determined by the personal worthi- ness of the individual career, honestly adhering to the truth ,that success does not of itself make a life exemplary. New York is very rich in the achievements of her sons, whether as Legislators, Jurists, Divines, Physicians, Financiers, Merchants, Manufacturers, or Engineers, and it is the purpose of this series to include such representa- tive men, in whatever vocation, who have contributed to the establishment of a state polity, and an industrial, commercial and social development, un- surpassed in the world. New York, March, 1878. CONTENTS FAQE. Adams, Chaklbs H 208 Agnet, CoRNELitrs R 363 Alvoed, Thomas G 307 Aemoe, Samuel Q 299 AsTOE, William B 401 Aykbs, Daniel 297 Bacon, William J 247 Bakbe, Benjamin N 174 Baloh, Lewis 303 Baekee, Foedtoe 84 Baenbs, Demas 397 Baeeon, JohnC 321 Baeeon, Thomas 319 Bbaoh, Bloomfield J 351 Bbaoh, Ett&ene 202 Beadle, Edwaed L.... 186 Beeohee, Henkt Wakd 32 BiGELOw, John 373 Bliss, Aeohibald M 116 BoNNEE, Robeet 43 BONTBCO0, Reed B 235 BeiGgs, Lansingh 349 Beown, Chaeles F 210 Beown, HeneyKieke 180 Beown, John W 309 Betant, William Cttllen 9 Buck, Guedon 47 Bttdd, Chaeles a 90 BnBL, David, Je 171 BuBLL, James 58 BUMSTBAD, FeEEMAN J 71 Bttshnell, Benjamin E 333 Btene, John 323 Campbell, Samuel 341 Caee, Joseph B 368 Caeeoll, J. Halsted 365 Caetee, Noeeis M 186 Cassedt, Abeam 8 184 Chapman, Edwin N 128 Chiteoh, Samuel P 267 Chuechill, Alonzo 342 Cltmee, Mbeedith 91 Collins, Isaac G 177 CoNKLiNG, Feedekiok A 52 CoNKLiNG, John T : 129 CoNKLING, ROSCOE 383 Corey, Chaeles 213 Corning, Beastus 107 PAGE. CovBET, James W 115 CowBN, Esek 153 CoxB, Samuel Hanson 247 Ceanb, James 278 Ceispell, a 192 Ceowbll, Stephen 213 Curtis, Geoege William 403 CuYLER, Theodore L 300 Davy, John M 263 Dean, Heney Waltee 264 Decker, George H 190 Deems, Chaeles F 318 De Gaemo, James M 174 De Peyster, Frederic 393 De Peyster, John Watts 399 De Witt, Thomas 38 Dbyo, Nathaniel 183 DiDAMA, Henry D 359 Dix, John A 35 Dix, Morgan 51 DoRRANCE, William H 315 dorsheimer, william 379 Drake, Charles 189 Draper, William H 119 Dudley, William H 173 DuNLAP, Joseph P 361 DuRYEA, Joseph T 394 Dwight, Charles C 249 Eagee, William B 233 Earl, Robert 236 Edson, Franklin 138 Egberts, Egbert 273 Ely, Smith 180 Ely, William W 363 Emmet, Thomas Addis 79 Evaets, WilliamM 31 Everett, Harvey 190 Paxton, Theodore S 389 Fish, Hamilton 37 Flandrau, Thomas M 357 Flint, Austin 45 Flint, Austin, Jr 73 Foster, Henry A 250 Fowler, Philemon H 341 Francis, John M 154 FuESMAl^r, Edgar L 154 VI. CONTENTS. PAGE. Gale, E. Thompson 143 Gallaudet, Thomas 303 Gay, Charles C. F 282 Geeaed, James W 181 Gbeaed. James W., Je 132 Gillette, Abeam D 210 GrLLETTE, Waltee R 212 Gould, William B 280 Geaham, James G 181 Geaves, Ezea 287 Geeelet, Hoeaoe 11 Geiswold, John A 231 Gunning, Thomas B 164 Hale, Matthew 294 Hall, Benjamin H 159 Hall, Chaeles H 326 Hall, Fitzedwakd 157 Hallbtt, Aenold 160 Hardin, George A 305 Haeeis, Hamilton 149 Hartley, Isaac S 243 Haevet, Albert B 188 Haven, Eeastus O 305 Hazard, George S 288 Heath, S. Pulvee 201 Helm, James 1 178 Helm, William H 179 Hepwoeth, Geoege H 376 HULBTT, PlEESON B 265 Htm, Edwaed li 275 Hun, Thomas 274 Hunt, Jambs G 244 Hunt, Waed 38i HuNTEE, John W 85 Hosted, James W 330 Hutchison, Joseph C 127 Jackson, Samuel W igg Jat, John g^ Jenkins, J. Foster 370 Jervis, John B gg^ Johnson, Alexander S 340 Johnson, D. Minor K .■ "252 Johnson, William L 202 Johnston, David J -^gg JoNBS, Robert O 344 Kanb, John Geenville gig Keenan, Francis onr: King, Thomas 191 Kittingee, Maetin S 280 Kline, Adam W 073 paOe, Laning, Albert P 281 Lbaming, James R 334 Leavenwoeth, Euas W 370 -Lewi, Joseph 160 LiNsoN, John J 175 Little, Theron N 191 Littlbjohn, a. N 41 LoOMis, Alfred L 86 LooMis, Aephaxed 203 Low, A. A 141 Lowell, Robeet T. S 194 Maech, Alden 121 Maetindale, John H 889 JIason, Theodore L 170 JIaxon, Geoege G 196 McAlbee, Michael 88 JMoCloskbt, John 357 JIoCeoskert, John J. S 180 JIoNaughton, James 124 Mbeoer, Alfred 308 Mbewin, Milton H 241 MiLLAED, Nelson 260 Milligan, William G 234 MiNEE, Julius F 334 Mitchell, Chauncet L 133 Mitchell, Coenblius B 315 MooEB, Abel B 173 Moore, David ^85 MooEB, Edwaed M 354 MosHEE, Jacob S 173 MuEPiiY, Henry C...;. 333 NiLBS, William W 391 NOTT, ElIPHALET •;; ^97 NoxoN, James 353 Oakley, Henry A 79 Oemiston, William 337 Otis, Pessenden N 75 Paekee, Amasa J 130 Paekee, AVillard 375 Paementer, Roswell a 235 Payne, John C igg Pease, Roger W 353 Peasleb, Edmund R 4g Peck, Daeius 3-0 Pbokham, Rufus W 139 PiEERBPONT, Edwards gg Platt, William B 1^5 Porter, Wilfred AV 300 Post, Alfred C or^ Potter, Horatio gg CONTENTS. Vll. PAGE. PoTXEE, Platt 195 Powell, Thomas 372 Pratt, Calvin E 114 Pkatt, Daniel 308 Peesoott, Amos H 338 Pkime, S. Ibbn^us 41 Peinoe, L. Beadfoed I35 Peutn, John V. L 135 Putnam, Alfeed P I33 Ramsdell, Hombe ' 371 Rawson, Geoege W 363 Reinfeldbe, Maximilian J 179 Robbetson, Chaelbs a 301 Robinson, John C , 173 Robinson, Lucius 34 RocHESTBE, Thomas P 314 RoosA, Daniel B. St. John 393 Ross, ClIAELES N , 340 RuGBK, William C 361 Sandees, John „ 197 Sandees, Walter T. L 198 Sands, Hbney Beeton 57 Sayee, Lewis A 386 SoHENOK, Noah H 331 sohoonmakee, augustus 348 Soeibnee, James W 177 Setmoue, David L 110 Sbtmoue, HoEATio 344 Sharee, John P 334 Sheldon, Alvanus W 155 Skene, Alex J. C 399 Smith, CYEtrs P 161 Smith, Geoege Claek 189 Smith, Geoege K 335 Smith, H. Lyle 176 Smith, Henet 150 Smith, John Cotton 385 Spaulding, B. G 309 Spbie, S. Fleet 130 Spinnbe, Feanois E 343 Spoffoed, Patfl 70 Speague, E. Caeleton 313 St. John, Daniel B 113 Stevens, Halset R 183 Stbwaet, Alexandee T 89 Stewaet John 303 Stoees, Riohaed S '. 93 Stoughton, Edwin W 95 Stout, A. V 377 Stbanahan, J. S. T 395 Symonds, Hbney Clay 178 Swift, Chaelbs W 187 PAGE. Swinburne, John 136 Talmage, T. DbWitt , 377 Tayloe, Isaac E 63 Tayloe, James W 304 Tayloe, Moses 859 Tayloe, William M 389 Ten Eyok, Jacob H 374 Thomas, T. Gaillaed 49 TiBBiTS, William B 215 TiLDBN, Samuel J 16 TOWNSBND, HOWAED 109 TowNSBND, Maetin I ..145 Teaoy, Benjamin F 379 Teemain, Lyman 393 TuTHiLL, Robert K 187 Tyng, Stephen H 94 Tyng, Stephen H., Jr 388 Upham, George B 176 Van Buebn, William H 78 Vandeebilt, Cornelius 403 Vandbrpoel, S. Oakley 375 Vandeevbbe, Albert 301 Van Deusen, Edwin M 347 VanVoest, Abraham A 193 Veddee, Alexander M 193 Waloott, Benjamin S 73 Wallace, William J 353 Waed, Peter 181 Ward, R. Halsted 152 Waed, Samuel B 151 Warner, Jared E 348 Warnbe, Peter R 162 Warren, Joseph M 214 Webb, Alexander S 344 Webb, James Watson 343 Weed, Smith M 367 Weir, Robert F 148 West, M. Calvin 257 Weston, Sullivan H 317 Whalby, Alexander 253 Whaley, James S 353 Wilkin, John G 184 WiNSLOw, JohnF 806 Woloott, Samuel G 343 Wood, Fernando 361 Wood, James R 339 Wood, Walter A 198 Wright, Daniel G 188 Wright, Joel W 148 Wyckoff, Cornelius C 380 ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. BEYANT, WILLIAM CULLEN, L L.D., the dis- tinguished subject of this sketch, was born in Cummington, Hampshire County, Massachusetts, November 8d, 1794. His father, a man of sterling char- acter, extensive travel, and rare culture, was one of the most eminent physicians of Western Massachusetts, and was widely known and respected. Upon the educa- tion of his children he bestowed the most earnest care and attention, and, happily, with the very best results. Yoimg Bryant gave early evidence of the great genius within him. Before completing his tenth year he had contributed verses to a country newspaper published at Northampton, which were remarkable for their beauty, as well as by reason of the tender age of the writer. Some excellent translations of his from the Latin poets were also published about the same time. When but thirteen years old, he wrote two poems of such merit that his friends had them published in book form, and so far in advance of what could possibly be expected of one so young were these poems, that in the second edition, published in 1809, it was found necessary to attest the fact of authorship by certifi- cates. While still a boy, Bryant entered Williams College, and displayed remarkable ability in his studies, becoming especially proficient in language and litera^ ture. Upon leaving college, he began the study of law, entering the office of Judge Samuel Howe, at Worthington, Mass., and continuing his studies under the direction of the Hon. William Baylies, of West Bridgewater, in the same State. In 1815, he was ad- mitted to the Bar at Plymouth, and commenced the practice of law in Plainfield, Mass., although he sub- sequently removed to Great Barringtpn, in the same State, where he soon afterwards married. His legal attainments were of no mean order, for with little dif- ficulty he advanced to the front rank in the local and State courts, and gave promise of a brilliant future. Despite this flattering success, Mr. Bryant's inclina- tions were for a literary career. In 1817, the North American Rmiew published his "Thanatopsis," which he had written when but nineteen years of age. This poem attracted universal attention, and the flattering reception accorded it probably decided the youthful poet to abandon his legal career for one much more to his taste, in the field of letters. About this time, he formed the acquaintance of Richard H. Dana, who was one of the association which conducted the Be- view. The well-known poet Whittier, in his preface to " Three Centuries of Song," says, in speaking of the poetical literature of our country, that it really coromenced with Bryant's 'Thanatopsis' and Dana's 'Buccaneers.'" In "the grave philosophical tone, chaste simplicity of language, freedom of versification, and freshness and truth of illustration," which charac- terize the former production, lies the unmistakable evidence of the highest order of genius, and this poem is regarded as one of the most impressive ever written. Mr. Bryant's efforts were not, however, confined to the writing of verse; he contributed a number of prose articles to the North American Bemew, and in 1831, he delivered a didactic poem on "The Ages," before the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Harvard College. During this year, the publication of a volume of his poems obtained for him a universal as well as immediate lO CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. recognition as the possessor of a very high order of talent. In 1835, Mr. Bryant, who had removed to New York City, filled an engagement as an editor of the New York Reoiew, and contributed to its columns both prose and verse. The following year he became connected with the New Yorli: Eiiming Post as associ- ate editor. The political proclivities of this journal were federalistic, but through his efforts began to assume a republican character; upon his becoming managing editor a few years later, the paper became strongly democratic, and in its columns free trade found a warm advocacy, and class legislation a deter- mined opposition. Aside from his journalistic duties, Mr. Bryant found time to contribute to the literature of the day, and for several years he edited, in conjunc- tion vrith Robert C. Sands and Gulian C. Verplanok, a very popular and successful annual publication called Tlie Talisman. The fli-st complete edition of his poems was published in New York in 1832. A reprint of this edition was issued in England, through the aid of "Washington Irving, who contributed to it a warmly eulogistic preface. A generous review of the volume, from the able pen of John Wilson, appeared in Blach- wooWs Magazine, and Mr. Bryant's reputation was no longer confined to his own country. In 1834, leaving the Evening Post under the management of William Leggett, whom he had associated with himself as edi- tor, Mr. Bryant sailed for Europe, accompanied by his family, and travelled through Prance, Italy, and Ger- many. In 1845 a second visit, and in 1849 a third, which was extended into Egypt and Syria, enabled him to increase largely his acquaintance with the lan- guage and literature of the countries visited, besides furnishing him with material for a series of letters to his jomnal, which were subsequently issued in book form, under the title of "Letters of a Traveller," and were deservedly popular. Unlike many Americans who travel abroad, Mr. Bryant paid particular atten- tion to his own country, which he had visited from Canada to the Gulf ; and not the least interesting por- tions of the book mentioned are the letters descriptive of his American experiences. A second volume of travels, entitled "Letters from Spain and other Coun- tries," which had previously appeared in the EDening Post, was the result of a fourth visit to Europe, during the years 1857 and 1858. In 1855, a new and com- plete edition of his poems was published, and in 1863, a new volume of his verses was issued under the title of "Thirty Poems." Mr. Bryant gave several years' time to the work of translating the "Iliad" and "Odys- sey " of Homer into English blank verse. The former appeared in 1870, and in 1871 was followed by the lat- ter. These translations received the most unqualified approval from all quarters, and without doubt are the best English versions of the great epics. Notwith- standing his extensive literary labors, Mr. Bryant finds time to take a part in the great political questions of this era ; and at many of the public meetings of his fellow-citizens the venerable poet may be found, rais- ing his voice in the cause of right and progress. Actu- ated alone by the purest motives, his earnest utter- ances carry with them a power which reaches the "heart, while at the same time their honesty and clear- ness bring conviction to the mind. Through the col- umns of the Evening Post, which is still under his management, he exerts a far-reaching influence, his accuracy of research, wisdom, and unselfish patriot- ism recommending his utterances even to his most im- placable political opponents. A vigorous prose veriter as well as poet, it has been said of his productions that ' ' they contain no superfluous word or empty phi-ase, but are marked throughout by a pure, manly, and straightforward English." His poems are models of purity and elegance in language, and evince exceed- ing "delicacy of fancy and elevation of thought," while breathing throughout "a genial, yet solemn and religious philosophy." As has been truly said of him, he is a national poet,» thoroughly American in spirit and in earnest sympathy with mankind. In fidelity to nature, his poems are unsurpassed, while "no poet has sung in nobler song the greatness of the Creator." Mr. Bryant, has, on several occasions, been called upon to speak in public on the life and services of eminent Americans. He pronounced the funeral oration of Thomas Cole, the painter, who died in 1848. Pom- years later, he delivered a discourse on the life and writings of James Penimore Cooper, the distinguished novelist, and in 1860 he paid a similar tribute to his friend Washington Irving. At the dedication of the Central Park statue to S. P. B. Morse, in 1871, Mr. Bryant made an address on the life and acliievements of the distinguished inventor of telegraphy. The next year he made addresses on Shakespeare and Scott, on the occasion of the dedication of their statues in the same park. Being one of the original founders and trustees of tile Century Club of New York, that asso- ciation, of which he is still an active member, com- memorated his entrance into his seventieth year by a festival, which was held on the evening of the 5th of November, at the club-house. There were present on this occasion many of the most distinguished poets, artists, and men of letters in the country, and from those unable to come the kindest regi'ets were received. Such an ovation from the most highly cultivated men of America has rarely fallen to the lot of any individ- ual, and could certainly be no better deserved. Among the numerous testimonials received by Mr. Bryant on this occasion, may be mentioned that of the artists, of whom the Century numbers among its members many of the most celebrated, who united in presenting their CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. II poet friend a magnificent portfolio of sketches. Mr. Bryant is connected witli many of our most noble and pliilanthropic undertakings. He is also warmly inter- ested in the cause of Art, and was one of the founders of the National Academy of Design, of which he is still a member. It may be interesting to state that he was a member of the original Sketch Club, and artists claim him as one of their number. Mr. Bryant is also one of the vice-presidents of the New York Historical Society, and is besides an officer in many other vener- able and learned, as well as humane associations. Wil- liams College, in Massachusetts, the aima mater of Mr. Bryant, and Union College, New York, have conferred upon him honorary degrees, the latter honoring itself while complimenting his genius, by bestowing the title of Doctor of Laws. His home, "an old-time mansion embowered in vines and flowers," is near the pretty village of Roslyn, on Long Island, and has been occu- pied by him ever since its purchase, more than thirty years ago. His editorial and managerial duties call for his daily presence in New York, and, thanks to his vigorous constitution and temperate life, he is still su- perior to age and labor. The poet pa/r excellence of nature and freedom, may he be spared far into the sec- ond century of our national life, to witness the con- summation of that for which he has so earnestly and valiantly striven, and to commemorate its achievement as he alone is capable of doing ! Truly may we say, using the language of James Russell Lowell, "Who as poet has done so much for the honor of his country, and as editor so much for its salvation?" &REELEY, HORACE, the distinguished American journalist, was born at Amlierst, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, on the' 3d of February, 1811, and died November 39th, 1872. He was the son of Zaccheus and Mary (Woodburn) Greeley, and his father was a plain, hardworking farmer, struggling to pay for land which he had bought at a high price, and Mr. Greeley's earliest years were passed in such farm labor as a mere boy was equal to — in riding horse to plow, in picking stones, and in watching the charcoal pits. He was a feeble, sickly child, often under med- ical treatment ; but from the first he manifested signs of extraordinary intelligence. These his mother, a woman of imcorautnon intelligence and information, marked with affectionate interest. She was a great reader, and she naturally imparted to her child the same love of books which she herself entertained. It has been stated that so soon as he could form any resolution, he determined to be a printer. In his third winter he attended the district school of Londonderry, where liis maternal grandfather resided. He was early distinguished for his recitations and for the skill which he displayed in the spelling exercises. In his seventh year even tlie limited success which had at- tended his father's farming ceased, and ruin could be no longer postponed by unflinching hard work. When the child was ten the ruin was consummated, and his father was an exile and fugitive from his native State. He began the hard business of life again in the town of Westhaven, Rutland County, Vermont, where lie was employed by a country gentleman of large estate. In 1836, young Greeley entered the office of TJie Nortlwrn Spectator, at East Poultney, Vt., as an ap- prentice to the art of printing. He was now at the college of which he was destined to be one of the most distinguished graduates. It need not be said that he went on acquiring, for it was nature with him to acquire. He had a plenty of newspapers to pore over, and a tolerable store of books. He joined the village Lyceum, which was also a Debating Society, of which he was "the real giant." His parents were away upon a new farm in Pennsylvania, but twice he visited them, walking a great part of the distance of 600 miles, and accomplishing tlie rest on a slow canal boat. At tins early period he was already a teetotaler, and though the apprentice boarded at a tavern where the drinking was constant, he continued a rigorous ab- stinent. His fund of information was such that he came to be regarded as a sort of walking encyclopaadia, and to him the disputes of the villagers were referred. As a printer he was reckoned the best worlanan in the office. But the newspaper made no money, and when Horace was in Ms 30th year its publication was dis- continued. He immediately looked out for work elsewhere, after he had written his parents in Penn- sylvania, and obtained employment as a journeyman in Janiestdwn and Lodi in New York, and Erie, Pa. In August; 1831, he came to the city of New York — poor in everything except good principles and indom- itable energy. He found emplojnnent first as a com- positor, after much difficulty. Subsequently in co- partnership with a Mr. Story he started the Morning Post, the first penny daily ever printed in the world, and wliich soon glided into bankruptcy. The printing office continued, obtaining some job work, and the concern was becoming comparatively prosperous when Story was drowned. Mr. Winchester came in, and Tlie New Yorker was started. This was a literary newspaper which, though its publication was not long continued, won an excellent reputation. In Mr. Greeley's autobiography he gives a toucliing account of the difficulties which he encountered in tliis enter- prise. The newspaper did a fairly good business, but it was not profitable to the proprietors, and the publi- cation was stopped in 1841. All this time Mr. Greeley was eking out his slender income by other 12 CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. labors. He supplied leading articles to TM Daily Whig, and had previously, in 1838, edited Tlie Jeffer- sonian, a political weekly campaign paper, published in Albany and New York. Everybody will remember T/i€ Log Cabin, the great Wliig campaign newspaper, which Mr. Greeley edited in the stormy contests of 1840. The weekly issues of The Log Cabin ran up to 80,000, and with ample facilities for printing and mailing might have been increased to 100,000. Mr. Greeley afterward said that, with the machinery of distribution now existing, the circulation might have been swelled to a quarter of a million. On the 10th day of April, 1841, the first number of the ^eio York Tribune was issued. It was a small sheet, retailed for a cent, Wliig in its politics, but, to use jMr. Greeley's words, "a journal removed alike from servile partisanship on the one hand, and from gagged and mincing neutrality on the other." The editor went gallantly to his work. He was thirty years old, in full health and vigor, and worth about $2,000, half of it in printing material. Mr. Greeley was his own editor. Mr. Henry J. Raymond, after- wards so celebrated In iournalism, but then a lad fresh from college, was his first assistant — a post he continued to hold for nearly eiglit years. Mr. George M. Snow took charge of the Wall street, or financial department, and held it for more than twenty-one years. T?ie Tribune was started with five hundred names of subscribers, and of the first number five thousand were either sold or given away. The current expenses of the first week were $520; the receipts were $92 ; but soon the income pretty nearly balanced the outgo. About six months after the commence- ment of T/i£ Tribune, and when it had reached a self- sustaining basis, Mr. Thomas McElrath, who had some capital, took charge of the business, leaving Mr. Greeley free to attend to the editorial department, and the famous firm of Greeley & McElrath was estab- lished. In Mr. Greeley's autobiography he pays this warm tribute to the business abilities of his partner : "He was so safe and judicious that the business never gave me any trouble, and scarcely required of me a thought, during that long era of all but unclouded prosperity." Of the subsequent career of TlieTribwne newspaper under Mr. Greeley, it is hardly necessary that we should speak. Not more in what he wrote for it, than in what others wrote for it, it bore the im- press of his vigorous intellect and unswerving integri- ty ; of his unceasing observation of public affairs, and of his indomitable industry. It was a Whig news- paper, but it was never blindly and indiscriminately the newspaper of any party. It was always the advo- cate of a liberal protection to American industry, but its editor constantly admonished the American work- man that by assiduity and intelligence he must protect himself. It boldly discussed social questions ; it fol- lowed Fourier in his ideas of associated labor, without indorsing the errors of his social doctrine ; it exposed the corruptions of New York politics, and when the leaders of the party threatened its destruction, it sim- ply defied them, and went on with its valiant work ; it fought for independence of criticism, and for the right to publish the news, in the libel suit which Mr. Cooper brought against it ; it introduced a better style of literary work than was common in newspapers at that time, and employed the best writers who were to be obtained. It was not too busy with home affairs to forget the wrongs of Ireland ; and it always rebuked without mercy the spirit of caste wliich would reduce persons of African descent to social degradation. Always, whatever it discussed, Tli» Tribune, when Ml-. Greeley had hardly anybody to help Mm in its management and conduct, was wide-awake, vigorous and entertaining. It never forgot those who were struggling for liberty in other lands — whether they were Irish, English, or Fi-ench, Hungarians, or Poles. It was the newspaper of universal humanity. In 1848, Mr. Greeley was elected a Member of the House of Representatives, and served in that body from December 1st of that year to March 4th, 1849. His career as a national law-maker was a short one, but he made himself felt. He did not at all mince matters in writing to The Tribune his first impressions of the House. In the very beginning he brought in a bill to discourage speculation in public lands, and establish homesteads upon the same. The abuses of mileage he kept no terms with. Members did not relish the cx- posm-e of their dishonesty, but all their talking did not in the least disturb Mr. Greeley's equammity. He opposed appropriations for fm-nisliing members with libraries at the public expense. No member was ever more faithful to his duties, and no one ever received smaller reward. In 1851, he visited Europe, and in London acted as one of the jurors of the Great Exhibition. He also appeared before the Parliament- ary Committee having under consideration the news- paper taxes, and gave important and useful informa- tion respecting the newspaper press of America. His letters, written during his absence, ai-e among the most interesting productions of his pen. In 1855, he again visited Europe for the pui-pose mainly of attend- ing the French Exhibition. In 1856, he spent much of the winter in Waslungton, commenting for Tlie Tribune upon the proceedings of Congi-ess; and it was at this time that he was brutally assaulted by Mr. Rust, a Member of Congi-ess from Arkansas. In 1859, Mr. Greeley jom-neyed across tlie plains to California. In Utah he had his well-known interview with Brig- ham Y^oung, by which he was more decidedly not convinced of the beauties of polygamy. At Sacra- CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. 13 mento and San Francisco he had a cordial public re- ception. The National Convention of the Republican party met in Chicago, in May, 1860, for the purpose of nominating a candidate for the Presidency. Mr. Greeley attended the Convention as a delegate for Ore- gon, by request of the RepubUcans of that State. The crisis was an important one, and the opinions of members in regard to the Presidential nomination were vai-ious. The choice of Mr. Greeley was Edward Bates, of St. Louis. "I believed," says Mr. Greeley, in his autobiogi-aphy, "that he could poll votes in every slave State, and, if elected, rally all that was left of the Whig party therein to resist secession and rebellion. If not the only Republican whose election would not suffice as a pretext for civil wai-, he seemed to me that one most likely to repress the threatened in- sm-rection, or, at the most, to crush it." The Con- vention having nominated Mr. Lincoln, with Mr. Hamlin for Vice-President, Mr. Greeley cheerfully acquiesced. The election of Mr. Lincoln, followed by a secession of several of the slave States, brought on the war. Mr. Greeley has left on record the com-se which at that dangerous and difficult moment he thought the most prudent and advisable to pursue. He took the ground that if it could be shown, upon a fair vote, that a majority of the citizens in the seced- ing States really desired such secession, then the re- maining States should acquiesce in the rupture. "We disclaim," he said, "a union of force — a union held together by bayonets ; let us be f au-ly heard ; and if your people decide that they choose to break away from us, we will interpose no obstacle to their peaceful withdrawal from the Union. " This doctrine, nalcedly stated, exposed those who propounded it to no little misapprehension, and consequent obloquy. Mr. Greeley always thought to the end of liis life, that if a fair vote could be taken, it would be found that the South was Tiot for secession, and that all the efforts of the disunionists had alienated but a minority of the Southern States or people from the Federal Union. He even insisted that it was lecaum of his certainty that a majority of the Southern people were not in favor of secession, that he urged the popular vote ; and that the vote, wherever fairly taken, fully con- firmed that view. He believed that the Confederate leaders had precipitated action because they feared that delay would be fatal to their schemes. When hostilities had actually commenced, he thought that the Government showed irresolution and delay. The result was "weary months of halting, timid, nerve- less, yet costly warfare." In 1864, Mr. Greeley was engaged in another attempt at accommodation. In consequence of overtures made by Clement C. Clay, of Alabama ; James P. Holcombe, of Virginia ; and George N. Sanders, a plan of adjustment was sub- mitted by Mr. Greeley to President Lincoln. This proposed the restoration and perpetuity of the Union ; the abolition of slavery; amnesty for all political offences; the payment of 1400,000,000 five per cent. United States stock to the late slave States, to be ap- portioned, ^0 rata, according to their slave popular tion ; representation in the House on the basis of their total population ; and a national convention to ratify the adjustment. Mr. Greeley believed a just peace to be attainable. He thought that even the offer of these terms, though they should be rejected, wouldbe • of immense advantage to the national cause, and might even prevent a Northern insuri-ection. The negotia- tions, it is a matter of history, utterly failed ; but it would be difficult to show that they did any injury to the cause of the Union. In connection with the Rich- mond negotiation, which was simultaneous, they showed that "the war must go on until the Confeder- acy should be recognized as an independent power, or till it should be utterly, finally overtlirown ;" "and the knowledge of this fact," said Mr. Greeley after- wards, "was worth more than a victoiy to the national cause." The final victory of the Union arms was clouded by the assassination of President Lincoln. Mr. Greeley summed up his estimate of Mr. Lincoln's character by saying : "We have had ciiief tains who would have crushed out the rebellion in six months, and restored the Union as it was, but God gave us the one leader whose control secured not only the down- fall of the rebellion, but the eternal overthrow of hmnan slavery under the flag of the gi-eat Republic." In 1864, Mr. Greeley was a Presidential Elector for the State of New York, and a Delegate to the Plula- delphia Loyalists' Convention. The war finally over, and the Unjon restored, so far as operations in the field could restore it, Mr. Greeley's mind was at once turned to projects of real and substantial pacification. The armies of the short-lived Confederacy were scat- tered, and its great chief was a prisoner in the hands of the Federal authorities — an unwelcome embarrass- ment, since the Govermnent could much better have connived at his escape from the country. He could have been tried for treason ; but his conviction was by no means certain should he be brought to trial. Meanwhile his imprisonment was prolonged with what Mr. Greeley thought to be " aggi-avations of harsh and needless indignity." He could not be tried summarily by court-martial and shot ; if tried by a civil court, he could not possibly be convicted at any point where he could legally be tried. The provisions of the Federal Constitution were explicit, that " in all criminal prose- cutions, the accused should enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed." Mr. Greeley said frankly to the attorney for Davis, 14 CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. that if his name was necessaiy upon a hail bond, it would not be withheld. When apprised that his name was needed, he went to Richmond, and, with Mr. Gen-it Smith and others, signed the bond in due form. The act has been gi-ossly misrepresented, and used for partisan purposes in the unfairest way. It cost Mr. Greeley fair hopes of political preferment ; it almost stopped the sale of his "History of the Rebel- lion ;" and when he became a candidate for the Presi- dency^ with Jlr. Genit Smith himself among his most active opponents, the suretyship for a criminal whom the Government never tried, and never had intended to try, was constantly and bitterly urged against him. The unfau-ness of this will now be aclinowledged by the most eager partisan of the Ad- ministration ; then it was considered a sharp and clever electioneering expedient. In 1867, Mr. Greeley was a Delegate at Large to the New York State Convention for the revision of the Constitution, where he was prompt and efficient in the performance of his oflBcial duties. In 1861, his friends presented his name before the Republican Legislative Caucus at Albany for United States Senator. There were three Republican candi- dates before the caucus, viz.: Mr. Greeley, Ira HaiTis, and William M. Evarts. Mr. Greeley started out with a large support, and for several successive ballots gained largely upon his opponents, but was finally defeated in a nomination, which would have been equivalent to an election, by reason of the sup- porters of Mr. Evarts going over in a body to Mr. Harris, wliich secured his nomination, and of course his election. During that senatorial campaign, Mr. Greeley was at the West delivering lectm-es, and thence wrote to an intimate friend at Albany saying that he had heard it intimated that some of his supporters at the State capital were inclined to "fight fire with fire." To this he entered his earnest protest, saying that, while he should feel flattered with a seat in the United States Senate, if it should be the unbiased wish of the Legislature to send him there, he eai-nestly hoped that no friend of his would do any act to secure his elec- tion the publication of which would cause such friend to blush. Six years later, in 1867, Mr. Greeley's friends were again anxious to send him to the Senate, and before the meeting of the Legislature the almost unanimous expression of the leading Republicans of the State, as well as that of the principal journals of the pai-ty, favored his election. But immediately after the close of the civil war he had declared, as the basis for re- uniting the Republic in the bonds of friendship and brotherhood, in favor of "universal amnesty and im- partial suffrage." In this he was, as usual, in advance of his party, though they have since seen the wisdom of his suggestion, and have substantially adopted his plan of pacification. Against the iudgment of his friends, but in order that he should not be elected under any possible misapprehension as to his views on the pacification of the South, he reiterated them just before the meeting of the Legislative caucus, in a strong and vigorous article in The Tribune, over his own signature. This threw him out of line for the Senatorship, as he expected it would, and so said to his intimate friends, who vainly tried to induce hun to suppress the article "till after the election.'' In 1869, in a forlorn hope, after two or three Republican can- didates who had been nominated had declined to run for State Comptroller, he accepted the position, and though defeated in the contest, as every one expected he would be, ran ahead of the entire Republican State ticket, seven candidates in all, with the single exception of General Franz Sigel, who received a con- siderable German vote which was not cast for the other Republican nominees. In 1870, he ran for Con- gress in the Sixth District against the Hon. S. S. Cox, and, though too ill to make a single speech in the dis- trict, he reduced the Democratic majority there from about 3,700, two years before, to about 1,000, and ran 300 ahead of General Woodford, the Republican can- didate for Governor in 1870. The political year of 1872 found the United States in a yet unsatisfactory and disunited condition. The States lately in revolution were yet abandoned almost entirely to anarchy, with the laws inefiiciently enforced, with a great portion of the population uneasy and discontented, with the pub- lic treasuries depleted by systematic robbery, and a considerable portion of the inhabitants gi-oaning under what they regarded as no better than despotism. This was of itself, to many honest and patriotic minds, a sufficient reason for opposing the re-election of General Grant ; yet there were others almost equally weighty. The Civil Sendee, by general admission, was not what it should be. There were grave charges of Executive corruption, which were not then satisfactorily ex- plained. There was at least an unpleasant suspicion of nepotism in the distribution of the public patron- age, which demanded, but did not receive, investiga- tion. There was a general desire for an honest Gov- ernment. It was under these pressing circumstajQces that the Liberal Convention met at Cincinnati on May 1st. It was attended by a vast delegation from all parts of the Union. Mr. Carl Schurz, who presided, very ably and forcibly stated the reason and aim of the Convention. He alluded to the "jobbery and corrup- tion stimulated to unusual audacity, by the opportuni- ties of a protracted civil war invading the public ser- vice of the Government, as almost all movements of the social body"— to "a public opinion most deplorably lenient in its judgment of public and private dishon- esty"— to "a Government indulging in wanton disre- gai'd of the laws of the land, and resorting to daring CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. i5 assumptions of unconstitutional power " — to ' ' the peo- ple, apparently at least, acqmescing with reckless levity in transgressions, threatening the very life of our free institutions." He thought the opportunity "grand and full of promise." Judge Matthews, of Ohio, subsequently spoke of the necessity of "eman- cipating the politics and business of the country from the domination of rings." The platform adopted by the Convention, with the accompanying resolutions, was conceived in a similar spirit. It arraigned the Administration for acting "as if the laws had binding force only for those who are governed, and not for those who govern." It charged the President with ' ' openly using the powers and opportunities of his high office for the promotion of his personal ends" — with "keeping potoriously unworthy and corrupt men in places of responsibility, to the detriment of the public interest" — with "using the public service of the Gov- ernment as a machinery for partisan and personal influ- ence, and interfering with tyrannical arrogance in the political affairs of States and municipalities" — with "receiving valuable presents, and appointing to lucra- tive office those who gave them " — with resorting to arbitrary measures, and failing to appeal "to the bet- ter instincts and latent patriotism of the Southern people, by restoring to them those rights, the enjoy- ment of which is indispensable for a successful admin- istration of their local affairs." The platform was in accordance with these views, calling for local self-gov- ernment, for a reform of the Civil Service, for a speedy return to specie payments, for a removal of all disa- bilities imposed on account of the civil war, and pledg- ing the Liberal party to maintain the Union, emancipa- tion, and enfranchisement, and to oppose reopening of the questions settled by the Xlllth, XTVth, and XVth Amendments. Upon the sixth ballot, after various changes, Mr. Greeley received a clear majority of all the votes cast, and was declared the nominee of the Convention for the Presidency, and B. Gratz Brown was also nominated for the Vice-Presidency. After many demonstrations of the warmest enthusiasm, the Convention adjourned. Mr. Greeley, in accepting the nomination, took the ground that "all the political rights and franchises which have been acquired through our late bloody convulsion must and shall be guaranteed, maintained, enjoyed, respected evermore;" and that "all the political rights and franchises which have been lost through that convulsion should and must be promptly restored and re-established, so that there shall be henceforth no proscribed class, and no disfranchised caste within the limits of the Union, whose long-estranged people shall re-unite and frater- nize upon the broad basis of Universal Amnesty with Impartial Suffrage." He also wrote strongly in favor of the maintenance of the equal rights of all citizens. and of the policy of local self-government as contra- distinguished from centralization. In July follow- ing, he received the nomination of the Democratic Convention at Baltimore, and he was now fairly before the country as the Presidential candidate of two great parties. The canvass which followed developed a fac- ulty in Mr. Greeley for which he had hardly received credit — even from his admirers. He spoke constantly, and in all parts of the country ; and the test to which he thus voluntarily subjected himself was admitted by almost universal consent to have been nobly main- tained. He discussed all the great questions before the country boldly, and without hesitation or conceal- ment. He had, as a matter of course, upon his nomi- nation, retired from the editorial charge of The Tri- bune, but he was still affectionately welcomed by his old readers, vrith the same cordiality, when he came to speak to them with the living voice. The result of the canvass is known to all. Our system of Presidential elections is such that a candidate may receive, as Mr. Greeley did, a large popular vote, and, at the same time, a very small one in the Electoral Colleges. He did not carry many States, but the results of the Lib- eral movement were at once felt in fresh promises from the incoming Administration ; and in an assurance, at least semi-official, that the errors and mistakes of which the complaint had been so loud would not be repeated. Mr. Greeley came back cheerfully and phil- osophically to his old Tribune chair, and girt himself for the old work, which, alas, he was not to continue. The strong physical and mental constitution of the man was already broken by many cares, by enormous labors, and by the loss of a wife to whom he was devotedly attached, and who had been for so many years his helper and Ms cheerer. For The Tribune he VFrote hardly at all, and at last he was obliged to give up visiting the office regularly. His sleeplessness was followed by inflammation of the brain, and under this he rapidly sank, dying Friday, Nov. 39th, 1873. The earthly life which had been so busy, so laborious, and so fruitful, was over. Such was the life and such the death of Horace Greeley. Our limits have compelled us to epitomize that which might have been — and, in- deed, has already been — extended to volumes. But the American people are already familiar to a great extent with the career of one whose course they were accustomed to watch with interest, affection and res- pect. Few men were ever more generally respected — few ever died more generally regretted. He has passed from the busy scenes of earth, in which he was one of the most useful and busy ; but as the self -cultivated man of letters, the philantlirophist, the reformer, and the unsurpassed j ournalist, he will be honorably remem^ bered so long as the history of the Republic shall survive. i6 CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. TILDEN, HON. SAMUEL J., Ex-Governor of the State of New York, and the Democratic candidate for President of the United States, in 1876, was born at New Lebanon, Columbia County, New York, in the year 1814. One of his ancestors, Nathaniel Tilden, was Mayor of the city of Tenterden, Kent, England, in 1633. He was succeeded in that office by his cousin Jolm, as he had been preceded by his uncle John in 1585 and 1600. He removed with his family to Scituate, in the colony of Massachusetts, in 1634. His brother Joseph was one of the merchant adventu- rers of London who fitted out the Mayflower. This Nathaniel Tilden married Hannah Bourne, one of- Whose sisters married a brother of Governor Winslow and another a son of Governor Bradford. Among the associates of Joseph Tilden in fitting out the Mayflower was Timothy Hatherby, who afterwards married the widow of Natlianiel Tilden, and was a leading citizen of Scituate until expelled from public life for refusing to prosecute the Quakers. Governor Tilden's grand- father, John Tilden, settled in Columbia County, since then uninterruptedly the residence of this branch of the Tilden f.amily. The Governor's mother was de- scended from William Jones, Lieutenant Governor of the colony of New Haven, who in all the history of Connecticut is represented to have been the son of Col. John Jones, one of the regicide judges of Charles the First, who is said to have married a sister of Oliver Cromwell and a cousin of John Hamden. The Gov- ernor's father, a farmer and merchant of New Leban- non, was a man of notable judgment and practical sense, and the accepted oracle of the county upon all matters of public concern, while his opinion was also eagerly sought and justly valued by all his neighbors, but by none more than by the late President Van Buren, who, till his death, was one of his most cher- ished and intimate personal friends. Prom his father Governor Tilden inherited a taste for political inquir- ies, and in his companionship enjoyed peculiar oppor- tunities for acquiring an early familiarity with the bearings of the various questions which agitated om- country in his youth. Young Tilden entered college in his eighteenth year, but not before he had achieved one of those early triumphs in politics which was cal- culated to forecast his destiny. The fall of 1832, when he was to enter college, was rendered memorable by the seco|id election of General Jackson to the Presi- dency and Martin Van Buren to the Vice Presidency of the United States, and of William L. Marcy to the Governorship of the State of New York. In that con- test an effort was made to effect a coalition between the National Republicans and the Anti-Masons. The success of the Democracy depended upon the defeat of that coalition. Samuel heard the subject discussed In the family, and was especially impressed by what fell from the lips of an uncle who deplored his inabil- ity to "wreak his thoughts upon expression." Samuel disappeared for two or three days, and in the seclusion of his chamber proceeded to set down the views he had gathered upon the subject, and in due time brought the result to his father, at once the most appreciative and the least indulgent critic of his acquaintance. The father was so- highly pleased with the paper that he took his son to see Mr. Van Buren, then at Lebanon Springs, to read it to him. They found so much merit in the performance that they decided it should be pub- lished with the signatures of a dozen or more leading Democrats, and it shortly after appeared in the Albany Argus as an address, occupying about half a page of that print, and from which it was copied into most of the Democratic papers of the State. ' The Evening Journal paid it the compliment of attributing it to the pen of Mr. Van Buren, and the Albany Argus paid it the greater compliment of stating "by authority" that Mr. Van Buren was not the author. In this incident originated an intimacy between young Tilden and the late President Van Bm-en of the most confidential character, and which lasted till his death. Mr. Tilden had not been long at Yale College before his health gave way, and obliged him to leave before completing his course. After some rest and suitable treatment, he was enabled to resume his studies, and in 1884 entered the University of New Y'ork, where he completed his academic education. He then entered the law office of the late John W. Edmunds, in the city of New York, where he enjoyed peculiar facilities forthe prose- cution of his favorite studies of law and politics. Judge Edmunds was also a native of Columbia County, a neighbor and friend of his parents, and a man of rare, though somewhat eccentric talents, and especially gifted in the art of communicating to others what he knew or felt. He was also during this time one of the pupils of the law school of the New York University, which then enrolled among its lecturers the honored names of President Van Bm-en, Attorney General Benjamin F. Butler, and of Judge William Kent. The accession of Mr. Van Buren to the Presidency in 1837 was followed by the most trying financial revul- sion that had yet occm-red in our history. During that summer appeared the Presidential message calling for a special session of Congress, and recommending the separation of the Government from the banks and the establishment of the independent treasury. This measure provoked voluminous and acrimonious debate throughout the country, even before it engaged the attention of Congress. In September of that year a series of papers appeared in the Albany Argus, over the signature of "Marshal," contesting the wisdom of the President's recommendation, and inviting resist- ance to their adoption. These articles proved after- Cycjut^k^ijuJL c/ tu\ rli^UjliuAu^Vl^ CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. 69 Physiology, Pathology, and Treatment ;" printed in the Trans, of the N. Y. State Medical Society, and reprinted in pamphlet form. "Recto-Vaginal and Recto-Labial Fistula, a new method of operating for tlieu- ewe."— Tram, of the JV. Y. State Med. Society, 1866. "Onthe Spontaneous and Artificial Delivery of the Child in Pace Presentations, with the chin poste- riorly ;" read before the If. Y. Medical Journal Asso- ciation, June 18th, 1869. "On Rheumatism of the Uterus and the Ovaria ;" read before the Pathological Society of New York, March 13th, 1845, and published in the JourTial of Medical Sciences, July, 1845. "On Syphilitic Mucous Tubercles, Secondary Syphilitic Af- fections of the Os Uteri, and Hereditary Transmis- sion ;" read before the N. Y. Society of Medical En- quiry. " A Monograph on Amputation of the Cervix Uteri in certain forms of Procidentia, and on Complete Eversion of the Cervix Uteri ;'' published in the Belle- mie and Chanty Hospital Seport, 1869, and re-published by D. Appleton & Co. , New York. ' ' A Monograph on the Mechanism of Spontaneous Active Uterine Inver- sion, and the reduction of a case of complete eversion, by the combined rectal and vaginal taxis ;" read before the Academy of Medicine, April 4, 1873, printed in the J!f. Y. Medical Journal, May, 1873, and re-pub- lished in pamphlet form the same year by D. Apple- ton & Co., New York. "A Paper on the Physiologi- cal Lengthening of the Cervix Uteri, before, during, and after labor;" read before the Medical Journal As- sociation, February, 1874. "What is the Best Treat- ment in Contracted Pelves, ranging from two and a half to four inches ?" read before the Academy of Medicine, Sept. 15,1875. "Is Craniotomy, Cephalo- tripsy, or Cranioclasm preferable to the Osesarean sec- tion in Pelves, ranging from one and a half to two and a half inches?" read before the Academy of Medi- cine, May 3, 1876. Appended is a list of the medical societies and institutions with which Dr. Taylor is, or has been connected : Permanent member American Medical Association ; permanent member of the New York State Medical Society for 1865 f President New York County Society, 1864, Vice President 1868 and 1877 ; President Ifew York Medical Journal Associa- tion, 1869 and 1870 ; President Obstetrical Section of the New York Academy of Medicine, 1856, 1876 and 1877 ; Vice President of the Academy, 1867 and 1868; Trustee, 1873 to 1883 ; Vice President Widows and Orphans Society of Medical Men, 1874 to 1877 ; Presi- dent Bureau of Medical and Surgical Relief to Belle- vue Hospital of the Consulting Board for 1866 ; Presi- dent BeUevue Hospital Medical College for 1861 ; Emeritus' Professor of Obstetrics and Diseases of Wo- men and Children, for 1868 ; Attending Physician (ob- stetrical) to Bellevue Hospital, from 1853 to 1876 ; President Medical Board of Bellevue Hospital, from 1868 to 1876; Consulting Physician to same, 1876; Attending Obstetrical Physician to the Charity Hospi- tal, from 1861 to 1874, and President of the Medical Board from 1860 to 1863; Consulting Physician to same for 1873 ; President Consulting Board of Infants Hospital, Randall's Island, from 1871 to 1876; Obstet- rical Physician to the Maternity, (B. J.), 1876 ; Cor- responding member of the Obstetrical Societies of Berlin, Boston, Knoxville, Tenn., and Philadelphia; Honorary member of the Medical Society of Christiana, Norway ; Member and Vice President of the American GynsBcological Society. PIERREPONT, HON. EDWARDS, Envoy Extra- ordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the Uni- ted States, at the Court of St. James, is a direct descendant of the Rev. James Pierrepont, of New Haven, and was born in 1817. He graduated at Yale College, in the class of 1837, with very high honors, having been prepared in the Hopkins Grammar School of New Haven, under the charge of Rev. Noah Por- ter, now the President of Yale College. Chief Justice Waite, of the Supreme Court of the United States, and Mr. Evarts, Secretary of State, were classmates with Mr. Pierrepont. After completing his legal studies, at the New Haven Law School, under Judge Daggett and Judge Hitchcock, he commenced the practice of liis profession at Columbus, Ohio, in 1840, continuing there until January, 1846, when he removed to New York, where he now resides. He was married in 1846, to the daughter of Samuel A. Willoughby," of Brook- lyn. In 1857 he was elected a Judge of the Superior Court of the city of New York, in place of Chief Jus- tice Oakley, removed by death. His first public speech which attracted attention was delivered on the death of Theodore Sedgwick, about a year and a half before the fall of Port Sumter, in which Judge Pierre- pont foreshadowed the war. The following extract from that speech, as published in the Herald, Dec. 15, 1859, is given as a prediction worthy of note and reflec- tion. After a review of the dissatisfied relations be- tween North and South at that time, he said : " Sure as the pimishment of sin, great troubles are coming in the distance which we shall be called on to meet. I have said this much, Mr. President, being well aware that I speak in advance of the times; but I leave the times to overtake these fleeting words, and leave the wisdom or the folly of what I have said to be determined by the years which shall come in our lifetime." When he resigned his seat upon the Bench, in October, 1860, and returned to the practice of his profession and public affairs, he wrote a letter to the Governor upon the approaching corruptions in the 70 CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. Government, which attracted great attention. Pi'om this letter we extract the following : "The more intelligent portion of our citizens give the subject of their government no united attention ; they are intent on wealth ; madly hastening to he rich ; leaving justice, order, and government to take care of themselves, or to be cared for by those who will ti'am- ple them in the dust. If the wise, the wealthy, the honest, and the intelligent will not combine for good govermnent, the wicked, the idle, and the dishonest will combine for bad government ; and they will gov- ern ; and tlu-ough the forms of law, in the shape of taxation and other legalized jobbery, they will strip the children of the industrious rich of their carefully conserved estates, leaving them in poverty the more hopeless from the v£ry wealth in which their childhood was pampered. Government will be administered by somebody, that may be relied upon. If the wise and good will not attend to it, fools and knaves will. If our rich, intelligent, and honest citizens think these things of no moment, they will let them alone, as they have heretofore done ; but they may rely upon it, these things will not let t?iem alone." In 1862 he was appointed by the President of the United States to act as a Commissioner (in connection with Major General Dix), to try the prisoners of State then confined in the various forts of the United States. In 1864 he was one of the most active in organizing the War Democrats in favor of the reelection of Abra- ham Lincoln. In April, 1867, he was elected a mem- ber of the Convention for forming a new Constitu- tion for the State of New York, and one of the Judi- ciary Committee. In the spring of 1867, he was employed by the Attorney General, Hon. Henry Stan- bury, and the Secretary of State, Hon. Wm. H. Sew- ard, to conduct the pi'osecution, on the part of the Government, against John H. Surratt, indicted for aiding in the murder of President Lincoln. This cele- brated trial commenced before the United States Dis- trict Com-t in the city of Washington, on the 6th day of June, and lasted until the 10th day of August, 1867. He has been engaged as counsel in the trial and argu- ments of veiy many celebrated causes, and was much employed by railroad and other corporations. In the Presidential contests of 1868 and 1873, Judge Pierre- pont was an ardent supporter of Gen. Grant, making numerous speeches upon the Republican side, many of which have been published. Upon his accession to the Presidency, in 1869, General Grant appointed Judge Pierrepont, Attorney of the United States for the Southern District of New York, wliich office he resigned in July, 1870. In the autumn of 1870, he was one of the most active of the "Committee of Seventy," against the "Ring Feauds," of New York. During the contest- between Gen. Grant and Mr. Gree- ley, in 1873, Judge Pierrepont was particularly active, making many speeches, both in New York and Penn- sylvania, in support of Gen. Grant. Judge Pierrepont leceived the honorary degree of L.L.D., June, 1871, from Columbian College, Washington, D. C, (having in that year delivered the oration before the graduating class of the Law School of that institution), and also in 1873, the same degree from Yale College. In May, 1873, Judge Pierrepont was appointed American Min- ister at the Russian Court, an honor which he declined. In June, 1874, he delivered a remai'kable oration in the Center Church of New Haven, before the Alu m n i of Yale College, which was published. In April, 1875. he was appointed Attorney General of the United States, and remained in the Cabinet of President Grant until May, 1876, when he was appointed Envoy and Minister of the United States at the Court of St. James, which office he now (1877) holds. A well known wri- ter, in speaking of Judge Pierrepont's forensic tri- umphs, says : "Judge Pierrepont has unrivalled skill in the cross- examination of fitnesses, and in arranging his facts so that one seems to grow out of the other in such logical sequence, that when the statement is made the argument is concluded. His remarkable power in the lucid statement of facts and of adliering to them under every difficulty and counter influence, constitute the charm and force of his advocacy. To an unprejudiced mind he generally conveys his own convictions, be- cause they are convictions founded on truth. And all this he has secured, simply by following his own maxim that, ' no man without an upright mind, and no man who has not preserved his integrity, has ever died leaving the reputation of a great lawyer. ' " Perhaps the secret of his fearless course, and cool and even temper which nothing disturbs, was uncon- sciously revealed by Judge Pierrepont in the closing paragi-aph of the addi-ess to the law-students at Wash- ington already mentioned : "A few words more and I have done. To those who can receive them, they ai-e more important than all that I have said or can say. They vidll tell you the best way through the perplexing affairs of this life ; give a calmness to the judgment, a cheerfulness to the spirit, and an even temper ; a courage, serenely lifted above all passions, and which nothing can damit ; they will help to lighten eveiy disappointment, render duty pleasant, and make you satisfied with your lot ; and year by yeai', you may grow stronger, wiser, and more happy. - This may come, this will come, to him who with an earnest wish, seeks only the right, and in every trouble, in every joy, in every important undertaldng in life, and every day, with honest heait and willing mind, asks enlightenment and guidance from the Great Lawgiver, our Father in Heaven." SPOFFORD, PAUL, prominent merchant of New York city, son of Joseph SpofEord and Mary (Chap- lin) Spofford, was born in 1793, in Massachusetts, in Rowley, on a farm which had descended to his father from John SpoflEord, who came to this country in 1638, and who was a son of the Rev. John SpofEord, AilunlLDTubluillin^ AjEngiarmg Ca Bov.- XoilC . iZ ''/^.^,^^<:^^^^^^^^^^, , ^Lr CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. 71 of Yorkshire, England. Until the age of about twenty, he assisted his father in carrying on his farm. Then an opportunity opening of a clerkship in a country store, in New Hampshu-e, he availed of it. In a short time he had acquired sufficient knowledge to embark in business for himself, in Haverhill, Massa- chusetts. There, though successful, he began to feel that he could employ his talents and his small capital to better advantage in a larger field, and he proposed to his friend, Thomas Tileston, then editor of the HamerMll Gazette, to join him in forming a commission house in Baltimore, Philadelphia, or New York. They left Haverhill, not knowing which it should be, but on arrival in New York, they decided in its favor, and established there the firm of Spofford & TUeston, in 1818. They made large sales to Havana, and as they could thus, control considerable freight, they com- menced, in 1819, the chartering and ownership of ves- sels in the Cuban trade, receiving their remittances in sugar, coffee, &c., and soon extending their business to Buenos Ayres, they became large importers of Mdes and seal skins. Their fast sailing packet ships Hav- fma, Cristobal Colon, Adelaide, &c.. Captains Covieja, Lane, Smith, Adams, Ellis, and others, bore a high reputation. The large business his firm had followed for many years with om- Southern States, led Mr. Spofford to think that steam could be profitably em- ployed therein, and his partner concun-ing, they de- cided to build an ocean steamship for the Charleston trade. By most of the old merchants, especially those engaged in shipping, the enterprise was considered hazardous and almost certain to entail a heavy loss. There had been sporadic attempts at steam upon our coast, and all had proven f ailm-es. Mr. Spofford saw that one great error had. been made in attempting to navigate the ocean with light-built steamers that were not safe in stormy weather. Therefore, to give it a fair trial, he determined it should be with an ocean steam- ship built in the best and strongest manner. Mr. Wil- liam H. Brown was selected to build the hull, the Novelty Iron Works for the machinery, and, as com- mander, Capt. Michael Berry, a careful captain of long experience in the Charleston trade. The trial trip of this steamship, the Southerner, in 1846, was quite an event in New York. Very many of the distinguished men then present have passed away, but the venerable Thur- low Weed still survives, with mind as bright as ever. Collins, Vanderbilt, Law, Aspinwall, Morgan, and others, since so prominent in the steam annals of the country, were there. The following two or three voy- ages, during which severe storms were encountered, proved that American mechanics could build marine engines. Other merchants followed, and if our Gov- ernment had extended to E. K. Collins the same fos- tering care that was bestowed by the British Govern- ment upon the Cunard line, we would now have a large and powerful steam marine, in general foreign trade, instead of a few steamers merely to Cuba and Mexico. The Southerner proved so profitable, that his firm soon contracted for the Northerner, a large steam- ship commanded by Capt. Budd. From time to time, others, each larger than its predecessor, were added to their fleet. In 1848, they bought the Liverpool pack- ets Roscius, Siddons, Garrick, &c., and afterwards built the Orient, Webster, Ellen Austin, Calhoun, &c., some of the best and largest sailing ships that this country has launched, commanded by French, Hill, Lawrence, Caulkins, and other able captains. On the acquisition of California, his firm's were amongst the first ships that visited San Francisco. Indeed, there are few seas that have not seen the flag with the yel- low field and blue cross that flew from the masthead of his vessels. Mr. Spofford's active business career ceased only at his death, in 1869. For more than fifty years he was actively and successfully engaged in ship- ping, commission, and banking, but he never lost his simple tastes and habits, and nothing delighted him more, after leaving his counting house, than to go into the fields at Elmwood, his pleasant country seat on Long Island Sound, and direct his men as to getting in the hay, the care of the cattle, and other farm details which seemed to bring back his boyhood's days. He never held political ofSce, but he was strong in his love of country, and was a firm supporter of the Union during the rebellion, contributing liberally in money, time, and counsel, and to him it was granted to see a reunited country, a gratification that was denied to his partner, Mr. Tileston, who died in 1864. He was very quick and active in all his movements, very witty, rather slow of speech, retiring and modest in de- meanor, of very deep and sensitive feelings, and of great courage, coolness, and nerve. He was twice married. His first wife was a niece and ward of the Hon. Jeremiah Nelson, of Newburyport ; his last wife was a daughter of the Rev. Dr. Gardiner Spring, of New York. He left one daughter and five sons. BUMSTBAD, FREEMAN J., M.D., an eminent American specialist, and recently Professor of Venereal Diseases in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, is descended from the old Massachusetts family of that name, the founder of which came over from England about the year 1650, and settled in Bos- ton, where the family has since continued to reside, many of the members rising to distinction in profes- sional and commercial life. Dr. Bumstead was born in the city of Boston, on the 21st of April, 1826. His father, Josiah Freeman Bumstead, was a prominent 72 CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. merchant of Massachusetts, and his mother, Lucy Douglass Willis, of a refined and cultivated family, was a sister of the well known iournalist, author, and poet, Nathaniel P. Willis, and of "Fanny Fern," equally well known in the field of literature. After re- ceiving a course of primary instruction at the Chauncey Hall School — probably the most famous private school in New England— he entered the English High and Latin schools in his native city, where he pursued the entire course. In 1843, he entered Williams College, from which he was graduated in 1847, standing among ^ the first in his class. Upon leaving college, he engaged in teaching school in Roxbury, Mass., but devoted his leisure time to the study of medicine, attending lec- tm-es and dissections at the Tremont Medical School. In 1849, he entered the medical department of Harvard University. The following year he made a voyage to Liverpool, acting as surgeon to an emigrant vessel, and while abroad, where he remained several months, spent his time in the study of disease in the celebrated hos- pitals of London and Paris. Upon returning to Amer- ica, in the autumn, he was appointed house surgeon to the Massachusetts General Hospital, and in 1851 re- ceived the degree of Doctor of Medicine from Harvard University. Mindful of the advantages of foreign ob- servation and study — which at that time presented superior attractions by reason of the limited opportu- nities enjoyed at home — he made a second visit to Europe, where he passed a twelve-month in travel and in visiting the medical schools and hospitals. In 1852, he settled in New York, and commenced the general praiCtice of medicine, making a specialty, however, of diseases of the genito-urinary organs and venereal dis- eases. The following year he was appointed Surgeon to the Northwestern Dispensary, which position he resigned in 1855. In 1857, he was appointed on the staff of sm-geons to the New York Eye and Ear In- firmary, remaining connected with this institution for upwards of five years. He married, in 1861, Miss Mary Josephine White, daughter of Ferdinand E. White, an esteemed citizen of Boston. For a number of years. Dr. Bumstead was connected with St. Luke's Hospital, and also with the venereal department of the institutions on Blackwell's Island. From 1868 to 1871, he was Professor of Venereal Diseases in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, resigning in the latter year, when he went abroad for the third time, accom- panied by his 'family, and spent two years in extensive travel, visiting the hospitals and medical schools in all the large cities of Great Britain and Continental Europe. Dr. Bumstead has achieved a world-wide reputation in the field of venereal diseases. His valuable contribu- tions to the literature of this department of medical science, have placed him in the front rank of special- ists. In 1857, he translated into English and edited an American edition of the Hunter-Eicord Treatise on Venereal Disease, rendering a very important service to the profession, not merely by placing the work within reach of the English-speaking members, but by adding many elaborate notes, embodying the result of his extended observation and experience, which greatly enhanced the value of the original treatise. In 1861, this important service to the English-speaking branch of the profession was fittingly supplemented by the appearance of an exhaustive treatise, from Dr. Bum- stead's own pen, on "The Pathology and Treatment of Venereal Diseases, including the results of recent investigations upon the subject." This work, which the British American J(mrmal of Medicine declared to be "the best, completest, fullest monograph on this subject in our language," proved the author's abilities to be of the highest character. All that is of any value to the profession on venereal, is found in this work, which has been aptly termed by the London Zajicei "a regular storehouse of information." It has not only been warmly welcomed as filling a need in English medical literature, but is accepted as an au- thority on these diseases, wherever the English lan- guage is spoken. A decided feature of the work is the clearness with which the most recent discoveries are expounded and explained. No less admirable is the perspicuity and abundance of the directions and details of treatment and management. It especially commends itself as being strictly impartial and also carefully written, and eminently sustains the reputa^ tion of the author. The entire medical press of Great Britain and America have spoken of the work in terms of the highest praise, and from its methodical arrangement and clearness of language, it has been adopted in many medical schools and colleges as a text book, and is consulted not merely by students but also by practitioners as a standard authority. In 1864, a second edition was called for, and a third edition was demanded in 1870. The work has achieved a high reputation in Europe, and a translation has already ap- peared in Italian. In 1869, Dr. Bumstead translated and edited the valuable "Atlas of Venereal Diseases," by A. CuUerier, of the H6pital du Midi, one of the highest French authorities in this department of medi- cal science. This task, no slight one in view of the extended practice and other professional duties of the translator, as well as the importance of the volume, was admirably performed, and won the most unquali- fied praise from the medical public. The American edition, an imperial 4to. of between three and ioxa hundred pages, magnificently illustrated, was enthusi- astically received by the profession, both here and in England, and by reason of the incidental notes and observations of the translator, has been deemed even more valuable than the French original. As a syphilo- -•"■ -"^fts^*" a^'" CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. n grapher, Dr. Bumstead is probably at the bead of the profession in America, and by diligent study, careful experimenting, and close observation during a long and varied practice, has acquired a degree of thorough- ness on the subject, which places him on a level with the leading European specialists. Besides the above mentioned treatises, a lai-ge number of articles from his pen have appeared in the current literature of the profession, several of which, of especial merit, have been republished in pamphlet form. FLINT, AUSTIN, Je., M.D., was born in North- ampton, Mass., on the 38th of March, 1836. He entered the medical department of the University of Louisville, Kentucky, in 1854, and two years after- wai-d, removing to Philadelphia, continued his studies in the Jefferson Medical College, whence he obtained his degi-ee in 1857. He next took up his residence in Buf- falo, and soon after became editor of the MedicalJour- nal, and was appointed attending surgeon to the City Hospital ; he was also appointed to the chair of Physi- ology and Microscopical Anatomy in the University of Buffalo and delivered the course of lectures for the term of 1859-60. In the latter year he removed with his father to New York city, and upon his arrival was appointed Professor of Physiology in the New York Medical College. The same year he accepted the Pro- fessorship of Physiology in the New Orleans School of Medicine. In the early part of 1861, he paid a short visit to Europe, during which he had the advantage of pursuing his advanced studies under the direction and instruction of the celebrated professors, Charles Robin and Claude Bernard. On his return to America, the same year, he was appointed Professor of Physiology and Microscopical Anatomy in the Bellevue Medical College, which had just been organized, and still fills that position. He was also for several yeai-s Professor of Physiology in the Long Island College Hospital at Brookljm. Dr. Flint has devoted a large portion of his time and labor to authorship. One of his earliest productions, an essay on " A New Excretory Function of the Liver," first published in the American Journal of the Medical Sciences for October, 1863, attracted much attention, and being subsequently translated into French, received the high honor of an award of 1,500 francs from the Committee of the French Acad- emy of Sciences on the Monthyon prize of Medicine and Surgeiy, in 1869. Besides the above, he has writ- ten many other essays on important medical subjects, which have appeared from time to time in the leading medical journals. His especial province is the depart- ment of physiology, of which he has not only thor- oughly mastered the literature, but has enriched his knowledge by a series of critical observations and ex- periments, conducted for a number of years under unusually favorable circumstances. His most important production is " The Physiology of Man," a magnificent work, in five volumes, to the preparation of which he devoted the greater part of the labor of eleven years. In this publication the plan is adopted of making each volume a complete and distinct treatise on the subjects named, while together they exhaust this branch of medical science. The first volume of this work, treating on "The Blood, Circulation and Respira- tion, " was issued in New York in 1866 ; the second vol- ume, entitled " Ahmentation, Digestion, Absorption, Lymph and Chyle," appeared the following year. In 1870, the third volume, on "Secretion, Excretion, Ductless Glands, Nutrition, Animal Heat, Movements, Voice and Speech," was presented, and in 1873, the fourth volume, on the "Nervous System, "followed it. The work was completed in 1874, by the issue of the fifth volume, treating on the " Special Senses and Gen- eration." Among the other publications of Dr. Flint, are a " Manual of Chemical Examination of the Urine in Disease," issued in 1870, which reached a third edi- tion in 1873, and a work " On the Physiological Effects of Severe and Protracted Muscular Exercise," printed in 1871. Dr. Flint, at this time (1877), fills the chair of Physiology and Physiological Anatomy in the Bellevue Hospital College. He is also Physician to the Bellevue Hospital, and Consulting Physician for the Class of Nervous Diseases to the Biu-eau of Medical and Surgical Relief for Out-door Poor, in the same institu- tion. He is a Fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine ; member of the Medical Society of the County of New York, member of the New York So- ciety of Neurology and Electrology, and a member and honorary member of many other medical associations. fALCOTT, BENJAMIN STUART, President of the Hanover Fire 'Insurance Company, was born at Whitestown, Oneida County, August 31st, 1839. The family name is of very old date in Eng- land, its derivation from "Weald-cote (a habitation in a wooded country), indicating its Saxon origin. Wal- cott, the old family seat, according to BurMs General Armory, Ed. 1843, was situated in the parish of Lyd- bury, Salopshire, Rev. Charles Walcott, of Bitterly Court, being at that date the representative of the name. Burke adds further, that the first "Walcott re- corded, was Sir John de Walcott, of the reign of Rich- ard II.; third in descent from the knight was a John Walcott, of whom tradition asserts "that while play- ing at the chesse with Henry V., kinge of England, he gave him the checkmate with the rouke, whereupon 74 CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. the kinge changed his coat-of-aa-ms, which was tlie cross with flower de luces, and gave him the rouke for a remembrance." Bui'lce speaks of several others bearing the name, notably William de Walcott, Arch- bishop of the East Riding, in 1353 ; Sir Walter Walcott, who married Margaret, daughter of the Earl of Egi-e- mont, in 1356 ; Sir John Walcott, Lord Mayor of Lon- don, in 1403 ; George Walcott, who man-ied the daugh- ter of Thomas Irby, Lord Boston, 1586 ; John Walcott, Prebendaiy of Lincoln, 1618; Charles Walcott, of "Walcott, whose daughter Beatrice was married to Lord "Wyndham, Earl of Egremont; another Chai-les Wal- cott, of Walcott, who married Anna, daughter of John Dryden, Duke of Chambers, 1704, and John Wal- cott, of Shropshire, who married Mary, daughter of Dashwood, Lord de Spencer. The ai-ms of the family are thus described : Quarterly, first and fomth ar. a chevron between three chess rooks, ermine; second and third ar. on a cross fleury sa. five fleurs de lis, or ; Crest, out of a ducal coronet ar. a buffalo's head erased, ar, armed, ducally gorged, lined and winged of the first. It is probable that representatives of the Walcott family came to America about 1650. The records of Salem, Massachusetts, have occasional ref- erences to Captain Jonathan Walcott, who resided in that old town from 1665 to 1669, and was conspicuous as a commander of the local military during the colonial times. William Walcott, son of the foregoing, in 1730, moved from Salem to Cumberland, R. I., where he died in 1777, aged 88. His eighth son was Benja- min Stuart, who died Jan. 3d, 1781, aged 52, leaving a son, Benjamin Stuart, who died in Pawtucket, R. L His son, also Benjamin Stuart, and father of the sub- ject of this biogi-aphy, moved from Rhode Island to the State of New York, in 1807-8, and settled in Oneida county, near the present city of Utica. His father had been a cotton manufactm-er in Rhode Island, and he, himself, while residing in Pawtucket, had become ac- quainted with the new Arkwiight machinery set up and operated by Samuel Slater, in that place. In 1809, he erected a small mill near the site of the pres- ent New York Mills, and filling it with the improved machinery, commenced the manufacture of cotton cloth, being thus the introducer of the first "perpetual spinning "—as the English system was termed— in the State of New York. From this beginning in the diminutive Oneida factoiy, has grown up one of the most successful manufacturing enterprises in the Union. In 1834, Mr. Walcott, having secui-ed the co-operation of Benjamin Marshall, of Troy, put up the first structure of the New York Mills. As agent and treasurer, he operated tht mills with constant suc- cess for twenty-two years, and in 1847-8 became prin- cipal proprietor of the establishment. The Vtica Daily Herald, of Jan. 18th, 1863, published the fol- lowing remarks, inspired by the decease of this con- spicuous citizen of Oneida county ; " Jlr. Walcott was born in Cumberland, R. I., Sep- tember 39, 1786. His father was a manufacturer, and he inherited the tact and skill which have crowned his long life with abimdant success. The capacity and in. dustry which built up so extensive a factory, are to be commended ; but the qualities for which the deceased would prefer to be remembered are, the thorough con- scientiousness which pervaded all his business relations, and led him to care like a father for the operatives who gathered around him; the deep moral sentiments which gave tone to his whole life, and made him active in religious enterprise, and the judicious and liberal patron of education. If a heathen poet, pointing to his verses, could boast, ' I have reared a monument more perennial than brass,' how much more could the deceased point to this thi-iving manufactming town, bearing an industrial and moral character not sm-- passed, and deem it the monument which shall cany down his excellencies to the regard of futm-e genera tions ; for New York Mills is his work — in its neat and well arranged factories, in Its thrift}'' habits, and its attention to all movements which can elevate human- ity, and in the moral worth which his example and teachings developed and have perpetuated. Mr. Wal- cott has been a laborious man, but his inteUigence was broad, and his intellectual and literary tastes liigh. These led him, a little more than ten years ago, to seek to restore his impaired health by a visit to Egypt and the Holy Land. Among his traveling companions were Rev. Dr. J. P. Thompson and Professor Upham. His tour furnished him with many pleasant experi- ences, some of which were recorded in his private letters, published in these columns, and others may be gathered from Dr. Thompson's volume, which Is dedi- cated to the deceased. His return was the occasion of a reception, by the operatives and villagers at his home, which proved at once how he was beloved, and how well his example and habits of lundness and courtesy had been learned by those who had lived within the sphere of his influence. Jlr. Walcott made a practice of unostentatious liberality, the record of which will never find its way into types. His munificent donation to Hamilton College, to found a Walcott Professorship of the Evidences of Christianity, shows at once Ms generosity and his religious sentiment." Mr. Walcott died on the 13th of January, 1863. About five yeai-s previous to his death, he had retired from active business. His sou, William D. Walcott, has succeeded him in the management. The subject of this biography is the fourth in direct succession bearing the honorable name of Benjamin Stuart Wal- cott. In 1845, at the age of sixteen, having acquired the base work of a thorough commercial education, he was placed by his father in the large dry goods com- mission house of Fisher, Howe & Hamilton, of tliis city, which had been for years the metropolitan agency for the New York Mills. In 1850, however, his close attention to the interests of the estabUshment began to show their effects upon a frame not yet matured, and in deference to the demands of his health and the urgent counsel of friends, he accepted the position of Vice Consul offered him by J. Hosford Smith, U. S. >Jiri,a'l-, tHJIU-^liJlLi; C:-,iiU[;l.i' (SP^S<2^?^ ^^i^^^^pTz^^zd^^^ CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. 89 Having prosecuted a full course of philosophy and theology, graduating with a distinction the more pro- nounced for the advanced standard of learning of his class, young McAleer v?as ordained in the year 1837, in Cincinnati, by his old teacher and friend, Purcell, now the Archbishop of Cincinnati. He was at once appointed to the charge of Canton, in the same diocese; an important parish, with its outlying mission, de- manding all the spiritual and physical energy of its pastor. His sojourn in Ohio was, however, not to be a long one. In the spring of 1840, a strong effort was being made to extend the ministration of the church thoughout the west and southwest, and the Bishop of Nashville, as a partisan of the crusade, was visiting the metropolitan centres of faith, seeking cooperation and material assistance. In an assemblage of the clergy of Cincinnati, the Bishop graphically set forth the claims of his new state, and with great eloquence of appeal begged for laborers in his vineyard. Vine- yard would have been probably a misnomer in those days, since the new field was little, if any, better than a wilderness. There were tears in the good Bishop's voice, but no dissimulation. He depicted, with exact truth, the hardships and trials to be encountered in an unreclaimed country — the stern battles daily to be fought, not so much vpith humanity as with nature itself and savage barbarism. Among his listeners was the young priest from Maryland. The scene recalled an episode of the Crusades, and there were not want- ing self-sacrificing spirits who answered to the call for soldiers of the church militant. Most conspicuous of these was McAleer. Resigning his first mission, which had become so endeared to him, throwing aside whatever aspirations may have been growing up in his student's soul, and bidding farewell to relatives and friends, he stood out, ready for the wilderness, only asking the permission of his friend and Bishop. It was hard for the kindly Purcell to part with the youth- ful missionary whom he had known so long, and through whom he had hoped so much. The permis- sion was, however, granted. The labors of Father McAleer were essentially those of a missionary, and mostly in west Tennessee. For a limited period, the Rev. Dr. Spaulding, at a much later day Archbishop of Baltimore, was his companion. Together they travelled through the forests and over the mountains, and.addressed a large number of meetings in company. But for years Father McAleer wandered and toiled on alone. His journeying was almost unremitted, and his daily life— always full enough of venture— did not lack an occasional savor of the ludicrous. For five years he was his own cook and housekeeper— the latter office obviously a sinecure a great part of the time — until he was relieved of such domestic duties by an assistant priest, who is now the worthy Archbishop of San Francisco. It was a genuine religious canvass, to bon-ow from worldly vocabulary a term to express the most single-hearted of Christian work. All sects have had their evangelists, and no sect would have an existence in the southwest but for their self-sacrificing labors. Father McAleer was the Catholic evangelist of the Tennessees, the first priest who erected a church in the region west of the Cumberland. The work de- manded not only physical endurance and earnest faith, but a great fund of theological knowledge and facility of expression among a people used to-the ready, quick- witted expressiveness of sectarian evangelism and political stump oratory. The success of the Catholic missionary was most satisfactory to those who sympa- thized with his labors, and the present advanced posi- tion of his church in Tennessee is essentially due to the fervor and intelligent ability of his early efforts. Not only the Bishop of Nashville, but other Bishops throughout the country, uttered earnest encomiums of his work, and The Advocate, of Louisville, in glowing language referred to it, at its inception, in 1840, as the development of a new crusade. Father McAleer's connection with missionary effort in the diocese of Nashville continued about six years. During this time the great respect entertained for his theological strength was evidenced by his being invited to be one of the theologians at the very important Council of the church at Baltimore, in May, 1846. In 1846, having established the work he had so thoroughly advanced in. the west, the subject of our sketch came east, and was appointed to the pastorate of the Church of St. Colum- ba, in New York city. The society thus become his new charge, was but one year old, and having been or- ganized in a temporarily depressed quarter of the me- tropolis, was burdened with a large debt, a condition which certainly called for all the demonstration of an exceptionally hopeful and energetic nature. With characteristic vigor the new pastor, grasping at once the necessity of the situation, proceeded to clear off the material incimibrance. His efforts soon successful in this direction, he next essayed an improvement of tte church edifice, extending its seating capacity by the erection of galleries, providing new pews in the nave, building a fine altar, adding suitable apartments for the vestry, and in a word, almost reconstructing the sanc- tuary. A succeeding year he erected the pastor's resi- dence. So large improvements having again brought the parish in debt, he did not rest till this second incumbrance was removed. The wise prevision of his original enlargement of the sacred edifice is shown by the prosperity of the congregation that has followed. For some six years this earnest pastor, notwithstanding a constant and substantial growth of his congregation, found no occasion of a similar character to divert his attention from his immediate spiritual charge. In 90 CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. 1854, however, recognizing not only the importance "but the necessity of education under moral and reli- gious training, he made a successful effort in the erec- tion of the large parish schools, and two years after •organized, in St. Angela's Academy, the advanced sys- tem for girls, wliich, under the conduct of the Sisters of Charity, has won a well-deserved reputation among educational institutions of its class. Father McAleer ias now passed his third decade at the head of his present charge. When he came to the pastorate, his parish, extending from river to river, and from Fom-- teenth street to Forty-second street, was the largest in :area in the city, and yet one of the poorest numerically And materially. Within the thirty years of his stew- ardship his congregation has increased very consider- .ably in numbers, and more proportionally in social and material prosperity, while the organization from time to time of new parishes within its original limits, has cut down its superficial boundaries to a small relative area. It need hardly be suggested that to the earnest, self-sacrificing, intelUgent shepherd is due the well- being, so pronounced and conspicuous, of this particu- lar flocli. The organiztalons of various character con- nected vfith St. Coiumba's— the literary and temper- ance societies — originated by this faithful pastor, have grown and prospered under his fostering care ; and the same is true of the purely religious and chailtable asso- ciations of the parish. In 1849, when the cholera came down upon the city, the essential nature of Father McAleer found its best development. During the reign of the scourge-king, night and day were one to him. The noontide sun and the midnight stars were alike silent witnesses of his devotion. For weeks his only repose was upon a sofa in liis parlor, while his horse and vehicle were kept constantly at the door, ready to bear him to the bed of sickness or of death. This was most trying to his constitution, but the most heroic zeal and the loftiest inspiration of Christian sympathy, as in the wilds of Tennessee, sustained him through an ordeal than which none could be more trying physically or mentally. Personally, Father McAleer is onp of the popular members of his profes- sion. His genial, kindly nature attracts to him the affection, and his large-hearted, comprehensive char- acter secures the esteem of all. A ripe scholar as a student in college days, he has not allowed his mind to grow rusty or lost a particle of his cloister lore, though for years a restless worker in the parish and the world. An exceptionally deep theologian and de- voted to his church, his views are yet broad and liberal, and his brain and heart too large to admit of the " odium'theologioum," aflecting his relations to any who are Christian in practice and beUef , qualities that have secured for him singular popularity with the mas- ses and a large esteem among the leading citizens. BUDD, CHAKLES A., M.B., was born in the city of New York, Jan. 16th, 1831, and represents the fourth generation in his family that has embraced the profession of medicine and surgery. His father, Bern W. Budd, M.D., was a native of New Jersey, who, having settled in New York, acquired an exten- sive practice, and rose to distinction in the profession. His mother, Caroline Beynols Budd, was also a native of New Jersey. The early education of Charles was received at the Columbia (College) Grammar School. In 1846, he entered Columbia College, from which he was graduated in 1850, Chancellor Freylingheusen being then at the head of the institution. Upon gi-adu- ation he began the study of medicine oiider his father's direction, and subsequently studied with Dr. William Darling, then Professor of Anatomy in the University of New York. He attended the regular course of lec- tures at the Medical Department of the University of New York, and received his diploma from that insti- tution in 1852. About the same year Trinity College, of Hartford, Connecticut, conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts. He immediately engaged in private practice, but on the breaking out of the cholera, in 1854, was appointed Physician to the -Franklin Street Cholera Hospital, remaining faithfully at his post during the prevalence of the epidemic, and ren- dering the most important services, not merely by a devoted attendance on the cases which were placed under his care, but also by his -valuable suggestions in relation to the control and suppression of the disease. In 1856 he went to Europe, where he passed upwards of a year in study, visiting the great hospitals of the various capitals, but spending the principal portion of his time in the Maternity of Paris, and the Rotunda of Dublin. Upon his return to America he commenced practice with his father, and remained associated with him till his death. In 1860, upon the resignation of the chair of Midvrifery in the New York Medical Col- lege by Professor Fordyce Barker, Dr. Budd was ap- pointed to succeed that eminent obstetrician. In 1863 he was called to succeed the learned and distinguished Dr. Bedford as Professor of Obstetrics. This position he fiUed with remarkable ability till 1876, when by reason of failing health he was obliged to resign. The high appreciation in which Professor Budd was held, found expression in a beautiful testimonial presented to him on his resignation by the members of the faculty. This testimonial— an elegant and costly album of artis- tic design, manufactm-ed by Tiffany & Co., of New York, especially for the purpose— contained an en- grossed series of resolutions warmly thanldng Professor Budd for the deep interest he had manifested in the cause of science, and for his heroic self-denial in re- maining at his post despite the severest bodily suffering. In fm-ther acknowledgment of his distinguished ser- Iii,.ji.u Jjy a,i' '■■i.LLi^i'-Voik, (^:^^^^^^:^c^ii^^ '^ y^^ ..^. CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. 91 vices he -was elected by the faculty Emeritus Professor of Midwifery. For a period of more than six years Dr. Budd was attending physician to Mount Sinai Hospital, and for a number of years held a similar appointment to the Department of Diseases of Women and Children at the Chaiity Hospital, Blackwell's Island. During his professional career he was for ten years consulting physician to the New York State Hospital, and for five years physician to Bellevue Hos- pital, of which he was afterwards consulting physi- cian. He was a mernber of the New York Academy of Medicine, of the County Medical Society, and of the Obstetrical Society. He was one of the founders of this latter body, and in 1873 was elected its Presi- dent. In 1861 Dr. Budd was maiTied to Miss Mary E. PenneU, daughter of Richard Pennell, a well known citizen of New York. Dr. Budd has contributed a number of monographs on medical subjects to the literature of his profession. The most important of these relate to the department of Obstetrics, and form interesting and instructive reading both for students and practitioners. Dr. Budd died at his residence in West 23d street. New York city, on the 17th May, 1877, after a protracted illness. CLTMER, MEREDITH, M.D., was born in Phila- delphia in the year 1817, and is the grandson of George Clymer, one of the signers of the Declara- tion of Independence, and also one of the framers of the Constitution of the United States. After a cai'eful training in the private schools of his native city he entered the Collegiate Department of the University of Pennsylvania, being then in his fifteenth year. Passing two years in this institution, he commenced the study of medicine in the ofiice of Dr. Thomas Harris, of Phil- adelphia, at one time SiKgeon-General of the United States Navy, attending lectures in the Medical Depart- ment of the University of Pennsylvania, from which he was graduated in 1837. He immediately entered into the practice of his profession, and the two succeed- ing years were devoted to availing himself of all the facilities for perfecting his knowledge of medicine afforded by the numerous public and private hospitals and charitable institutions of Philadelphia, which at that time was the most advanced city in medical mat- ters in the United States. In conjunction with Dr. J. B. Biddle, he founded, in January, 1838, The Medi- cal Examiner, a semi-monthly journal "devoted to medicine, surgery, and the collateral sciences," and continued his connection with it until the beginning of 1844. In the early part of 1839, he went abroad, and studied in the schools and hospitals of London, Paris and Dublin, remaining there until the autumn of 1841. In 1843, having returned to America, he was appointed physician to the Institution for the Blind in Philadel- phia, which position he held for several years. In April, 1843, he was also appointed lecturer on the Institutes of Medicine in the Philadelphia Medical In- stitute, among the faculty being such eminent physi- cians as Chapman, Jackson, Horner, Harris, and Hodge. About this period he became attending phy- sician to the Philadelphia Hospital. In 1843 he was elected a Fellow of the College of Physicians of Phila- delphia. In the winters of 1843 and 1844 he shared the labors of Professor Gibson in delivering a course of clinical lectures on Sm-gery in the Philadelphia Hospi- tal, and in 1845 became Professor of the Principles and Practice of Medicine in the Franklin Medical Col- lege, an institution which, however, remained in ex- istence but a few years. In 1848, the health of his wife demanding a change to a southern cUmate, he accepted an invitation to deliver a course of lectures on the Practice of Medicine in the Medical Department of Hampden Sydney College, at Richmond, Va. Return- ing home in March, he again became connected with the Medical Institute as lecturer on the Institutes and Practice of Medicine. In August, 1849, a terrible outbreak of cholera happened in the Philadelphia Alms House and the County Lunatic Asylum. Dr. Clymer, at that time consulting physician to the Philadelphia Hospital, organized several field hospitals, and with a large staff of volunteer physicians took charge of them. His health having become impaired, he sailed for Em-ope in September of that year, and remained abroad until his appointment as Professor of the Institutes and Practice of Medicine in the University of New York, in May, 1851. The opening of the civil war found Dr. Clymer again in Philadelphia, where his talent for organization was afforded ample scope in the estab- lishing of a military hospital in the winter of 1861-63. On the 35th of December, 1861, he was commissioned surgeon, in the United States army with the rank of Major. Prom April, 1863, till near the close of 1863 he officiated as President of the Army Medical Board for the examination of candidates for appointment on the medical staff, which held its sessions at Washing- ton. During this period he acted also as surgeon-in- charge of the sick and wounded officers of the army in that city. In appreciation of his high executive abUity and professional skill, he was next appointed Medical Director of the department of the South, with head- quarters at Hilton Head. This important position he retained till the close of the war, when he was mus- tered out of the United States service at his own request. A noteworthy instance of the eminent fitness of Dr. Clymer for this highly responsible position was afforded by his prompt action in sending medical supplies to Sherman's army in the march to the sea, which met it 92 CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. en its arrival at tlie coast. In 1866 Dr. Clymer was "brevetted Lieutenant-Colonei by President Johnson. Dr. Clymer' s services to tlie nation did not, however, terminate with his army experience. At tlie conclusion ■of the war the well-grounded fears of an outbreak of some epidemic in the long-neglected Southern cities awakened considerable anxiety and alarm, and the Government felt called upon to take some measures towards remedying the condition of affairs which ren- dered such a calamity possible. At this juncture, the services of Dr. Clymer, whose especial fitness for this important task had been abundantly demonstrated, -while acting as Medical Director of the department of the South, were again placed in requisition for the purpose of improving the sanitary of the threatened ■cities, and as far as possible, eradicating the causes as Tvell as correcting the circumstances favorable to the development of pestilence and disease. The duties of this responsible charge were executed by Dr. Clymer "with a promptness, vigor, and just appreciation of the necessities of the situation, which were productive of the very best results, and won for him the well-de- served praise of the imperilled communities and the thanks of the general Government. In 1866 Dr. Clymer settled permanently in New York city, where he has since resided, practicing as a consulting physician, and largely devoting himself to the investigation and treat- ment of diseases of the nervous system and of the mind, subjects which had always occupied a large share of his professional studies. In the winters of 1871, '73, '73, and '74 he delivered lectures on these subjects in the Medical Department of Union University. In 1874 lie was elected President of the New York Society of Neurology, and was honored by a re-election the following year. Dr. Clymer has been for some time regarded a high authority in the jurisprudence of insanity, and has been engaged in all of the chief civil and criminal cases of late years in New York, particu- larly in the famous Bonnard case, and in those of Train and Walworth. In 1874 he was elected Vice President of the Association of the Alumni of the Medical De- partment of the University of Pennsylvania, and in March, 1876, delivered the annual oration before that distinguished body, selecting as a subject the life and services of Dr. Benjamin Rush. From a very early period in his professional career Dr. Clymer has de- voted himself largely to the viTiting and editing of standard works on medical subjects, bringing to his literary labors a well-trained mind, a facile pen, and an experience of tlie most diversified and instructive character. His first effort in this direction was made in 1843, in which year he edited the American edition of Dr. Wm. B. Carpenter's "Principles of Human Physiology," published in Philadelphia, greatly in- creasing its value by a careful revision and the addition of much new matter. In 1844 he edited the American edition of "Principles of Medicine," by Chas. J. B. Williams, M.D., F.R.S. ; and the following yeai', "A Practical Treatise on Diseases of the Respiratory Or- gans," by the same author, likewise republished in this country. To both of these works he made large addi- tions, and appended many valuable notes. In 1846 he prepared and edited a work entitled "Fevers ; their Diagnosis, Pathology, and Treatment," which he com- piled in part from the essays on the subject in " Tweedie's Library of Practical Medicine, "enhancing its value to the American practitioner by the addition of much information, bearing especially on the fevers of this country. The next, and perhaps the most im- portant labor of Dr. Clymer in the field of literature, was in editing the American reprint from the fourth London edition of the excellent treatise on the "Science and Practice of Medicine," by Dr. Wm. Aitken, of Edinburgh. This work was not only thoroughly revised by the American editor — large additions being made to the original matter — but many new chapters were added upon subjects not treated in the English edition. In addition to the foregoing. Dr. Clymer has also been a large contributor to the medical periodical literature. The following being among the more important of his papers, have all been republished in pamphlet form : "Notes on the Physiology and Pathology of the Ner- vous System with reference to Clinical Medicine ; " [New York Medical Journal, May, 1870] : " Hereditary Ge- nius ; an Analytical Review ;" {Journal of Psychologi- cal Medidne, April, 1870] : " The Dramatic Disorders of the Nervous System ;" [N. X., 1870, Appleton & Co.]: "Lectures on the Palsies and Kindred Disorders of the Nervous System;" [Medical Record, 18 — ]: "Epi- demic Cerebro-Spinal Meningitis : with an Appendix on some points on the Causes of Disease as shown by the History of the Present Epidemic in New York City ;" [Phila., 1872] : " The Legitimate Influence of Epilepsy upon Criminal Responsibility;" reprinted from the proceedings of the Medico-Legal Society of New York, and read by invitation before the Society, May 11th, 1871 : [N. T., 1874]. STORRS, REV. RICHARD S., D.D., pastor of the Chui'ch of the Pilgrims, Brooklyn, was born at Braintree, Massachusetts, August 31st, 1821. He was graduated at Amherst College, in 1839, and com- pleted his studies at Ajidover Theological Seminary in 1845. At the outset of his career, he gave brilliant promise of his future greatness. His mind, and in- deed his whole character, were of a stamp which proved him to be a man who was to make his mark in the intellectual world. In 1845, he accepted a call to '^^L^ ^ CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. 93 the Har\!ard Congregational Clim-cli at Brookline, Massacliusetts, but in the yeai- following was called to the Church of the Pilgrims, Brooklyn, New York. This church was the pioneer of the Congregational churches of Brooldyn. The natives of New England, who sought that place in such large numbers, brought Congregationalism with them, and soon gave complex- ion to the moral and religious character of the beauti- ful city in which they took up their residence. The first evidence of their religious zeal was the erection on the Heights of an imposing stone church edifice, exceeding at the time every other structure of the kind in Brooklyn. In the front wall of the church may be seen a piece of the veritable Plymouth Rock. Dr. Storrs was called, and the New Englanders found not only an altar affording their own popular form of wor- ship, but a pastor of the most commanding talents. He drew about him a large, wealthy, and intelligent congregation, and has now been their accepted pastor for over thirty years. A few years since, the inte- rior of the church was magnificently improved, making it a rare specimen of artistic taste and beauty. Dr. Storrs is not without reputation in the walks of Utera- ture. When the Independent was started, in 1848, he became one of the associate editors, and his articles were characterized by a polish of diction and compre- hensiveness of expression which are peculiarities of his style. He has also published a number of ser- mons, orations, and addresses, a very elaborate report of the revision of the English version of the Bible, undertaken by the American Bible Society, and a vol- ume of " Graham's Lectm-es on the Wisdom, Power, and Goodness of God, as Manifested in the Constitu- tion of the Human Soul," etc. His mind is one of large comprehension, and his studies are diligent, so that he becomes a thorough master of every subject ■with which he deals. He writes with evident care, and in the weU-selected terms of a highly cultivated literary taste. He has been successful as an editor, and discusses the occurring religious and secular topics with readiness and skiU. In his sermons he is scholarly and eloquent. As compositions they are replete with merit, and many of them should be classed as magnifi- cent orations. The historical and other facts are introduced in a most pleasing and interesting form, and where he indulges in fancy it is not only truly poetic, but both original and sensible. He has always taken a great interest in the educational movements of Brooklyn. He took an active part in the establish- ment and success of the Brooklyn Female Academy, now the Packer Institute, and in the school established by the late Rev. Dr. Alonzo Gray, on the Heights. Patten, in "Lives of the Clergy of New York and Brooklyn," says: "As a preacher, Dr. Storrs has some striking peculiarities. Of late, most of his ser- mons are extemporaneously delivered, though the preparation is always studious and thorough. His appearance is most dignified and solemn, and his de-. livery is slow, emphatic, and' impressive. In every attitude and in every tone, he is the impersonation of not only the man of intellectual power, but the man of God. He rivets the eye and he appeals to the sen- sibilities in the same instant. The magnetic influence which goes out from the great intelligence and the pure character of one man to the minds and hearts of other men, is instantly felt by those who come into the presence of this admired preacher. His voice is strong but beautifully modulated, and highly sensitive to the emotions. Decided and emphatic in all utterances of fact and opinion, showing a most thorough scholarship in both theology and literature, these sermons are also most touching expressions of Christian sentiment. If the hearer desu-es to listen to the most polished diction, to original and gi-eat thoughts of a scholarly as well as practical mind, he will be fully gratified ; but in no case, should he be seeking the way of eternal life, will he fail to be told the path to it. Thus, while scholar- ship and oratory are attractive features of the minis- trations of Dr. Storrs, it is all made subservient to Ms greater aim of the regeneration of his fellow men. While you shall go away from the service pleased and instructed, you will likewise feel stronger in virtue and faith, for the temptations and sorrows of the world. Dr. Storrs is of large, tall,, stately person, and in the prime and vigor of manhood. There is a reso- lute expression about his mouth, and his glance, though mild, is very searching. Still, his face is very inter- esting from its characteristics of intelligence and good- ness. In all intercourse he is dignified and studiously polite. His disposition, manners, and habits, have all been formed and schooled in the infiexible purpose, the stern dignity, and the rigid method of Pm-itanism. The forefathers of New England are his models of all excellence, as well in personal deportment as in morals and reUgious sentiment. Looking at individual char- acter in this land, and in the many he has visited, he seems to turn with satisfaction to the Puritan type as the one best sustaining the true nobility in man's na- ture. Without belonging exactly to the sensational preachers of the day, Dr. Storrs by no means keeps aloof from the agitation of secular topics in the pulpjt. As a war man, an abolitionist and emancipationist, and a moral reformer, he has been among the boldest, ablest, and most earnest. With the zeal and resolu- tion in upholding what he believes to be the right in- born in him from his ancestry, he is a champion who generally bears the banner of victory. His vai'ied learning eminently fits him for all the departments in which he energetically exerts himself. As a clergy- man, scholar, teacher, and citizen, he has secured an 94 CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. exalted reputation, which is increased by his success- ful labors in every new field of duty. • A representa^ tive of the most advanced culture of the American pulpit, he is equally an example of the stern and higher virtues, which are at once the strength and safety of society." TYNG, REV. STEPHEN H., D.D., rector of St. George's Church, New York, was born at New- buryport, Mass., March 1st, 1800. At the age of seventeen he was graduated at Harvard College, and for two years was engaged in mercantile pm'suits. He began the study -of theology under Bishop Griswold, in 1819, and was ordained a deacon of the Episcopal Chm-ch, at Bristol, Rhode Island, March 4th, 1821. He labored for two years at Georgetown, D. C, and for six in Queen Anne's parish. Prince George's county, Maryland. In May, 1839, he removed to Philadel- phia, and became rector of St. Paul's Church. The degree of D.D. was conferred upon him by Jefferson College in 1832, and by Harvard in 1851. In 1833, he was called to the Church of the Epiphany, in Phila- delphia. The death of the venerable and learned Dr. Milnor having created a vacancy in St. George's par- ish. New York, Dr. Tyng succeeded him in 1845, and still remains in the same extended field of duty. After a few years a, magnificent church was constructed on the corner of Rutherford Place and East Sixteenth street. Dr. Tyng has a number of published works, the variety of which may be judged by the fol- lowing titles: "Lectm-es on the Law and Gospels," "Recollections of England," "Family Commentary on the Pour Gospels," "History of Ruth, the Moab- itess," "Esther, the Queen of Persia," "The Child of Prayer," (a memorial to his son. Rev. Dudley A. Tyng), "Forty Years' Experience in Sunday Schools," &c. During twenty-one years of the existence of St. George's Sunday school in this city, under the pastor- ate of Rev. Dr. Tyng, that organization raised and disbm-sed $68,985, including the building of two chm'ches in Africa — one in Monrovia, of stone, and one in Caldwell, of brick, $12,000; building and fur- nishing the Chapel of Free Grace in East Nineteenth street, $18,000; building and furnishing the German chapel in Fourteenth street, together with the pm-chase of the lot on which it stands, $12,000; building two school-houses in Africa, one at Monrovia and one at Caldwell, $1,500; annual support of the parish mis- sions of St. George's Church, including the Mission Schools' contributions to anniversaries, always returned to them, $7,500; all the chancel furniture of St. George's Church, when it was rebuilt, including the pulpit, desk and font, and partly the clock, $9,000; domestic missions in the United States, through th€ American Church Missionary Society, $1,500; The Shepherd's Fold, an institution for poor infant chil- dren, in Eighty-sixth street and Second avenue, $1,300 ; education of young men for the ministry, $500 ; inci- dentals, $1,185. The parish embraces a congregation large, wealthy, and influential. ' Dr. Tyng is one of the most learned and eloquent men in the Episcopal Church. His mind, of such ripeness in mere youth, has constantly expanded under the twin benefits of re- search and experience. While he has sought to sip the sweets of popularity, he has made leajrning, piety, and zeal the foundation of his renown ; consequently his studies have been most diligent throughout his cai'eer, and his gladness is to know that they can never be completed in the period of a human life. As with other scholars, the exploration of one mine of lore only opens the path to other treasures beyond. Dr. Tyng has not been satisfied with theological studies alone, and is a man of varied learning. The theories of government and the history of empires have greatly commanded his attention, and to such a degree that he is of the few Episcopal clergymen who have mingled in the political discussions of the day. In this matter, as in all others, he is firm, earnest, and conscientious. Convinced in his own mind of the propriety, wisdom, and importance of any line of action, it requires over- powering reasons to alter his pm-pose. He is borne on a tide of enthusiasm. New reasons to sustain him come every day like favoring vrinds, and his eye is ever watching for the haven which his convictions have promised him. He is slow to launch himself upon any untried sea of opinion ; but, once afloat, he will courageously breast the wildest storm. But the love and heartiest enthusiasm of Dr. Tyng is of course for his particular faith. He is in no measm-e a bigot, but is joyous beyond expression that he stands a be- liever, a member, and a preacher within the pale of the Episcopal Church. Her doctrines are his sure an- chor, her example is his boast, her history is the record of God's "own work, and her glory is the brightness of the earth. With Dr. Tyng, the delivery of a sermon is an effective, eloquent reading, rather than anything which might be considered an oratorical display. He has great dignity of bearing, a smooth but decided voice, polished periods, and sterling thought; but there is none of that lightning of the tongue which flashes from perception to perception, or of that thun- der which startles down into the very soul. He follows the more sedate pulpit style usual and popular in the Episcopal Church. IJis chaste words, urged vrith sin- cerity, devotedness, and piety, fall rich fniit to the inquirer, the devout, and the intellectual. To the first, they make light from darlmess; to the second, they invigorate with strengthened hope ; and to the thu-d, & J" '^7^>- CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. 95 they are the luscious product of the tree of scholar- ship. But when Dr. Tyng puts aside his gown, and Steps out on the platform for secular speech-making, he is a new man. He is not walled about by church dis- cipUne or Episcopalian propriety, and he is not tied tongue and hands by forms and customs. All enter- prises of his church — those of charity, philanthropy, and education^— have in him a zealous friend. The Sunday school is another delight. He was greatly en- wrapt in a talented son, who, although young: was prominent in the ministry, and who came to Ms death by a heart-rending accident. His memory is embalmed In the affecting and eloquent memorial of his father, to whom his decease was an almost overpowering blow. The son was a model of manly and Christian graces, acquired by a close study of the example of his father; and the shadow which fell upon the life of the last is even now only removed by the monuments which re- main of the young minister's faith and works, and more especially by his brilliant flight from earth. Rev. Stephen H. Tyng, Jr. is a distinguished living son. Looking to the coming and final hom' in his own destiny. Dr. Tyng has but one purpose in all his efforts," which is, so to guide his steps that his end may be peaceful tad triumphant. STOtJGHTON, HON. EDWIN W., an eminent lawyer,, and present Minister of the United States to the Court of Russia, is descended from a very early New England stock, his patei-nal ancestry tracing directly back to the elder brother of William Stough- ton, Lieutenant Governor of the Massachusetts Bay colony, before whom, as first Chief Justice of the Province under the last Royal Charter, the Salem trials of witchcraft were held in special assizes. Thomas P. Stoughton, his father, was a resident of Spring- field, Windsor County, Vermont. His mother, a Bradley, belonged likewise to an old New England family. Edvrin W. Stoughton was bom in Springfield, May 1st, 1818. His education was the simple tuition of the local schools of his native town, finished by a few terms at a neighboring academy. At the age of eighteen, indisposed to the routine of a rural life, and ambitious to secure a higher and broader future than the small field of a Vermont village could promise, he left his home and came to New York. In May, 1837, the year of the financial panic, he commenced the study of law — the profession most congenial to his hopes and abiUties— in the oflBce of Hon. Philo T. Ruggles. His tuition under that eminent lawyer lasted, however, but a few weeks, the means at his command not admitting of an unproductive life solely devoted to study and destitute of income. Yielding to the necessity of combining his readings with such a degree of clerical labor as would help eke out his support, he left Mr. Ruggles' office and entered that of Messrs. Seeley & Glover, where, in return for service as clerk, he was permitted the use of the library and paid the minimum salary upon which, with sums re- ceived for contributions to a leading magazine, he could live with the most rigid economy. He passed between thi-ee and four years in the office of Seeley & Glover, during which time he gave all his spare hours to thorough absorption in his readings, and mastered as much of the lore of the profession probably as ever was mastered in an equal period. In addition to his knowledge of the common and statute law derived from books, his frequent employment by his princi- pals' in the drafting as well as copying of papers, and his attendance in com-t during the last year of his ser- vice, gave him a very correct acquaintance with the system and details of practice. What with his excep- tional diligence in the acquirement of legal science, and a natural acuteness specially fitting him for pro- fessional success, in the fall of 1840 he was admitted to practice in the Superior Com-t of the State and in the Federal Courts, and, in the succeeding May, in the Supreme Court, passing his examination with no less credit for his scholarship than admiration among the older barristers for the richness and availability of his natural faculties. Stoughton immediately entered upon practice, electing wisely to pursue his career in the metropolis. His success at the start was very much the usual fortune of young practitioners, whose social connection or relationship to some leading firm does not happen to be such as to command at once the shower of business that wisely waits on assiduity and demonstrated talent. Not by any means, however, a briefless lawyer, cases came to him in fair number, a respectable share of office work and a good deal of attorney's service, put in his way by shrewd counsel who had observed his cleverness of resource ; so that, indeed, his present was at least self-supporting and his future more than hopeful. His early professional career was, moreover, aided by faculties possessed by very few young lawyers in the same degree — a large capacity for general information, a quick grasp of com- mercial and mercantile details, and that cm-ious sym- pathy with human emotion and ratiocination which constitutes the very rare mental feature termed knowl- edge of human nature. To iio profession is this last intuitive faculty more valuable than to the legal. The lawyer who can, with his keen observation, read the inner consciousness of client, juryman, or antagonist, as the physician forms his diagnosis of the physical interior with thumb or stethoscope, in the degree of his special faculty possesses an advantage over all competitors. The combination of the characteristics. 96 CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. above indicated, made young Stougliton, in its best sense, a man of tlie world, or homme a affaires, possi- bly a more suggestive term. Added to this largeness of nature, he had, dm-ing his academic days and the later period of his professional novitiate, studiously cultivated an inlierent literary faculty, which vras of great aid to his success. In 1839, he was in the regu- lai- habit of contributing articles on various subjects to Hunt's MercMnts' Magazine, then in its first and palmy days, receiving a moderate remuneration, very oppor- tune during the hai-d times of his struggle as a student. These essays of his brain and pen, occasionally on intricate business or financial themes, attracted ad- miring attention, and were frequently given a general circulation in the contemporary press. In 1843, dur- ing the court-martial of Captain (afterward Commo- dore) Mackenzie, for the hanging of three mutineers of the U. S. Brig of War Somers, one of whom was Passed Midshipman Spencer, son of John C. Spencer, ex-Secretary of "War, young Stoughton wrote a review of it fourteen columns in length, which was published in the Jfew World— edited by the brilliant Park Ben- jamin — a weekly literary and critical paper of the highest character at that day. This article, dealing with a question which universally agitated the popular mind, by its forcible, perspicuous logic, its copious ci- tation of law and precedent, and its dignified though aggressive tone of expression, had an instant and pro- nounced effect. The authenticity of the article was even questioned by not a few, who, unwilling to accord the credit to so young a writer, claimed to find in its nervous, impressive style the brain-work of the best publicists in America. A grateful recognition of the sentiment enforced was soon after received by Mr. Freeman Hunt, from Hon. John C. Spencer, with a request that it be transmitted to the author, who "de- served the thanks of the country for his able treatment of the question involved." Literary reputation does not, as a rule, favorably affect the fortunes of a, busi- ness aspirant. Yet the character of Stoughton's efforts with the pen was so substantial and persuasive, as to be fully consistent with a high order of professional ability. As a consequence his legal business increased with his growing celebrity as a writer, and important cases were entrusted to his care. From that period his practice has been- not only large, but has com- prised the most weighty and important law questions and material interests. In Patent causes particularly, for the last twenty yeai-s, he has been a leading coun- sel. This class of causes has involved an inquiry into the most difficult and intricate questions arising in mechanism, natm-al philosophy and chemistry, and he has tried lengthy and decisive Issues in nearly all the principal cities of the Union, and attended every ses- sion of the U. S. Supreme Court at Washington. Six years after his admission to the bar, his connection commenced, as associate counsel, with the defence, which included a large representation of the machine manufacturers of the United States, in the celebrated Woodworth Planing Machine cases. Gov. William H. Seward was for the patentee, the plaintiff. In 1849, Mr. Stoughton, then senior counsel, argued the case against Mr. Seward in Philadelphia, and won a victory over his very able and veteran opponent. In the equally renowned Rubber Suits, involving rights under the original Goodyear Patent, he was likewise a lead- ing counsel. In a suit brought by Horace H. Day against Judson and others, in 1856, to define his rela- tion to the patent, he was for the plaintiff, against an extraordinary array of professional ability, including Charles O'Conor, James T. Brady, and J. W. Ger- rard. The trial continued, before U. S. District Judge Betts and a jury, for forty-one days, when the defense took advantage of a vacancy by death in the panel, and refused to proceed before eleven remaining jury- men, the cause being consequently suspended indeter- minately. During the same year, Mr. Stoughton secm'ed a verdict in a partnership issue tried in the Supreme Court of New Jersey, before Judge (after- wards Governor) Haines and a jury. The trial lasted sixteen days, and the verdict awarded an amount of l$72,000, the largest sum ever recovered in that State. In 1860, Ml-. Stoughton was retained by the Erie R. R. Company, defendant against Ross Winans, the' Balti- more millionaire inventor and machinist. The cause, involving the eight-wheel car patent, was tried before District Judge Hall and a jury, in Buffalo. After a trial consuming five weeks, the judge ordered a verdict for the defence, a decision which was confirmed on appeal to the U. S. Supreme Court. Winans' recov- eiy, had he been successful, would have been over one million of dollars. The trial cost $40,000. In 1868, Mr. Stoughton was again counsel for the Company, in the notorious Receiver cases, tried in the U. S. Courts. With the late Reverdy Johnson, he was in 1861 em- ployed by the Hoffman Coal Company, in an action, brought in the Maryland Supreme Com-t, to rescind a contract with the Cumberland Coal Company, alleged to have been made by the Du-ectors of the former with- out legal responsibility. The amount involved was 1750,000. A verdict, secured by the defendant, was on appeal reversed. In the long litigation between Wheeler & Wilson, on one side, and Slote and other infringers of sewing machine patents on the other, he was counsel for the patentee. He was also retained by George H. Corliss, the eminent steam engi- neer, to defend his patent for the "cut-off," invented In 1849, and adopted by all the gi-eat industrial estab- lishments throughout the world, against a legion of fraudulent imitations, and, after four jury trials in CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. 97 Rhode Island, resulting in disagreements, secured a judgment in equity before the Court, which was sub- sequently affirmed by the supreme tribunal at Wash- ington. Mr. Stoughton's successful conduct of Hor- ace H. Day's interests in 1856, commenced a profes- sional connection with a long series of causes growing out of the Goodyear Rubber patent, he being employed by Goodyear's executors to, assert their rights to an extension. A preliminary verdict obtained in Rhode Island against the Providence Rubber Company, re- covering the largest amount ever awarded by any court in a patent cause, was appealed to the U. S. Su- preme Com-t, where, associated with William M. Evarts, Stoughton won a final triumph for his clients over such eminent lawyers as Caleb Cushing and Jere- miah S. Black. The printed papers used in the appeal extended to 1,400 pages of letter press, and the argu- ments consumed several days. As counsel, a few years since, for the bondholders of a raih-oad Company in Vermont, Mr. Stoughton argued the claim before a full bench of the State judiciary, and gained a verdict — the amount involved being half a million. While the larger proportion of his causes have been issues growing out of patent disputes, or extensive contracts, he has occasionally been retained in the prosecution or defense of persons charged with fraud or criminal mis- demeanor. The U. S. Government employed him in the trial and conviction of Callicott, indicted for mal- feasance in the collection of the Internal Revenue ; and, in 1871, in a very important case relating to the validity and effect of the laws regulating the national banks. In 1868, he was counsel for the defence in the Rosenburgh fraudulent natm-alization trials, which im- plicated a large number of lawyers, judges and clerks of the New York State Com-t. After trial in the Cir- cuit Court of the district, Mr. Stoughton argued the case on appeal before the United States Su- preme Court and secured a practical acquittal for his client through the plea of non-jurisdiction. In 1871 a very discriminating sketch of Mr. Stough- ton's professional career appeared in a leading maga^ zine which had for a considerable period been publish- ing brief biogi-aphies of contemporary celebrities. The following pai-agraphs, embodying m addition to a very clever appreciation of his legal ability and relative standing among great lawyers, certain fragments of personal history that are of immediate interest, have aji appropriate place in this connection : "Though he is not regarded as a sensational jury lawyer, there is no man who can more successfully manage a cause before a modern court or jury than Mr. Stoughton. He never deceives any person, nor is he petulant or captious. He never censures any person unless they deserve it. All his energies are directed to the true issues in the cause. He takes the facts and circumstances as they are, and makes the best use of them possible. It may be said of him in trying a cause as Dr. Johnson said of Burke, ' he winds himself into it like a great serpent.' He does not take a single view of it, nor become discouraged when it begins to fail. He throws himself into all its windings, and strug- gles in it while it has Mfe. He proceeds in a calm, yet earnest and respectful manner, without bustle, and in all that is said or done has one object in view — success. No unnecessary words are used, and nothing is done for outside effect, but any person can see and feel he is in earnest. His arguments before the courts are cleai*, terse, logical, and convincing, without being unnecessarily long, though often continuing many days, and he never unnecessarily multiplies labor, or the appearance of labor, for the purpose of making a client pay for it. Mr. Stoughton's mode of trying and arguing causes is very much like that of Lord Erskine, the most eminent of English barristers, as described by Lord Talfourd, who said that he was the most consummate advocate of whom there was any trace. Mr. Stoughton is unquestionably the Erskine of the American bar, and is so regarded by those most competent to judge. He is distingue in appearance, being a strong, powerfully-built man, beyond the medium size, and as ' straight as an arrow.' He has a very large head, covered with thick, white curling hair, which resembles the ' judicial wig ' often seen in old portraits. His face is a finely-cut specimen of the Grecian type, is smoothly shaven, and of a florid complexion. His voice is clear, distinct, and impres- sive. In his walk he takes long strides, and plants his foot firmly down ; and though graceful in all his move- ments, they indicate great energy and force of charac- ter. "There is no waste material or false motion about him, and his whole make shows him capable of great mental and physical power. If once seen he is never forgotten. In his manners he is frank, cordial, kind- hearted, and generous to a fault. He is temperate in eating and drinking, uses no tobacco, is an early riser, and keeps up the equilibrium between mind and body by much physical exercise. He may be of ten seen riding on horseback in Central Park before breakfast, and he always walks from his house to his office (about three miles), and again in returning, in all kinds of weather. Mr. Stoughton has taken no active part in politics, never attending meetings of that kind, though often invited to preside or to speak. He was married at the age of thirty-seven. His home hospitality is notorious among his associates of the bench and bar, among whom he seeks to introduce a warmer spirit of cordial sociality. In the summer of 1867 he visited Europe, and made the usual tour on the continent, and again in 1869; and while last there visited the studio of Powers, in Florence, and purchased from him, at a large sum, the ' Greek Slave,' (lately on exhibition at the Academy of Design) being one of the few wnich the artist has made, the others in this country being in the hands of W. W. Corcoran, Esq., the Washington ■ banker, and A. T. Stewart, Esq., respectively. He has a large library of English and American law books, and many miscellaneous books. Besides his residence on Fifth avenue, he has a country seat at Windsor, Vt., and entertains largely, giving princely dinners to the Judges of our highest State and National courts, and other prominent persons, and often entertains distinguished foreigners who visit this coun- try. The dinner and reception given by him to Prince Arthur was one of the few which the Prince accepted while in this country." 98 CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. As suggested in the foregoing quotation, Mr. Stough- ton has not been a politician, nor hardly a partisan. Thoroughly in love with his profession, during an ex- ceptionally industrious career, up to a very recent date, he would entertain no proposition, however grateful to the self -consciousness of a patriotic citizen, that coul4 separate him from it. Throughout the five long years of the civil war, he was conspicuous among the leaders of Union sentiment, contributing generously by act and •word to the support of the National cause. After the war was over, so far as it consisted In deeds of violence and armed occupation of territory, he fully appreciated the difiBculties that must arise in the settlement of affairs, and his exhaustive acquaintance with historic precedents foreshadowed the many dangers yet to be ■encountered in the nation's pathway to a perfect paci- fication. With the careful, painstaking deliberation of a life-long student of constitutional law, "to whom," using Froude's characterization of the English states- men of 1528, "the gloom of the future appeared thronged with phantoms of possible contingencies," before President Grant's second term was half com- pleted, he had anticipated, and counselled a remedial policy for the evil condition of domestic affairs that has since seriously threatened the stability of our poUtical system. Mr. Stoughtonwas a personal friend of the late President, powerfully advocating the distinctive fea- tures of his administration. In the National canvass of. 1876 he likewise gave a warm support to the Kepubli- can candidates. After the canvass was concluded, and vyhile its issue in certain Southern States was involved in a mass of antagonistic falsification on both sides, each claiming the result in a spirit of animosity daily growing more rancorous and threatening civil disturb- ance, he was requested by General Grant to become one of an impromptu commission of leading Republicans who should visit Louisiana, and, together with a simi- lar commission of prominent Democrats, examine and report upon the situation in that State. The action of these two bodies of gentlemen is matter of liistory. Mr. Stoughton remained in New Orleans during the entire procedure of the canvass of votes by the Return- ing Board, and it is not unfair to assume that Ms ex- traordinary experience as a lawyer enabled him to form, more directly and intelligently than the lay mem- bers of the commissions, a thorough and correct ob- servation of the true state of things. The succeeding February, as, with dissentient Houses at Washington, and an increasing rancor of divided opinion throughout the nation upon the question of counting the electoral votes, no solution of the difiiculty seemed likely under ordinary circumstances^ a body of National officials, composed of five members of the U. S. Supreme Court, five of the Senate, and five of the House of Represen- tatives, met at the Capitol, in accordance with a con- ciu-rent resolution of Congress, "to provide for and regulate the counting of votes for President and Vice President, and the decisions of questions arising thereon, for the term commencing March 4, A. D. 1877." The Democratic claimant was represented by a powerful array of counsel before this high tribunal, including such eminent lawyers as Charles O'Conor, Jeremiah S. Black, Merrick, Lyman Trumbull, ex-Senator from Illinois, and — Carpenter, ex-Senator from Wisconsin. Opposed to this remarkable array of advocates the Republican cause was represented by William M. Evarts, the present Secretary of State, Edwin W. Stoughton, Hon. Stanley Matthews, since elected Senator from Ohio, and Hon. Samuel Shella- barger, from the same State. Mr. Stoughton addressed the Commission at great length on two occasions ; on the 3d of February sustaining with great power the position assumed by his side, and affirmed by the issue of the debate, that it was not within the jurisdiction of the body of fifteen to receive testimony sis to electoral results, other than the certificates transmitted to the President of the Senate, and opened in the presence of the two Houses; and on the 15th of the month in general advocacy of the Inviolable character of the Returning Board of Louisiana and of its action. Of these signal efforts of this veteran lawyer and publicist, both models of vehement and incisive argument, the latter, which is much the longest, was the most ex- haustive view of the general question, not only evolv- ing constitutional theories, but illustrating the political system of the South, that was presented dming the entire debate. The orator's citation of precedents — notably an embarrassing quotation from the report of a Senate Committee, to which Mr. Trumbull gave his adhesion as a member, showed a thorough knowledge of legislative records, while the results of his observa- tions in New Orleans were 'used to advantage in his delineation of the political management of that State. The address of the 3d of Februai'y delivered during the consideration of the Florida certificates, will, how- ever, probably be regarded as the more finished pro- duction. More compact in its construction, simply perfect in logic, and throughout admirable in its style of expression, it is an example of forensic argument. It was said of the vocabulary of Charles James Pox, that every word he used was the best one afforded by the English language for the time and place, an encomium which may well be repeated in this connection. We re- produce here the two Speeches mentioned. The speech on the Florida question delivered on February 3d was as follows : " Mr. Stotighton. Mr. President and gentlemen of the Commission, although my brother Evarts and my- self propose to divide between us the remainder of our time, I shall occupy, I think, but a very small portion CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. 99 of it. The question which the court, or rather this tri- bunal, has directed us to argue, as I understand it, is whether any, and if any, what testimony can be re- ceived in tliis case of any nature, independent of the documents which were transmitted to the President of the Senate, and opened in the presence of the two Houses. In the first place, it seems to me appropriate to ask -What is the jurisdiction of this tribunal, and what are its powers ? Upon it is devolved by legisla- tion of Congress such power, if any, to count the elec- toral vote, in the special cases referred to it, as is pos- sessed by the two Houses of Congress acting separately or together. The im-isdiction as conferred is, there- fore, an unknown quantity until it shall be ascertained what are the powers of the two Houses acting sepa- rately or together ;' and the purpose of this Commission is — assuming the power of the two Houses, or of either to be, to count the electoral vote — to ascertain what duties, what powers are involved in the exercise of that function. The purpose to be attained is the count of the electoral vote. The power devolved upon this tribunal is to count that vote in special cases. It Is to count the electoral vote, and not to count the votes by which the electors were elected. That is a discrimination which I think hardly need be enforced by argument. The electoral vote is to be counted, and this tribunal has no power, it has no duty to count the vote by which the electors were elected. If it has, it will be compelled to descend into an unfathomable depth, and to grope its way in paths hitherto untrodden by judicial feet, and amid voting-polls and places whence it cannot emerge in . many days. Now, what is proposed by the testimony in question 1 The general inquiry which counsel are to answer is, what, if any, testimony is admissible in this case ; and, for the pur- pose of ascertaining this, it is well to learn precisely what this case is, and what is the purpose of the testi- mony proposed. There are some facts of which this tribunal can take judicial notice. One is the laws of the State of Florida. What are they in reference to this subject, and what was done in pursuance of them, and what is proposed to be done by testimony — as it is called — for the purpose of overthrowing what was done in pursuance of the laws of that State ? In the first place, its statute by a clause, a part of which I will take the liberty of reading, for the creation of an ulti- mate Returning Board, having capacity to certify the number of votes cast for electors, and who were elected ; and, if that Board performed its duty, however mis- taken, however crowded with error, however, if you please, tainted by fraud, if that Board discharged the duty cast upon it by law, and did ascertain and did declare how many votes for particular sets of electors were cast, and did certify and declare who were the persons elected electors, that ends all inquiry here, assuming that you may go behind the Governor's certificate, unless, indeed, you may retreat behind the action of the Returning Board, the final tri- bunal for that purpose creaited by the laws of the State, and ascertain whether it did or did not, according to your judgment, faithfully return the votes cast, and faithfully declare who were the persons elected. I read as to the constitution of the Returning Board, may it please this tribunal, from the fourth section of the act of 1873, which will be found on page 3 of the report made by Mr. Sargent of the Senate. It provides that : "On the thirty-fifth day after the holding of any general or special election for any State oflBcer, mem- ber of the Legislature, or Rejpresentative in Congress, or sooner, if the returns shall have been received from the several counties wherein elections shall have been held, the Secretary of State, Attorney-General, and the Comptroller of Public Accounts, or any two of them, together with any other member of the cabinet who may be designated by them, shall meet at the office of the Secretary of State, pursuant to notice to be given by the Secretary of State, and form a board of State canvassers, and proceed to canvass the returns of said election " — Will your honors mark the lan- guage — " and- determine and declare who shall have been elected to any such office, or as such member, as shown by such returns. If any such returns shall be shown, or shall appear to be so irregular, false, or fraudulent, that the Board shall be unable to determine the true vote for any such officer or member, they shall so certify, and shall not include such return in their determination and declaration." There was committed to this Board by that statute a capacity to determine and decide — finally and conclu- sively — -how many lawful votes were cast, and who were elected electors. A majority of that Board were authorized to perform that duty ; and it appears here, before this tribunal, that in the discharge of that duty, a majority of its members— omitting the Attorney- General— did, in the exercise of the discretion thus confided to them, certify and declare that the Hayes electors, so called, were duly elected by the lawful voters of that State. If we go behind that finding we disregard the determination of a tribunal which the State of Florida has declaa-ed by her Legislature to be empowered to determine what persons she has consti- tuted to declare her will in the electoral college ; for it is her will as a sovereign State — wise orfoohsh — which is to be thus expressed. Now, it seems to me that if this Commission shall go behind the finding of that Board it will go behind it upon the' theory that it may exercise its will, irrespective of judicial power, upon some theory that it has the capacity of both Houses or of either House to do as it pleases, not in subjection to the Constitution of the country, but in obedience to an unlicensed will and purpose ; and I expect, as my brother Black did, a conclusion which will rescue this tribunal from falling into so fatal an error as that of undertaking to interfere with the final declaration of the tribunal which the Legislature of a State has declared shall finally, and at last certify, who may de- posit the expression of its will in the national baUot- box, as it has been called. I suppose it vrill not be denied — I presume no one will de'ny — that a State of this Union, by its Legislature may, in any mode it pleases, declare who shall be its instrument for select- ing electors. I suppose that, if the State of Florida had declared that one of its Sheriffs should select the elec- tors, that would be final when done. Peradventure some theorist, upon the notion that you should go to the people as the som-ce of power to elect Judges as well as all other officers, might say such a mode of selection and appointment would hardly be in har- mony with republican institutions ; but I think he who would venture to go behind the expressed will of the State as to the method in which the electors should be appointed would find himself engaged in an effort to invade its sovereignty and interfere with the su- premacy of a State. I am perfectly aware that, if this tribunal were empowered to appoint committees by which it could through them proceed to different States, and irrespective of the rules of evidence or law, gather together testimony, and then if it had the capacity TOO CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. upon that to do as it should please, it might go behind and overset anyfinal lawful declaration of any Beturn- ing Board in any State in the country. But Congress, -while it conferred in the shape of an unknown quan- tity a jurisdiction upon this tribunal — declaring it should possess the powers, if any, possessed by the two Houses, or either, for the pui-pose of performing the duty of counting the vote— took care not to permit it to found its conclusion upon testimony inadmissible in a court of justice. The distinction between the un- certainty of language which conferred jurisdiction and the certainty and precision of language which con- ierred power to receive testimony is marked and apparent and I will, with your honors' permission, refer to it. "AH such certificates, votes, and papers so objected to, and all papers accompanying the same, together -with such objections, shall be forthwith submitted to said Commisssion, which shall proceed to consider the same with the same powers, if any, now possessed for that purpose by the two Houses acting separately or together, and by a majority of votes, decide whether any, and what votes from such State are the votes pro- -vided for by the Constitution of the United States, and iow many and what persons were duly appointed electors in such State, and may therein take into view such petitions, depositions, and other papers, if any; as shall, by the Constitution and now existing law, be competent and pertinent in such consideration." " Competent and pertinent" in view of what? In -view of the action of Congress through its committees ? I mean no disrespect when I say that such mode per- mits the breath of calumny to be blown in a way "Which, thank God, courts of justice talte care to prevent ; and your honors being endowed with power to hear depositions, papers, and petitions, competent and per- tinent within the meaning of the Constitution and ex- isting laws — it being not expressed precisely what they are — will look at those rules of law which guide in administering justice upon the bench, and will deter- mine what are the depositions and papers which you may thus receive. Turning over the pages of the law, you find, printed in characters unmistakable, your \itter incapacity to receive other proof than that which the common law has sanctified by usage and througli the lips of its judges as fit to be employed to affect the rights of men, to say nothing of the riglits of States and nations. Here we have a tribunal of special and limited jurisdiction, incapable of moving out of the narrow orbit in which it is placed, proceeding for a particular purpose, liable in the language of the act, theoretically but not practically, to have its decision overturned by a concurrent order of the two Houses acting finally, and therefore a tribunal thus created ex- erts no powers not specially conferred, and can receive no testimony not in harmony with principles of law Jong since settled. Then, may it please your honors, your jurisdiction is to count the electoral votes ; your power is in counting to resort to such proof, if any, as tlie Constitution and laws permit. You are dealing ■with a delicate subject when the question of jmisdic- tion is reached. You are dealing with the supremacy of a State when you undertake to touch its final tribu- nal for the purpose of overhauling and upsetting its action. Now I have in a general way, perhaps very imperfectly, presented my view of the jurisdiction and the power and the purpose of this tribunal. I propose to say a very few words in addition. I have said that the purpose' of the testimony offered is to go behind, not merely the Governor's certificate — for that un- doubtedly, upon questions of forgery, upon questions of mistake, upon many questions this tribunal can deal with — but, designing to get beliind that, the purpose is to get behind the action of that tribunal which the State has set up, and to cancel its finding, or else the testimony offered is senseless and worthless. What is specially offered ? To maintain the right to have the votes counted for Mr. Tilden, we have before us the certificate of the Attorney-General of Florida, who dissented from the majority of the Returning Board, stating in that certificate — with frankness, as he does — that there is no method of authenticating their title beyond his mere certificate, by obtaining the certificate of the Governor, because it would be in violation of the laws of Florida for him to certify to the election of electors who had been returned as such by but a mi- nority of the Board empowered to perform that duty. What next do we find ? We find a statute of the State of Florida thrust upon us, passed on the 17th of Jan- uary — long after these electors had voted, authorizing a new canvass — of what ? In harmony with the au- thority to canvass previously authorized ? No, but a canvass of the votes — precisely indicating them — then in the office of the Secretary of State : and we find under that act a Board of Canvassers meeting ; a can- vass made and certified, stating the Tilden electors to have been found by that Board on the 35th of January, to have been elected in the November previous. That is the authority for going behind the certification of the electors by the lawful Returning Board. Coupled with this is a proceeding by quo warranto, ultimating in a judgment on the 35th of January, declaring that these persons who performed all their duties on the 6th of December were not then electors,' but that all their acts were illegal and invalid ; and the learned gentle- man from Virginia (Mr. Tucker) who yesterday ad- dressed this tribvmal, said that decision swept away all prior acts of these ofdcers de facto ; but for this he gave us no authority. My memory immediately carried me to case after case in which it had been held that where an officer de facto is ousted by such a proceeding, all his prior acts are necessarily considered as valid and binding. Society could not exist without the applica- tion of such a rule. Judges go upon the bench, pro- perty passes under their decrees, men are hung by their judgments, and finally some one after a litigation of years obtains possession of the oflace. Is the virtue of that decree to sweep away the past, restore to life, yield back property ? No. So here the act of the electors lawfully appointed, declaimed to be such in the mode prescribed by the Legislature of Florida, doing what they were commanded to perform, is valid and irrever- sible. Not content with this effort to succeed by qiu> wai-ranto tln-ough the aid of an active and willing court, or with the finding of the new Retmning Board, the Legislature passed another act declaring the can- vass of the latter Board valid and binding, and the 'Tilden electors by it declared elected to be duly qualified electors of the State. These judicial and statutory contrivances are unavailing and cannot distm-b the electoral votes duly cast. The alleged fault of the lawful Returning Board was not fraud — at which my friends are so shocked — but mistake. After electors are thus appointed lawfully, but possibly by a mistaken view of the law by the Board declaring their election, its conclusion must for ever stand. The electors, who by virtue of such an appointment, have cast their CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. lor votes, are not to allow the day prescribed by Federal law to cast the vote of the State to pass, and the vote of the State to be lost, upon the theory that possibly their work may be undone by subsequent judicial action, or eoc post facto legislation. It seems to me, may it please your honors, in view of the jurisdiction and capacity of this tribunal, in view of its powers to take' testimony. In view of the purpose of introducing this testimony, which I have undertaken to state, that the application to introduce testimony should be over- ruled." The speech on the Lousiana case was as follows : "Mr. Stoughton. Mr. President and gentlemen, I have heard in the course of to-day some objections made which I think may well be disposed of first and hriefly. We are somewhat surprised to hear it objected that the certificate of Governor Kellogg is inoperative for the purpose of certifying to this tribunal the elec- toral vote. I think it will be remembered that when the vote of Connecticut was counted, her Governor, IngersoU, was an elector at large. I think his certifi- cate was received without objection. Such objections are hardly suitable to the dignity of the occasion. It has been objected this morning, and argued with nluch zeal, that Governor Kellogg is not the Governor of Louisiana. It has been said that Louisiana is governed hy a military despotism, by which I suppose is meant that military force which, on application sent by Gov- ernor Kellogg to the President, he ordered to Louis- iana, for the purpose of suppressing insurrection. I think the learned counsel was right in saying that without such aid the government of which Governor Kellogg is the head, would have been overturned ; but is the gentleman aware that the very fact that Gov- ernor Kellogg made such an application, the very fact that it was granted, is decisive' evidence liere that he ■was, until his term expired. Governor of the State of Louisiana ? Need I tell the learned counsel that ? I beg leave to refer this Conmiission for one moment to the case of Luther ««. Borden, where this question was decided, and where it was held that the very fact that the Pre- sident of the United States had recognized the then Governor and government of Rhode Island, although he had not sent a military force for the purpose of sup- pressing the Dorr insurrection, was evidence conclusive of who was the Governor of that State and what was its goverimient. Has my learned friend forgotten that case ? Mr. Tetjmbbll. Did the court say that was conclu- sive? Mr. Stoughton. I mean to say conclusive until the Congress of the United States in its capacity as such should determine otherwise. Mr. Tkhmbell. Could not either House contradict it? , Mr. Stoughton. No. I am amazed at some of the doctrines which I have heard announced here, and this is one of them, and I pass from it, for this tribunal is entirely familiar with the doctrine decided in the'case referred to, binding upon every department of the Government, decided by a court — perhaps the counsel did not entertain the same opinion of it then that he does now — presided over by a judge eminent for his learning and for his integrity, and I may add for the greatness of his abilities, Chief-Justice Taney. 'Now let me state briefly and generally what the question is that counsel here are expected to argue. I think I may say it comprehends substantially the whole case ; and yet it comes up upon an offer to do what ? It comes up upon an oflEer to prove by a search and scrutiny of many, if not all, the polls of Louisiana, what in fact was the vote of that State for electors last November. Many other facts are superadded. It comes up upon an offer to prove facts upon which it is insisted that this tribunal may overrule, disregard, go behind the action of the final returning officers of that State and hold for naught their conclusions. They acted under a statute to which I will call the attention of the tribu- nal for a moment ; and in the course of what I shall have to say I shall satisfy this tribunal beyond all question that that Board as constituted had the power delegated to it by the State of Louisiana, as a little patience, a little intelligence will demonstrate, to determine the number of votes cast for electors, and power to certify finally, so far as the authority of that State is concerned, who they were. Confusion rather than clearness has resulted relative to these statutes ; owing somewhat, I conceive, to their arrangement. I shall take some pains, for the purpose of showing that the Board was a final tribunal empowered by the State to determine who had been chosen electors ; to call attention to the different statutes, after a careful ex- amination of which it will be clear that the Board, and that only, and not the Governor of the State, as has been suggested, was the authorized power for the pur- pose named ; and I shall satisfy the Commission, more- over, that the objectionraisedyesterday by the learned counsel, -(Mr. Carpenter) that if there should happen to be a vacancy in the electoral college it must be filled by a popular election, and could not be filled by the electoral college itself, has no foundation whatever. It seems to me that the decision of this tribunal in the Florida case determines the entire question here raised as to the right to go behind the Returning Board ; and I beg leave, in order that we may move with chart in hand, to read what this tribunal did in that case decide and determine : ' ' The ground of this decision, stated briefly, as requir- ed by said act, is as follows : That it is not competent under the Constitution and the law, as it existed at the date of the passage of said act, to go^into evidence aliunde on the papers opened by the President of the Senate in the presence of the two Houses, to prove that other persons than those regularly certified to by the Governor of the State of Florida, in and according to the determination and declaration of their appoint- ment by the Board of State Canvassers of said State prior to the time required for the performance of their duties, had been appointed electors, or by counter- proof to show that they had not, and that all proceed- ings of the courts or acts of the Legislature, or of the Executive of Florida, subsequent to the casting of the votes of the electors on the prescribed day are inad- missable for any such purpose." . I am unable to perceive from that determination that any question, much less the main question here di- rected to be argued, is open for argument. The mani- fest justice of that conclusion, if support can be ob- tained from such a source — I speak with gi-eat respect — is to be found in the report of the committee of the Senate of the United States, of which the learned counsel, Mr. Trumbull, was a member, from the por- tion of which report that I shall read he not only did not dissent, but by expressly dissenting from other portions he did assent to this ; so that we have, before his conversion to a different doctrine, his adhesion to I02 CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. the opinion announced by this Commission, and that conclusion thus stated is as follows : "The committee are of the opinion that neither the Senate of the United States, nor both Houses jointly, have the power under the Constitution to canvass the returns of an election and count the votes to determine who have been elected presidential electors, but that the mode and manner of choosing electors are left ex- clusively to the States. And if by the law of the State they are to be elected by the people, the method of counting the vote and ascertaining the result can only be regulated by the law of the State. Whether it is competent for the two Houses, under the twenty- second joint rule, (in regard to the constitutionality of which the committee here give no opinion), to go be- hind the certificate of the Governor of the State, to inquire whether the votes for electors have ever been counted by the legal Returning Board created by the law of the State, or whether, in making such count, the Board had before them the oflScial returns, the com- mittee offer no objections, but present only a statement of the facts as they understand them." So careful was that committee that it doubted its power to go far enough behind the certificate of the Governor to learn whether the votes for electors had been counted by the proper Returning Board. To going so far we here make no objection ; but when the purpose is to go further, to violate the rule laid down by this Commission, to violate the principle asserted in this repoi't, to violate the fundamental law of the Union, the Federal Constitution, which provides that electors shall be appointed in such manner as the Legislature of the State may direct ; when this tribunal is asked to go thus far and by inquiry ascertain not only what occurred at every poll throughout the State of Louisi- ana, but to purge the polls, and not merely to do that, but to ascertain for the purpose of enforcing the law of Louisiana whether violence and outrage and intimida- tion have been in fact perpetrated, and bring on a trial of the entire case involving every parish and every poll of Louisiana within the circumference of Federal jurisdiction, I say the objection to such testimony, to such a course, instead of being technical, becomes sub- stantial in the last degi-ee, and is asserted, not on be- half of ten thousand, (for whom my learned brother Carpenter said he appeared), but on behalf of forty odd millions of people, every one deeply interested to preserve the independence of the State from the aggressions of Congress and the Federal power. What is the theory on which this power is supposed to rest ? We are referred to the bill organizing this Com- mission, which has been read as though the tribunal had been appointed to ascertain what electors were duly appointed — not in the sense of the Constitution; but in another and aggressive sense— as though thi§ tribunal had been appointed to explore and ascertain, step by step, from the time the first voter presented himself at the ballot box until the time when the elec- tion was over, what had been its course and what had been the votes, how many and for whom. The law under which this Commission was created is an extra^ ordinary exhibition of subtlety and of care. It had a subject to deal, with not easy of solution. We know all the surrounding circumstances ; we know the causes which led to the framing of this bill ; and we know why its language was couched so inexpressively of power delegated here. We know that conflicting opin- ions were to be harmonized not by uniting upon lan- guage which had meaning, but by using that which for certain purposes conveyed none — I mean none as the expression of an opinion of Congress. And to this tribunal was delegated the powers to do what ? To exercise such powers, if any, as the two Houses or either of them had. For what purpose? For the pur- pose of counting the electoral votes. Now, will the tribunal permit me, little entitled as I am to attempt to instruct any one, much less a member of this body, to suggest that there has been a great confusion of ideas presented upon this subject. My learned brother, Mr. Carpenter, yesterday said this tribunal had no ju- dicial power ; I suppose he was right ; it had no legis- lative power ; I suppose he was right ; but had a par- liamentary authority to investigate and take testimony by any means it pleased. Wnat is a parliamentary power? Ic is the power of parliament. And what is the power of parliament ? To legislate. And what is the pui-pose of taking testimony ? It isthat legislative bodies may be better Informed aa to how they should legislate upon all subjects; and when a legislative body takes testimony it takes it to inform itself, and hence its mode of taking testimony is loose, confined by no rule, guarded by no objection, often overturning tiie safeguards, if not of society, certainly of reputa- tion — carefully protected always in com-ts of justice. So, with a wide, unlicensed discretion, and as wide, unlicensed power, it takes testimony where and when it pleases ; but, if it discharges only its duties as a legislative body, always for the purpose of legislation only, unless for one other purpose, and that is to in- quire into the qualifications of its own members, in accordance with that clause in the Constitution which permits that ' each House shall be the judge of the elections, returns, and qualifications of its own mem- bers,' a very familiar clause. But is each House judge of the elections, returns, and qualifications of presidential electors? Has either House that power? Are not the learned counsel here seeking to induce this body to exercise exactly that- power? Is there any question that they are ? I ask every gentleman upon this Commission, are you not seeking by this course, if you concur in the views of the counsel, to ascertain by inquiry and testimony whether these electors have been properly elected, returned and qualified? Let every man pause who undertakes to advance toward that result. I repeat, no member of the Commission can discriminate, assuming the evi- dence offered to be competent, between the power of the House to investigate as to the election, return, and qualification of its members, and the power here as- serted. Again, what happens if this testimony shall be admitted ? Is it to be assumed that it wiU not be controverted by counter-proof ? Certainly not. Then you are to undertake to execute the laws of Louisi- ana by determining as matter of fact whether there has been intimidation, violence, armed disturbance, and therefore whether this Board has properly per- formed its duty? Is that a function which can be exercised by this tribunal? It must be if you enter upon the inquiry suggested. Is it not as well to leave that administration of State laws to the States ? The power to count transferred to this tribunal is the power of the two Houses or either of them. That power if it exists is subject to other constitu- tional provisions ; and one is that the electors of the several States are to be appointed in such a manner as- the Legislatures thereof may direct. How has the Legislature of Louisiana directed its electors to be ap- CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. 103 pointed? By a majority of votes lawfully cast. This to be ascertained and the appointment of electors finally determined and declared, by the State officers appointed by its Legislature, such officers having ex- clusive authority so to do. The national power to count, the power to do what may be needful in count- ing, is subject to that power of each State to appoint. Where does that power of appointment by the State end ? Where does the power to count begin ? Does the power of the State end until it fully reaches the appointment by the final authority delegated by the State as the appointing power ? The State of Louis- iana has but one mode of expressing its will upon this subject ; that is, by the Retui'ning Board. It may not have been the best way ; but it is its mode of express- ing its will, and cannot be here overthi'own. I am glad to have my argument on this point confij:med by an eminent jurist and honest judge, and I was about to say a spotless politician, but perhaps that would be going too far, though I think not. I allude to a letter written by the Chief Justice of the Court of Appeals of the State of New York, who says : ^^ I have always expressed the opinion that tlie aniihen- Uoation of tlie election of premlmtial electors, accwding to tfie laws of each State, is final and conehmxie, and that tliere exists no power to go behind them." This opinion thus concurs with this tribunal and with the eminent gentlemen who made the report in the Senate in 1873. Mr. Commissioner Morton. I would inquu-e of the counsel when that was written ? Mr. Stoughtox. It appears to have been dated on the 10th of February, 1877. Mr. Commissioner Bataed. A letter by Judge Church? Mr. Stouohton. It purports to be signed by him, and doubtless was written as a more correct expression of his opinion than was given by an interviewer, that class of gentlemen not being always absolutely accu- rate although I believe very generally so. Mr. Commissioner Abbott. Do you understand that to express the opinion that it cannot be shown that fraud, that corruption, that bribery existed in obtain- ing that authentication ? I do not so understand it. Mr. Stoughton. I understand it in this way, and there is no difficulty in understanding it if one will only place his mind toward the subject and in the right road : The State having power to appoint is responsi- ble for its tribunals and they are responsible to it ; but the circumference of the power of Congress is limited, and that of the power to count very much circum- scribed, being neither judicial, as gentlemen say, nor legislative, although legislative powers are claimed for the purpose of taking testimony, and the broadest ju- dicial powers in the nature of a gito wa/rranto for the purpose of going behind the final returns of the Eeturn- ing Board. The State corrects the frauds of its officers. It does not appeal to Congress, and Congi-ess will best perform its duty by discharging it within its authority, leaving those occasional frauds which are sometimes assumed and sometimes offered to be proven, to be taken care of by the tribunals having jurisdiction over them. I think some of my learned friends within the hearing of my voice, who have been much engaged in contested suits, have had their trials somewhat added to by being compelled to object to testimony offered in presence of a jury (and the American people are the jury to-day) to prove frauds of the most infamous character, when peradventure the practice and per- formance would not come up to the proclamation! But it is the duty of counsel to make objection to the introduction of testimony beyond the function of the tribunal he is before, to receive ; and we make it here. And now I proceed to look at some of the questions in this case, assuming that this was a lawful and final Returning Board of the State of Louisiana, having the final powers attributed to it, not merely by this body in the decision in the Florida case, not merely in the Senate by the report which I have read, not merely by the aid of the opinion contained in the letter of the learned Chief Justice of New York, but having also the sanction of the highest courts of the State of Louisiana. I believe that if there is one principle set- tled in our jurisprudence, it is that on a question of local law, on the powers of a tribunal of a local charac- ter within a State, the liighest judicial tribunal of the State acting seasonably is a final authority. That is pretty well settled. I therefore cite the decision of the highest court of Louisiana. on the subject of the powers of the Returning Board, not in one case only, but in several ; in 35 Louisiana Annual Reports for 1873, page 268, 'declaring the legality of the Lynch Returning Board, which did not have before it in 1872 the electoral or other returns, but undertook to canvass and did canvass the vote in favor of the Grant electors without having the returns before it. It was therefore said, if I am not mistaken, by the committee of Con- gress, that inasmuch as the right Board did not have the returns, and therefore had not the material for action, and the wrong Board did have the returns, they could not coimt the votes of either set of electors. The court in Louisiana in the case to whichi have referred declares : "No statute conferring upon the courts the power to try cases of contested elections or title to office au- thorizes them to revise the action of the- Returning Board. If we were to assume that prerogative we should have to go still further, and revise the returns of the supervisors of elections, examine the right of voters to vote, and, in short, the courts would become in regard to such cases mere offices for counting, com- piling, and reporting election returns. The Legisla- ture has seen proper to lodge the power to decide who has or has not been elected in the Returning Board. It might have conferred that power upon the courts, but it did not. Whether the law be good or bad, it is om- duty to obey its provisions, and not to legislate. * * Having no power to revise the action of the Board of retm-ning officers, we have nothing to do with the rea- sons or grounds upon which they arrived at their con- clusions." There are one or two other cases in this same book to the same effect ; and when it was sought under the so-called intrusion act to eject a person who had been returned and commissioned by the force of this Return- ing Boai'd, the court held that the commission was con- clusive, and that the com-t could not go beliind it. There was no judicial power resting in the court to go behind it except as conferred specially by legislative authority. Some com-ts have given very good reasons for thus maintaining the inviolability of the highest and final Returning Board of a State, and I beg leave here to introduce two or three such decisions. Mr. Commissioner Thueman. What is the name of the case you just read from ? Mr. Stoughton. I beg pardon for not mentioning I04 CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. it. It was the case of Bonner m. Lynch, and I read from page 268. It was decided in 1873, and it passed upon the power of the Returning Board organized under the act of 1870, repealed by the act of 1872, the only difference between the two acts being in this, that the act of 1873 now in force requires that the return- ing officers shall be appointed by the Senate, while the act of 1870 designates the persons to act as the Board as the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, I think, and two persons, naming them. That, I believe, is the only substantial difference between the two ; and therefore when the Supreme Court of the State of Louisiana held that it had no power to review or reverse or revise the action of the Returning Board then existing, it said the same thing as to the Returning Board now existing, and this tribunal will not disregard the highest judicial au- thority of a State upon a purely local question. Mr. Commissioner Gaefield. "Were the duties of that Board substantially the same as the duties of this? Mr. Stoughton. Precisely, almost. There is hardly the variation of a Une. That act was transcribed for the purpose of making it the act of 1872. Now, I refer to 47 Illinois, 169, where a statute had expressly authorized a Circuit Court consisting of a single Judge to pass upon a contested election case on appeal from Justices, and the Constitution giving judicial power to the Supreme Court of the State conferred it in certain cases, "and in all other cases;" and when the Su- preme Court on appeal in this case was asked to revise the decision of the Circuit Court, it said : "This is not a case within the meaning of the Con- stitution, but a statutory proceeding to recanvass votes cast at an election, in which illegal votes may be re- jected and legal votes may be counted and the result ascertained, and that result is not a judgment., It is neither a suit at law nor in chancery." Why have sensible courts adopted views like that ? For the purpose of keeping these inflammatory cases as far as possible outside of the reach of judicial authority. As was well said in a Kentucky case which I will refer to, courts of justice have always held in dealing with these questions, that unless the legislative power expressly delegates authority to do it, courts have no power to touch election contests. But yet here, under a power to count electoral votes, this tribunal is expected to count the popular votes given for the electors, and to purge the polls from the begin- ning to the end of the election, upon the theory that it has the power by implication and by a stretch, an enforced stretch, an outrage upon language, which courts of justice take care never to commit. I refer now to 51 Illinois, 177, where the Court said that — "The proceeding was purely statutory ; that with- out the aid of an act of the Legislature the contest could not have been brought to the Circuit Court, and that jurisdiction can be exercised only subject to the limitations of the act." And then in the Kentucky case, 1 Metcalfe's Ken- tucky Reports, 538, the court say : " This was a Board to determine questions upon an election. A Board is to be constituted to examine the poll-books and issue certificates of election. Another is to be organized in the case of contested elections for determining contests between claimants. Upon this the law devolves the duty and confers the power of deciding who is entitled to the office. The com-ts Jiave no right to adjudicate upon these questions or to decide such contests. Decisions of the contesting Board are final and conclusive ; and this is so to accom- plish a two-fold purpose ; a speedy and summary mode of deciding oases of contested elections, and determin- ing finally and conclusively which one of the claim- ants is entitled; and another equally important was to withdraw these contests from the jurisdiction of courts, and as was said in Newcombe vs. Kirkley, (18 B. Mon- roe, 517,) to prevent the ordinary tribunals of justice from being harrassed and, indeed, overwhelmed with the Investigation and involved in the excitements to which these cases may be expected to give rise." If there ever was an illustration of the solidity and poUcy of such a view it is to be found here before us where this great tribunal is asked to go into an inquiry, endless in detail, harassing by its very nature, involv- ing the examination of hundreds of witnesses, and leading to that excitement, to be tenfold increased by such a performance, which we already perceive gath- ering about this tribunal. Here we have offers of testimony inflamed to the last degree by their mode of statement, involving inquiries of the most extraordin- ary and painful character, leading to answers, leading to testimony in reply, leading to testimony in justifica- tion of the Returning Board, endless, difficult of pro- curement ; and all for what ? To enable this tribunal to violate the supremacy of the State, to determine how many votes were cast in the State of Louisiana for electors ; and all that the public may be satisfied that we have here a tribunal anxious to calm and allay excitement and prevent, as the learned counsel who opened the case yesterday [Mr. Carpenter] said, a judicial proceeding to vex the nation for years, that it may thereby be determined who is elected President. I have heard more than one threat couched under shields of language so that it might not quite reach in plain terms its destination, but I have understood those threats, and they are unworthy of the circum- stances under which this tribunal was formed, and equally unworthy of those who want its justice and its decision. Now, may it please your honors, I de- sire to say a few words on the subject of these statutes. My learned brother [Mr. Carpenter] yesterday insisted that this Returning Board, as it has been called, had no power under the laws of Louisiana to ascertain the votes cast for electors or who had been elected. He said if that power existed anywhere, it existed in the Governor of the State under the act of 1868, incorpor- ated afterward into the revised laws of the State of Louisiana, and that proposition was presented as though the laws of Louisiana had at one time discrim- inated between the officer or tribunal to count votes for electors and the officer or tribunal authorized to count votes for other State officers. That is a miscon- ception of that law, and I call attention to what the statute law on that subject is. But if it were not, if the Governor had the power under the section referred to to count the vote, this tribunal would be bound under the certificate to consider that power as having been properly exercised, the Governor having certified that — "Pursuant to the laws of the United States, at a general election held in accordance with law, the fol- lowing-named persons were duly chosen and appointed electors." If, therefore, there was only that clause, this certifi- cate would be ample evidence of the election of these electors. That section is : "Immediately after the receipt of a return from CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. io5 each parish, or on the fourth Monday of November, if the returns should not sooner arrive, the Governor, in the presence of the Secretary of State, the Attorney- General, a District Judge of the district in which the seat of government may be established, or any two of them, shall examine the returns and ascertain there- from the persons who have been duly elected electors." All who have examined the statute with care know that that provision has been repealed, and I will show, in an orderly way I trust, under what circumstances it was repealed, and will also show that instead of that section isolated and making a distinction between the officer authorized to count the votes for electors and those authorized to count the votes for other officers, it was a part of the scheme of the act of 1868, by wliich the Governor, in conjunction with the District Judge of the parish, counted the votes, the Governor counting, subject in certain cases to a prior determination of the District Judge as to whether there had not been violence, tumult, intimidation, &c., sufficient to justify the throwing out of the polls, and, if the District Judge came to that conclusion, the Governor being inhibited by the statute from counting the vote. The Governor on receiving the Judge's decision, if it was to reject the poll or any number of polls, was authorized to do so and count tlie remainder ; but he could not count the contested parish as having voted until after re- ceiving the decision of the District Judge. That was the scheme of 1868, never really to any extent put into practice ; a scheme of a Returning Board very imper- fect, quite inadequate, and still a part of a general scheme in which the Governor participated, not merely by ascertaining the votes for electors, but by ascer- taining and certifying as to all votes. Another objec- tion was raised, and I will dispose of that before pro- ceeding further. That other objection made by the learned counsel, Mr. Carpenter, and very much rehed upon, was this : That if a vacancy should occur in the electoral college he did not care how this tribunal determined the question as to which statute was in force, and of which he still had enough left for his pm-pose, he could still cast out two electoral votes, which seemed to be somewhat strange; his purpose being, as he told us at the outset, to appear not for Mr. Tilden, whose f utm-e supremacy he deplored, as one of the great disasters that might befall this coun- try, but for the ten thousand persons who had been deprived of their votes in Louisiana. But he said that a rejection by this tribunal of two electoral votes would answer his purpose, which seemed to have been to bring upon us the calamity he so much deplored. I think he will be disappointed. Lejt us look at this ob- jection. Assuming, as the learned counsel assumed, for the purpose of inquiring into this objection, that the act of 1873 is in force, let us learn whether vacan- cies in the electoral college are to be filled by a popu- lar election. He referred us as authority for that to section 34, page 104 of the covered book. "That all elections to be held in this State to fill any vacancies shall be conducted and managed, and returns thereof shall be made, in the same manner as is provided for general elections." Now, says the learned counsel, that covers the case of an election to fill a vacancy in the electoral college. But the Constitution of the United States provides that Congress may determine the time of choosing the electors and the day on which they give their votes, " which day shall be the same throughout the United States." By an act of Congress, section 133 of the revised statutes, each State is authorized to provide by law for the filling of any vacancy which may occur in its college of electors when such college meets to give its electoral vote. Then the Louisiana law provides — " If any one or more of the electors chosen by the people shall fail from any cause whatever to attend at the appointed place at the hour of four p. m. of the day prescribed for their meeting, it shall be the duty of the other electors immediately to proceed by ballot to supply such vacancy or vacancies." Mr. Commissioner Hunton. But is not that the law of 1868? Mr. Stoughton. It is a law passed in 1868, an old law. Mr. Commissioner Htjnton. Did not the act of 1873 repeal that ? Mr. Stottghton. O, no ; it did not touch it. Mr. Commissioner Hunton. This was also in the act of 1870, the revised statutes. Mr. Stoughton. It does not touch this at all. It would be an absurdity to hold that the express pur- pose in the Constitution carried out by Federal legisla- tion, supplemented by State legislation, could be de- feated by giving a violent construction to the clause, section 24, when it has abundance to feed upon in the sections that I will refer to in one moment. Look at the vacancies provided for in section 34, to be found in sections 38, 30, and 31. Mr. Commissioner Htjnton. The section that I re- ferred to as repealing the section you have mentioned will be found m section 71 of the act of 1873. It says that "all other acts on the subject of election law be', and the same are hereby, repealed." Mb. Stotjghton. Yes, that means all other acts on the subject of election laws, for the purpose of carry- ing on the machinery of legislation within the State. Mr. Commissioner Hoab. Mr. Stoughton, I do not wish to interfere with the course of your argument, but I wiU venture to ask you if you think it is worth while to spend much time in the endeavor to satisfy the Commission that section 34 refers to vacancies to be filled by popular election, and can refer to nothing else? Mr. Stoughton. I do not propose to spend a moment only to refer to the three sections which are referred to by section 24, and which relate to vacancies which may occur, and those three sections you will find to be sections 38, 30, and 31, on page 106 of the covered book. In the revised statutes of the State which were adopted on the 14th of March, 1870, will be found the act of 1868, originally passed in that year, con- taining the scheme that I have mentioned, and the scheme under which the Governor was to count the electoral vote, as he was in substance all other votes. That act of 1868 in entering into the revised statutes was very much divided in space ; the section author- izing the District Judge to act being found at page 374, section 1386. Upon a statenient made' by a Commis- sioner he was to make a duplicate, transmit one to the Judge and one to the Governor. If the Governor thought the statement of riot and tumult was of such a character that the vote ought to be thrown out, he directed the District Judge to investigate it. During the investigation the Governor was prohibited from counting the vote of that poll or parish. "When the District Judge decided, he certified his decision to the io6 CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. Oovernor ; the Governor could then proceed to count, and he did ; but he acted always in subjection to the mandate of the statute, which was that he must not count until the decision of the district court should be presented ; that is he must not count that parish. That was found to be inefficient and the act of 1870 was passed. It was passed on the 16th of March, 1870. A question is raised that inasmuch as the act of 1870 in- corporated in the revised statutes, was not to go into ■operation until the 1st of April, that might by its own operation repeal or stand in place of the act adopted on the 16th of March to go into operation immediately. The answer is this : The act of the 14th of March re- pealed all prior acts on the subject of these election laws providing for elections within the State and the mode of returning votes, but repealed nothing else. It •did not repeal those clauses of the act which had al- ways stood in substance authorizing the election of electors, only changing the mode by which their elec- tion should be ascertained after the vote of the State had been cast. Then the act of 1873 was passed, I think approved on the 30th of November, 1873, and that provided for the present Returning Board, adopt- ing substantially the prior act of 1870, adopting it in all respects with the exception of the composition of the Returning Board. I have not troubled the Com- mission as fully as I had marked upon my notes with the different sections of these laws. I only desire to say that it will appear by looking at page 101 of the covered book that the act of 1872 provided in a gen- eral way for the election of electors, and the Returning Board having been abolished and with it the functions of the Governor for the purpose of counting the votes, the Returning Board provided for by the act of 1873, took their place, the act of 1873 declaring in terms that "five persons to be elected by the Senate from all political parties, shall be the returning officers for all elections of the State, a majority of whom shall con- stitute a quorum, and have power to make the returns of all elections." And then we have at the close of the act that it "shall take effect from and after its passage, and that all others on the subject of election laws be, and the same are hereby, repealed." Will any one seriously contend that the operation of that was to blot out from the statute-book the power to elect electors when their election was provided for in a previous part of the act in a general way? Will any one pretend that section 34, which has ample means to give effect to it in other sections of the act, was intended to declare that that needful authority given to the college of electors to elect on the day they assemble, if need be, was blotted out, and that the State must lose its electoral vote because it could not possibly then go through on that day with another election? Such objections are sometimes made some- where ; they have never been made here before ; and I think are entitled to but very little force. It has been said th|it this Board to be appointed by the Senate should consist of five persons. Originally that number were appointed. Having ceased to be five and having become four only by the resignation of one, it is said it had no power to act by means of these four. The gentlemen who urged the objection say that although it had no power to act, there being but four, if there ■were five it could act by three alone, "a majority of whom shall constitute a quorum and have power to make returns of all elections." Is it to be said that with the power expressly conferred upon three to act alone, they could only act alone when there were five and could not when there were four ? Then it is said that the political complexion of this Board was not of the right color ; there should have been a Democratic infusion ; and there has been read an application for the admission of a Democratic member. I suppose, upon that theory, if after the election of these five, two being Democrats and three Depublicans, the two Democrats (not an improbable supposition) should have changed their faith, the Board would cease to exist by that operation ! This clause is directory merely. The failure to observe it in no manner inter- feres with the capacity or jurisdiction of the Board. I suppose that it is entirely proper and respectful to this tribunal to argue the leading questions involved here without assailing the reputation of any one, and I shall follow no example of that kind. I have heard the members of this Board stigmatized by the speech of counsel in a way I have been somewhat sorry to hear. Personally they are unknown here, personally they were perhaps uriknown to counsel who spoke of them. They are to be respected as officials when acting as such and that determination is to be respected and followed. An example of that kind was set in a very celebrated case where the question arose, in 1792, as to whether George Clinton or Mr. John Jay was elected Governor of the State of New York. There, as the members of this tribunal may remember, there was a clear major- ity deposited in the ballot-boxes of the State of New York for Mr. Jay. The Sheriff appointed to carry the votes of one county, giving a majority of some fom- hundi'ed for Mr. Jay, was an otflcer whose term of office had expired for a few days, no one having been appointed to succeed him. Mr. King, an eminent lawyer, advised that he was a proper messenger to carry the votes, being Sheriff de faoto. Aaron Burr advised that he was not. The lineal ancestors of the Democratic party of to-day adopted the views of Aaron Burr, threw out the county vote, and defeated Mr. Jay ; and inasmuch as the Canvassing Board had final and absolute power to determine who was elected, although an effort was made by the friends of Mr. Jay to induce him to rebel against the decision, to vex the State of New York for years perhaps with the judicial question of who was elected, he declined to do it. Considering that this tribunal had final and absolute power to determine the question, he cheerfully sub- mitted to its exercise ; and moreover, he added that no man, no set of men, did wrong who did right under the law, holding to the precept that justice is the law ex- ecuted, and not that wild and unlicensed thing which we sometimes call justice. It is the law executed, what- ever the law may be ; and whoever executes the law, if he be empowered by it to do so, is entitled to respect, and if his determination is final, it must stand um-e- sisted. You can no more invade the domain of State jurisdiction than you can direct your Marshal to enter my house and take my property or my person. And he who invites any departm-e from this respect for loyalty to the law and its officers is not performing his duty as a minister of justice, and he who denounces a Judge who has discharged his duty because it does not suit the prejudice or political views of another, is un- worthy to speak his name or to come into his presence. Such was the teaching of Mr. Jay. I have heai-d it said that the law authorizing what the learned counsel calls the disfranchisement of these voters is uncon- stitutional. Is it? Will the Commission indulge me for a moment while I refer to the doctrine of one of the ablest, one of the purest, and one of the most dis- Y7 lua t r^' CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. 107 tinguished men belonging to the Democratic party at thisd^? I find this doctrine in a report written by him — I allude to Senator Stevenson, of Kentucky — founded upon authority so solid that nothing can shake the views he presents. If it be unconstitutional to pass laws for the purpose of protecting men from violence and outrage at the polls, then we have been under a delusion for many generations. I refer for this pur- pose to reports of committees of the House of Repre- sentatives, second session. Thirty-sixth Congress, vol- ume 1, 1860-61. He is considering the question of the effect of intimidation and violence at an election where the sitting member received 10,068 votes and the contestant 3,796 ; and I allude to it upon the gen- eral question that such legislation as we have in Louis- iana is right in all States and countries, but especially right in that State where in 1868 a lesson was taught which led to the legislation now before you ; a lesson written in blood, as was said by the learned Senator [Mr. Howe] who addressed you yesterday; a lesson taught us by the death by violence, as reported authen- tically by committees of Congress, of two thousand people, where whole parishes were disfranchised on one side. No horror has been expressed at outrages like that. Great horror is expressed for fraud, per- jury ; none for violence and murder. While Louisi- ana was teaching the lesson that led the Legislature to pass this act, the State of New York was teaching a lesson in its chief city which led the Congress of this country to pass the law to take care of elections for members of Congress, because in 1868 25,000 votes were manufactured — we all know it ; it is a matter of authentic history — in the city of New York. They were needed to carry the State ; they carried it by 10,000 majority. A Governor was elected by them ; a Presi- dent was hoped to be. Sitting over and managing the scene was an individual as chairman of the State Com- mittee whose name I will not mention, and his instru- ments in the city of New York who actually manufac- tured the votes that led to the legislation we all know. Such legislation in cases of fraud and violence and. murder and outrage had become necessary. In the report of Senator Stevenson it was said "that illegal voting was a trifling wrong — altogether a venial offence — in comparison with the overshadowing outrage of intimidation and violence upon which the burden of his evidence bears." Mr. Commissioner Moeton. In what case was that report made ? Mr. Stoughton. I read from the report made by Mr. Stevenson from the committee on the Henry Win- ter Davis election case, in which report he cites for his propositions authorities the most eminent we have in coDimon law ; and he says : "Indeed, there is no conflict of authority, nowhere a hint of an opposite doctrine, no intimation of a doubt that elections must be free, or they cease to have any legal validity whatever. * * * The very word election implies choice, the declaration of the prefer- ence, the wish, of those who have the right to make a choice, * * * but if bribery be found to have cor- rupted the well, if violence prevented access to the poll, or reasonable fear deterred electors from a deter- mined effort to exercise the elective franchise, there is no question made as to the number of votes affected by this bribery, violence, or intimidation." In Louisiana under the statute it is said that 10,000 votes were thrown out by the Retm-ning Board, and my learned brother yesterday said he appeared for those here. I will state the problem ; I think after what has been said I may state the problem that was solved in Louisiana by those who managed the elections there. In forty parishes there were 6,097 Republican n-sjor- ity. In the remaining seventeen parishes there were 30,333 colored voters registered and 16,353 registered white voters. What do you suppose the problem to be solved was? How to get a majority to overcome the 6,000 Republican majority in the forty parishes. That was the problem. Out of what material ? Six- teen thousand white votes registered to 20,000 colored. Was the problem solved ? Yes. How ? Does any man in this court-room believe that the problem could have been peacefully solved' by 12,000 majority with 20,000 colored voters to 16,000 white voters? What became of the 30,000 colored voters in the sev- enteen parishes ? I appear for them, in imitation of my learned friend. Were they disfranchised ? How? Again, five of these parishes had 13,244 registered col- ored voters, 5,134 white. The problem was what? To get a Democratic majority of 4,495 by means of 5,000 white voters to 13,000 colored. Was it solved ? Y^es. How ? Let the record of the five parishes an- swer. Solved by bloody hands. Talk to me here now about fraud, disfranchisement of voters! There are two sides to this question, and if you sit here to go back and canvass votes, you sit here to administer the laws of Louisiana, and you will administer them by learning who have been disfranchised and what was the la\rful vote of that State, in harmony with her laws, and not in harmony with the will of any party. I will not trouble the Commission further except to say, as to the objection made to some of the electors because they held offices under the State Government when elected electors, that I conceive there is here no disqualification whatever. The Constitutional pro- vision inhibiting the holding and the exercise of two offices, refers only to offices under the State Constitu- tion, to offices mentioned in the State Constitution; and on that subject I desire to call attention to a case to be found in 35 Louisiana Annual Reports, page 138. I now leave it to my learned brothers to make such ob- servations upon the questions presented as they may see fit. In October, 1877, the appointment by the President of Mr. Stoughton as Minister to the Court of St. Peters- burg, was received with approval by the coun- try. In this selection of a gentleman singularly intelligent in the commercial, political, and economical relations of the United States to the European world, the great interests of the country have been wisely re- garded, and the Administration has done itself honor through the character and culture of its representative. CORNING, HON. ERASTU8, a distinguished citizen of New York, who was largely interested in railroad and other enterprises, and for some years of his life prominent in local. State and National politics, was born at Norwich, Conn., on the 14th of December, 1794, and died at Albany, April 9th, 1872. He came from original Puritan stock, the ancestor of the family io8 CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. to which he belonged being Samuel Corning— some- times known as " Ensign Corning"— who was among the' very first settlers of Massachusetts, and whose name appears on the records of the town of Beverly, in that State, as early as the year 1641. That this ancestor was a person of ability, means, and good re- pute, is evident from the frequent mention of his name in the same records at subsequent periods during the century, in connection with the government of the town and church afEairs. The father of Erastus Corn- ing was Bliss Corning, a native of Preston, Coim., and a lineal descendant of "Ensign Corning." He was born in 1763, and served in the Continental army during the latter part of the Revolutionary war, ■being then still a youth. His services were acknowl- edged by a pension which was received by him up to the time of his death. He married his townswoman. Miss Lucinda Smith, born May 6, 1765, whose father and two of whose brothers served during several campaigns in the patriot army. After marriage he settled in Norwich, Conn., where the subject of the present sketch — the fourth of a family of eleven chil- dren — was born. Wlien Erastus was thirteen years of age, his father removed to Chatham, Columbia County, New York, where he established himself as a farmer. The education of Erastus had been obtained in the common schools of the district where he was reared ; his last teacher in the district school in Nor- wich was Pelatiah Perit, subsequently a member of the firm of Goodhue & Co., New York City, and at the time of liis death, which occurred a few years since. President of the Chamber of Commerce. Shortly after his father settled in Chatham, Erastus, whose inclina- tions led him to mercantile pursuits, secured a clerk- ship in the hardware and iron store of Hart & Smith, in Troy, his uncle, Benjamin Smith, being a member of the firm. Mr. Smith was a strong Jefferson Demo- crat and held some important local offices in Troy. Under his influence and guidance the young lad passed the next five years of his life, and acquired many of those sterling business qualities as well as the strong political bias for which he was afterward distinguished. Upon the breaking out of the war of 1813, the firm of Hart & Smith was dissolved, and young Corning en- tered the employment of Mr. Hart, with whom he re- mained till 1814, when, seeking a larger field of opera^ tions and greater scope for his abilities, he removed to Albany and entered the iron and hardware store of John Spencer & Co. After serving two years as clerk he was admitted to the firm, and in 1834, upon the death of Mr. Spencer, conducted the business for some time on his own account. He remained in the hard- ware and iron business for nearly half a century, and had during that period several partners. With his first associate, Mr. John T. Norton, he purchased the rolling mill at Troy known as the Albany Iron Works. At the expiration of four yearS Mr. Norton retired from the firm ; the succeeding partners of Mr. Corning were James Horner, Gilbert C. Davidson, John F. Winslow, and his son Erastus Corning, Jr., who, on the death of his father, succeeded to the business which he still continues. The transactions of the house of Corning & Co. were more extensive than that of any other iron house in the country and were under the supervision of Mr. Corning, although the details were attended to by his partners and clerks. Mr. Corning found a con- genial scope for his abilities in a number of important enterprises in different parts of the country. In the early days of railroads he embarked largely in their construction and management, and up to the time of his death was a stockholder and director in a number of the leading lines of the country. He was one of the projectors. of the Mohawk and Hudson road, which was completed in 1833. He was also one of the Com- missioners for organizing the Utica and Schenectady road, finished three years later, and was President of the Company from the outset until the consolidation in 1854. This consolidation of the roads between Al- bany and Buffalo, which was the subject of so much adverse criticism at the time, was an absolute business necessity. AVhen the Erie Railroad was completed' to Lake Erie, and the Pennsylvania Central had finished its track, it was apparent that the several Companies which now compose the New York Central, and which at that time were running under distinct organizations, could not successfully compete with those great lines unless they were consolidated and operated by one controlling mind. This was accordingly effected, and Mr. Corning remained President of the consolidation, which took the name of New York Central, until 1865, when he resigned the office. Mr. Corning was Presi- dent of the Company to whom the contract was award- ed for the construction of the Ste. Marie Ship Canal, to connect the waters of Lake' Superior ■with the great chain of lakes terminating with Ontario. Associated ■with him in the enterprise was Mr. J. W. Brooks, then Superintendent of the Michigan Central Railroad, and one of the ablest railroad men in the country. The work, which involved the construction of a canal around the falls of the River St. Mary, was rapidly pushed to a successful completion and proved an im- portant auxiliary to the commerce of the lakes, aiding largely in the development of the Lake Superior region. It was to the ample resources and penetrating mind of Mr. Corning that the early completion of the Michigan Central Railroad was principally due. This road, one of the most important links in the great line of railways that connect the Atlantic with the Pacific, was undertaken by the State of Michigan, but when completed as far as Kalamazoo was brought to a stand- CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. 109 Still through lack of means. At' tliis juncture Mr. Corning, in connection with Mr. D. D. Williamson, of the Farmers' Trust and Loan Company, and his former associate, Mr. J. W. Brooks, took a transfer of the road and completed it through to Lake Michigan with- out any unnecessary delay. Mr. Corning became a large stockholder in this road and also one of the Direc- tors of the Company. He was also a Director of the Chicago, Burlington andQuincy Railroad, of, which he was one of the originators. Mr. Coming's entry into public life was made in the year 1838, when his fellow citizens, appreciating his integrity and ability, elected him a member of the Board of Aldermen, and con- tinued him in this office for four consecutive terms. He was then chosen to the Mayoralty by the Common Council, and for four subsequent terms filled this re- sponsible office, resigning when his party went out of power in local politics. In 1833 he was elected one of the Regents of the University and was subsequently Vice Cliancellor of Jhe Board of Regents. He was a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions held at Baltimore in 1848 and 1852, at the latter being President of the New York delegation. In 1841 he was elected a member of the State Senate, and in 1857 was sent to represent his district in the 35th Congress of the United States. During this term he rendered important service as a member of the Committee on Naval Affairs. In 1861 he was again returned to Con- gress, and was re-elected the following term, thus serving in the 37th and 38th or War Congresses, and, al- though a life-long Democrat, earnestly supported the war measures of the Republican administration. The intelligent zeal displayed by him in the Union cause during this eventful period was eminently serviceable, and was frequently acknowledged in the warmest and most grateful manner by President Lincoln. Mr. Corning was a delegate from the State of New York to the Peace Convention held in Washington in Feb- ruary, 1861, and acted with Mr. Crittenden, Mr. Guthrie, and other gentlemen in favor of making hon- orable concessions to the South. Otlier counsels pre- vailing, Mr. Corning gave the whole weight of his in- fluence to the task of preserving his imperilled coun- try. While the war was in progress he served on the important Congressional Committee of Ways and Means. The great problem before the country at this epoch, the solution of which devolved upon this com- mittee, was to provide a circulating medium equal to the financial necessities of the country. Mr. Coming's experience in monetary affairs had not only been ex- tensive but intimate. In 1833 he was elected Vice President of the New York State Bank, but retired from this position the following year to accept the presidency of the Albany City Bank, which he retained through life. He was, therefore, well acquainted with finance, and brought to the deliberations of the Ways and Means Committee a mature judgment and a sound- ness of views which largely aided in the solution of the difficulties presented. Mr. Corning resigned his seat in the House at the opening of the second session of the 38th Congress, determined to withdraw from public life. He wsts induced, however, to serve the people in the Constitutional Convention, called for the purpose of framing a new Constitution for the State, his legislative experience and tried wisdom rendering him one of the most valuable members of that body. Mr. Corning was a man of vigorous constitution, in- domitable will, and untiring energy. Whatever he undertook he accomplished, not so much by reason of the power conferred by his great wealth as by the manliness of his character, his patient, industrious disposition, and undeviating honesty. His influence was wide-spread, and to his own State and the great Northwest he may be said to have been a benefactor in the truest and largest sense of the word. He began life without extraordinary advantages, and his pros- perous career and vast wealth were acliieved by his own unaided exertions. He was as noted for his phi- lanthropy and benevolence as for his remarkable suc- cess in business. TOWNSEND, HOWARD, M.D., late Professor of Materia Medica and Physiology in the Albany Medical College, was born in Albany, on the 33d of November, 1833. His earlystudies were prosecuted at the Albany Academy and at Poughkeepsie, where he was noted for his thirst for knowledge and the rapidity of his progress. Having completed his pre- paratory course, he entered Union College, Schenec- tady, remaining the full term and graduating with honor. In 1845, he entered the. Albany Medical Col- lege, of which the late Dr. Alden March — the founder — was President and Professor, and after studying two terms in this institution went to Pliiladelphia, at that time the great medical centre of the United States, to finish his studies and obtain his diploma, as was the custom in those days. He received his degree from the University of Pennsylvania, in 1847, and during the same year sailed foi Europe, where he spent sev- eral years. While abroad he prosecuted his medical studies with the utmost diligence, availing himself of the rare advantages presented by the, hospitals and medical schools of Paris, his perfect acquaintance with the French language aiding him greatly in his labors. Upon returning to his native city, he opened an office in State street, and practised successfully for several years. In 1853, having been appointed Pro- fessor in the Albany Medical College, and having a. no CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. short time previously accepted an appointment as physician to the Albany Hospital, he abandoned his regular practice, which he never again resumed. On the death of his colleague, Dr. Beck, he was appointed Professor of Materia Medica and Physiology in the same institution, and held this chair till his decease. Thoroughly versed in medical science, he succeeded in imparting an interest to whatever subject he dis- coursed upon, and in awakening an enthusiasm among his pupils which he successfully maintained. His pure character and ennobling Influence were also not without marked effect upon the young men who sat under his instruction, and whose love' and esteem he won by persistent acts of kindness and consideration. His pecuniary circumstances enabled him to assist the deserving, and many young men struggling with insuf- ficient means to master their profession, were fre- quently aided by the large-hearted and generous- handed Professor. In 1866, twenty years after his early connection as a student with the Albany Medical College, he requested a diploma from that institution. His request was granted, a diploma, dated back to the period when he was a student, was issued to him, and his name enrolled on the list of graduates. As has been stated. Dr. Townsend, after assuming the duties of a teacher of medical science, quitted regular practice, but was ever ready to afford medical advice and assistance gratuitously, and alleviate the suffering and distress among the poor. He possessed an exalted view of his calling, and sought to be in the truest sense of the word, a Clwistian physician. In a knowl- edge of the science of medicine and of general litera- ture. Dr. Townsend had few superiors. He was well versed in the ancient and modern languages, and ex- tended his investigations into almost every department of literature. In his own profession he possessed the broadest culture and devoted much attention to gen- eral science. He was, besides, warmly interested in educational matters, and for some time previous to his decease was an active member of the Albany Board of Education, and one of the Publishing Committee of the State Society. For a number of years he was a Trustee of the State Lunatic Asylum, at Utioa, being appointed to the office by the Governor, who thus expressed, unsolicited, his high estimation of Dr. Townsend's worth. He was also a Trustee of the Boys' Academy at Albany, and at the time of his death Vice President of the Albany Institute. Be- sides the foregoing, he was a member of the Albany Medical Society, and of several other medical societies as well as of a number of scientific and literary asso- ciations. At different times, he filled various official positions, among others that of Surgeon -General of the State. He was active in religious affairs, and con- iiected with several chm-ch and benevolent societies. Himself a man of good family, rare culture and easy fortune, he was connected by marriage with one of the oldest and best families in America, his wife being a daughter of Gen. Stephen Van Rensselaer, of Albany. His death took place after a short illness, in the city of Albany, on the 16th day of January, 1867. SEYMOUB, DAVID LOWREY, an eminent lawyer of Rensselaer County, and conspicuous during the last generation in State and National politics, was born in Wethersfleld, Conn., December 2d, 1803. His parents, Ashbel Seymour and Mary Lowrey, were descendants of families identified with the settlement and growth of the commonwealth. The original an- x:estor of the Se3rmours, Richard Seymour of Essex- shire, came to Hartford from the Bay Colony in 1635, and was a prominent cooperator with the pious and earnest Hooker in the settlement of the thrpe towns, Hartford, Wethersfield and Windsor, which for a period constituted a little State. From this Richard are descended nearly all bearing the name in the United States, a progeny including several Governors and members of Congress, and a very large number of representatives distinguished in the various fields of theology, law or medicine. David Lowrey Seymour, after a careful preparation in the local schools, entered Yale College. His powers of application were excep- tional, and his mental faculties well developed even as a boy. One of his fellow collegians, still living, in the session of the State Constitutional Convention of 1867, during the proceedings suggested by the death of Mr. Seymour, alluded as follows to the youthful promise of the deceased : "It was well understood that so far as David L. Seymour was concerned, in his class he stood pre-eminent as a mathematician, and equal in all other respects in learning with his associates. It was then predicted of him, and talked of among the faculty and students that life and health being spared to him, his mark would be undoubtedly made in the world." At the graduation of the class in 1836, the prediction of Professors and classmates was already vindicated in anticipation, Seymour being given the Salutatory, the second honor at Commencement. For a considerable period antecedent to graduation in his academic course, young Seymom- had selected the legal profession f or his life's pursuit. Very soon after receiving his degree he entered upon his new studies as a member of the Yale Law School, which then, under the principal direction of Hons. David Daggett and Samuel J. Hitchcock, two of the most eminent jurists of New England in that day, enjoyed a high reputation throughout the country. In 1838, while still pursuing his professional course, he was honored by an appoint- ■jtLrrinm.c f ulilialu as, ."^"i^/mnng Co. M" T ^^>Z^-Z'Z-(^^?^^ CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. Ill ment as tutor from his alma mater, which he accepted, performing its duties for two collegiate years, besides attending the lectures and joining in the forensic ex- ercises of the Law School. In 1830, having finished the law course and received the most cordial com- mendation of his instructors, he was admitted to the bar after an exceptionallj"- satisfactory examination, and prepared to enter upon an active practice. At that time the comparatively fresh fields for New Eng- land enterprise and talent, in Northern and Central New York, were attracting general attention, many families having gone from the Connecticut river towns to the larger and richer territories of the Hudson and Mohawk. The rising village of Troy, then promising to control the head waters of the former river and monopolize the trade of the whole region as far as the St. Lawrence and the lakes, was especially favored in the regard of adventurous spirits, several of its con- spicuous citizens— and notably the Gales and Buells— having originally come from Killingworth and other old towns in the Connecticut valley. Seymom-, care- fully weighing the reports from various parts of the country, determined to commence his professional career in Troy. In June, 1830, he found himself started in business, entering the oflEice of the Hon. John P. Cushman, one of the most able and popular counsel of that day in the State. The first two years of his experience, though not altogether desolate so far as patronage was concerned, were especially valuable in the familiarity with the rules and modes of practice they taught, and the strength they im- parted, under association so favorable to a well-poised and equipped intellectual temperament. At the end of this period, Mr. Cushman, justly appreciating the honest aspirations and fine parts of the young lawyer, and requiring a junior, offered him a partnership. So flattering and advantageous a proffer was gladly ac- cepted, and the firm of Cushman & Seymour was formed. From this date Seymour's professional suc- cess was assured. The firm, as originally constituted, lasted for many years, until the death of the senior partner, in fact. The local bar at this time comprised a large number of excellent lawyers, including such memorable names as David Buell, Jr., Isaac McConihe, Hiram P. Hunt, Daniel Hall, Thomas Clowes, and Archibald Bull. In this brilliant coterie Seymour at once was accorded a rank unprecedented for so youth- ful an advocate. His thorough knowledge of the old English law, of which he was an ardent and devoted lover, found him great 'favor with the scholars of the profession, while his cultivated oratory, and clear, in- cisive rhetoric secured for him an unusual popularity on the rostrum, or before a jury. During the-earlier years of their partnership, "the senior partner was charged with the presentation of all cases of intrinsic importance, but very soon after their association that experienced advocate had made the discovery that for the preparation of a cause he could fully rely upon the excellent judgment, exact method, and ripe erudition of his younger brother. This was true to the degree that, after a short experience of his associate's thoroughness in all respects, Mr. Cushman, the leader of the Rensselaer bar, and surpassed by but few in the ranks of jurisprudence of the State, rarely looked at a cause before going into Court, trusting fearlessly to its perfect preparation at the hands of his faithful and indefatigable junior. Besides, and notwithstanding his devotion to his profession, Mr. Seymour was greatly interested in the politics of the day. The breadth and largeness of his philosophy naturally predisposed him to a study of public questions, whether involving po- litical or social economy. In sympathy his conserva- tive tone of mind allied him with the Democratic party of the period. Soon after his estabUshment in Troy, his persuasive and logical eloquence, in occasional addresses at public meetings, enlisted the favor of the local politicians, and in 1835 he was urged to accept a nomination to the Assembly. His candidacy was successful, and his service both on the floor and in committee was so satisfactory to his constituents that a re-nomination was proffered the succeeding year. Declining a second election, he accepted the office of Master in Chancery thereupon proffered by the Gov- ernor, and performed its duties for several years. In 1843 he was persuaded to re-enter the political field. The Democratic party of the district desiring to pit its most popular representative against a very strong can- didate of the opposition, tendered to him the nomina- tion for Congress. This nomination was, after careful consideration, accepted by Mr. Seymour, and he went into the canvass. After a contest of unusual warmth, he was handsomely returned. In December, 1843, at the age of forty, he took his seat as a member of the 38th Congress. The tariff question was at that date the prin- cipal topic of agitation, and Mr. Seymour's position as a prominent member of the Cormnittee of Ways and Means, to which the bill was referred, made impera- tive his declaration of policy. In this instance his essential integrity of sentiment and strong individuality was demonstrated in a marked manner. Not satisfied with the views of his associates of either party on the committee, and unwilling to endorse the free trade dicta of the Democracy, or the protective and almost prohibitory theories of the Whigs, he made a distinct and independent report, embodying his own views in favor of a discriminating system, that would have en- couraged industrial, while not crushing out the com- mercial interests. During this session the annexa- tion of Texas was likewise a theme of grave discus- sion. Mr. Seymour developed a kindred indi- 112 CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. viduality in his treatment of this question, oppos- ing tlie measures contemplated by the joint resolution of Congress as infringing upon constitutional reserva- tions, but finally voting in favor of the amended bill as it came from the Senate. Mr. Seymour was chairman of the Committee on Revolutionary Claims, and the author of the bill of January, 1844, extending the scope of the pension laws in a manner to embrace many meritorious cases previously unprovided for. In the fall of 1844, at the expiration of his first term, he was again the candidate of his party, but, through the action of the Anti-rent faction, which threw its suffrages for his opponent, was defeated. A third nomination, however, in 1850, was successful, the agrarian agitation having been extinguished, and the district again returning him by a handsome majority. In this canvass, not a few of Ids Whig friends and neigh- bors forgot their allegiance to their own party, giving their votes to Mr. Seymour in generous recognition of his support in Congress of the industrial progress of the country. In the 32d Congress, Mr. Seymour's influence was gi'eatly felt on many questions of na- tional importance. The majority of the House of Representatives acknowledged him as one of its wisest and most reliable leaders, and many measures of legis- lation lost their extreme partisan purpose through his essentially patriotic and constitutional prevision. The position of Chairman of the Committee on Commerce, a body numbering among its members Alexander H. Stephens, Andrew Johnson, and William Aiken, was a universally approved endorsement of his varied knowl- edge of afEairs and broad statesmanship. During tlie first session, he again demonstrated his independence of party dogmatism, by reporting a bill appropriating several millions of dollars for the improvement of rivers and harbors, which was signed by the Presi- dent, thus adopting the liberal and fostering policy of the Whigs rather than the ultra restrictiveness of the Democrats. In the second session, in response to a general demand from State Legislatures and Boards of Trade, for a reciprocal system of free duties between the United States and British Provinces, his commit- tee framed the original report which served as a basis for a subsequent treaty and laws for reciprocal trade. He was also mainly instrumental in securing the pas- sage of the first enactment requiring a rigid inspection of steam boilers, and providing the guarantees of safety on ship-board, since elaborated under the title of " navigation laws " into a thorough system of pro- tection against the dangers of travel upon water. Re- tiring from the active political field after his second term at Washington, he returned with increased zest to the pursuit of his much loved profession. His partnership with Mr. Cushman having some time pre- viously expired, he formed a new connection with Hon. George Van Santvoord, with whom he was asso- ciated until 1860. Mr. Van Santvoord at this time became the recipient of official honors which inter- fered with the devotion of his entire time to the busi- ness of the partnership, and the firm was dissolved. Judge Ingalls was next associated with him in his law office, under the firm name of Seymour & Ingalls, a connection which lasted until the junior member was called to the bench, after which Mr. Seymour continued vrith a younger member of the bar, Mr. Charles E. Patterson, a partnership that lasted until his death. The law offices of which he was the head after his re- tirement from Congi-ess, were among the first in north- ern New York for the aggregate of their business and the importance of their causes, and under the tuition of the accomplished lawyers thus associated were devel- oped many of the ablest members of the profession now practising in Rensselaer and Albany Counties. Mr. Seymom-'s professional career was a success be- yond that of most men, and he was often called upon to contend with the best- and most powerful minds in the State, while many of the weighty causes in which he was engaged were of that superior prominence which will make them always stand as established precedents in the reports of his State. Among the noted causes in which he was engaged, stands promi- nent a suit involving rights under a patented inven- tion, and known to all the bar of northern New York as the "Spike case." For nearly thirty years this case has occupied the attention of the com-ts, and for the last twenty years of his life did he, as their lead- ing counsel, so well guard the interests in that case, of his clients, Messrs. Corning, Winslow & Homer, that it is regarded among the profession that by his eflEorts they were saved from what seemed inevitable disaster and the payment of ruinous damages. In. 1866, Mr. Seymour received the degree of L.L.D., from Hamilton College. In April, 1867, he was nomi- nated as a delegate at large by the Democratic State Convention, to the Convention called to revise the State Constitution, and was elected in the canvass which followed a month after. His participation in the la- bors of the Convention was marked by the same integ- rity of purpose, and unpartisan spirit, that had dis- tinguished his professional and legislative career. His very last public effort was an exhaustive argument upon a question affecting the State canal system, in which he dissented from the majority report of his committee. In the latter part of September, he went to his country seat at Lanesboro, Mass., proposing a few days' freedom from official and other efforts which had perceptibly worn down his general vitality. Shortly after his arrival, he was prostrated by a severe attack of a disease from which he had previously suf- fered. His illness lasted for sixteen days, at the end CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. 113 of which period, having endured prolonged and ex- treme agonies in a spirit of calm and trusting resigna- tion, relief came in that mortal slumber, which to the Christian sufferer is the prelude to immortal joys. Mr. Seymour's death was the occasion of universal gloom in the city of which he had been for so many years a most honored and useful resident. The bar, the press, the community, without regard to party, sincerely mourned the loss of a citizen whose talent, integrity, unselfishness, and public spirit had alike been unimpeachable. At a formal meeting of tlie legal profession, eloquent addresses from the lips of his surviving brothers in jurisprudence, commemorated in tearful encomium the virtues and the ability of the deceased. He was buried on the 15th of October, from St. Paul's Church. On the 13th of November, the Constitutional Convention reassembling after its recess, Hon. Martin I. Townsend announced the death of his colleague from Troy in an elaborate oration, and was followed by Hons. Amasa J. Parker, Henry C. Murphy, James Brooks, Thoma.? J. Alvord, John M. Francis, and other prominent members of that body. This sketch cannot be better concluded than in the words uttered on that occasion by the Hon. Erastus Brooks : "I can say, and all who knew him will bear witness to the truth of what I say, that he was in all respects a true Christian gentleman, and not only a member of the church, but an ornament of the church which he represented and of which he was a member. He has left that behind Mm which is better than all the wealth which he left, and that is the reputation of an honest man and a faithful public servant. In the largest and highest sense, he was what may be called a statesman, because he comprehended the necessities of the country and that the duties of a public man are not merely to the constituents which he immediately represented, but to the State at large. He was a patriot, too, in its largest sense, as has been said, because he not only loved his country with sincerity, but served it with the highest devotion. He recalls to me those lines of Pope, in uttering which I will conclude the brief re- marks I have to make : ' Statesman, yet friend to truth ; of soul sincere : In action faithful, and in honor clear ; Who broke no promise, served no private end. Who gained no title, and who tost no friend.' " ST. JOHN, HON. DANIEL B., of Newburgh, N Y., State Senator, the Representative of the 10th Senatorial District, consisting of the counties of Orange and Sullivan, was born in Sharon, Litchfield County, Connecticut, October 8, 1808. His ancestors were from Norwallt, Connecticut ; his great grand- father, Timothy St. John, removed from Norwalk and settled in Sharon in the year 1756, and died there in 1806. His grandfather, Daniel St. John, and his father, Russell St. John, removed from their native town, Sharon, to Hartford in 1818, with their fami- lies, the subject of this sketch being at that time about ten years of age. Daniel St. John in his time held va- rious inportant oflices, was for many years a magistrate, and representative of his native town in the Legisla- ture, He also held the office of county surveyor of Hartford County for many years. He died at Hart- ford in 1846, at the ripe age of 85 years. Russell St.. John, the father of Daniel B., was a prominent farmer and agriculturalist in his time. He received from the Hartford County AgTieultural Society, in 1835, a silver cup as a premium for the best cultivated farm in Hartford County. This cup is now owned and in the possession of Senator St. John, being greatly prized by him. Mr. St. John acquired a substantial education in the district and grammar schools at Hartford, and for the last two years of his school life he resided with his uncle, Milo L. Bennett, of Manchester, Vermont, then a practicing attorney, and afterwards for many years Judge of tlie Supreme Court of that State. In the year 1834 Mr. St. John emigrated to Monticello, Sullivan County, New Y'ork, and commenced his mer- cantile education as a clerk with his maternal uncle, Hiram Bennett, and continued with him in that ca^ pacity until 1831, when he became a partner in the business and soon after succeeded to the business. He continued actively engaged as a merchant and dealer in real estate until 1848, when he retired from mercan- tile pursuits. His public career commenced in 1840, being elected to the Legislature from Sullivan County for that year. He was a member of the committee in relation to the difficulties between the landlord and tenants of the Manor of Rensselaerwick, at that time an important committee in consequence of the anti- rent troubles, and also a member of the committee then annually appointed by the Legislatm-e to examine the accounts of the Treasurer, Canal, and Bank De- partments, &c. He was elected Supervisor of the town of Thompson, Sullivan County, for the years 1843, 1844, 1845, and 1846, and in 1846 was elected Representative to the 30th Congress— 1847 to 1849 ; was a member of the Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads, and served on that committee with Abra- ham Lincoln, who was his personal friend. At the close of the session of Congress in March, 1849, Mr. St. John was invited to take charge of the Bank De- partment at Albany, then under the supervision of the Comptroller of the State. He accepted the position of Chief Register, at the solicitation of the then Comp- troller—afterwards Governor, Washington Hunt— and occupied that position until 1851, when, by act of the Legislature, the Bank Department was made a sepa- rate and independent department. He was immedi- ately appointed Superintendent, and organized the 114 CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. department as a separate and distinct service, and continued to discliarge the duties of Superintendent Tintil tlie year 1855. In 1856 Mr. St. John decided to retire from active business pursuits, having by indus- try and economy accumulated a property sufficient, in his judgment, to enable him to do so ; and, having a long cherished desire to engage in rural pursuits and enjoy country life, he purchased about twelve acres of land on tlie banks of the Hudson, in the town of New- burgh, wliich he Improved by the erection of suitable and convenient buildings, cultivating the ground, planting fruit and ornamental trees, and where he still makes his home. In 1858 he was elected President of the Newburgh Savings Bank, when the total depos- its amounted to only $38,000. These have since in- creased to nearly $3,000,000. He still holds that posi- tion. In 1860 he was elected a delegate to the National TJnion Convention, at Baltimore, which nominated John Bell for President, and Edward Everett for Vice President. He was also nominated as a Presidential Elector on that ticket, and for Representative in Con- gress the same year. In 1863 he received the Democrat- ic nomination for Secretary of State. In 1875 he was nominated and elected State Senator by a majority of 996 over Morgan Shuit. In 1876 he was a delegate to the National Democratic Convention, held at St. Louis. In 1877 he was re-elected to the Senate by a majority of 1,442, over John A. Clements. In politics he was formerly a Henry Clay Whig, and acted with that party until its dissolution. Mr. St. John has been a resident of his district since he first settled in Monti- ceUo, SuUivan County, in 1834, except when absent on public duty. The various important public posi- tions of trust and honor which have been conferred upon him by his fellow citizens fully attest the esti- mation in wliich he is held by his friends and constit- uents. PRATT, CALVIN E., Justice of tlie Supreme Court for the Second District, was born in the town of Princeton, Worcester County, Mass., in January, 1838. His grandfatlier, Joseph, and his father, Ed- ward A. Pratt, were considerable farmers, owning fine lands near the base of the beautiful Wachusett. On the materilal side he is descended likewise from a New England stock, his mother, Mariamne Pratt, being the daughter of Deacon Samuel Stratton, representing an old Massachusetts family. Judge Pratt's early educa- tion was received at the popular and highly reputed academic institutions at Wilbraham and Worcester. Graduating from the latter academy with flattering encomiums from his instructors, he decided to adopt the legal profession, and, after a short interval of vacation, demanded by the physical weakness resulting from excessive application to his studies, he com- menced reading and clerical practice in the offices of a prominent law firm of Worcester. The gentleman under whom he commenced his studies, Hon. Henry Chapin, now Judge of Probate of Worcester, was at the period of young Pratt's tuition one of the most suc- cessful practitioners in the county, holding a high rank at a bar which is certainly not surpassed for the learn- ing or the ability of its members in the whole Union. Distinguished as much for his modest and unpreten- tious spirit as for his large professional acquirements and experience, and gifted with oratorical powers and personal bearing essentially attractive. Judge Chapiu's career would long since have been a national property, had his ambition for place or honor in any degree equalled his sterling qualities of brain and heart. En- joying the great advantages of study and practice under a lawyer so thoroughly devoted to his profes- sion, Pratt rapidly gained a preliminary knowledge of the law, and, at the early age of twenty-four years, was admitted to the bar of Massachusetts, in May, 1853. He located himself in Worcester, where he remained till 1859. During this period he held several minor official positions — Justice of the Peace, Clerk of the Police Court, member of the Common Council, etc. A Democrat by family association, he took an earnest interest in the local politics, and was, notwithstanding his youth, a prominent and influential member of the Democratic State Committee. At this time likewise his martial proclivities were of a strong character, and he joined the ranks of the city military, being shortly afterward chosen Lieutenant of the Worcester Light Infantry, and subsequently Major of the Tenth Regi- ment. In 1859, induced by the promise of a larger professional field and desirous to enter upon a metro- politan career, Pratt transferred his residence to this city, forming a partnership with L. A. Fuller, Esq., and occupying a suite of offices in Wall street. The firm soon secm-ed a handsome business and its pros- pects were encouraging. The breaking out of the civil war, however, intervened, the- soldierly sympathies of the senior partner being re-awakened by the clash of martial preparation. Though as a conservative poli- tician, opposed to the radicalism of Massachusetts partisanship, he was an intense Unionist in his ideas, and a champion of national integrity under any and all conditions. With all the energy and fervor of an im- pulsive nature, he threw himself into the cause, and, receiving authority to raise a corps for active service, in a very few weeks, commencing in April, 1861, en- listed a full regiment, the 51st New York, at the head of which he took the field in June. Colonel Pratt was engaged with his command in the battle of Bull Run and several smaller affairs dm-ing the same year. In CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. ii5 1863 his brilliant record attracted the attention of Gen. McClellan, who secured his transfer to the army with which he was investing the Peninsula. At the battle of "West Point, May 7th, 1863, his command was in the hottest of the fight and held the field many times against serious odds. On the 37th of June, in the very serious engagement of Gaines' Mills, it was again ex- posed to the. severest carnage of the day, and while leading the assault its gallant commander fell before the fierce musketry fire of the enemy and was borne from the field. Colonel Pratt was ordered home by the surgeons, and came north as soon as his very serious wound would permit. By the latter part of August, however, sufilciently recuperated to endure the open air and slight exercise, he returned to the field. During the interval of his retirement, the scene of the cam- paign had been transferred from the soil of Virginia to that of Maryland, and McCleUan, temporarily replaced by Pope, after the wretched catastrophe of the second Bull Eun, had again been made the head of the army of the east. Pratt rejoined his old commander, and under his victorious colors fought in the battles of South Mountain and Antietam, ordering a brigade during both affairs. On the 10th of September his bravery received the late recognition of a commission, he being made Brigadier General and assigned a com- mand in the 6th Corps. In this new rank he took part in the first battle of Fredericksburg, after which he was assigned to the command of the light division of the 6th Corps — a body of troops organized and equipped expressly for speedy moveijient and sharp dashes — ^a position for which he was particularly chosen by the General of the army on account of his characteristic readiness and activity. Pratt's services with the light division, though of large immediate value to the Union cause, were, however, to last but a brief period. Dur- ing the early part of 1863 the pressing nature of his private affairs obliged General Pratt to consider seri- ously the necessity of a return to civil pursuits, and, finally, in view of the utter sacrifice of his professional business without his own personal attention to its man- agement, he decided to resign. He received his dis- charge in May, 1863, thus abruptly closing a military career full of credit to himself and value to the Union cause. It was an open secret at the time of his leav- ing the service that the War Department's design to promote him to the rank of Major General had been de- ferred, only through temporary concession to the parti- san prejudice of a New England Senator. Returning to Brooklyn (where he has resided since his marriage, on November 8th, 1860, to Miss Susan T. Buggies, daughter of James Buggies, Esq., of Plymouth Co., Mass..) Pratt at once resumed his professional pur- suit, forming a partnership, which, however, was ter- minated within two years, with the late Grenville T. Jenks, one of the most able and brilliant members of the State bar. Until 1869, he gave exclusive attention to his large and always growing practice, having as business associates at different times, James Emott, Joshua M. Van Cott, E. P. Jenks, P. S. Crooke and John G. Bergen. For a considerable period he per- formed the duties of U. S. Collector of Internal Revenue in the Third District. In 1869 he was solic- ited to accept the nomination for the vacant Judge- ship of the Supreme Court of the Second District, a candidacy, which, as it was pressed upon him by the profession and proffered by both political parties, he accepted. His recent re-election to a position in which extensive legal learning, unquestioned integrity, and a well-balanced, robust intellect, are most requisite and valuable, is the best possible endorsement of his judi- cial career. COVERT HON. JAMES W., lawyer and member of Congress from the First Congressional District of New York, was born September 3d, 1843, at Oyster Bay, Queens County, Long Island. His parents were Thomas and Ruth (Seman) Covert, also natives of Queens County. After finishing the course of study usual in the schools of his district, M^ Covert decided to fit himself for the legal profession, and with a view to this end, he began to study law, in 1863, under the direction of the Hon. James Maurice, of New York city, and Benjamin W. Downing, Esq., of Flushing. He was admitted to the bar in 1865, and locating himself in Flushing, began the practice of his profession, which he still continues in that city. During the years 1867, '68 and '69, he served as Assist- ant District Attorney for Queens County, and was at the same time county School Commissioner. In 1870 he was elected Surrogate of the county, serving one term. In 1874, Mr. Covert received the nomination for Congress from his fellow citizens, but was defeated by a small majority. In 1876, he was again nomi- nated for member of Congi-ess on the Democratic ticket, and was elected to represent the First Congres- sional District, comprising the counties of Suffolk and Richmond, as well as Queens County. His ma- jority over his opponent, the Hon. John A. King, was 5,083 votes. He is a member of the Committee on Agriculture. Mr. Covert's ability as an apt and learned interpreter of legal science attracted the at- tention of his fellow citizens at the beginning of his professional career, and marked him as eminently fitted for a successful public man. His course in the latter sphere of action has given the utmost satis- faction to his constituents, and also raised him to a high place in their estimation. ii6 CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. BLISS, HON. ARCHIBALD jM., a Representative of the Fourth District of New York, in the Con- gress, (the Forty-fifth) of the United States, was horn in the city of New York, on the 35th day of January, 1836, and is consequently now in the prime ' of his faculties and powers. Historical New England and Long Island families unite their blood and theh "best qualities in our subject. His father, the late dis- tinguished Neziah Bliss, Esq., was a native of Con- necticut, and the thoroughly American representative of a sturdy, self-sustaining, aggressive New England stock, which, coeval with the settlement of Connecti- cut as a colony, impressed and partook of the inde- pendent traits which enter into the structure of the life of that State. Coming in 1810 to the metropohs, Neziah Bliss, from that time forward, became a marked man in the industries and development of the localities— then in their incipiency of life and without the possibilities of their future being visible— which have since grown to be the most flourishing and sol- vent suburbs of the one common commercial city of New Y'ork and Brooklyn. There are few enterprises, and there are fewer institutions of Williamsburgh, and there are none of Greenpoint, with which as an inven- tor, a counsellor and an upbuilder, the name and ser- vices of the late Neziah BUss, the companion of Rob- ert Fulton and the friend of the earlier Astors and Clintons, are not monmnentally identified. As fortu- nate in his attachments as he was in his far-reaching undertakings and in his faith in the nascent greatness of New York and its vicinity, Neziah Bliss formed a marriage of great affection, congeniality and wisdom, with JIary A. Meserole, a representative of one of the most sterling and influential families of HoUandic descent which have laid broad and deep and lasting the foundations of so much of the prosperity and char- acter of the society and interests of Long Island. The founders of Connecticut were represented in the father of our subject. The founders of Kings and Queens Counties in New York State, were represented in his honored mother. This mingled influence of energy and carefulness, is evident in the career and nature of the gentleman we are considering. This excellence of fibre, and this marked individual independence into which he inherited, soon exhibited themselves in Archibald 51. Bliss. Presented vnth a choice of pur- suits, after the purposes of his parents had been real- ized in his equipment and a thorough scholastic and academic education, young Bliss chose for himself an active rather than a sedentary course in life, and re- solved to serve that probation in the learning of the rules, ways and conditions of business which would have, otherwise, been devoted to preparation for a profession. In this resolve, the discipline and culture which as a student he had undergone at the then celebrated institutions at Jamaica and Flushing, which latter also numbers among its alumni Thomas Francis Bayard, of Delaware, stood Mr. Bliss in excellent ad- vantage. The lad who had learned to study and obey, and who, in the class-room and on the play-ground, had acquired the lessons of manliness as well as of books, was admirably calculated for the acquisition of the practical facts of life and for the competitions of affairs. A position as a beginner in business was se- cured for young Bliss, at the age of eighteen, in the hardware house of Messrs. P. & T. Hayden, an hon- ored and representative firm, the senior partner of which still conducts its affairs and continues its re- spected name. Of this establishment, the manufac- turing headquarters were in Massachusetts, and the warehouse and sales depot were at 319 Pearl street, in New York. The transactions were large, and the sys- tem was so exact that a situation with the firm was equivalent to what Mr. BUss desired, and for two years made it, a thorough business matriculation. Throughout that period, he discovered in himself and demonstrated to others, a capacity for the management of enterprises and for the conduct of works of magni- tude. In this regard, he was approving himself to be no unworthy student of the example of his honored father. By natm-al promotion, Mr. Bliss, just before he attained his majority, leaving the Messrs. Hayden, with their best wishes and commendation, became identified with Messrs. Russ & Read, conductors of great public works, and at that time engaged in the original contract for the noble Broadway pavement which has passed into history, in the name of the senior partner. Tliis connection was Mr. Bhss' release from mere detail clerical work. It was his introduc- tion to the observation, and in part to the oversight, of interests in the large, confidential and executive duties which were required of him. From the start, he proved easily equal to and increasingly effective in them. His previous position had been an excellent educator. His industry and judgment were tested and vindicated in numerous ways, and observation and study of municipal government, were unconsciously fitting him for responsible trusts at the hands of his fellow citizens, at a maturer period of his life. With Messrs. Russ & Read, Mr. Bliss remained nearly two years. The firm and himself derived a reciprocal ad- vantage. They had the benefit of his singulai- tact and directness in managing interests and men on a vast scale. He expanded his knowledge of affairs and- of large business facts and methods, and at the conclu- sion of the period, he embarked m business with one of his early instructors. It was not long though, be- fore he had to assume the entire control and responsi- bility, and he did so with decided success. In a short time, however, a circumstance occurred which placed AtJ<)Jlticriil)lis])iiig &l!ii^^i3.™.ji Ua.rnw'i'jjtli:, CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. 117 a dutj' of affection in advance of any claim of inter- est or activity. In 1857, the healtli of liis wife, Maria E. Bliss, to whom he was devotedly attached, having hecome impaired, Mr. Bliss was constrained to dispose of his interest in affairs, and subordinate every other consideration to a regard to the restoration of that lady to strength, through the influences of a more clement climate. The change, however, failed to bring more than temporary relief, and she sm'vived only until 1863. A woman of uncommon excellence and beauty of character, her loss was deeply felt by a large circle of loving and devoted friends. She left one child — a daughter, Eleanor R. — who is in the midst of her studies at one of the best institutions of the country. A mingled residence in and journey through the south resulted, and in this way a year memorable for its close observation of southern society and institutions, and big with the events to issue in the civil convulsions not long afterward, was happily spent. In this manner Mr. Bliss became more intimately cognizant of the traits, resources, and characteristics of that section of our country, than he could have done by any other process. On his return, the increasing and complex business interests of his family, required his constant personal supervision. They also obliged him to con- tinue to live in the eastern district of Brooklyn — an event with much in it that shaped his future public career. His prior activity in business, and the mani- fold and responsible channels through which it had been exercised, enabled Mr. Bliss carefully to manage and augment the trusts ■sshich came to him as a duty and a privilege. His enterprise of spirit led him to indentify the public interest with his own. The fruit of this spirit through successive years, was manifested in his virtual re-creation of the system of inter-m-ban travel local to his home and estate. He set the Wil- liamsburgh street railroad system on a new career of prosperity, by bringing it up to public needs and ex- pectation. Of the route running to Bushwick, he took chief charge, and as its President since 1868, tided it to a steady and lasting prosperity. The New York and Long Island Bridge Company felt his active influ- ence as one of its Directors. Fiduciary honors and responsible representative business trusts flowed to him, the banks of savings and discoimt, and not a few corporations of hke character, demanding his name and especially his active wisdom and the influence of his vast clientels of personal and business acquaint- ance, in their managing boards. Coincident with this business career of Mx. Bliss, was his novitiate in po- litical affairs. A man of vigorous opinions a,nd ap- proved capacity for influencing those of like faith, as a leader, planner, and executive guide, Mr. Bliss was at that time constrained to act with the Republican party, it having taken that view of the moral ques- tions then in process of agitation and solution, which comported with his sense of the duty and destiny of the American nation: For six consecutive years, he represented his fellow citizens, in sympathy with his opinions, in the General Committee of the organiza- tion through which they acted, in Kings County. From 1864 to 1868, he was also the representative of his ward, the 17th, for two terms in the Board of Al- dermen, and on his last term he was made President of the Common Council, and eai-offioio, the second ofiBcer in the government of the city. When, in 1866, he was re-elected, his popularity had so increased, that his majority alone was greater than all the votes cast for his opponent. The Presidency of the Munici- pal Legislature developed not a few and not common- place qualities of independence and vigor of character. His introduction througli this office to the observation and confidence of the people of the entire city, was complete. The reward of it has been attested in not a few instances since. In 1864 and in 1868, Mr. Bliss represented the county in the National Conventions of the Republican party at Baltimore and in Chicago re- spectively, which resulted in the successful re-nomina- tion of President Lincoln and in the first nomination of General Grant. By this time, he was recognized as a politician in the highest sense and of manifest influ- ence, by the national leaders of the organization tlu'oughout the United States. When but 30 years of age, our subject was nominated for the highly honorable office of Mayor of the third city in the Union, in the confident belief, first, that his great personal popularity would insure him a large vote from the adverse party, enough to justify the hope that he might overcome that party's stupendous ma- jority, and, secondly, with the assurance that in the barely possible event of his success, the office would revert to ' a signally able and public-spirited citizen. Mayoral canvassesinBrooklynare, by immemorial rule, personal canvasses, A prostrating sickness precluded Mr. Bliss from taking any part in the one in which he contested against a man of the vigor and popularity of the late Martin Kalbfleisch. The illness of Mr. Bliss at one time threatened a fatal result to his life, and any effort at a personal canvass was abandoned of ne- cessity. He was, however, accounted elected at first, and was finally found to lack only a few hundred votes of success, in a race from which he was, in a sense, handicapped to liis bed, but in which he ran some 15,- 000 votes ahead of the general ticket of his party. In 1871 Mr. Bliss was selected as one of the Board of Water Commissioners of Brooklyn. In this office of great responsibility his knowledge of public works enabled him to be of conspicuous advantage to the taxpayers, in forwarding their interests and in har- monizing the necessary improvements of a metropoli- ii8 CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. tanizing city with due economy and requisite expedi- tion. "We now come to the period in tlie history of the United States when the homogeneity of institutions and the settlement of vexed questions presented, in the opinion of many, an opportunity and duty for the nationaUzation of the poMcies of both parties, when Republicanism could well cease to be sectional and Democracy could well begin to be aggressive and pro- gressive. Mr. Bliss had been long prior to 1873 po- tential, if not chief, in the management, and tlu-ough- out the State was the recognized leader of Republi- canism in Kings County. While always loyal to his . party and true as steel to his associates, Mr. Bliss was made aware that the Republicanism with which he had acted was becoming subjected to arrogant influences and narrowing policies. It was, in his judgment, be- coming un-Republican in matters more important than that name which it continued to retain. As thor- oughly for reconciliation as he had been for freedom, as thoroughly for tnist and pacification as he had been for the Union, the accomplishment of union and freedom both, left in Mr. Bliss' mind no animosities, suspicion, or desires of vengeance, least of all any theory of politics that party ascendency should be sought through the prolongation of sectional hate and by governments not based on the consent of the people. Mr. Bliss, therefore, took part in that protest against such a reduction and perversion of Republicanism, as he cherished it, which assumed the form of the nomi- nation of Horace Greeley as a Liberal Republican can- didate for President. The Democratic party having, by a supreme act of progi-ess, ratified the platform and candidate of Cincinnati, and having abolished between itself and Liberalism all but its venerable name, Mr. Bliss and his associate leaders formed themselves en Twpport with the gi'eat organization which had come to their side. He has ever since been of and acted with the party which identified itself with a new mis- sion and function at the time when he deliberately de- clined to follow a backward course toward issues which, as he believed, had been settled when the compliance of the south matched even the war demands of the north. Of Mr. Greeley, in those movements to knit the Republican organization to its best elements and purposes, which the philosopher's nomination attested, Mr. Bliss had long been the personal friend and asso- ciate. He accepted ' ' the Cincinnati Convention and its consequences" to the full and for all the future. Mr. Bliss' course made a large displacement in Kings County politics. He was cordially welcomed by the Democrats. His departure was signally deplored by the Republicans. As a result of his cordial prosecu- tion of the duty of impressing his views on his fellow citizens, Mr. Bliss was honored, in 1874, by the Liberal and Democratic nomination for Congress in the Fourth District, which he still represents. His opponent was Mr. George C. Bennett, then the editor of the Brook- lyn Daily Times, which had a very large circulation in the district. The amenities neither of journalism nor of politics were observed by Mr. Bliss' opponent, de- spite the fact that he had long been Mr. Bliss' personal friend and the recipient of not a few needed favors from him. The prostitution of the journal in this can- vass was resented by the voters, although the district theretofore had been strongly Republican. Mr. Bliss easily defeated Bennett by 4,577 majority. His suc- cess was so great that his opponent ended his career in Federal politics before he had begun it. In the two sessions of the Forty-fourth Congress Mr. Bliss over- came easily the obstacles which a "new member" finds in the accomplishment of practical results. His mingled knowledge of politics, affairs, business and the legitimate influencing of men, came into excellent play. Soliciting no more recognition than a "new member " is traditionally assumed to be entitled to on the committees, Mr. Bliss was assigned to those on Invalid Pensions, and to the special one organized to investigate the Freedman's National Bank. To the business of those committees he gave close attention, and especially in the Freedmen's Bank Committee were his superior practical abilities found excellent. At the same time Mr. Bliss seciu'ed the passage of an act directing a Government survey, under the auspices of the Coast Survey Department and by the Corps of Engineers, of the harbors of Canarsie, Sheepshead and Jamaica Bays — waters essential to the coastwise com- merce of that part of Long Island most fertile and nearest to New York. This survey was meant, and ac- cepted to be, the basis of further improvements yet to come, by wliich the commercial edgewater and the direct trade of the country affected will be greatly in- creased. Moreover, Mr. Bliss secured the passage of an act, and its approbation by President Grant, direct- ing the appointment of a commission to value and dis- pose of to Brooklyn the lands comprehended in the naval reserve of the New York Yard — as it is called — and denominated the Wallabout Lands. This very important measure contemplated, and will secure, the return to Brooklyn of some twenty-five acres of terri- tory, on which her growth has long trenched and at which, perforce, it has had to come to a sudden and unnatural halt. The lands, so far as the Government was concerned, had fallen into desuetude. The Navy Department, however, manifested and still manifests a strenuous opposition to parting with them, out of the operation of the purely selfish policy of relinquishing nothing to municipalities, whether it is useless to the Government or not. Persistent effort had long failed to secure a favorable consideration by Congress and the President of the needs and rights of Brooklyn in the CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. 119 premises. Mr. Bliss' success in securing this measure was accepted as the most gratifying Congress incident for which Brooklyn ever had especial reason to be grateful. As a natural railroad and market centre, the WaUabout Lands have been appreciated and sought for for years. The President appointed as a Commission of Appraisal, ex-Mayor Hunter and ex-Senator Coe, of Brooklyn, and Commodore Schufelt, U. S. N., and the work of the Commission is still under way. Addi- tional to these measures, Mr. Bliss contributed con- stantly to the work of economy which was the feature of the Forty-fourth Congress, and to the general course of legislation for which its very protracted and ardu- ous sessions have become memorable. As a conse- quence of this effective record the re-nomination and re-election of Mr. Bliss, in 1876, were accepted as a matter of course. Although Mr. Solomon Spitzer, a German leader of influence, was pitted againfit him, in the not unreasonable hope of drawing largely on the numerous vote of that nationality resident in the dis- trict, Mr. Bliss, despite the increased registry and op- position of an exciting Presidential year, was re-elected by the vastly increased majority of 7,014 votes. In the Forty-flfth Congress he was at once placed ori the important committees of Commerce and of Public Orounds and Buildings, as a recognition not only of his influential services in the former House, but also of his prescient sagacity and untiring earnestness in promoting among his colleagues the choice of the present principal officers of the House, his persuasion of the claims and fitness of Speaker Eandall being con- trolling not only in his own action, but in that of the cases of not a few other members. As a speaker, Mr. Bliss is direct, convincing, and colloquial in his style, being terse but clear and happy in his choice of words, and contenting himself with a plain, straightforward, convincing statement, and not afEecting or relishing flights of oratory or the use of language to conceal thought. He, in this regard, follows his talents and tastes as a cultivated business gentleman, caring more for the precise declaration and understanding of a question than for its involution in verbiage, or its trig- ging out in ornament. He is, however, an admiring listener to refined or vigorous oratory, and is as ex- cellent as a critic of the literature of politics as he is as a student of men and practical interests. His manners are genial, simple, suave, and his friends are inferior in number and attachment to those of no other public man of our time. The characteristic qualities of Mr. Bliss are directness, quickness, and thoroughness of perception, a sound and instant judgment, and a cool- ness, moderation, and breadth of view which all mate with the very notable executive qualities which he has in eminent measure. Accepting rather than seeking political duties, his success in such large measure, at so early a period of his active life, argues the expand- ing career in public trusts of honor to himself and by usefulness to his country. DRAPER, "WILLIAM HENRY, M.D., Clinical Professor of Diseases of the Skin in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, and a practitioner of medicine in the city of New York, was born in Brattleboro', Vermont, on the lith of October, 1830. He is the son of George and Lucy Draper. His parents came to New York in 1834, and for upwards of thirty years his father was engaged in mercantile pursuits. Dr. Draper graduated at Columbia College in the class of 1851. Immediately after graduation he began the study of medicine under the direction of Dr. Willard Parker. He took the degree of Doctor of Medicine at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in the spring of 1855. About the middle of the preceding year he was appointed a member of the house staff of Bellevue Hospital, and served in that institution, in both the medical and surgical departments, for nearly two years. After leaving Bellevue Hospital he passed a year in Europe, spending most of his time in London and Paris in special studies. On his return to New York in the summer of 1857, he began the practice of medicine. In the early years of his professional labors he was attached to the Demilt and Northern Dispensaries in the departments of Diseases of the Skin, and of the Heart anA Lungs. In 1859, on the opening of St. Luke's Hospital, he was appointed a member of the visiting staff, and served in that capacity for nine years. In 1863 he was appointed visiting physician of the New York Hospital, and still holds the appointment. He was also a member of the medical staff of the Stran- gers' Hospital during the brief career of that charity. In 1871 he was appointed a member of the medical staff of the newly-organized Roosevelt Hospital. In addition to the above. Dr. Draper is at present one of the consulting physicians of St. Luke's Hospital, of the North-western and Orthopaedic Dispensaries, of the Home for Incurables, the House of Mercy, and the Trinity Infirmary. Among Dr. Draper's contributions to medical literature are his inaugural thesis "On Fatty Degeneration;" a dissertation on "Cerebro-Spinal Meningitis, and an account of an Epidemic of that Disease at Carbondale," read before the Academy of Medicine in April, 1864; a paper on the "Treatment of Typhus Fever," read before the Academy of Medi- cine in March, 1865; a dissertation on "Pneumonia as an Essential Fever rather than a Local Phlegmasia," read before the Academy of Medicine in November, 1865; a paper on the "Pathology of Pulmonary Phthisis," read before the Academy of Medicine in. I20 CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. November, 1870; and a paper on " Diabetes Mellitus," read before the same body in February, 1871. He has also contributed a clinicallecture "On the Natm-e and Manifestation of the Gouty Vice," to the first series of Seguin's Amerkan Glimkal Lectures, and is the author of a large number of interesting communications to the several medical societies. PARKER, AMASA JUNIUS, LL.D., of Albany, N. Y., was born June 3, 1807, at Shai-on, in the State of Connecticut. He is descended from Puritan stock, his father being a Congregational minister whose ancestors were among the earliest emigrants from England. During his boyhood he removed with his parents to the State of New Y'ork, and under paternal care, aided by the best teachers, he received a thorough English and classical education, and was graduated at Union College, Schenectady, in 1825, having just com- pleted his eighteenth year. Before that time, however, at the age of sixteen, and too early for graduation, he took charge of the Hudson Academy, at Hudson, New York, an institution under the care of the Regents of the University of the State, and continued as its Prin- cipal four years, during which time it enjoyed a high reputation and ranked amongst the most successful academies in the State. At the age of twenty, having received his degree from Union College, ad interim, he resigned his position as Principal, and leaving Hudson, where he had been pursuing the study of law for over a year, under the direction of John W. Edmonds, he removed to Delhi, Delaware County, to complete his professional studies. He was admitted to the bar in 1838, and from that time continued the pursuit of his profession in Delhi till his appointment to the bench in 1844, when he located at Albany. His practice became, in a short time, very extensive, and for sev- eral years prior to his removal to the capital, he was much occupied in the higher walks of his profession at the neighboring circuits, and at the terms of the Su- preme Court and the Com-t of Chancery. Situated as he was at that time, it was hardly possible that he should not be more or less interested in politics, and he was not unfrequently called into the public service. He served in the State Legislature as member of the Assembly from Delaware County in 1834. The next year, being then only twenty-seven years of age, he was elected by that body a Regent of the University of the State of New York. In 1836 he was elected to represent the district composed of the counties of Delaware and Broome in Congress, during the three sessions of the Twenty-fifth Congress. He was nominated for the State Senate in the autumn of 1839, but was defeated, though by merely a nominal majority. In public sentiment an undeviating Democrat, he was nominated in 1844 by Governor Bouck, and confirmed by the Senate, to the oflSce of Circuit Judge and Vice Chancellor for the Third Circuit. Returning imme- diately to Albany as the more convenient place for the discharge of his offlclal duties, he has since continued to reside there. After a service of more than three years his term was cut ofE by the adoption of the new State Constitution, and in the summer of 1847 he was elected a Justice of the Supreme Court of the State for the Third Judicial District, in which office he con- tinued till the close of his term on the 31st day of December, 1855, having been, during the last year but one, a member of the Court of Appeals. He was a candidate for re-election, but was defeated by the nominee of the American or "Know Nothing " party, which swept over the State that year like a hm'- ricane, canying everything with it. It is, however, but just to Judge Parker to state that in his judicial district he ran several thousand votes aiead of the State candidates on the Democratic ticket. He immediately resumed his practice at Albany, and has continued the miinteiTupted pm-suit of his duties in that relation up to the present time, having declined, when the appoint- ments offered, to return to the Supreme Court bench, or to take a seat in the Court of Appeals. During his service upon the bench in 1845, the degree of LL.D. was conferred upon him by Geneva College. For many years he was a Professor in the Albany Law School, which, with John A. Harris and Amos Dean, he took part in establishing ; he, however, resigned that position a few years ago, being unable to perform the duties incident thereto, owing to his other professional engagements. In 1856 Judge Pai'ker was nominated by the Democratic pai'ty as its candidate for the office of Governor of the State of New York ; but, though running nearly ten thousand votes ahead of the Demo- cratic candidate for President at that election, he was defeated by his opponent, the Hon. John A. King, the Republican candidate. In 1858 he was re-nominated for the gubernatorial office, but was defeated by Edwin D. Morgan. Judge Parker has never been an office- seeker, preferring the independence of professional practice and the seclusion of his librai-y. He has always retained his love for classical study, cultivating it in connection with his general literary and profes- sional pursuits. When appointed to the bench he re- signed as a Regent of the University, but has never lost his interest in educational matters, and is now one of the Trustees of Cornell University, President of the Board of Trustees of Albany Medical College, and holds the same relation to the Albany Female College. More than once the recipient of oflers of civil honor by Pre- sident Buchanan, he invariably declined. Nominated by him to the office of United States District Attorney I '/ CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. 121 for the Southern District of New York, his nomination was not favorably received hy the Senate, though it was conflrmed without reference; he, however, did not qualify, and declined the appointment. The only political office in which he has served since his retire- ment from the bench, was as one of the delegates from Albany County to the State Constitutional Convention of 1867, when the judicial system now in force in the State was framed. A man of large culture, general and classical, and of uncommon reach of mind, Judge Parker's connection with the educational institutions of the State has always been a potential agent for the promotion of their high standing and general efficiency. The extensive and superior character of his profes- sional practice, the result of his keen mental penetra- tion, and his fine legal talent and acquirements, have distinguished him among the members of the bar. For eight years a Justice of the supreme bench of the State, his able and impartial rulings were received with public satisfaction. Wise and conservative ip his political views, his services in Congress were pro- ductive of much personal popularity ; and, while never seeking political preferment, and only accepting nomi- nation when he believed it would subserve some public interest, Judge Parker has occupied many high official positions, and has declined many offers of political trust and honor. He was man-ied in 1834 to Miss Harriet Langdon Roberts, of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. .A son, who bears his father's name, is associated with him in professional business. [ARCH, ALDEN, M.D., LL.D., one of the most distinguished of American surgeons, was born in Sutton, Worcester County, Mass., in 1795, and died in Albany on the 17th of June, 1869. His father was a farmer in moderate circumstances, and the early education of Alden was obtained in the common schools of the neighborhood, which he attended dur- ing the winter months, his services being in requisition on the farm during the remainder of the year. He was one of these, however, who work or play with equal spirit, and whatever his hand found to do, that he did with all his might and mind. The rural life he led was not distasteful to him as it frequently is to boys of active brain-power ; on the contrary, till the latest year of his life he repeatedly visited a small farm of which he was the owner, located near AJbany, and might have been seen on many occasions working cheerfully with hoe or pruning-hook. As he approached man- hood he managed to greatly improve his stock of knowledge by attending an academy for two terms, and at a later period became a teacher in the public schools. About the time he attained his majority, he determined to become a physician, and began the study of medicine under the direction of his elder brother, who had been a surgeon in the United States army during the war of 1813, but was now a resident practi- tioner of his native State. After receiving a thorough grounding in the rudiments of a medical education at the hands of his brother, he went to Boston, where he attended medical lectures for the greater part of one year. The following year he went to Providence, R.I., and attended medical lectures at Brown University, to which, at that time, a medical department was at- tached. JFrom this university he received the degree of Doctor of Medicine. In 1820, soon after gradua^ tion, he took up his residence in Albany, where he spent the remainder of his useful life. Upon first reaching the city he obtained a position in the office of Dr. EUas Willard, an old and respected practitioner, with whom he continued about a year. From his earliest introduction to medical studies he took a deep interest in anatomy, and was distinguished for the zeal and industry he displayed in that science, which was not as easily pursued in those days as at present. After residing in Albany a short time he resolved to deliver lectures on his favorite branch of study, and in the winter of 1821, having dissolved his connection with Dr. Willard and opened a medical office for himself, he secured the upper story of an old building in Mont- gomery street in that city and began a course of dis- sections and demonstrations in anatomy. The preju- dice of the time made it unsafe to procure the neces- sary material for these dissections in Albany, then a small city of 15,000 inhabitants, but nothing daunted, the young lectm-er made a journey to Boston with horse and wagon — for it must be remembered this was before the era of raih-oads — and in the latter city, aided by his former experience, he secured the necessai-y material and at great personal risk carried it overland to Albany. Although his practice was not encourag- ingly remunerative at this epoch, great popularity and success attended his lectures, and in 1825 he was called to the chair of Anatomy and Physiology, in the Aca^ demy of Medicine at Castleton, Vermont. His duties in this position occupied his attention chiefly in the autumn, and he still found ample time to attend to his Albany patients, whose number increased with his reputation, and also to continue his medical lectures, the interest in which was constantly increasing, and at- tracting students from all parts of the country. At the time Dr. March established himself in Albany there was neither hospital nor medical college in that city, and but one of the former and two of the latter in the entire State. With the enterprise and activity which ha,ve characterized his whole life, he at once conceived the idea of founding both a college and hospital in that city, and this project he kept constantly in view and 122 CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. eventually saw accomplished. As early as the year 1828 he delivered a public lecture "On the Propriety of Establishing a Medical College and Hospital in the City of Albany." In 1835 he resigned his Professor- ship in the Castleton Medical School, and was suc- ceeded by his brother-in-law Dr. Armsby, who, in 1831, had become his pupil, and in whom he after- wards secured a warm friend and able supporter and colleague. By this time Dr. March had become well known and was in the enjoyment of a good practice. His desire to found a medical college remained una- bated, and petitions for a charter were yearly circu- lated among the citizens for signatures. Dr. March was enthusiastically supported in the scheme by Dr. Armsby, who had risen rapidly to an honorable place In the profession, and was untiring in his efforts to secure its success. At length a charter was secured. Dr. March being named President, and the opening lecture was given on the 3d of January, 1839. The session of the follovdng year opened with a full corps of experienced Professors, and a gratifying number of students. During its infancy the college was liberally endowed by the State, and the funds thus acquired were judiciously expended in purchasing books, chem- ical and philosophical apparatus and other appliances, including a museum, necessary for thorough instruc- tion in the different branches of a medical education. The citizens of Albany generously supported the in- stitution, some of them being very liberal in their con- tributions. This was all the more necessary at tliis stage of its existence, as a strong opposition to it came from rival institutions in that part of the State. Thus, after persistent effort for a period of twenty years, brilliant success crowned his labors. However, an- other achievement was determined on by the inde- fatigable scientist. As the college increased in pros- perity the need of a hospital was deeply felt. Dr. March was obliged to resort to college clinics held every Saturday, and much credit is due him for being the first to institute such clinics. They did not, how- ever, satisfy his desires, and with the aid of Dr. Armsby the attempt to found a hospital was renewed. In 1849 the articles of incorporation were obtained, and a hospital was estabUshed, which in time grew in importance and rendered the greatest service to the medical college. The present hospital, a fine edifice in the immediate vicinity of the college, is one of the best conducted in the State, and clinical Instructions in medicine and surgery are now regularly given with- in its walls. The college has also grown in import- ance, and at this day ranks among the most flourish- ing in the interior of the United States. For much of the reputation which the Albany Medical School has acquired, it is indebted to the labors and liberality of Dr. March. The regard which he cherished for these institutions was shown not only by his long and faith- ful services to both, but by a liberal donation to each at the time of his death, from a fortune, which he was too great a lover of science, and too kind-hearted and useful a member of society to permit to attain the magnificent proportions which liis prolonged and suc- cessful career warranted. For thirty years he presided over the college, and more than three thousand pupils have sat under his instruction. As a lecturer and demonstrator he was considered unsurpassed, while as a sure, dexterous and consummate operator he stood, by common consent, at the head of the profession. The valuable system of surgical clinics now in use in all our medical institutions owes its origin to Dr. March, and his name is honorably cormected with many other important improvements in medical in- struction. His valuable surgical museum, of which he began the formation while a student in Boston, and wliich he enriched and enlarged to a remarkable de- gree during his long professional career, was be- queathed by him to the college, and it constitutes, in connection with the collection already formed in that institution, the most extensive in the United States. Few men were better calculated to give instruction on such a practical subject as surgery, and it is said that those who sat under his instruction were generally dis- tinguished for their skill in this branch of the healing art. His style as a lecturer wsis eminently practical, clear, and forcible, and as impressive as learned. His career as a teacher was continued uninterruptedly for nearly half a centm-y, during which he delivered sev- enteen private courses of lectures on anatomy, physi- ology, and operative surgery, in Albany, ten com-ses on anatomy and physiology, in the Vermont Academy of Medicine, and thirty-six courses on surgery, in the Albany Medical College. From a record of his surgi- cal experience, which, however, embraces but forty years of the half century through which his practice extended, is ascertained that he operated the astonish- ing number of seven thousand one hundred and twenty-four times. The following synopsis of the operations of Dr. March, extracted from an address on his life and labors, delivered November 9th, 1869, be- fore the Albany County Medical Society, by Dr. Jas. L. Babcock, President of that body, a report of which was published in the Transactions of the New York State Medical Society, is appended as showingthe range and extent of his practice ; "He amputated thi-ee hun- dred and thirteen times, of which sixty-five were through the thigh; thirty-six through the leg; seven through the tarsus; twenty-five through the arm; eighteen through the fore-arm; and two through the vreist. He reduced three hundred and nine dislocations, many of them of an unusual char- acter ; of which, seven were of the inferior maxillary. CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. 123 or lower jaw ; onehundred and thirty-six of the shoul- der ; seventy-five of the elbow ; twenty of the wrist ; seventeen of the hip-joint; four of the knee; one of the patella ; ten of the ankle ; and twelve of the as- tragalus and tarsus. His cases of fractures number ten hundred and fourteen, many of which were un- common, indeed to such he was constantly called. Of these, nineteen were of the cranium ; six of the scapula ; one hundred and eleven of the arm ; eighty- three of the fore-arm, both bones ; two hundred and nine of the radius ; twenty-two of the ulna ; eleven of the olecranon process; nine of the ribs; one of the sternum ; one hundred and thirty-three of the femur ; sixteen of the patella ; one hundred and thirty-three, both bones of the leg ; and nineteen of the fibula. He operated for non-union of bones twenty-six times ; for resection, fifteen times, of which eleven were of the ■lower jaw; for anchylosis of joints, five times. He extirpated sixteen hundred and sixty-two tumors, of every diversity of character and situation; of this number, twenty-eight were osseous; two, cartilagi- nous ; one, muscular ; twenty-one, bursal ; four hun- dren and ninety-one, malignant: four hundred and ninety-two, encysted. He operated for strangulated hernia, one hundred and four times ; direct and ob- lique inguinal hernia, fifty-three times ; femoral her- nia, forty-six times. He performed the operation of lithotomy, forty-seven times; ovariotomy, seven times; neurotomy, seventeen times ; hydrocele, for temporary relief, three hundred and forty-seven times ; for radi- cal cure, one hundred and eighteen times ; for para- centesis cranii, three times; thoracis, eleven times; abdominis, seventy-seven times; hydrops articuli, twelve times ; fistulas, in various situations, one hun- dred and seventy-nine tinies. Removed polypi, in various localities, one hundred and forty-five times. He operated for hare-lip, one hundred and twenty-five times ; of which, about fifty cases were double, with double clef t in jaw; staphyloraphy, nine times; tali- cotian, or rhinoplastic operation, twelve times; auto- plastic, six times ; excision of the tonsils and uvulse, five hundred and forty-nine times ; for goitre, once ; laryngotomy and tracheotomy, seven times. Removed foreign bodies from the air passages, fifty-three times ; extirpation of the eye, ten times; strabismus, two hundred and forty-nine times; pterygium, eighteen times; myotomy and tenotomy, two hundred and eighty-eight times ; ligated arteries, forty-three times ; of which, the profrmda, external iliac, and common carotid were included ; aneurism of the larger arteries, seven times ; spina bifida, five times ; spina ventosa, three times. He performed anomalous operations for the cure of deformities, fifty times." His first case occurred in 1830, the subject being a child upon whom he operated successfully for hare-lip, making for him- self many of the appliances used, and overcoming several exceedingly untoward and disagreeable attend- ing circumstances. His inventive genius led him af- terwards to originate an improved forceps, which greatly aided the operation and was regarded very highly by the profession. He also invented instru- ments for the removal of dead bone ; and in 1867, em- ployed a new method for removing urinary calculi. In 1833 and 1833, he was President of the Albany County Medical Society; in 1857, President of the New York State Medical Society ; in 1864, President of the American Medical Association, of which he was one of the founders. He was also honorary mem- ber of the Massachusetts State Medical Society, Penn- sylvania State Medical Society, Connecticut State Medical Society, and the Rhode Island State Medical Society. In 1861, he was Chairman of the Commis- sion appointed to examine candidates for the volun- teer service of the State of New York. In 1862 and 1863, he was a member of the Auxiliary Corps of Vol- unteer Surgeons of the State. He was also connected with many religious and educational institutions, and a corresponding member of the National Institu- tion for the Promotion of Science, at Washington, D. C, and honorary member of the InstilMt des Arohi- mstes de France. He was a Trustee of the Dudley Observatory, Albany University, Albany Rural Ceme- tery, and Albany Medical College. President of the Albany City Tract and Missionary Society, President of the Board of Trustees, First Presbyterian Church of Albany, and a member of various other societies and associations, in all of which he took a deep inter- est, and whose honors were freely conferred without being solicited. In 1868, the degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred upon him by "Williams College. Dr. March paid several visits to Europe, and was every- where received with the most distinguished considera- tion. His examinations of the foreign pathological collections, and his indefatigable study and research while abroad, resulted in some of the most important discoveries which have been made in surgery during the last quarter of a century. Although weighted heavily with a large practice and an extraordinaiy number of duties, he found time to write many valuable essays and reports, and to deliver a large number of addresses. As the originator of a system of clinical instruction he added a feature of incalculable value to the machinery of professional education, thus identi- fying his name with one of the most important ad- vances of American medical science. He died at Albany on the 17th of June, 1869, after a short illness, passing away in the midst of his labors and successes, having achieved in his memorable life, the highest rep- utation as a professional man and Christian gentle- man. 124 CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. cNAUGHTON, JAMBS, M.D., late Professor of the Theory and I'ractice of Medicine in the Al- bany Medical College, and at the time of his death one of the oldest and most respected physicians in the State, -was born on the 10th of December, 1796, at Kenmore, among the Grampian Hills, Perthshire, Scotland, where his father, a prosperous farmer, and, for tlie time and place, a somewhat extensive manu- facturer, literally "fed his flock." James was one of several brothers, and early manifested a fondness for intellectual pursuits. His education was obtained in the excellent parish school of his native place, where the youth of the neighborhood were fitted for college. He made rapid progress in his studies, and, in his six- teenth year, having received a thorough grounding in the English branches, and having besides acquired a good knowledge of the Latin language— the literature of which, through life, afforded him a decided pleasure —was quaUfled to enter the Royal College of Surgeons of the University of Edinburgh. His determination to adopt the medical profession was largely owing to the fact that a great demand for surgeons existed, growing out of the wars in which Great Britain was engaged, and from the farther fact that an elder brother held the posi- tion of surgeon to an Enghsh frigate, which, at that time and during the war of 1813-15, was stationed at HaUfax. He pursued his medical studies with dili- gence, and in 1816 was graduated from the university. The termination of the war with the United States and the decisive battle of Waterloo, opening an era of peace which was destined to last almost unbroken for about half a century, threw a damper on his prospects in the navy, but afforded him a longer time to mas- ter his profession. Accordingly he devoted another year to medical studies. During his term in the uni- versity he attended three courses of lectures in the Livingston Hospital, Edinburgh, and two courses in the Royal Infirmary in the same place. Dr. McNaugh- ton was particularly fortunate in the time and place of pursuing his professional studies, and enjoyed the ad- vantages of instruction under the most celebrated teach- ers of medical science then living, including the Bells, theMunros, Wishart, Gregory, Abercrombie and Ham- ilton. Upon quitting the university the young physi- cian, feeling too inexperienced to settle in Scotland, and having, besides, a strong desire to see the world, was about to avail himself of some letters of commen- dation to his countryman and friend. Sir George Mc- Gregor, then an Admiral in the Columbian service, when he was pressed by a large body of emigrants from his native parish and vicinity to go with them to America. The owners of the vessel on which they ■were to take passage offered him the appointment of surgeon and also the privilege of returning in her to Scotland. Having absolutely nothing to do at home, and having relatives in America whom he desired to see, he accepted the appointment, and on the 38th of May, 1817, set sail from Greenock for America, which he reached after a stormy and even dangerous passage, landing in Quebec on the 16th of June, 1817. Some time being to elapse ere the vessel would be ready to return to Scotland, the young doctor made a jom-ney to Albany to visit his relative, the Hon. Archibald Mclntyre. Through the persuasion of Mr. Mclntyre he was induced to make Albany his permanent home, and to give up the idea of returning to Scotland. Ac- cordingly he opened an office in that city a few months after his arrival, and established himself as a general practitioner of medicine. The leading physicians of Albany at this time were Drs. Treat, Willard, Eights, Townsend, Bay, Wendell and others, some advanced in age and none of them particularly desirous of cul- tivating surgery. Dr. McNaughton, coming from the then most celebrated medical institution in the world, was soon established as the leading practicing surgeon in a wide region of country. The friendly feeling of the Scotch element — which was both respectable and influential — for their young countryman, also contri- buted somewhat to his early success. The turning- point of his life, as he himself considered, was, how- ever, an incident which occm-red about this period of his history. In that early day the material for dissec- tion was far from abundant and almost always ob- tained with difficulty. The body of a criminal who had been executed for murder, was surrendered by the authorities to the medical men of the city for dissection. At a meeting of physicians it was decided that the dis- sections should be public, and that six of the leading medical men of Albany should in turn conduct the demonstrations. Dr. McNaughton, a new-comer, fresh from the University of Edinburgh, was invited to com- mence the dissections. His pleasing address, impres- sive manner, and evident familiarity with the subject of anatomy, commanded the admiration of all, and it was decided by his associates that he should continue daily with the dissections until they were completed. This fortunate introduction to public notice gave Dr. McNaughton a high rank at once among the young physicians of the city, and won for him the confidence of the community. Consequent upon his success in the public effort just mentioned, he was appointed lec- turer on Anatomy and Physiology in the then popular and extensive College of Physicians and Surgeons at Fairfield, an obscure town in Herkimer County, seven- ty-five miles west of Albany. This medical college was established in 1813, and before many years ranked next to the University of Pennsylvania in the number of pupils. It was one of the six medical institutions in the country, the other five being located in Philadel- phia, New York, Boston, Dartmouth, and Baltimore. J-'mgd by AH-Rilcl-iie (Z-Pk^ c^Ai/lyUa^ (/1w(:^<^ CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. 125 In 1831 Dr. McNaughton was appointed Professor of Anatomy and Physiology in the Fairfield College, the classes at the time numbering about one hundred stu- dents. This Professorship he held for nineteen years, and also filled the chair of Surgery one year. During his twenty years connection with the institution the number of pupils had increased to two hundi-ed and seventeen. Notwithstanding this great success, how- ever, the Fairfield school was discontinued, owing to the establishment of two rival schools, one at Albany and the other at Geneva, in the former of wliich— founded through the labors of the late Dr. Alden March— Dr. McNaughton and another of the Fairfield Professors accepted chairs. This institution— the Al- bany Medical College— Dr. McNaughton now sup- ported with all the earnestness he had before accorded to the Fairfield school. He remained connected with it up to the time of his death, succeeding to the Presidency upon the demise of the founder, Dr. March. Shortly after establishing himself in Albany Dr. McNaughton married Miss Mclntyre, the daughter of his distant relative and warm friend, the Hon. Archibald Mclntyre, a leading citizen of Albany and one of the founders of the Albany St. Andrew's So- ciety, who was also at one time Comptroller of New York. In 1824 Dr. McNaughton visited Europe for the first time, travelling quite extensively on the con- tinent and visiting nearly all the principal hospital es- tablishments and medical schools. In London he made the acquaintance of many distinguished persons, including Sir James Mcintosh and Sir Astley Cooper. With a desire to benefit the American institution with which he was connected, he studied every improve- ment and sought informafion in every quarter. He visited the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons and received from Mr. Cliff, the Curator, much in- struction and many kind attentions. He had also an opportunity of inspecting the fine museum of Sir Charles Bell, and during his stay in London met the most celebrated medical men of the metropolis. He also heard the famous Dr. Shaw lecture on the brain. In .1833, when Albany was invaded for the first time by Asiatic cholera, Dr. McNaughton was made Presi- dent of the city Board of Health, and took an active part in the organization of hospitals for the reception of the sick. He was unwearied in his attendance upon the suffering, devoting his whole time to the discharge of those duties which devolved upon him during the fearful ravages of this dreadful pestilence. He also wrote a paper on the disease which embodied his views concerning treatment, etc. This paper was published and largely circulated, and was regarded as an au- thority upon the subject of which it treated. In 1853 he paid a second visit to Europe, this time devoting his attention in a particular manner to the continent. While in Paris he met with the leading professors and surgeons, including Andrae, Cruveilhier, Velpeau, Boyer, and Rostan. He extended his trip to Lyons, where he visited the great hospital, the largest in France. After passing through Italy, Switzerland, and Holland, he returned to Great Britain. While in Glasgow he chanced to take up a newspaper and from it learned that the cholera had again appeared in the northern part of the State of New York. This deter- mined him to return immediately to his post of duty in America. In 1874, being then in his seventy-eighth year, he made a third visit to Europe, accompanied by his wife and several of his children. When about leaving Paris for Geneva he was attacked with faint- ness in the railroad depot, and, being conveyed to Ms hotel, died after a few hour's illness from heart disease. During his life Dr. McNaughton held many positions of honor and trust. He was twice elected President of the Medical Society of the State of New York, was President of the County Medical Society, and President of the Al- bany Medical College, and of the staff of the Albany Hospital. He was associated with Drs. March and Armsby in the founding of this hospital, was one of the Governors of Union University, and was also, for a time, Surgeon-General of the State. He took a deep interest in the city of his adoption, and served in the municipality ; was President of the Exchange, and was connected as Trustee or Director with many monetary and charitable institutions. He was one of the Trustees of the Albany Female Academy, and a great friend to education. He was President, and life-long Director, of the St. Andrew's Society, of Albany, and a warm friend to his countrymen in America. As physician, philanthropist and friend, citizen, patriot, and Chris- tian, Dr. McNaughton, judged by the highest stand- ard, stood in the first rank. PRINCE, HON. L. BRADFORD, was born in the town of Flushing, Long Island (N. Y.), on the 3d of July, 1840. He is a lineal descendant of Gov- ernor William Bradford, of Plymouth, one of the "men of the Mayfiower," and had for great grand- father and grandfather, on the maternal side. Gov- ernors Bradford (also U. S. Senator) and Collins, of Rhode Island. The branch of the Prince family of which he is a member, has been long and favorably known in connection with the science of horticulture, which it largely aided in attaining its present stage of perfection. Owing to the delicate health of Mr. Prince much of his early life was passed in the south. As he grew to manliood he engaged in horticultural pursuits at his father's place in Flushing, but after a short ex- perience quitted this line of employment to study law. 126 CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. Entering Columbia College Law School, he passed through the course with honor, and upon graduation received the |200 prize in Political Science. Very early in life he developed an extraordinary aptitude for political matters, and the activity he displayed in his district dui-ing the Fremont campaign won for him a vote of thanks from the town club, of which his age — he was then but a lad of sixteen — prevented his be- coming a member. In the canvass of 1860, though still a minor, he was an officer in the local political organization, and worked enthusiastically for the suc- cess of the Lincoln ticket. In 1861 he was chosen a member of the Republican Committee of Queen's County, on which he has served almost ever since, for several years having been its presiding officer. He was elected a delegate to the National Republican Convention held at Chicago in 1868, and the following year became a member of the State Republican Com- mittee. The political labors of Mr. Prince at this period were all the more honorable from the fact, that they were pursued purely as a matter of principle, and without the least expectation of personal advancement, the district in which he resided being strongly Demo- cratic. His qualifications for filling a responsible position were, however, too apparent to be neglected, and in 1870 he was elected to the Assembly, receiving a majority of 1,415 votes, members of all parties join- ing in his support. In 1871 he was re-elected to the Assembly by a large majority, although his opponent was the strongest Democrat in the district, and an ex- perienced legislator who had already served both in the Assembly and in the Senate. The following year he received the extraordinary compliment of a request for his continuance in office, signed by more than two thousand voters irrespective of party ; and having been nominated by acclamation was re-elected without op- position. In 1873, having declined a nomination to the Senate, he was again returned to the Assembly, almost without an opposing vote. In the fall of 1874 the Democrats made a determined effort to redeem the district, which now for four years had been lost to their party, and placed the Hon. Solomon Townsend, who had served three terms in the Legislature and In the Constitutional Conventions of 1846 and 1867, in opposition to Mr. Prince. The canvass was an exciting one, but resulted in a victory for Mr. Prince, who secured a rdajority of 771 votes. There is believed to be no other instance on record of a person being elected five successive times in a district politically opposed to him. In the canvass of 1875 Mr. Prince received the Republican nomination for the Senate, and although the Democrats were successful on the State ticket by nearly 3,700 majority, he won the election by a majority of 904, running 3,594 ahead of iis ticket. The legislative career of Mr. Prince was an exceedingly useful aud highly honorable one. In 1873, 1873 and 1874, he was Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, performing his multifarious and arduous duties in the most creditable manner, and rendering valuable service to the State. While filling this posi- tion over eleven hundred bills came into his hands for reports — a larger number than were ever submitted to any other committee, either State or national, in a simOar length of time. During the winter of 1873 it became his duty to conduct the investigation into the official conduct of Judges Barnard, Cardozo, and McCimn. This investigation extended from the mid- dle of February to about the middle of April, during which time two hundred and thirty-nine witnesses were examined, and over two thousand four hundred pages of evidence taken. The thoroughness and fairness with which the investigation was conducted, won the approval of fair-minded persons of all shades of politi- cal belief, and its results form one of the brightest pages in the history of the recent "Reform Legisla- ture." The reports of the committee in favor of im- peaching two of the Judges and removing the other met with general public acquiescence, and were adopted by the House, and Mr. Prince was chosen one of the managers to conduct the impeachment trial, receiving 110 out of 113 votes cast on the ballot in the Assembly. He was also appointed to proceed to the bar of the Senate and formally impeach Judge Barnard of high crimes and misdemeanors. He was active in the mat- ter till the close of the trial, and it has been said of him, that to no one man is the judiciary of the State more indebted for being relieved of the disgrace that would have attended the retention of Barnard and Car- dozo on the bench. The recent amendments to the Constitution of the State received from Mr. Prince special attention. In 1873 he introduced, and suc- ceeded in getting passed, the bill for the Constitutional Commission. In both the sessions of 1873 and 1874 he had charge of the proposed amendments, both in committee and in the Assembly, and the task of ex- plaining and defending them fell almost exclusively to his share. Just previous to these amendments being submitted to the people for ratification — in the fall of 1874— Mr. Prince, at the request of the Council of Po- litical Reform, wrote a pamphlet on the subject, which was widely circulated as a campaign document, and tended largely to their success at the polls. In the session of 1875 he prepared and introduced nearly all the bills required to carry the new Constitutional sys- tem into effect, that work being assigned to him by general consent, although the Assembly was Demo- cratic. The reformation in the system of legislation in New York has occurred wholly during Mr. Prince's terms, and its history is worthy of record, if only to show the results of persistent effort. Dming his first ijj'' ftH^ CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. 127 month in Albany Mr. Prince introduced two reso- lutions, one in relation to the organization of cities under general laws, and the other including the whole question of special legislation. On this latter he made a careful speech in Feb. 1871, but the proposition to do away with special legislation was met with opposition, and almost derision by all the old and leading mem- bers. In no way discouraged, Mr. Prince renewed the fight next year, made a striking speech on the ' ' Evils of Hasty Legislation " in February, and later, as chairman of the Judiciary Committee, presented areport on "Reform in the Methods of Legislation," which has been the foundation of all action on the subject since. At the same time he introduced the bill for a Constitutional Commission to report the necessary amendments. The next winter he succeeded in get- ting the Commission to report in favor of his proposi- tions to prohibit special legislation ; and as we have before seen, championed these amendments for two years in the Assembly, and then before the people. In November, 1874, he had the pleasure of seeing all the reforms, which he had first proposediu January, 1871, placed in the organic law of the State — the fruit of neai'ly four years steady and untiring effort. For sev- eral years past Mr. Prince has given special attention to the canal system of the State, and the question of transportation from the west to the seaboard. He has made several speeches on this subject in the Legisla- ture, as well as at the organization of the Cheap Transportation Association at the Cooper Institute in 1874, and at the great Produce Exchange meeting in 1875. The N. T. Chamber of Commerce has twice acknowledged these services to the mercantile com- munity by votes of thanks. In 1874 he was Chairman of the Assembly Committee to conduct the U. S. Senate Committee on Transportation Routes through the State. In May, 1876, Mr. Prince was a member of the National Republican Convention which nomi- nated Hayes and Wheeler. In 1877, though tendered a unanimous re-nomination to the Senate, he declined to serve again on the ground that he could not afford longer to neglect his private business. Mr. Prince's reputation is not, however, confined to the field of politics. As a lawyer, he occupies a liigh position, his clear, incisive reasoning power and rare ability as an advocate, rendering him eminently successful. In 1868 he was chosen orator of the Alumni Association of the Columbia College Law School, and for two years "was President of the Association. In 1876, having again been chosen alumni orator, he delivered an oration in the Academy of Music on "The Duties of Citizenship," enforcing the idea that men of character and education should take the lead m political affairs. Mr. Prince is well known also as a thoughtful writer and lecturer on various topics, among which, those re- lating to legislative and governmental reform have attracted wide attention. A lyork from his pen en- titled "B Plm-ibus Unum, or American Nationality,'' a comparison between the Constitution and the Articles of Confederation, passed through several editions and received the warmest commendations from statesmen and political scientists. He is also a prominent mem- ber of the Masonic fraternity, having been District Deputy Grand Master of Queens and Suffolk Counties for the years 1868, '69 and '70, and again in 1876. In 1877 he was appointed on the Grand Master's staff as Grand Standard Bearer. Mr. Prince takes a lively in- terest in all that pertains to the best interests of the farming community, and has delivered a number of addresses before various agricultural societies through- out the State, notably those of Saratoga, St. Lawrence, Tioga, Orleans, Suffolk and Cattaraugus Counties. For ten years he was Superintendent or Director of the Queens County Agricultural Society. He is also a life member of the Long Island Historical Society, and for the past thirteen years has been an ofiicer in that learned body. In religious affairs Mr. Prince is like- wise prominent. He is a leading member of the Protestant Episcopal Chm'ch, in which he is a licensed lay-reader under Bishop Littlejohn. He has been a member of several diocesan Conventions on Long Island, and was a deputy from that diocese to the Tri- ennial General Convention at Boston in 1877. He is one of the corporation of the Cathedral of the Incar- nation on Long Island, and at the laying of the corner-stone thereof in June, 1877, made the address on behalf of the laity of the diocese. HUTCHISON, JOSEPH C, M.D., a prominent surgeon of Brooklyn, is a native of Missouri, born in the town of Old Franklin, Howard County, Feb. 33d, 1837. Dr. Hutchison's ancestry were Scotch-Irish, his father, likewise a member of the medical profession and practising for many years in Missouri, having come to this country from the north of Ireland. His mother, Mary Chrisman, was a native of Virginia. Dr. Hutchison's medical training was full and thorough. In 1844, after the completion of his academic studies, he entered the University of Missouri, at Colmnbia, where he remained through junior year, when he registered in his father's office as a student of medicine. In a few months he entered Jefferson Medical College, and subsequently the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania, pursuing the advance curri- culum of that institution under the private instruction particularly of two distinguished physicians of Phila- delphia, W. W. Gerhard and Edward Peace. Con- cluding his studies, and receiving his diploma from 128 CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. the last named institution, in 1848, Dr. Hutchison settled as a practitioner in the town of Arrow Rock, in his native State. After three years' practice at this place, he removed to Marshall, where he remained till 1853. Preferring, however, the professional associa- tion and pursuits of the more thickly populated east, dm-ing 1853 he left Missouri and established himself in Brooklyn, where he has since resided. Though Dr. Hutchison, in locating himself in Brooklyn, had elec- ted to pm-sue the general practice of his profession, he was, shortly after his accession to the ranks of the local faculty, invited to pai-ticipate in the course of lectm-es of the University of the City of New York, and during the summer sessions of 1854, '55, and '56, was the popular lecturer upon Diseases of Women in the medical department of that institution. During the first of the above named years, marked by a dis- tressing prevalence of the Asiatic Cholera, he also had charge of the Brooklyn Cholera Hospital. In 1857, he was elected to the position he still occupies, of surgeon at the Brooklyn City Hospital, and from 1860 to 1867, inclusive, acted as Professor of Operative and Clini- cal Surgery at the Long Island College Hospital. In 1864, was chosen President of the Kings County Med- ical Society. In 1867, he was elected Vice President of the State Medical Society, and the following year its President. Dr. Hutchison has been similarly com- plimented by other local and foreign professional or- ganizations, having been Vice President of the N. Y. Pathological Society, in 1870, and President in 1871 ; Vice President of the N. Y. Academy of Medicine in 1869, '70, and '71 ; honorary member of Connecticut State Medical Society ; corresponding member of the Gynsecological Society of Boston ; a delegate from the American Medical Association, to the International Medical Congress in Paris, in 1867; to the recent meeting of the Congress in Philadelphia, in 1876, and to the British Medical Association at Edinburgh, in 1875, &c. He is at present surgeon to the Brooklyn City Hospital, and surgeon-in-chief to the Brooklyn Orthopaedic Infirmary, consulting surgeon to Kings County Hospital, St. John's Hospital, St. Peter's Hos- pital and Brooklyn Central Dispensary. During the years 1873 to 1875, inclusive, he was one of the Health Commissioners of the city. In 1853, an article from his pen upon the "Use of Common Salt in the Treat- ment of Intermittent Fever," published in the iV. T. Journal of Medicine, attracted deserved attention. CHAPMAN, EDWIN N., M.D., of Brooklyn, was born February 26, 1819. His father, Colonel Phineas Chapman, was one in a long line of de- scent from Robert Chapman, who, coming from Eng- land, settled at Saybrook, Connecticut, in 1685. It is recorded of him that he was deputy to the General Court forty-three times, and assistant nine times. Colonel Chapman married Betsey Abbott. Both were natives of Redding, Connecticut, and Dr. Chap- man is the oldest son of this marriage. He grad- uated at Yale College in 1842 with the degree of A. B., receiving that of A.M. in the usual order. He pm'sued his professional studies at Jefferson College, Philadelphia, then, as now, a famous centre of medical learning, and was graduatedin 1845. Choosing Brook- lyn as his future residence, he immediately entered upon the practice of medicine in that city, and on the organization of the Long Island College Hospital he was appointed a member of its medical staff, and Professor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics and Clinical Mid- vnfery. Having served in that chair for three years, he was appointed Professor of Obstetrics and Diseases of Women and Childi-en. As a part of the results of his labors and inquiries in this relation he has given to the fraternity a large volume styled " Hysterology ; a treatise on the Diseases and Displacements of the Uterus," a monogi-aph at once clinical and systematic, and which constitutes a valuable contribution to the knowledge of this most important subject. The views maintained In this work, as also in the several articles mentioned below on the same subject, are presented in the proceedings of the Kings County Medical So- ciety by Dr. J. R. Vanderveer, as follows; "Dr. E. N. Chapman considers the erectile organs of the uterus and appendages to be physiologically excited in menstruation, the erotic state, and during utero-gesta- tion; and this natural erectile congestion, prolonged beyond the physiological limit, he classes as not only abnormal, but as leading to a pathological condition of the uterus ; and Dr. Peaslee has lately adopted sub- stantially the same view. Dr. Chapman states ; ' The substratum, the remote causation, the germ of uterine disease is perversion of function. The results of this perversion, physiological laws broken and thrown into disorder, are the only morbid conditions found in any case; in other words, the pathology is comprised in the confusion and aberration of normal operations.' The author then proceeds to speak of a physiological func- tion being converted into ' a congestion, pathological and continuous.' This, in my humble opinion, is sovmd doctrine." Dr. Chapman's devotion to his profes- sion has led him " to be instant, in season and out of sea- son," in the pursuit of all knowledge that by its intrin- sic nature or its relative bearing can furnish any ele- ,ment of power to the hiedical practitioner. A lecture delivered to the students in Long Island College Hos- pital, published in the Medical and Surgical Reporter, for 1861, and subsequently reprinted in pamphlet form, on "Ergot ; its Natural History and uses as a Thera- CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. 129 pentic Agent," is a learned and practical discussion of that valuable remedy. Similar in character is a com- munication to the Boston Medical and Surgical Jour- nal on the " Pyrophosphate of Iron." In the inter- ests of his general practice Dr. Chapman has made many critical observations and records. His views and experience in regard to " Infant Diet," published in a series of papers in the Sanitariam for 1875, form a treatise on the prophylactic and remedial treatment of the ailments of infant humanity that is not only profit- able to physicians, but is a cause of gi-atitude to every mother in the community. In the pursuit of the du- ties of his clinical relations with Long Island College Hospital, as well as in his private practice in the early part of the last decade. Dr. Chapman treated a great number of cases of diphtheria. At that time the true nature of this disease, which had but recently appeared in this country, was little understood. Dr. Chapman, however, soon abandoned the lowering remedies and applications then in vogue, and was one of the first to recognize the urgent necessity of a " tonic sustaining" course of medication, which he employed with the most happy results. His experience of this much dreaded disease was communicated to the Boston Med- ical and Surgieai Journal for February, 1863. This paper, though exciting much attention at the time, was soon forgotten in the rush after new theories and new remedies. The past year he published a second article on tills subject in the Buffalo Medical a/nd Sur- gical Journal, and also read a paper on "Alcohol and Diphtheria, " before the Kings County Medical Society. He shows by clinical facts that "alcohol is as antago- nistic to diphtheria as belladonna is to opium, or qui- nine to malaria," and concludes the histories of his cases with this startling statement, as shovpn by the records of the Health Department : "Thus it appears that in a period of three and a half years eighty-five cases of diphtheriahave been treated successfully, with- out a failure." In addition to the articles already named may be added the following: "The True Uterine Mucous Membrane ; its Structure, Function, and Morbid States," a pamphlet reprinted from the pages of the Buff'alo Medical and Surgical Journal for May, 1875; also, "Congestion the 'One Idea' in Uterine Therapeutics ;" " Congestion of the Internal Gtenitalia and Hypertrophy and Anteversion of the Uterus;" "The Menstruant Female; her Nervous, Moral and Mental Perversions," a series of papers contributed to the Detroit Beview of Medicine ; " Flex- ure of the Uterus," etc. These, though forming im- portant contributions to medical literature, constitute but a small part of his labors in the higher interests of his profession. Dr. Chapman's monographs, essays and reports evince a comprehensive grasp of his sub- ject, and originality and force in the treatment of it. Viewing all things with a well-trained, scientific eye, yet regarding "clinical facts as the only reliable foun- dation, and reason as the only safe guide in a sound medical practice," he accepts known results rather than mere scientific data. A resident of Brook- lyn for the last thirty-two years, he has been wholly devoted to the practice of his chosen calling, upon which his influence, abiding in its nature and ex- tensive in its character, has always been a potential agent. He was married in 1846 to Miss Mary A. Bead, of New Haven, Connecticut. She dying m 1856, he was married, in 1865, to Miss Maria B. Duvol, of Brooklyn. CONKLING, JOHN T., M.D., was born on Long Island, March 35, 1835. His father, Henry Conk- ling, was a prominent business man of Smithtown, L. I. His mother, Mary Terry, and her brother. Colonel Terry, were descendants of one of the oldest families on Long Island. In his boyhood Dr. Conk- ling attended the schools of his district and. laid then the basis of his education. He subsequently entered upon a higher course of study at the State Normal School, at Albany, and was graduated from that insti- tution in 1847. In common with many other profes- sional men of this country he adopted for a time the vocation of teaching, and entered immediately after leaving the Normal School upon the duties of Princi- pal of a public school in the City of Brooklyn. Hold- ing this position for seven years, and in the meantime pursuing his medical studies and fitting himself for his Ufe-work, he at length matriculated at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York, and was awarded his degree in 1854. He immediately located himself in Brooklyn and commenced the practice of his profession. In 1860 he became an associate of the late Dr. Dewitt C. Enis, an eminent surgeon of his time, and continued thus connected for seven years. From 1866 to '68 inclusive. Dr. Conkling was Sanitary Superintendent of Brooklyn under the authority of the Metropolitan Health Board. In 1873, having been appointed a member of the newly formed Board of Health of Brooklyn, he was in 1874 elected President of that body, and continued to occupy that position as long as the Board exercised its functions. Dr. Conk- ling has also been actively interested in the educa- tional interests of his city, having been for many years a member of the Board of Education of Brooklyn. His excellent native and acquired abilities, as well as his medigal skill and experience, have quahfied him to fill with honor and acceptance the various official posi- tions to which he has been called. During a period of more than twenty-five years he has been unremitting I30 CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. in his labors to relieve suffering humanity, and his un- wearied devotion to his profession has obtained for him that reward which always waits on noble efEort. SPEIR, 8. FLEET, M.D., of Brooklyn, was born in that city April 9, 1838. His father, Robert Speir, was the son of Robert Speir, a native of Glasgow. His father and grandfather were for many years engaged in the pui-suits of mercantile life in New York, from wliich they retired after amassing consid- erable wealth. His mother, Hannah S., was the daughter of Samuel Fleet, of Brooklyn. The name is an abbreviation of the ancestral patronymic, Fleetwood, the family having descended from the Admiral of that name, who came, during the stormy times of Charles I. and the English Parliament, to a part of Long Island called Northport, near Huntington. Here he pm-- chased a large tract of land, since known as Fleet's Hold. From there, in 1819, his descendant, Samuel Fleet, removed to Brooklyn, and becoming a large landholder, built a homestead, the Fleet mansion, at what was subsequently the junction of Fulton and Oold streets, and now the site of the Fleet Buildings. Dr. Speir's education was begun in the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, and having finished the course of study prescribed in that institution, he continued his pursuit of the higher branches, classics, etc., under the direction of a private tutor, thus combining the bene- fits to be derived from intellectual contact with youth of his own age with the advantages of individual in- struction. In 1857 he began the study of medicine, under the preceptorship of Dr. Leonard C. McPhail, an eminent physician of Brooklyn. During the same year he entered the medical department of the Uni- versity of New York, and was graduated in 1860 with the highest honors; the Mott Gold Medal and the "VanBuren Prize" having been awarded him. He also took the "Wood Prize " of Bellevue Hospital. In the further pursuit of his medical studies Dr. Speir went to Europe and spent a year and a half accumu- lating experience in its hospitals. During this visit abroad the use of plaster of paris splints was brought to his notice. The advantages claimed for this app.i- ance is that by its use the removal of wounded men may be accomplished with much less inconvenience and risk than formerly attended such operations. Our civil war was then in progress. Dr. Speir saw at once the peculiar adaptation of this splint to the case of our soldiers wounded on the battle-field, who, beside suffer- ing intense agony during removal, not unfrequently died before reaching the hospital. Hastening home in the latter part of 1862, he was solicited by the United States Sanitary Commission to visit the army in Virginia, with a view to superintending the appli- cation of these splints. He remained with the corps several months, rendering valuable and efiBcient ser- vice, especially during the battle of Seven Pines. Having accomplished the object of his mission, he re- turned to his native city and established himself as a medical practitioner. During the year 1863, having favorable opportunities for examining critically a num- ber of cases of jaundice in its different forms, he reached conclusions dLEfering from the generally ac- cepted views, and appearing to throw new light upon this difiicult subject. As the result of this experience he prepared an essay upon the "Pathology of Jaun- dice," to which the American Medical Association awarded the gold medal for 1864. In that year he again visited Europe, and while there paid especial at- tention to diseases of the eye and ear. Having this fact in view, the Trustees of the Brooklyn Eye and Ear Infirmary soon secured his services as surgeon, to that institution. In 1871 he introduced to the notice of the profession a "new method of arresting surgical hemorrhage by the artery constrictor, designed for the instantaneous and hermetic closure of arteries, without the use of ligature or other foreign substance to be left in the wound." The principal methods at present in use for the arrest of aiterial hemorrhage are three in number, viz. ■ ligature, acupressure, and tor- sion. Based upon the same principles as the other procedures, the method employed by Dr. Speir in- cludes more of the combined advantages claimed for them than any other procedure alone, and has proven efiBcient where neither of the former modes of closing arteries could be equally well applied. The New York State Medical Society awarded the "Merritt H. Cash Prize" to the essay upon this subject. Professors Hamilton, Gross, and Bryant, of Guy's Hospital, Lon- don, have also embodied it in their works on surgery. Dr. Speir is highly appreciated by his fellow citizens generally, as well as by the members of the medical fraternity, and has been chosen to fill numerous posi- tions of responsibility and honor. He has been sur- geon to the Eye and Ear Infirmary, also physician. Curator, and Microscopist to the Brooklyn City Hos- pital, of which institution he is now surgeon. He has been Demonstrator of Anatomy in the Long Island College Hospital, and physician and surgeon to the tumor and cancer department of the Brooklyn City Dispensary. He is also connected with the prominent medical associations of the day. He is a permanent member of the American Medical Association, and of the New York State Medical Society. He is connect- ed with the New York Pathological Society, the Kings County Medical Society, and the New York Medical Journal Association. He is a Fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine, and was a member, by invita- AtLaniii: ru_Dij.amjLg «= caigiiTitLg Lo.lTtwToEk;: . ^,^ , CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. 131 tion, of the International Medical College, held in Pliiladelphia in 1876. Notwithstanding the maoy de- mands upon his time incidental to the performance of a large circle of professional duties, Dr. Speir's con- tributions to medical literature have been frequent and valuable. In a learned and exhaustive dissertation, communicated by a series of papers to the Medical Ga- zette of New York, and published in 1871, he dis- cusses the "Use of the Microscope in the -Differential Diagnosis of Morbid Growths, with anew method for determining the diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of tumors and cancers." Dr. Speir's essays, vigorous and logical in style, are characterized by breadth of view, patient research, and a mathematical clearness in stat- ing and elucidating his propositions, which, together with a careful arrangement of details, mark the scien- tific man ; while his career thus far shows that he possesses that keen perception of the adaptation of means to ends which pre-eminently fits him for the practice of the "most noble art and science of medi- cine." Dr. Speir was married in 1869 to Miss Frances S. Hegeman, daughter of Peter Hegeman, an old and well known resident of New York. &ERARD, HON. JA3IES "W., a distinguished law- yer and citizen, was born in New York city. His ancestors were Scotch, of French extraction, the records of the family showing that the earlier mem- bers of it came to Scotland in the seventeenth cen- tvu'y, fleeing from the persecutions in France after the impolitic act which particularly disgraced the latter part of the reign of Louis XIV. — the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. William Gerard, the father of James, was a native of Scotland, and came to this country previous to 1780 and engaged in mercantile pursuits. He married Christina Glass, also a native of Scotland, daughter of John Glass of Tain, in Sutherlandshire, and of Aim (McKay) Glass, grand- neice of Sir Thomas Hector Munro, Governor of the East Indies, and a niece of Dr. Alexander Munro, one of the founders of the University of Edinburgh. Mrs. Glass, the mother of Christina Gerard, came to this country during the exciting period anterior to the revolutionary war. James W. Gerard, the subject of this notice, received his early education at private schools in New York city, and was graduated at Co- lumbia College, in 1811. Soon after his leaving col- lege, there came a period of great national excitement, and the community was agitated on the question of the impending diflSculties with England which finally culminated in the war of 1818. The youth of the city enrolled themselves for the national defence, and Mr. Gerard became a member of the " Iron Greys," one of the city companies of militia, of which Samuel Swar- tout was Captain, and which contained on its rolls, among other old New York names, those of Philip Rhinelander and Lindley M. Hoffman. On taking his degree at Columbia College, Mr. Gerard entered the office of George Griffin, then in the zenith of his fame, and then and for many years afterward consid- ered one of the leaders and intellectual giants of the New York bar. In 1816, Mr. Gerard took his master's degree at Columbia College, and about that time was admitted to the full practice of his profession. He married, on the 3d of October, 1820, Eliza, daughter of Hon. Increase Sumner, who was successively Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and Governor of Massa- chusetts. Mr. Gerard adopted the profession of the law from an ardent love of it, and in the practice of that profession, in which he was engaged for a period of over forty-five years in New York city, he was successful and prominent. He brought to it industry, zeal, and perseverence, and in him was a decided gift and talent as an advocate. His nature was an active one, and his industry, when great effort was called for, was untiring. Labor, however great, was relieved by an elasticity of spirit which never left him through- out his long life, and which could turn from grave to gay with a happy adaptation that made him a desired companion by both old and young. His success in the active practice of his profession was due as much to a genial and sympathetic nature as to intellectual power or study. A brightness and quickness of man- ner, an elasticity of temperament that was never de- pressed or discomfited, a geniality and humor that kept interest alive when others would have fatigued, great presence of mind and readiness of retort, a de- livery generally bright, cheerful and voluble, embel- lished with rhetorical illustration and glowing with a ready and sparkling wit, thrown in by a mind that made science and nature tributary to its requirements — these were the princieal features of Mr. Gerard's professional oratory, and which gave him, particularly as a jury lawyer, remarkable success. Mr. Gerard's nature had in it a large philanthropic element, which was practically developed in early manhood, and . which characterized his life. Soon after his marriage he became a member of the Society for the Preven- tion of Pauperism, and, observing the ill effects of the incarceration of youthful delinquents with the older and hardened in crime, he advocated the separation, of such offenders, in a report to the above Society, which resulted in the establishment of the House of Refuge for Juvenile Delinquents, of which he was one of the founders. That society was incorporated on the 29th of March, 1824. What the House of Refuge is to-day need not be told. Its reformatory influence is most salutary. Thousands of young offenders, 132 CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. -who, if brought in contact with persons hardened in crime, would tliemselves become confirmed criminals, axe here educated for future usefulness in life by being taught trades, and thence go forth into the world thor- oughly reformed and prepared to become good citi- zens. It is now one of the most useful institutions in the country, and has been adopted in nearly every State in the Union. After his retirement from the bar, in 1869, Mr. Gerard devoted himself for the remaining years of his life, to the cause of public education in his native city, and at various times filled the offices of Inspector and Trustee of common schools. The public school system of the State found in him a zeal- ous officer and an earnest advocate. Politically, Mr. Gerard was not an active partisan. He was a strong " Union " man, in the full sense of the word ; and although no politician, and always refusing politi- cal office, when called upon on public occasions, would freely and boldly express his sentiments. He took prominent part in the campaign which elected Harri- son and Taylor in opposition to the extreme war pol- icy of Cass. He strenuously opposed the repeal of the Missom-i Compromise, and in October, 1860, he deliv- ered an address at a great meeting at Cooper Institute, held to protest against the radical and subversive ten- dencies of certain politicians of the day, which were supposed to tend to produce a civil war. At the Con- vention in Baltimore, just previous to the late civil war, he also denounced extreme measures, and advo- cated a rational and peaceful settlement of existing difficulties. The last public speech Mr. Gerard made was in 1868, at the Cooper Institute, when he de- nounced, in a forcible and energetic address, the at- tempt at impeachment of President Andrew Johnson, instigated, as it was supposed to be, from mere party motives. Mr. Gerard died February 7th, 1874, in the city of New York. The church where the funeral services were held was crowded with those of all con- ditions, from the little child of the public schools to the public dignitary who came to pay respect to one whose life, although that of a private citizen without official position or notable event, claimed the regard of good men, and in whose departure the community felt a common loss. &ERARD, HON. JAMES W., (3d) son of the emi- nent citizen noticed in the preceding biography, was born in the city of New York. Prosecuting his preparatory studies at various private institutions of the metropolis, he entered Columbia College and graduated in 1843, taking as valedictorian of his class the highest honors at the annual commencement. After leaving college he passed two years in an ex- tended tour of Europe. Upon his return to the United States he determined to pursue a professional career, •and after a thorough course of reading was admitted to the bar, and at once associated in the law business of his father. As a lawyer Mr. Gerard has given special attention to real estate and property cases, winning an exceptional reputation for his thorough acquaintance with local titles and the laws of tenure. The depth and breadth of his learning have made him a recognized authority both as to the laws and the an- nals of property. He has contributed several treatises to the literature of the profession, one of the more recent, "Titles to Real Estate in the City of New York," a work of great erudition and patient research, having been adopted generally by the State bar as an authority and guide in its department of legal lore and practice. Inheriting the Whig principles of his father, Mr. Gerard was an active adherent of that great party till its dissolution and general absorption in the Republican movement. Since that time his political association has been with the Democratic party. In the fall of 1875, pressed upon the political managers by the m-gent manifestations of the various reform and tax-payers' bodies, he was offered the Democratic nomination for the State Senate from the Seventh District. Deferring more to the wishes of the reform community than to his personal aspiration or the demands of party, he entered the canvass against two opposing candidates, and was elected by a plural- ity of 4,032 votes over William Laimbeer, and of 6,100 over J. A. Monheimer, severally the Republican and Anti-Tammany nominees. As a member of the Senate, upon his retirement at the expiration of his term, he left the impress of an honest, public-spirited and sagacious legislator. He was conspicuous for his industry and intelligence in the committees on Canals and Litera- ture ; as a member of the former, being prominent in framing and carrying through the Legislature the biU to dispose of or do away with the lateral canals, which had become sources of large and unproductive State expenditure. Mr. Gerard has succeeded to much of his father's reputation as a sound and thorough law- yer, and has likewise developed a constant interest in the cause of popular education, having filled for sev- eral terms the positions of Trustee and Inspector of Pub- lic Schools. He married in 1866 Miss Jenny Angel, daughter of Hon. B. F. Angel, of Geneseo, formerly U. S. Minister to Sweden. 'ITCHELL, CHAUNCEY L., A.M., M.D., one of the oldest and most conspiciious physicians of Brooklyn, is a native of New England, and of Puritan ancestry, his family dating their residence in C _ X.'VviXia^OLiUL^ CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. 133 this country from the summer of 1635. He was born in Connecticut, November 30th, 1813. His father. Minott Mitchell, Esq., was an eminent lawyer, resi- dent in "Westchester County, in this State, and liis mother, Eliza Leeds Silliman, was also of a Connecti- cut family distinguished in the scientific and literary ■world. Young Mitchell, after a thorough academic tuition, in the village of New Canaan, Connecticut, entered Union College, Schenectady, as a junior, in 1831. Graduating in 1833, and having decided upon pursuing medical studies, he was at once matriculated at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of the City' of New York. Prosecuting the three years' course at this institution, under the tuition of Professor Joseph M. Smith, he received liis medical degree in 1836. The succeeding year, after a full term of service as walker and resident physician at the New York Hospital, Dr. Mitchell sailed for Europe with the purpose of finish- ing his professional curriculum under the teachings of English and Continental professors, and witnessing the practice of the hospitals of London and Paris. Spend- ing two years profitably abroad, the larger part of the time in Paris, he returned to the United States in 1839, and commenced practice in the city of New York. He was at this time connected with the Northern Dispen- sary, associated with the late Dr. Cammann in the de- partment of Diseases of the Heart and Lungs. Shortly after locating himself in the metropolis he was invited to the Professorship of Obstetrics in the medical college then established at Castleton, Vermont. As this position was not only an honorable one, but af- forded an opportunity to farther pursue the course of scientific study which had especially engaged his at- tention in Europe, he accepted it and filled its chair with creditable ability till 1845. While thus oflacially associated he was married, in 1843, to Caroline L., daughter of Hon. B. F. Langdon, of Castleton. In 1844, Dr. Mitchell, who had still continued the prac- tice of his profession in New York, transferred his field of service to Brooklyn, where he has since resided. Notwithstanding a very large and important practice he has, during the whole of a long and industrious ca- reer, been actively engaged in the advancement of medical science and identified with the local institu- tions. From an early period a member of Kings County Medical Society, he has for three terms served as its President. He was connected with the Brooklyn City Hospital as one of the original board of visiting physicians and surgeons, was one of the founders of the Brooklyn Dispensary, and also of the Long Island College Hospital. With the latter institution he still retains his connection as a member of the Council. Dr. Mitchell's skiU and experience as a practitioner have secured him a most enviable and creditable character among his professional associates and fellow citizens. PUTNAM, REV. ALFRED P., D.D., of Brooklyn, is of an old historic family, and was born in Danvers, Mass., January 10, 1837. His father was the Hon. Elias Putnam, a prominent and influential man in Essex County, who married Eunice Ross, of Ipswich. He is a descendant of John Putnam, who came to this country about 1634, and settled in that part of Salem- called Salem Village, now Danvers. The parents of Elias Putnam were Israel and Anna (Endicott) Put- nam, the latter being a lineal descendant of John Endicott, the old Puritan Governor of Massachusetts. Dr. Putnam is one of a family of eleven children. An elder brother, Israel Alden Putnam, was a student of the Theological School at Cambridge, and died soon after graduating. A younger brother is Arthur A. Putnam, a member of the legal profession and Judge of one of the new Circuit Courts of the State, residing at Uxbridge. The doctor obtained his earlier educa^ tion at the common schools, and at fifteen years of age he entered upon the duties of clerk in the bank in his native town, of which his honored father was Pres- ident. He afterwards took the position of book- keeper for the firm of AUen & Minot, Boston. Subse- quently, he matriculated at Dartmouth College, hav- ing pursued his preparatory studies at Pembroke, New Hampshire ; at Andover, Massachusetts ; and at Springfield and Thetford, Vermont. After leaving Dartmouth College, he attended Brown University for two years, and was graduated therefrom in 1853. Having received his degree he assumed the charge of a private school for young ladies and gentlemen at Wenham, Mass., for a short time, and then entered the Divinity School at Harvard, from which institu- tion he received a diploma in 1855, having been licensed to preach the previous winter by tlje Boston Association of Ministers. Immediately after graduat- ing he received calls to settle from the congregations at Watertown, Bridgewater, Sterling and Roxbury. Choosing the last, he assumed the pastorate of the Mount Pleasant Congregational Unitarian church in 1855, being ordained Dec. 19th of that year. He was married in "1856 to Miss Louisa Preston, daughter of Samuel Preston, Esq., of Danvers, who died in 1860, leaving no issue. He entered into a second marriage in 1865 with Miss Eliza King Buttrick, daughter of the late Ephraim Buttrick, Esq.,. of Cambridge, for- merly a prominent member of the Middlesex bar. Dr. Putnam has had five children bom to him from this union. Ill health necessitating a change of scene and climate, he went abroad in May, 1863. After an ex- tended tour in Europe, Egypt and the Holy Land he returned to Boston in September, 1863, having been absent nearly sixteen months. His travels have fur- nished subjects for various lectures, as well as articles for papers and magazines. One course of lectures 134 CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. delivered by Dr. Putnam after his return was upon "Tlie History and Ruins of Egypt," another on his " Travels in the Desert and in Palestine ;" and a third course was on "The Religious Aspects of Europe." On the 38th of September, 1864, he was installed as pastor of the Church of the Saviour in Brooklyn, to which he had been called as the successor of the Rev. Frederick A. Farley, D.D. The society is large, and one of the wealthiest in the city. During the present pastorate this society has founded a third Unitarian church in Brooklyn, and has been the principal support of the Union for Christian Work, which it helped to organize. It has also built a chapel for the use of its Sunday school, for social worship and benevolent work, and has established a mission, for which it has recently erected a commodious and tasteful place of worship in Willow Place. Added to all this, it has engaged in various other religious enterprises or humane move- ments to promote the general welfare. Dr. Putnam is one of the Board of Directors of the Union for Clu-istian Work, and member of the Finance Com- mittee of the Brooklyn Theatre Fire Relief Associa^ tion. He is also a member of the Art Association, and a Director of the Long Island Historical Association, of whose Executive Committee he is Chairman. Dur- ing the period of his residence in Massachusetts, Dr. Putnam was a frequent contributor to the Monthly Beligums Magaane, and to vaiious local papers. Many political and anti-slavery articles from Ms pen appeared in the Roxbury Journal, and in the Ohristian Inquirer, published in New York. He was much interested in the anti-slavery cause, and in political reform, and he has always been accustomed to speak freely upon such matters from the pulpit, as occasion has required. Dr. Putnam has also, during his ministry in Brooklyn, written for the UnUa/rian Heview, the Liberal Ohris- tian, and various other magazines. He has lately con- tributed to the Dangers Mirror a long series of articles on the history of that town. His ever-busy pen has prepared lectm-es and addresses in great nimiber and variety of subject, which have been delivered before schools, lyceums, and literary associations. Among the topics treated of are " The North American In- dians;" "Greece and the Revolution of 1843;" "His- tory of the Art of Printing;" "The Education of Women;" "America seen at a Distance;" "The Nile;" "The World's Debt to Egypt;" "The Poet Cowper;" and " Agassiz and Sumner." In 1863, at a dinner given by Americans in London to celebrate our hational birthday. Dr. Putnam responded most elo- quently to the toast, "The Constitution of the United States." During the winter of 1867-8 he gave to his people and the public a course of lectures on the "Re- ligions of Antiquity "—of Egypt, Greece, Rome, Per- sia, China, Arabia, and India; and in 1873-3 he delivered a course on "Sacred Songs and Singers." Both of these courses were af terwai-ds given in succes- sive summers before the MeadviUe (Pa.) Theological School. In 1875 he gave to the press his " Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith," which grew out of his studies of hymnology, and which is a good size volume of upwards of 500 pages, presenting carefully prepared biographical sketches of eighty or ninety American hymn-vfriters of the liberal schools, with choicest specimens of the sacred poetry of each. He has also published numerous sermons, addresses, or papers in pamphlet form, among which are the following : "On the Death of the Rev. George Bradford ;'' "A Happy New Year;" "On the Death of Edward Everett;" "Freedom and Largeness of the Christian Faith;" "Unitarianism in Brooklyn;" "The Unitarian De- nomination in America — Past and Present ;" "Tribute to the Memory of Mrs. Elizabeth Franklin Andree ;'' "Broken Pillars;" a lecture on "The Life to Come;" a controversial tract entitled "Can Two Walk To- gether except they be Agreed ?" " Christianity the Law of the Land;" "Christ our Life;" and "Tributes to Mrs.J.H. Frothingham." These, and indeed all his pro- ductions have a wide circle of admirers, owing not less to their brilliancy of style and beauty of finish than to the erudition and research which they evince. The following extract taken from his sermon on "The Unitarian Denomination in America — Past and Pre- sent," combining, as it does, vigor of sentiment and beauty of expression, with an intense earnestness of purpose, marks him, not only the profound thinker, the scholarly man, but also the sincere exponent of the gospel he preaches-. "My last word to you, friends, is this : Keep near to Him, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. We will not dogmatize and refine. Only realize that your own highest safety and joy, and the supreme good and felicity of those who ai-e nearest and dearest to you are to be found in a vital, personal allegiance to Jesus Christ as His faithful friends and followers. That is the simple, unchanging gospel of the centm-ies. Keep, indeed, a bright outlook upon life around you, and an active interest in all that concerns the world of hu- manity. But be not deceived by the vain sophistries, the startling theories, and the ingenious speculations which have their day and perish. Do not think that all which seems new is truth, or all that is old is error. Remember that while we ai-e all under obligations to march on in the line of progress, there is much which calls itself progress that is only a movement backward. Indulge not for a moment in the thought that Chris- tianity is still on trial, and that it has possibly had its day Let no fear possess you that the science, the ma- terialism, or the free religion that arrays itself against it, will sooner or later come to supersede it. In every Christian age the gospel has encountered, in some form or other, just such enemies, and has outlived them all, and still kept on in its Irresistible career. These foes of Christ and His relision have no procrea- tive power. Christianity is fed from inexhaustible CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. 135 springs, and perpetually renews its life. Opinions may change, systems of philosophy may appear and pass away, sects and denominations may come and go, mysterious may seem the evolutions of history, and the marches and countermarches of the race, but the Church of Christ will live and grow with unabated and ever strengthening vigor, and He who is its Master and its Lord will continue to call into its peaceful fold an endlessly increasing number of the sons and daughters of men. Christianity is to be the inheritance of humanity — the religion of the world. You who would fain share its final victories and glories, keep close to the Guide. " Dr. Putnam received the degree ot D.D. iromhis alma mater, Brown University, inl871. He has lately dechned an urgent call to settle over the First Church of Quincy, Mass., as in previous years he has declined similar invitations to become the pastor of Unitarian churches in Salem, Boston, Chicago, etc. Dr. Putnam's minis- trations are highly esteemed in the city of his adoption. He is an able expounder of the Channing school of Unitarianism, and is therefore valued and sought after by those of his own denomination, while his deep and varied learning, and his numerous conjributions to the best kind of literature, together with his active benevolence and catholic spirit, make him very popular with other classes of the community. PRUYN, HON. JOHN V. L., a distinguished citi. zen of Albany, N. Y., and late Chancellor of the University of the State of New York, etc., etc., was born in Albany about sixty years ago. He was of Holland extraction, counting his descent from one of the oldest families in the State, his ancestors hav- ing been prominent among the first settlers. His edu- cation was obtained chiefly at the private schools of his native place, though he subsequently received the degree of A.M. from Rutgers College, New Jersey, and that of LL.D. from the University of Rochester. Upon the completion of his preliminary studies, he turned his attention to the law, pursuing his legal re- searches with great diligence in the oifice of the late James King. He was admitted to the bar in 1833, and was ever afterwards, up to the time of his death, more or less actively engaged in the duties of his practice. Though not exclusively devoted to practice of late years, he acquired a prominent place in the legal pro- fession. In 1835 Mr. Pruyn was elected Director and counsel of the old Mohawk and Hudson Railroad Company. Upon the organization of the New York Central Railroad Company he was appointed general Treasurer and acting counsel for that body, conduct- ing special proceedings requisite for the amalgama- tion of the several Companies forming the line into one, preparing also the consolidation agreement, doubtless the most important business instrument which, up to that time, had been executed in the State of New York. Mr. Pruyn was Master in Ohanceiy, by ap- pointment of Gov. Marcy, and Injunction Master of the Third Circuit. In 1844 he was elected member of the Board of Regents, and in January, 1863,. he was appointed Chancellor of the University of the State of New York, proving himself in that capacity an invalu- able public servant. Mr. Pruyn, as one of the Regents of the University, became ex-offlcio, a Trustee of the State Library, and was for many years Chairman of the Library Committee. The State collection of liter- ary works was the object of careful attention and oversight on the part of the committee, especially of Mr. Pruyn, whose cultivated tastes and habits of thought fitted him pre-eminently for the task. Under his wise supervision the library attained to a size the largest in the Union, while its collections in American history and American law are of the most important character. Having always been a friend to the edu- cational interests of the State, his connection v^ith the University afforded him continuous opportunity for the gratification of his tastes and desires in this direc- tion. Mr Pruyn was actively engaged in the interest of the State Board of Charities, a commission which, formed at his suggestion, has accomplished, since its inception in 1866, a vast amount of good. He was the able President of the Board of Survey, recently or- ganized by the Legislature. It may be mentioned in this connection that for his multitudinous labors as a public man he accepted no compensation, nor has the State ever defrayed his traveling expenses in all the numerous and extensive transactions in which he en- gaged in its behalf. In addition to the many public ofiices held by Mr. Pruyn up to the date of his decease, he was also connected with the New York Mutual Life Insurance Company, being senior in oflicial order of the Board of Trustees of that corporation, the largest of its kind in the world. Mr. Pruyn was one of the first persons interested in the new Capitol build- ing, being a member of the commission appointed for its erection. On the 7th of July, 1869, the corner- stone was laid by him, after the delivery of an address appropriate to the occasion, in the presence of a large assemblage of people. Mr. Pruyn, in the years 1864, '65, '68 and '69 was a member of the United States Congress, and, though belonging to the minority, he was assigned a leading position on several important committees, including the old Committee of Ways and Means (before its division), also the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and the Joint Library Committee. He was the Democratic Teller of the House on the first election of General Grant, and proposed such legislation as would have remedied the difiiculties at that time existing relative to counting the presidential 136 CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. vote, but the House refused to entertain the proposi- tion. In conjunction with Senator Morton and Kepre- sentative Wilson, Mr. Pruyn constituted a committee to inform General Grant of his election. His remarks upon that occasion referring chiefly to those holding oflBce under government, were warmly endorsed by his political friends. During his Congressional term he served as one of the Regents of the Smithsonian In- stitute on the part of the House of Representatives. We should add that he was for many years President of the Albany Institute, one of the oldest scientific as- sociations in the State. He was also for a long period, and until his recent resignation, one of the Executive Committee of the State Normal School at Albany, an institution which now ranks first of its class. Mr. Pruyn was long connected with the Episcopal Church, and since the organization of St. Stephen's (Training) College, at Annandale, held the office of President of the Board of Trustees of that institution. Few men in the community have been longer or more successfully connected with various corporate bodies, both State and national, than Mr. Pruyn. His executive ability and eminent legal skill in the performance of his special functions in these relations were not only credit- able to himself, but highly satisfactory to those inter- ested. Acting politically with the Democrats of the old school, he never was a politician or an aspirant for office, and when nominated for Congress by his friends of the Democratic party, he accepted the nomination only on condition that no mercenary considerations whatever should be allowed to influence his election. His coiirse, as a legislator, whether in the councils of the State, or in the more important councils of the nation, was eminently wise, consistent and patriotic. His forensic eloquence and power of debate made him a prominent member of the legislative bodies with which he was connected, while his legal acumen, per- sistent energy and habits of industry made him a chosen worker in special departments of legislative labor. Mr. Pruyn was possessed of varied attain- ments and culture which, deepened and broadened by intercourse with men of large and cultivated minds at home and abroad, was an active agent in fostering the literary and scientific institutions, not of his own State only, but of his whole country. Mr. Pruyn's eminent qualities were not intellectual only. It is a well known fact that at the close of the two sessions of the Legis- lature, of which he was a member, he gave his salary as Senator to the beneficial institutions of the State capital. His generosity took also a higher form than mere almsgiving donations to charitable purposes, etc. He was always busied with some philanthropical work, his only compensation being the pleasm-e he found in executing his generous designs. Mr. Pruyn was a skillful lawyer, a judicious legislator, an upright official, and a benevolent and cultivated man. His in- corruptible patriotism, and his unswerving adherence to his convictions of duty gave him a high vantage- gi'ound, which was well maintained by his noble dis- interestedness and his genuine philanthrophy. He died in November, 1877. SWINBURNE, JOHN, M.D., was born to Peter Swinburne and Artemesia Griswold, his wife, at their homestead on the Black River, Lewis County, the 30th day of May, 1820. His father, a native of Ireland, was a farmer, and also largely engaged in business. Dying while Dr. Swinburne was a mere child, his early years were spent under the care of his mother, a woman of rare mental activity and great force of character. She was born in Connecticut, and after the death of Mr. Swinburne took entire charge of the family. To her careful training, the Doctor as- cribes much of his after success in life. His early education was gained in the common schools of the neighborhood, and in the academies of Lowville and Denmark in Lewis County, and that of Fairfield in Herkimer County. Having passed his early years at his birthplace, at times teaching school, at the age of twenty-one he determined upon the study of medicine for his profession, and began reading at twenty-three, when he entered the Albany Medical College, register- ing as a student in the office of the late Dr. James H. Armsby, of Albany. Graduating in 1846, with the degree of Doctor in Medicine, Dr. Swinburne decided to make Albany his home, and opened an office for the practice of his profession. In 1847, he was appointed Demonstrator of Anatomy in the Albany Medical Col- lege, and continued to teach that branch of medicine for several years after. In 1851, he received his first public appointment, being made almshouse physician at a time when what is known as "ship fever" was raging as an epidemic, treating during his term of office over 800 cases, finally being taken ill with it himself. From this period up to the breaking out of the rebellion, the Doctor devoted his time to his pri- vate practice, which was constantly enlarging. In 1861, he was again called upon to give his services to the public, and was put in charge of the sick at the recruiting depot in Albany, serving as chief medical officer on the staff of Gen. John A. Rathbone. Up to the spring of 1863, he remained at his post, 1,470 sick passing under his care, out of which large number but 12 died. April 7th, 1862, Dr. Swinburne was appointed one of the auxiliary corps of volunteer surgeons who went from this State to the war, serving without pay. The Doctor proceeded to Fortress Monroe, and shortly after his arrival received orders to report for duty to AdaoitiL "fuilialimg &IjigiBrii4 Co"N"ewTork, U/'lyu^~4/~^L^O^\^lAjL^ CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK, 137 Dr. Tripler, Medical Director of the Army of the Po- tomac. In company with Drs. "Willard, Cogswell, and Lansing, of Albany, he set out for the White House, the head of navigation on the Famunkey River, where Dr. Tripler had his headquarters, reaching there the 18th of May. It being decided upon to establish a hospital at this point, to which the wounded could be sent from the front. Dr. Swinburne and his compan- ions were requested to found the same, and take charge. After rendering valuable services at this' station, the Doctor, early in June, returned to Albany, and on the 13th of that month (1863) received a commis^on from Gov. Morgan as Medical Superintendent of the New York State troops, and was sent to Washington with a letter from the Governor to the Secretary of War. Upon the Secretary's endorsement. Surgeon General Hammond entered into a contract with Dr. Swinburne for "medical and surgical services to be rendered with the Army of the Potomac," and he accordingly again reported to Medical Director Tripler. In Sec. 9, Spec. Ord., War Department, appears — "Acting Assistant Surgeon John Swinburne will report to Surgeon J. J. Milhau, U.S.A., Medical Di- rector Thu-d Army Corps, for special duty at Savage's Station. By Command Major Gen. MoClbllan. with which order he immediately complied, receiving further orders to establish a general hospital at Savage Station, Virginia, of which he was to take charge, being told to make requisitions for the necessary ma- terial and stores. With his accustomed energy, the Doctor set about the work given him to do, but unf or- seen difllculties arose greatly delaying the construction of the hospital. On the 36th of June, when not more than half prepared, owing to the non-fulfilment of his requisitions, wounded men began to pour in and the Doctor's medical labors commenced. On the 38th he was informed by Dr. Tripler that it would be neces- sary for him to remain at the hospital, the army being about to change its base of operations, which would put the enemy in possession of Savage Station in a few hours, at the same time giving him a letter from Gen. McOlellan to the commander of the Confederate forces, detailing his (Dr. Swinburne's) position. After the action of Sunday evening, the 39th, the hospital with.all it contained was in the hands of the Confed- erates. From this time up to the 36th of July, Dr. Swinbvu-ne remained with his charge, struggling with his assistants through increasing hardships and priva- tions, day by day having less of the necessaries for the proper management of the sick, buying food for ■ hospital with his own funds, until at last, after many and repeated communications with the authorities in Bichmond, on the 36th of July orders came allowing the removal of the sick and wounded with their at- tendants to City Point. Reaching this latter place on the 37th, the Doctor turned over his command to the proper officers and returned to Albany on sick-leave, suffering from a chronic dysentery brought on by ex- posure and improper food. In the winter of 1863-63, Dr. Willard and himself were appointed by the State Medical Society a committee to confer with the Legislature, upon the subject of the further relief of the wounded, the result of such conference being the unanimous passage of a bill granting $300,- 000, to be applied to the care of the sick and wounded of the State of New York, and the Doctor was once more sent to the front. Returning again in 1864, he was appointed by Governor Seymour Health Officer of the port of New York, and had the satisfaction of having his nomination unanimously confirmed by the Senate. At this time the provisions for a quarantine station were very inadequate, and the Legislature, acting upon the suggestions of the Doctor, began the construction of the two islands in the lower bay now used for that pur- pose. The idea of building an island in nine feet of water, exposed to the force of storms and tides, was deemed almost impossible, but the Doctor demonstra- ted it could be done, and to his energy and persever- ance New York is indebted for one of the best planned quarantine stations in the world. In recognition of this distinguished service, the Legislature, by an Act, named the one first constructed " Swinburne Island." Up to 1870, Dr. Swinburne remained at quarantine. He then went abroad with his' family, being desirous of rest and i-ecreation. But he was not a man who could "take his ease at his inn." The Franco-Prus- sian war had broken out, Sept. 6th, 1870. Dr. Swin- burne being in London at the time, received an earnest request from Minister Washburne and the American Sanitary Commission to come to Paris and take charge of the American Ambulance in that city. Laying aside his personal comfort, he acceded to the request, and losing no time by tlie way, reached Paris shortly after having received the invitation. There he re- mained as Surgeon-in-Chief of the American Ambu- lance until March, 1871, leaving as the Commune was coming into power. How highly his labors were appre- ciated by the American International Sanitary Com- mittee, we will leave Dr. Thomas Evans, President of that Committee, to say. In his report of the doings of the American Ambulance, the Doctor says: "In se- curing the services of Dr. John Swinburne as surgeon-in- chief of the Ambulance, the Committee was particu- larly fortunate. Dr. Swinburne was a surgeon pair emcellance. He had had an extensive professional expe- rience, and had obtained a justly acquired and widely known home reputation. Thoroughly acquainted with military medicine and the constitution and manage- ment of army hospitals, an earnest advocate of con- 138 CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. servative siirgery, an enthusiast even as regards the conservative treatment of compound fractures, a sliill- lul operator whenever operations were required, he possessed a rare and highly valuable quality — a knowledge of the way how to deal vrith men ; in a word, he knew how to manage both his patients and his assistants ; and not unf requently was he called upon to exercise this special knowledge. Associated as he was constantly with a body of forty or fifty per- sons, all volunteers, holding a certain social position, uncontrolled by the restraints of a military discipline, all natm'ally ambitious to excel, and perhaps occa- sionally even over jealous of the successes of their fel- lows. Dr. Swinburne knew how to du-ect these energetic elements, obtain from them the largest amount of labor and maintain in every department of his service his own personal ascendancy." (See " Sanitary Associ- ations during the Franco-GermanWar, " Vol. 1, 1870-'71). In recognition of his services, Dr. Swinburne had the rare distinction conferred upon him by the French Crovernment, of being made a Knight of the Legion of Honor; also receiving the Red Cross of Geneva. Having finished his labors in the Ambulance, he re- sumed his travels, spending the time in different parts of Em-ope until the faU of 1871, when he retm-ned to Ms home in Albany. The main work of his life has been conservative surgery, especially in the treatment of fractures. Shortly after graduating in medicine, he directed his attention to treating fractures upon other principles than those in vogue at that date, and in 1848 he discarded the use of such splints, bandages, and ap- paratus as were genei'ally employed, relying upon ex- tension alone to obtain the sought-for result. Such a departure was a bold procedure, and after having fully tested and proved his method of treatment, in both private and hospital practice, in 1859 he published in the State Medical Society Transactions for that year, an article on the treatment of these injuries by exten- sion. Dm-ing this year he also reported a case of death by the entrance of air into the uterine sinuses, (caused ■by an abortionist), which at the time was almost the only one of the kind on record; {Phila. Medical and Surgical ReporUr, 1859). In 1861, appeared another paper on the treatment of fractures by simple exten- sion and counter extension; (Trans. Medical Society State N. Y., 1861). In the next year, a review of the case of the 'people against Rev. Henry Budge, indic- ted for the murder of his wife ; tried at Oneida, N. Y. Aug. -Sept., 1861, in which Dr. Swinburne forcibly crit- icised the medical testimony of the defence, and combat- ted the ground assumed by them by numerous experi- ments; (Trans. Med. Soc. State N.Y. 1862). In the same year, he also published in the Medical and Surgical Re- porter of Philadelphia, a synopsis of the trial of Hen- diickson, who poisoned liis wife by aconite. This trial also caused much discussion in the medical world, and although the Doctor was severely handled by other pro- fessional men for his views as expressed when on the witness stand, he proved his position to have been per- fectly correct. In 1863, he published his report to Surgeon General Hammond, with his experiences in the Peninsiilar carhpaign, resection of joints and con- servative surgery; {Trans. Med. Society State N. Y., 1863.) In 1864, two more papers, in the same journal, one upon " Compound-comminuted Gun-shot Frac- tures of the Thigh ; the means for their transportation and treatment;" and the other the "Report of the Committee appointed by the Society to confer with the Governor and Legislature relative to the additional relief of the sick and wounded soldiers from the State of New York." The Doctor also proposed and advo- cated, for the transportation of those suflering from fractures of the leg or thigh, a stretcher so arranged that extension and counter extension could be main- tained without pain or discomfort to the patient or any material alteration of the stretcher ; (Lessons in Hy- giene and Surgery by, Dr. Gordon, C.B.; Tram. State Medical Society, for 1864). He also strongly advocated the resection of joints instead of amputation, and many are the grateful letters since received from those whose limbs he saved to them. Dr. Svidnbui-ne was married in 1847, to Jliss Hai-riett Judson, of Albany, by whom he has had four children, one only now liv- ing. In 1863, he was elected a permanent member of the State Medical Society, and in November, 1873, he was chosen President of the Medical Society of the County of Albany, serving one year. At present, he is Professor of Fractures and Dislocations and Clinical ' Sm-gery, in the Albany Medical College, consulting surgeon to the Albany Hospital, (with which institu- tion he has been connected almost aU the time since its foundation) ; to St. Peter's Hospital, and to the Child's Hospital. EDSON, FRANKLIN, merchant, of New York city, is a lineal descendeut of Deacon Samuel Edson, one of the early Pm-itans who resided in Salem, Mass., prior to 1639, and removed to Bridge- water about 1650. Deacon Edson was appointed by the court a member of the Council of "War in 1666 and continued in that office to the end of Philip's war in 1676. He represented the town in the General Court at Plymouth in 1676. In November, 1673, he, with others, received a deed of conveyance from the Chief Pomon- oho of the Titicut Pmchase, and in 1686 was one of the agents of the town who received a confirmatory deed from the cliief Wampatuck of all the lands of tha town of Bridgewater previously conveyed by Massa- CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. 139 soit on the 3d of March, 1649. Several important trusts in addition were confided to him during his residence in Bridgewater, which indicated the confi- dence reposed in him by his fellow townsmen. He was one of the first deacons of the town from 1664 to the end of his life. Susanna Orcutt, whom he married in 1637, was fully worthy of him and the age in wliich they lived. It is related of lier that she exhibited a majestic figure, and possessed a countenance combin- ing graceful dignity and cheerful benignity, and her descendants point to their maternal ancestor with senti- ments of respect and reverence. Colonel Josiah Ed- son, one of the descendents of this family, was noted for the decided stand that he took for the crown dur- ing the revolutionary war. A loyalist from principle and habit, and having taken repeatedly the oath of al- legiance to the British government, he believed that he could not be released from its obligations by any hostile measures on the part of the colonies. He was Colonel of a full regiment of the mihtia, and there is no doubt that had he espoused the cause of the colonies he would have been among the foremost in military rank during the Revolution. As it was, he incurred such political enmity that he felt compelled for his -personal security to seek the protection of the British army in Boston. His large estate in Bridgewater was confiscated, and he became an exile from home. Opher Edson was born in Grafton, Windham County, Vermont, and early in life he moved to the town of Chester, where he became a farmer and married Soviah Williams, a descendant of Boger Williams, of Rhode Island. His son Franklin, the subject of this sketch, was born in Chester, Windsor County, Vermont, April 5th, 1833. The early portion of his Ufe was passed upon his father's farm, attending school during the winters, until fourteen years of age. Subsequent to that time and until seventeen years old, the fall months were spent at the Chester Academy, which at that period was one of the prominent educational in- stitutions of the State of Vermont, while during the , winter months he taught the district school, still con- tinuing to work upon the farm during the summer. In February, 1853, he went to Albany, N. Y., to join his brother Cyrus, who was already established there in business. Up to that period he had exhibited a sav- ing disposition, and as the results of his teaching he was enabled to start in the world with a capital of $60.00. After a three years' clerkship he was ad- mitted by his brother to a copartnership, which was, however, of but short duration, Cyrus being one month afterwards killed by the explosion of a boiler at his distillery. The firm was thus dissolved by this calam- ity, and the business prospects of Franklin seemed blasted. Soon after, however, he made an arrange- ment with Mr. David Orr, of Albany, whereby the estabhshment of his deceased brother was leased from the executors of the estate, and the business was con- ducted prosperously for fifteen years. During this period he held many positions of honor and trust. He was a Director in the New York State Bank, Albany, Vestryman of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, and President of the Young Men's Association. Previous to his elec- tion a split occurred on the question of the admission of blacks to the meetings of the association. The side to which Mr. Edson belonged was opposed to any dis- crimination as regards color, and, being the stronger, reorganized, electing him as the President. In 1866 he sold out his interest in the distillery business in Albany, and, moving to New York, he embarked in the produce commission business. For several years he was a member of the Board of Managers of the Produce Exchange. In 187- he was elected the Presi- dent, and two years thereafter was unanimously re- elected, a distinction seldom accorded. He now holds a prominent place in the Exchange, on the walls of which is hung his portrait, executed by Baker. Mr. Edson is at the present time Director in the Bank of New York, Trustee of the Pacific Mutual Insurance Company, and Trustee of Common Schools in the 34th Ward (Westchester). He takes the greatest in- terest in the advancement of education among the masses, believing that upon the intelligence of the peo- ple depends the safety of our institutions. In political proclivities Mr. Edson is a Democrat, but although re- peatedly urged to accept positions in the gift of the people, he has declined the proffered honor. He mar- ried in 1856 Fanny C. Wood, daughter of Benjamin Wood, and granddaughter of Jethro Wood, the in- ventor of the cast-iron plough. FECKHAM, JUDGE RUFUS W., was bom in Rensselaerville, Albany County, December 80th 1809. Soon after, his father removed to Otsego County, establishing himself on the eastern bank of the Susquehanna, a mile or two below Cooperstown, and there amid beautiful scenery, and in a region rendered classic by the pen of Cooper, the youth of young Peckham was spent. At an early age he was placed in the excellent Hartwick Seminary in the same county, at whose head was the learned Rev. Dr. Hazelius, where he received a thorough preUminary education, being especially well trained in the classics. He remained at this seminary till 1835, when he entered Union College, being then in his, sixteenth year. The celebrated Dr. Nott was at this time the President of the institution, and around him had gathered students from all sections of the country. Young Peckham, who had acquired marked profl- I40 CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. cienoy in the classics, took advanced standing upon entering college, and joined the class which graduated in 1827, and "which was remarkable for the large proportion of its numbers who afterwards attained distinction in the various walks of professional and pubhc life." While in college he displayed a degree of natural quickness and talent which enabled him easily to maintain a high rank in a class distinguished for scholarship. He early manifested a taste for military pursuits, and while in college devoted a por- tion of his time to the study of military tactics ; his proficiency in which secured for him the rank of Cap- tain in the celebrated battalion of Union College Cadets, one of the most highly creditable organizations in point of soldierly bearing and chscipline, in the entire State. Throughout life he exhibited the bear- ing and many of the characteristics of the trained soldier, and was possessed in an eminent degree of the qualities of moral and physical courage which re- mained distinguisliing traits down to the last moment of his life. At the age of eighteen he was graduated from Union College and went to live in Utica, where he had an elder brother who was a prominent physi- cian. Here he commenced the study of law, entering for the purpose the office of Bronson & Beardsley. These two gentlemen, association with whom exerted such a marked effect upon the future life of the young law student, were at that time in the front rank of the legal profession. Greene C. Bronson and Samuel Beardsley each subsequently held the office of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New York, and the history and jurisprudence of the State were strongly affected by their eminent wisdom and learning. Under the guidance of these distinguished men, who through life entertained for him a warm friendship — which in the case of Chief Justice Beardsley ripened into the affectionate regard an elder brother bears towards his junior — he prosecuted his studies and acquired many of the characteristics of his instructors. Upon at- taining his majority in 1830 he was admitted to the bar, and at once repaired to Albany, where another of his brothers, his senior by some years, then resided. This brother, George W. Peckham, had but a short time previously opened a law office in that city, and upon the arrival of Eufus, a partnership was entered into, and ere long the firm was doing a very large business. Soon afterward the junior member was ad- mitted as a counsellor, and then the main part of the practice in the courts, and business and arguments at the bar fell to his share. His vigorous method, terse style and excellent address contributed largely to his success, and he rose with rapidity to the front rank at the Albany bar, where at that time many of the leading spirits of the legal profession of the State were in the zenith of their fame. In the leading cases tried in his circuit, he was almost always retained as counsel, and maintained this position even with such competitors as Marcus T. Reynolds, Samuel Stevens and H. G. Wheaton, and others equally able. His talents were at length deservedly recognized by Governor Marcy, who, in 1839, appointed him to the office of District Attorney for the city and county of Albany. Although he entered upon the duties of this responsible position at the early age of twenty-nine years, he discharged them with a degree of fidelity, impartiality, and ability, which won for him the highest respect and commendation. He filled the office of District Attorney till 1841, when a political change took place, and he was succeeded by Henry G. Wheaton, upon whom the office was bestowed by Governor Seward. In 1845 Mr. Peckham was a candidate before the State Legislature for the office of Attorney General, which at that time was in its gift, his opponent being John Van Buren, who secured the office by a single vote after a sharp contest. In the fall of 1853 he was elected to represent the city and county of Albany in the Thirty-third Congress, taking his seat the f oUovsdng year. He served his term during the administration of President Pierce, and although a life-long Democrat, and elected by a Democratic constituency, refused to be bound by party ties when the interests of the nation were at stake, and exercised an independence as wise and honorable as it was fear- less. He opposed the passage of the Nebraska bill, by voice and vote, his thorough grasp of the political problems of the day enabling him to discern the effect which that measure would be likely to produce ; an effect which he foretold with wonderful accuracy. On the expiration of his Congressional term, he returned to Albany and resumed the practice of law. His former partners, George W. Peckham, his brother, and Joseph S. Colt, his brother-in-law, were now settled in Milwaukee, wluther they had removed upon his elec- tion to Congress, and Mr. Peckham had associated with himself Lyman Tremain, a promising young lawyer of that day, who has since became renowned . in his profession. In 1859 he visited Europe, his com- panion on the journey being his old professional in- structor and friend. Chief Justice Samuel Beardsley. In the fall of the same year, having returned to America, he was nominated and elected a Justice of the Supreme Court, having a decided majority over his able and popular opponent. At the close of his first judicial term of eight years he was re-elected without opposition, no candidate being named against him. Before the close of his second term he was elected a member of the Court of Appeals. On the 15th of November, 1873, Judge Peckham and his wife sailed for Europe in the ill-fated steamer, "Ville du Havre," of the J'rench line, commanded by Captain. CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. 141 Surmont, which, on the 33d of the same month, when in mid-ocean, collided with the British iron ship, "Lock Earn," and went down in the darkness of the night, carrying two hundred and twenty-six souls into eternity. This terrible calamity made too deep an impression on the general public, and its details are too well-known to the hundreds of bereaved ones on both sides of the Atlantic, to render further mention in these pages, either necessary or advisable. Suffice it to say that among those who perished were Judge Peckham and his affectionate wife. Even the awful nature of the impending calamity served but to bring out with increasing luster, those noble qualities of heart and soul for which he had through life been dis- tinguished. In this supreme hour of peril his taU, manly form took its place among the helpless and abandoned ones. Clasping his loving wife by the hand, he endeavored to sustain and cheer those around him, and uttering those memorable words, which borne to us by a survivor, have sent a thrill of admira- tion over two continents; "If we must go down, let us die bravely ! " sank into the deep waters of the Atlantic. Judge Peckham was twice mari^ied. His first wife, a daughter of the Rev. Dr. Lacy, formerly rector of St. Peter's Church, Albany, was the mother of Ms two sons, Wheeler H. Peckham, of New York, and Rufus W. Peckham, jr., of Albany, both well-known and distinguished members- of the legal profession. As a lawyer, Judge Peckham stood in the very foremost rank. In his high judicial position, and by his manly character he had endeared himself to many friends, and liis heroic and untimely death pro- duced a profound sensation throughout the country. The profession of. which he was a shining hght testi- fied to his worth and learning, through its most eminent members, who, at the meetings of the various bench and bar associations, called for the purpose of taking action in relation to his death, vied with each other in their tributes of praise, respect and admiration. Memorial services in honor of Judge Peckham were held at St. Peter's Church, Albany, December 14th, 1873, and were attended by a vast number of friends and sympathizers. The Judges of the Court of Ap- peals attended in a body, wearing mourning badges on their left arms. The following passage selected from .the sermon preached on that occasion by the Rev. William A. Snively, rector of the church, is deemed a fitting conclusion to this brief biographical sketch. "Beneath the courtly dignity of his manner, and the almost austere aspect of his outward bearing, there was a heart of almost feminine tenderness; a truly reverent spirit ; and an amiability and a patience which no contradiction could exhaust. His integrity was not an official assumption — it was a personal fact. The rectitude of his judicial character expressed itself in the daily relations of life ; in the amenities of social intercourse, and in the intimacies and refinements of his own generous hospitality. Even in the freedom of recreation from professional toil, there was no lower- ing of his personal dignity and his courtly bearing; and in the sacredness of his home and the intimate relations Of personal friendship, that dignity was sweetened by a tenderness, a simplicity and an affec- tion, which in such a conbination are as beautiful as they are rare. And the closing hour of his earthly life blended both of these characteristics, as with the same breath he cheered and sustained the hearts around him that were paralyzed by fear, and spoke his last recorded words which show that even in that supreme moment, he was his own grand and heroic self." LOW, ABIEL ABBOT, one of the merchant princes of the metropolis, was born in Salem, Massachu- setts, February 7, 1811, and was one of twelve children of Seth Low, a native of Gloucester, West Parish, of the same State. His mother, Mary Porter, was descended from Jolm Porter, one of the original settlers of Salem village, now Danvers, and was a daughter of Thomas Porter, of Topsfleld, a town adjacent to Danvers on the north. The Porters have been a numerous and influential race in that part of Massachusetts for more than two hundred years. Mary, born in Topsfleld, March 39, 1786, was a lady of superior character, illustrating all the virtues and nobleness of the Roman matron, refined and adorned with the infiuences and graces of the Christian faith. She lived to be eighty-six years of age and continued to be an object of much veneration among all who knew her, to the end of her useful and honored career, dying at Brooklyn, July 17, 1873. Her husband, Seth Low, was a man of high intelligence and of solid worth, held in great respect and love by his fellow citizens at Salem, where he spent the eariier portion of his married life, as also at Brooklyn, whither he moved at length, and where he died June 10, 1853. A devout, upright, and pubhc-spirited man, he was one of the foremost citizens of Brooklyn, and rendered most im- portant service, in many ways, to that city in its earlier municipal history. Blessed with such a parentage, and inheriting the excellent qualities of both his father and mother, the son could hardly fail of an honor- able and distinguished career. He grew up without any of the vices or bad habits which so often blight the hopes and promises of youth. He received his early education mainly at the public schools of liis native city, and wisely and diligently improved the opportu- nities and advantages which wei-e there afforded liim. He was for some time before he reached the age of maturity a clerk in the mercantile house of Joseph Howard* Co., a Salem firm largely engaged in the South American trade. Here he manifested remark- able aptitude for business, and won the entire confi- dence and heartiest commendations of his employers. 142 CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. In 1828 he removed to New York and there joined his father, whose occupation was that of a drug merchant. In 1833 he went to Canton in the service of Russell & Co., then the largest house engaged in American trade in all China. In the course of a year or two, after he entered upon his foreign life, he was made a partner of the firm and soon laid the foundation of his fortune there while he was thus abroad. At the end of seven years he returned to his own country already possessed of no little wealth, though not yet thirty years of age. Soon after his arrival home he estabhshed himself in an office on Fletcher street, New York City, and was mar- ried a little later to EUen Maria Dow, daughter of Josiah Dow, Esq., continuing his residence in Brook- lyn, the home of his father. Most of the ships he was destined to use in his traffic of teas and silks, he was enterprising enough to build himself. Of such were built the "Mazeppa," "Houqua," "Samuel Russell," "David Brown," "Oriental," "Penguin," "Jacob Bell," "Contest," "Surprise," "Benefactor," "Bene- factress,"=etc. Others, like the " Golden State " and "Great Repubhc," were bought. From Fletcher street the office was first removed to South street, be- tween Beekman street and Peck Slip, and then, about the year 1850, to Burling Slip, the present site of the establishment. About the year 1845 Mr. Josiah O. Low, a brother, became a partner, in 1853 Mr. E. H. R. Lyman, a brother-in-law, and at various times, still later, several sons and nephews. These are all now members of the firm. The business of the house has, especially in years gone by, been very extensive, as it has been wonderfully successful. "A. A. Low & Brothers" have always maintained their justly-de- served reputation for the strictest integiity, and for the largest and most enlightened methods and customs of mercantile pursuit and dealing. Their name has been the very synonym for rectitude and honor in all busi- ness transactions, and they have been a tower of strength amidst aU the changes, fluctuations and re- verses of the commercial world during the last genera^ tion. Their influence has been all tliis time most powerfully exercised and felt in the cause of main- taining the national credit, and in the years of the re- bellion they bore their full share in the work of defend- ing and saving the Republic. Refusing to allow their ships to sail under any other flag than "the Stars and Stripes," they suffered the loss of the "Contest" and the "Jacob Bell," both of which were captured and burned by Confederate privateers, and the latter of which was freighted with a precious cargo. The senior member of the firm, who is the subject of this sketch, has received constant tokens of the high respect and consideration of the mercantile profession to which he belongs, and of the community in which he has lived. He had not been long in New York before the well- experienced and eminent merchants of the city dis- covered his sterling traits, his sound judgment, his rare sagacity, his comprehensive grasp of things, his unbending rectitude, and they readily predicted his future prominence in the commercial world. He has long been a most valued member of the Chamber of Commerce, and was several successive times elected the President of that body. He resigned this respon- sible position when, in 1866, he started with some of his family for a tour around the world. On his return he was honored with a dinner, given by the representa- tive men of his profession, in the city which had so long been the scene of his labors and triumphs. He has frequently been called to address the Chamber and his fellow citizens upon subjects connected with the financial or political affairs of the time, and these utterances, many of which have been published in pamphlet form, have invariably attested his familiar acquaintance with these matters, his rare ability, his statesmanlike cast of mind, his wisdom as a counsel- lor, and also his facility or faculty of expressing his thought in strong and fitting phrase. He has at va^ rious times been urged to accept nominations to high political stations, but has uniformly declined, having no taste for such employment or distinctions. He has, however, been often sent or called to Washington, in an unofficial yet representative capacity, to consult with the Government in relation to matters of Con- gressional action. He has often been asked to act as President of banking, insurance, and other similar in- stitutions, but has preferred rather to serve as a Di- rector, and he has accordingly been identified in this way with not a few of these organized interests. For many years, however, he has been the President of the " Packer Institute," in Brooklyn, the largest female seminary in the country, and has always proved him- self a most generous and devoted friend of the cause of education. He has been an ever ready and excep- tionally liberal patron of schools and colleges, churches and chai'ities, not alone in Brooklyn and New York, but in other parts of the land, and his contributions of money to every good enterprise or institution that has appealed for aid have rarely been surpassed in number or magnitude by that of any of our wealthy and phi- lanthropic citizens. Mr. Low's first wife died many years ago. He married for his second, Mrs. Anne D. Low, whose maiden name was Bedell, and whose son, William, by her first husband, married a daughter of Hon. Benjamin R. Curtis, late Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Two of Mr. Low's chil- dren by his first wife, Abbot Augustus and Ellen, married, the former a daughter of George Cabot Ward, of New York, and the latter a son of H. E. Pierre- pont, Esq., of Brooklyn. Two other children are Har- riet and Seth. No account of Mr. Low would be com- ,5-p-i!''r,r--iT]N f,: Wi^.wTnfk 'cz-^:^ CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. 143 plete which would fail to speak of his life in the social and domestic world, where, by his gentle and affec- tionate disposition, and by his stainless pui-ity and conscientious fidelity, he endears himself to all and is the pride of all his family and friends. His spacious mansion, handsomely furnished and abounding with books, works of art, and ornaments, that tell largely of his repeated journeys abroad, is hospitable towel- come and entertain visitors of many a different nation- ality, class and creed. In religious faith he is a Uni- tarian of the most positive Christian convictions, and of the largest sympathy with all devout and earnest behevers of whatever name. He is constant in his at- tendance at church and his discipleship is daily a liv- mg and practical reality. &ALE, E. THOMPSON, President of the United National Bank of Troy, was born in that city April 37th, 1819, in a house next adjoining his present residence on First street. Mr. Gale, with his brother John B. Gale, are the living representatives of one of the earliest New England families that moved to Troy. Edmond Gale, founder of the name in America, came from England and settled in Cambridge, Mass., and died at Boston in 1642. His son, Abell, in 1704 ' settled at Jamaica, Queens County, L. I., and in 1731 moved to Goshen, Orange County, N. Y., where several of his descendants still live. E. Thompson Gale is descended in the fifth generation from Abell. Samuel Gale, the original settler of Troy, son of John Gale (3d) and great grandson of Abell Gale, while yet a youth left Goshen to study medicine in the office of his uncle. Dr. Benjamin Gale, who had for a long period been a prominent physician at Killingworth, Conn. After graduation he married his cousin Elizabeth, and commenced the practice of his profession in 1766. During the war of the Revolution he raised a Company under a commission from Governor Trumbull of Con- necticut, and was in active service as its Captain. In August, 1787, he moved with his wife and children to Troy, and settled there. "The Centennial History of Troy," published in 1876, contains the following inter- esting allusion to Dr. Gale's advent : ' ' The importance of the little hamlet was greatly enhanced about this time by the adventitious arrival of ■ Dr. Samuel Gale, of Killingworth, Connecticut. In- tending to become a resident of New City, he embarked in the month of August, 1787, on board a sloop vidth his wife and two daughters and five sons, with the prospect of a short and pleasant voyage. However, contrary winds and unforeseen detentions along the sound and lip the river lengthened the journey by water to a three weeks' passage, and the vessel did not reach Vanderheyden until the 1st of September. Con- jecturing that this unexpected delay might have de- prived him of the house for which he had previously bargained, he concluded to let his family and goods remain at Vanderheyden, while he proceeded by land to New City. Here he learned that the owner, then residing in New York, not having been definitely ap- prised of his coming, had a few days before rented the house to another person. On his return, he was kindly received by Jacob Van der Heyden and family, through whom he was induced , to make the place his futm-e residence. A portion of the house of Jacob D. Van der Heyden was at once tendered the Doctor, and here the family remained through the winter until a double frame dwelling had been built on thetwo lots, numbered six and seven, south of the south-west corner of River and Perry streets. Soon the professional abilities of Dr. Gale were called into requisition by the neighbor- ing families and more remote farmers ; and, while he enlarged his acquaintance, at the same time the circle of his practice widened. In the month of October following he too became engaged in the rapidly in- creasing trade and commerce of Vanderheyden, and in this he continued one year, when his son Benjamin suceeededhim." Dr. Gale, both professionally and socially, was one of the most prominent citizens of the little settlement. For six years he was the only physician of the neigh- borhood. His education and devotion to the good of his fellow men brought him to the front, whenever the material or spiritual progress of the community called for a leader. Before the village had its house of wor- ship, he was generally selected to read some choice sermon in the Sunday gatherings that met in the tavern-hall, and when the First Presbyterian Society was organized in 1791, he was one of the original Trustees. He was also one of the Trustees under the first charter of the village of Troy, in 1794, to whose growth, through his influence over the Van der Heyden brothers, liberalizing their monopolizing ideas of land tenure, he had probably contributed more than any other citizen. His death on the 9th of January, 1799, in the fifty-sixth year of his age, and the eleventh of his residence, was mourned as a public calamity. A year before his death Dr. Gale moved to a new resi- dence erected by him on the lot now numbered 119 First street, in wliich a daughter lived until her death in 1863. Two of Dr. Gale's sons, Benjamin and John, established themselves in the mercantile business in Troy. The third son, Samuel, born in Killingworth in 1773, electing to pursue his father's profession, after receiving his diploma from the Medical Society of Vermont in 1793, went to the West Indies with the view of establishing himself as a physician. A tropical life, however, not suiting him, he soon retm-ned to Troy and commenced business as a druggist, continu- ing it successfully for many years. In 1811 he married Mary Thompson, daughter of Ezra Thompson, a con- spicuous and wealthy citizen of Dutchess County, and niece of Smith Thompson, who was an Associate Jus- tice of the United States Supreme Court during the 144 CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. first quarter of the present century. Like his father, Dr. Samuel Gale, Jun. was a man of pronounced char- acter, highly cultm-ed, possessed of broad views and a kindly nature, and universally esteemed for his probity and judgment. As a citizen he was honored with many positions of trust and responsibility. From 1804 to 1838 he was postmaster of Troy. When the Rensse- laer Medical Society was formed in 1806, he was chosen its Treasurer, and he was also a member of the origi- nal Board of Directors of the Rensselaer and Saratoga Insurance Company in 1814 ; a Manager of the Troy Savings Bank, incorporated in 1833 ; and a Director of the Farmers Bank. He died in 1839, leaving two sur- vivingsons, E. Thompson and John B. Gale. Dr. Benja- min Gale, of Killingworth, Conn. , to whom allusion has been made, was not only eminent as a practitioner in a large region adjoining .the Connecticut River, but en- joyed large contemporary repute as an author upon medical, theological and agricultm-al themes. The last-named science was his favorite subject, absorbing not only study but practical effort. His inventive essays in that direction attracted the attention of theo- rists, and for one of tjiem, " an improvement in the Drill Plough," he received, in 1770, from the London Society for the Promotion of the Arts and Sciences, a gold medal, now in possession of E. Thompson Gale. His wife was Hannah Eliot, a great granddaughter of John EUot, the "Teacher of the Church" at Roxbury, Mass., in 1633, who has left an undying fame as the translator of the Bible into the aboriginal dialect. On his gi-audmother's side the subject of this sketch is therefore a lineal descendant of one of the finest char- acters in American history, the God-fearing, venerated apostle to the Indians. E. Thompson Gale received Ills education at the select schools of Troy, graduating in 1837 as a civil engineer from the Rensselaer Poly- tecnic Institute, then under charge of Professor Amos Eaton. On leaving school he traveled widely through- out the United States, and returning to Troy entered a mercantile establishment as clerk, and in 1840 became one of the firm of Brinkerhofe, Catlin & Gale, hard- ware merchants. In August, 1841, he went to Em-ope, and was occupied in traveling there until November, 1843. In February, 1843, the firm was changed to e! Thompson Gale & Co. and so remained till 1853, when the name of Catlin & Sexton was adopted, and Mr. Gale became a special partner. The business thus conducted involved the manufacture as well as trade in articles of general hardware, the house not only selling its own goods but dealing largely on com- mission. In 1857 Mr. Gale's special interest was with- di-awn, and a few years later his son, Alfred de Forest Gale, became a partner, and the firm-name thereafter ■was Lane, Gale & Co. On the 30th of March, 1877, Mr. Gale's family experienced its second bitter be- reavement in the death of Alfred, a young man of ex- ceptionally brilliant promise and admirable nature. His mother, Caroline de Forest — a daughter of Benja- min de Forest, a prominent New York merchant, de- ceased in 1850 — after a married life of twenty years died in 1864. Previously to his retirement from mer- cantile business in 1859, Mr. Gale had become inter- ested in one of the oldest monetary institutions of Troy, being as early as 1850, a Director of the Farmers Bank, of whose board his father had also been a mem- ber for many years. In 1859, upon his withdrawal from the firm of Catlin & Sexton, he became President of the bank, and retained this position till 1865, when upon the consolidation of the Farmers with the Bank of Troy— the two oldest banks in the city— under the name of the United National, he became President of the new institution, and has so continued to the present time. The United National Bank of Troy possesses a capital of $300,000, and under the able management of Mr. Gale, has won an exceptional reputation for soundness among the provincial institutions throughout the State. In 1848, when the Ti-oy and Boston Rail- road project was laid before the citizens of Troy, Mr. Gale was one of the fir^t to appreciate the great local im- portance of the enterprise, and gave it the aid of both capital and influence. To the same broad view of the value of local improvement was largely due the organ- ization of the Troy and the West Troy Gas-Light Com- panies, with which he has been prominently connected since the beginning of their operation. In addition to his control of the United National Bank, Mr. Gale is the First Vice President of the Ti-oy Savings Bank, one of the most successful institutions of its kind in the Union, possessing deposits exceeding $4, 000, 000. Dur- ing the late civil war, Mr. Gale, though averse to political demonstration, was not only an outspoken but an active partizan of the Union cause. His con- servative temperament made him essentially an antag- onist of sectionalism or civil strife, and his thorough loyalty demonstrated itself wherever or whenever an occasion offered to sustain the country and its defenders. In addition to Mr. Gale's interest in the corporations before named,- he has been since 1859 continuously a prominent Director in the Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad Company, one of the most successfully man- aged corporations (for its sliareholders rather than for its officers) in the country. To its management he, with other prominent citizens, brought that sound judgment and constant, unselfish, personal supervi- sion which raised It from the humble condition in which they found it to the level of the well-known, responsible and trusted corporations of the State. It was during his membership of the direction that by the permanent leases of the Saratoga and Schenectady and Albany and Vermont Railroads (in both of which ■> I_ii';iii.n.ri') r U&--i iJjiL CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. 145 he has been a prominent manager for many years), and the consolidation with tlie Saratoga and "Whitehall and the Troy, Salem and Eutland Railroads— its line was extended from Troy, Albany and Schenectady to Whitehall, Rutland and Eagle Bridge, thus giving it the control of 181 miles of road instead of the 35 miles for which it was originally chartered, and increasing its capital stock from six hundred thousand to eight millions of dollars, while it opened up for its traffic the avenue between the great west and northern New England. After the previous statement of the positions of trust and responsibility held by the subject of this brief memoir, it will hardly be necessary to state that he has the entire confidence of the community in which he has passed his whole Ufe. His business career has been one of industry, enterprise and un- blemished integrity. To say that a man's word "is as good as his bond," has become a trite remark. In this instance it is only to state an accredited fact. As an illustration, a gentleman of high business standing in Troy was asked by the wiiter as to the standing of a man whom he named : ' 'I would trust him, " was the reply, "I would trust him just as I would trust E. Thompson Gale." His success in life has been largely the result of that independence of character which prompts a man to follow the dictates of his own judg- ment. It is so much easier to take the advice of others in individual enterprises, or in matters of trust to shift the responsibility upon one's co-trustees that the num- ber of men in community who have the pluck to act on their own judgment is very small. Mi'. Gale is one of these. GarefuUy considering the data upon which an opinion is to be based, not hasty in decision, when once his judgment has settled the merits of the case, he is ready to stake his money and his reputation (much more to him than his money) on the result. His success has warranted his confidence in his judgment. Mr. Gale is one of the most kind-hearted of men. His countenance, his advice, and his • material aid are prompt to the assistance of worthy young men, while his benevolences are illustrated not only in his church, but also in such institutions as the community recog- nize as deserving of support. TOWNSEKD, HON. MARTIN INGHAM, of Troy, New York, is descended of ancestors who, for more than two centuries, have dwelt ia this coun- try. His primal progenitor in America was Martin Townsend, of Watertown, Massachusetts, who was born in 1644, fourteen years after the settlement of Boston. In 1668, he married Abigail Train, and their youngest son, Jonathan, was born in 1687. Removing to Hebron, Connecticut, Jonathan married, and one of his children, who was named Martin, was born in 1737, and married Rhoda Ingham. Among the descendants of Martin and Rhoda, was a Martin who was born at Hebron, in 1756, and who married Susannah Allen, of Hancock. This Martin had four wives besides Susan- nah, and eigliteen children. One of these children was Nathaniel, who was born September 4th, 1781, and who died July 30th, 1865. In 1805 he married Cynthia Marsh, who was born March 5th, 1783, and who died April 3d, 1876. Of their four children, three still survive, one of whom is Martin I. Town- send, the subject of this sketch, who was born at Han- cock, in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, on the sixth day of February, 1810. As has been already noted, he inherits on his father's side the blood of the Ing- hams of Connecticut, and of the Trains of Massachu- setts. Through his mother he claims descent from Miles Standish, the citizen-soldier of the Pilgrim Fathers, and also from Hem'y Adams, of Braintree. In 1816, Mr. Townsend removed to Williamstown, Massachusetts, and was educated at the common schools of that village, at the academy there situated, and at Williams College. At the latter institution he was graduated in 1833, and at the commencement of his class, by reason of his scholarship he received the second appointment in the literary exercises of that occasion. He took his Master's degree in regular course, and was honored with the degree of LL.D. by his alma mater, in 1866. After graduating, he read law for a few months in the oflace of David Dudley Field, in New York city, but having removed to Troy, N- Y., on the first of December, 1833, he immediately thereafter entered the office of Henry L. Hayner, as a law student, and so continued for a year and a half. In May, 1835, he became clerk in the office of his elder brother, Eufus M. Townsend, and in 1836 his partner in the practice of the law. The connection thus formed still continues. It was m 1836, also, that he married Louisa B., the daughter of Oren Kellogg, of Williamstown, a lady who for more than forty years has aided in making his cheerful life still more cheerful, and who, by her noble presence and pleasing ways, like mellow sunlight, surrounds him with home- like happiness as he treads with unfailing step and buoyant mien, the bright patliway of his autumnal days. In 1838, Mr. Townsend was a candidate for member of the Assembly, when his party — which was then the Democratic party — was in a minority of about one thousand in the city of Troy. In the can- vass he ran far ahead of his ticket, but was defeated. He was the District Attorney for the county of Rensse- laer, from 1843 to 1845. He represented the eighth ward of Troy in the Common Council of that city, from May, 1843, to May, 1843, and from March, 1856, to March, 1858. He was a member for the State at 146 CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. large, of the Constitutional Convention of the State of New York, in 1866-'67. By a strict attention to his duties, and by his gi-aphic and intelligent expositions of the subjects which were considered by that body, he won the esteeqj of his learned associates and main- tained the honor of the State which he specially rep- resented. In the year 1869, he was nominated on the Republican State ticket, without his Icnowledge, for the position of Attorney General, but was defeated with the other State candidates associated with him, by the machinations and overwhelming frauds— as they are now recognized to be— of Tammany Hall. He was chosen by the Legislature, in 1873, a Regent of the University of the State of New York, to fill the va- cancy occasioned by the death of the Hon. John A. Griswold. In the fall of the year 1874, he was elected Representative in the 44th Congress for the Seven- teenth Congressional District, and was re-elected to the same position in the 45th Congress, in the fall of 1876. In his chosen profession of the law, Mr. Town- send early gained a prominent position, which he not only maintained wliile the men with whom he began his career surrounded him, but which he still main- tains as he encounters the young blood and the fresh vigor of a new generation. While serving as District Attorney of the county of Rensselaer, he secured the •conviction of Henry G. Green and Henry Miller, upon the charge of murder, and both of these offenders suf- fered the extreme penalty of the law. Always believ- ing that a slave escaping into a free State, must, under the Constitution, be returned by the Federal Govern- ment to his master, Mr. Townsend was most active in extending to the slave so escaping, every right that the law could give him, and all the aid wliich would natu- rally flow from a sympathizing humanity. He vigor- ously defended the only two slaves who, in Rensselaer County appealed to tlie courts for protection, during his connection with the bar. To one of these, Antonio Louis, who was arrested as a fugitive in 1843, liberty ■was granted ; and to tlie other, Charles Nalle, freedom came on the 27th of April, 1860, he having been taken on that day, by a mob, from the custody of tlie Uni- ted States Marshals, while Mr. Townsend and other gentlemen were waiting in the office of the late George Gould, Justice of the Supreme Court, for the return of a writ of Itabeas corpus that had been issued on be- half of Nalle. He was associate counsel for tlie de- fence, in the celebrated trial of Hem-ietta Robinson for the murder of Timothy Lauagan. Mrs. Robinson was known as the "veiled murderess," from the fact that she persisted in wearing a veil which concealed her face during the trial, and which no threat nor in- ducement could lead her to remove, except for a few moments, on two or three occasions. The trial com- menced at Troy, on Monday, May 22d, 1854, and was concluded late in the evening of Saturday, on the S7th of the same month, by the rendition of a verdict of guilty. Mr. Townsend' s argument on this occasion was based upon the idea of the insanity of the priso- ner at the time the alleged crime was committed, and was peculiarly eloquent, comprehensive, discriminating, and exhaustive. The cases adduced by him in support of this theory, were specially applicable, and the ref- erences to authorities in maintenance of his position, demonstrated the research, investigation, and study which he had bestowed on the subject. Sentence of death was not passed upon the convicted woman until June 14th, 1855, more than a year after the close of the trial. The execution was appointed for August 8d, 1855, but on the 27th of July, a week previous to the fatal day, Governor Clark— in the exercise of the great prerogative of his office — commuted her sentence to that of imprisonment for life in the Sing Sing prison. There she was soon after taken, and there she remained until a few years ago, when she was placed in the asylum at Auburn for insane criminals. In the thoughtful mind the question arises, whether the insanity which always affected her in prison, and has now settled down upon her permanently, as is pro- bable, was not, in 1853, the shadowing cloud that then obscured on her troubled nature the distinction be- tween right and wrong, and as her learned advocate claimed, produced in her an abnormal and irresponsi- ble condition. Mr. Townsend has always held an ad- vanced position in law reform, and was early a favorer of the measures lately adopted by this State, enabling husbands and wives to be witnesses for and against each other in civil actions, and allowing alleged crimi- nals to testify in their own behalf. For more than forty years, he has been connected with most of the important litigation in Renssfelaer County, always maintaining the character of a zealous, indefatigable and accomplished lawyer. In arguing a question of law to the com-t, the clearness with which he defines his position is specially noticeable. A statement of the principle supposed to be involved is followed by the application of that principle to the case in hand, and then, by apt illustration, and by subtle and cogent reasoning, the legal aspect of the case is developed, and the particular rule which should govern in its de- cision, is evolved and proclaimed. But it is before a jury that the strong and salient powers of his mind are most apparent. His analysis of the subject in hand is searching, skillful, and exhaustive. Not a point that can make for his client is left undisclosed, not a statement hurtful to him is adduced but it is sifted, with the most penetrative scrutiny, and sur- rounded with all the doubts that can be raised as to its truthfulness. If he is engaged for the defence in a criminal case, and if it has been shown that his client CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. 147 possesses any trait of character that challenges admi- ration, such possession is enlarged upon until it spreads out like a mantle of broadest charity, and is made to cover any inequalities of disposition, temper, or con- duct that may have been developed to that client's disadvantage. Yet while his defence is obstinate and protective, his attack is trenchant, aggressive, and per- tinacious. The war is carried into the enemy's coun- try with such dash and courage, and with such an ap- pearance of belief in the strength of every position taken, that not unfrequently, in desperate- cases even, "out of this nettle, danger," he has plucked "this flower, safety.' As a politician, Mr. Townsend, dur- ing his whole career, has been true to his convictions, and those convictions have not sprung from a low standard of political ethics, but have been always re- ferable to an elevated idea of the value and right of per- sonal liberty. He was a Democrat until 1848, but was at all times unhesitatingly and openly opposed to slavery, and when, in that year, the convention that nominated General Cass for President of the United States, resolved that it was proper that the Ten-itories of the nation should become slave soil, he snapped the ties which had bound him since manhood to a party that had thus disregarded its ovni traditions, and ad- dressed the first public meeting convened in the United States to protest against 'the pro-slavery action of the Democratic party. That meeting was held at Troy, on the third day of June, 1848, and for the considera- tion of those assembled on that occasion, he prepared and presented a series of resolutions advocating the principles of free soil, free speech, and free men, and these resolutions were then adopted. From that time forward, he has always been the able and conscientious apostle and advocate of those principles and aspira- tions, which, lying at the foundation of the movements of the Barnbm-ners of New York, who in 1848 nomi- nated Martin Van Buren for the Presidency, became more clearly defined in the position of the free soil Democracy as taken by them in the nomination of John P. Hale for President in 1853, and which culminated in the formation of the Eepublican party, when it first presented itself as a national organization in 1836, and nominated John C. Fremont for the Presidency. During the rebellion he was the earnest and outspoken upholder of the Government in its efforts to maintain the integrity of the Union. So marked was his advo- cacy, and so unsparing was he in his denunciation of traitors and treason, that during the draft riots of July 15th, 1863, the mob sacked his house in Troy, and either carried off, or destroyed or injured nearly all articles of personal property that it contained. On be- coming a member of the House of Representatives he at once assumed the position of a careful observer of everything that was passing about him, and was at all times ready to approve or condemn, intelligently, the various measures presented to him, in common with other members, for consideration. But it was not until the House entered upon the discussion of the Centen- nial Bill that all its members became aware of the mental energy, keen humor, brilliant thought and il- lustrative power embodied in the personality of Mr. Townsend. On the 30th of January, 1876, in a speech favoring the appropriation named in that measure for securing the success of the centennial celebration of the origin of the nation, he took occasion to display the inconsistencies of those who opposed the appro- priation on the ground that it was contrary to the Constitution. During its delivery he received the marked attention of all present, and his effective sallies of wit and searching analyses of conduct, illumined with occasional pleasantries, enunciated with clearness, and made completely impressive by the force of his own indomitable and peculiar oratory, raised him at once to the level of the most practiced debaters of the House. Commenting upon this speech, one Who heard it wrote; "No printed report can convey a sense of the impression produced on the delighted audience, nor show how deftly in the midst of all the merri- ment, the logical results of the war, the clemency of the Union, the worth of the nation to all its citizens, and the wisdom and right of the United States to set forth evidence of its advancement at Philadelphia, were all stated with that power of suggestion which is often more potent than labored argument." The edi- tor of Harper's Weekly, introductory to an epitome of this speech, said : "It was a perfect rebuke to the in- solence of Mr. Hill, and it was a distinct announce- ment to that gentleman and his friends that although they have 'come back into the Union to stay,' they have not come back to rule. The gayety of the speech, its wholesome humor, and its kindly and friendly spirit, did not in the least conceal the clear perception and the resolute conviction and determination of the speaker. The undertone was one to which every gen- erous and loyal American heart responds. Indeed, there cannot well be found a more characteristic and admirable expression of the feeling and purpose of the dominant party in this country, than this speech of Mr. To wnsend's. There is no vindictiveness of feeling, no rancor, no desire to recall the war for the sake of crimination, no feeling but a hearty wish for concord ; but also, no forgetfulness of the facts of our history and of human nature, no doubt of the absolute justice of the cause of the Union in the war, no question of the infinite national dishonor and degradation wrought by the long ascendency of the Democratic party ; a profound contempt for the old-fashioned, slave-hold- ing violence and the northern subservience to it, which have re-appeared in the Democratic House, and an 148 CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. equal scorn of the flne-spim quidities of ' strict con- structionists ;' " {Hwrpffr's Weekly, February 19, 1876). Among his other able speeches was his argument in favor of transferring the Indian Bureau to the War Department, delivered April 28th, 1876, his observa- tions on the protection of the Texas frontier, presented on July 12th and 18th, 1876, and his remarks relative to the settlement of the title of Governor Hayes to the office of President of the United States, made on Jan- uary 26th, February 20th and 21st, and March 2d, 1877. But not alone as a lawyer and a politician is Mr. Townsend distinguished. As a man of high cul • ture and of attainments in the field of letters he is also ■well and favorably known. Among his miscellaneous ■writings are several of a high order. His essay en- titled "Saxon or Celt," being a brief argument de- signed to show the influence of the Bible ; his address on " Labor," before the Alumni of WiUiams College ; his occasional papers and his speeches, as set forth in the debates of the Constitutional Convention of the State of New York, all evince extended reading, thor- ough research, and a full appreciation of the topics severally presented. The following extract is from the address above alluded to : " That man who fells the giant forest which for ages has dominated the soil, or turns the flowery sod upon the boundless prairie and commits to its bosom the bread-yielding corn — that man whose moistened brow and stalwart arm are bending over the fierce fires that sparkle in yonder workshop, as the earth-born metals are moulded to meet the million wants of life— that man whose ceaseless toil brings low the hills and exalts the valleys, or who delves in the bowels of mountains old as the morning of creation, that he may prepare a highway for the commercial and social intercourse of man— each of them is doing the will of God, and per- forming the work which he has for each of them to do. They are all ' dressing and keeping ' God's garden, and subduing the earth which they inhabit. From the hum of yonder spinning wheels and factory looms there rises an anthem more sacred than choir of cloistered nuns ever hymned; and that tireless mother, whose waking eyes prevent the watches of the night, as she plies her busy needle to clothe and feed her little ones, is offering to God a sacrifice sweeter than the Arabian incense which burns upon priestly altar. Let none who serve their race, then- country, or their family by active labor, whether mental or physical, for a moment doubt that their work shall be accepted by Him whose eye sees all, and whose re- wards, the consequences of well-doing, can no more fail than can the system which He has instituted and which He constantly upholds." f RIGHT, JOEL WILLISTON, M.D., second son of the Rev. D. G. Wright, D.D., Principal of the Poughkeepsie Female Academy, was born in the town of Sullivan, Cheshire County, New Hampshire, July 30th, 1840. His early literary education was superintended by his father. After spending several years at sea, he finally began the study of medicine in 1861, with Drs. T. S. Wright and H. M. Lilly, of Fond-du-Lac, Wisconsin, and was afterward a student in the office of Dr. Edward H. Parker, of Pough- keepsie. His first course of lectures was attended at the Geneva Medical College, in the winter of 1863-'64, and in the following spring he was appointed Assistant Superintendent to the Asylum for Insane Convicts at Auburn, New York, remaining there until 1865. He subsequently matriculated at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York city, from which institu- tion he was graduated in March, 1866. Locating at once in Poughkeepsie, he practiced there until the spring of 1867, when he removed to New York, in which city he has since had a large and flourishing business. Very soon after establisliing himself in New York, Dr. Wright was appointed one of the surgeons to the Northern Dispensaiy, which position he con- tinued to hold for nearly three years, resigning it finally on account of the constantly increasing demands upon his time. He was subsequently appointed Demonstrator of Anatomy to the Woman's College of the New York Infirmary, serving two years. He also lectured during the spring term in the same institution for tliree successive years on Minor Surgery. During the spring sessions of 1875-76 he lectured on Minor Surgery and Sm-gical Dressings in the medical de- partment of the University of the City of New York. With the retirement of Professor Charles A. Budd from the active duties connected with the chair of Obstetrics and the Diseases of Women and Children in the University, on account of failing health. Dr. Wright was appointed lecturer on that branch of medi- cine in his place, and in January, 1877, was made full Professor. He is a member of the New York Patho- logical Society, of the New York County Medical So- ciety, and of the New York Physicians' Mutual Aid Association. In October, 1868, he was married to Sarah H., daughter of L. L. Lockwood, Esq., of Brooldyn, New York. fEIR, ROBERT P., M.D., was born in the city of New York, February 16th, 1838. He is the, grand-son of Robert Walter Weir, a native of Scotland, who came to America in the year 1790, and settled in New York, where subsequently he became largely engaged in the sliipping business. His father James Weir, a native of New York, married Mary A. Shapter, likewise a native of the State, whose father, Peter Shapter, a well-known New York banker, came to this country from the south of England, in the early part of the present centuiy. The subject of tliis .AilaiLti.c :plLbTi6lLnig &Tilii^a.TUtg ColTew'Birfc CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. 149 sketch received his early education in the public schools of New York city, at a later period entering the New York Free Academy, from which he was gi'aduated in 1854, receiving from the same institution in 1857, the degree of Master of Arts. Soon after graduation he determined on embracing the profession of medicine, and as a preliminary step placed himself under the training of Dr. Gurdon Buck. He subse- quently entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons, where he passed through the complete course of study and was graduated in 1859, winning, in addition to his diploma, the first prize for an essay on "Hernia Cerebri," which was published entire in the New York Journal of Medidne, and afterwards, at the request of the faculty, republished in pamphlet form. He next entered the New York Hospital as interne, and passed through on the surgical side. He was then appointed resident physician and became also curator of the hospital museum. At the opening of the civil war, Dr. "Weir was commissioned assistant surgeon of the Twelfth Eegiment, N. Y. S. N. G., which was one of the first that sprang to the defence of the National capital, and served with that command from April to August, 1861. On the expiration of his term he entered the regular army as an assistant surgeon, with the rank of first lieutenant of cavalry, and remained in active service till the close of the war, resigning his commission in March, 1865. Shortly after entering the medical corps of the army, he was assigned the charge of the large government hospital at Frederick City, Maryland. The high estimation in which his services were held is shown by the following letter taken from the archives of the Surgeon-General's office of the War Department, which speaks for itself : "Stjegbon-Gkneeal's Office, ] Washington City, July 16th, 1863. ) Sir — I am directed by the Surgeon-General to ex- press to you his gratification at hearing the many encomiums bestowed upon the hospital under your charge. These praises referring both to the police and good order of the hospital, and also to the general good management by yourself, have reached tills De- partment, not only through irresponsible, and there- fore unreliable sources, bnt through the official reports of its authorized inspectors. Early after your entry into the service you were placed in a position of trust and responsibility, and you have not belied the judgment of this Department when selecting you, first, for one of its members, and afterwards, to fill one of its most important positions. The Surgeon- General believes and trusts that the industry and ability which you have already displayed, you will continue to manifest and develop to the credit of the corps of which he has the honor to be the head. Very respectfully your obedient servant. By Order ^ Jos. E. Smith, Asst. Surg., U. S. A. Asst. Surgeon R. F. Wbik, U. S. A., General Hospital, Frederick, Md." Dr. Weir remained In charge of this hospital for nearly tliree years, the rest of his time being spent in the field. His professional attainments, decision of character, devotion to duty, and fine personal qualities, combined to render his services extremely valuable, and to the efforts of such as he are largely attributable the. important results to the medical profession derived from the abundant lessons afforded during the sangui- nary struggle. Upon leaving the army, Dr. Weir took up his residence in New York city, and almost im- mediately was appointed attending surgeon to St. Luke's Hospital, a position which he continued to fill for ten years. In 1866 he was appointed attending physician to the Nursery and Child's Hospital, and the same year, became surgeon to the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, resigning the former appointment in 1870, and the latter in 1875. In 1871 he was appointed surgeon to the Roosevelt Hospital, and in 1873, con- sulting surgeon to the New York Infirmary of the Woman's Medical College, both of which positions he still holds, as also that of surgeon to the New York Hospital, to which he was appointed in 1876. In 1868 he was appointed Professor of Surgery in the Woman's Medical College, and filled that chair for two years. In 1874 he was called to succeed Dr. Fessenden N. Otis, as lecturer on Diseases of tlie Geuito-Urinary Organs in the College of Physicians and Surgeons. Dr. Weir has been engaged in the general practice of medicine in New York city ever since the close of the civil war. As a surgeon he has attained a well-deserved reputation, and is regarded as a high authority in diseases of the genito-urinary organs, of which for some years he has made a specialty. The following are a few of the many contributions made by Dr. Weir to the literature of medicine, and have all been republished. ' ' Two cases of Congenital Curvature of the Penis, with Hypospadias and Adhesion to the Scrotum; successfully relieved by operation;" [iV. Y. Med. Jour., March, 1874]: "Elephantiasis of the Penis from Stricture of the Urethra; amputation;" [Archives of Dermatology, Vol. 1. No. 1] ; " Ichthyosis of the Tongue and Vulva;" [iV, Y.Med. Jour., Mexch., 1875] ; "The Normal Urethra audits Constrictions in relation to Strictures of Large Calibre;" [,N. Y. Med. Jour., April, 1876]: "The Hypertrophied Prostate;" [American Clinical Lectures, Vol. 3, No. 8. HARRIS, HON. HAMILTON, State Senator from the Thirteenth Senatorial District, was born in the village of Preble, Cortland County, N.Y.,outhe Ist of May, 1831. His parents were both natives of the State, his father being of English, and his mother of Scotch descent. His early education was obtained in i5o CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. tlie academies of Homer and Albany, upon leaving which, at the age of sixteen, he entered Union Col- lege at Schenectady, graduating from that institution in 1841. The thesis presented hy him at the com- mencement exercises was entitled "Literature and Politics," and was devoted to the exaltation of the former and abasement of the latter. Having finished his collegiate course he took up his residence in Albany, and, deciding to enter the legal profession, commenced the study of law in the office of his brother, the late Ira Harris— a distinguished member of the Albany bar. In 1845 he was admitted to the bar, and has ever since been engaged in the practice of his profession at the State capital. In 1848 he be- came associated as partner with H. C. Van Vorst, at present a Judge of the Com-t of Common Pleas, New York city. This connection lasted till 1853, when it was dissolved by the removal of Mr. Van Vorst to the metropolis. His next business associate was Samuel G. Com-tney, late U. S. District Attorney for the Northern District of New York. This connection, like the former, was broken by the removal of Mr. Courtney to New York. In 1857 he formed a co- partnership with Clark B. Cochran and John H. Reynolds, under the business style of Reynolds, Coclu-an & Han-is. This firm — an uncommonly strong one — was recognized as the leading law firm of the State out of the city of New York. After the death of Mr. Cochran, in 1867, the business was conducted by the surviving partners. In 1875 the death of Mr. Reynolds dissolved the firm, and Mr. Harris formed a copartnership, which still continues, with the Hon. George W. Miller. In 1853 Mr. Harris was elected District Attorney of Albany County. His gi-eat popu- larity was shown by the fact that although a strong Whig he overcame a Democratic majority of 1,500. He held the ofilce of District Attorney four years, dur- ing which he displayed marked ability. His first ex- perience as a legislator was obtained in 18 — , when he represented the Albany city district in the Assembly. In this body he displayed a noticeable aptitude for public affairs, and won the respect of the most ex- perienced legislators. He was a member of the Joint Legislative Committee of Six, appointed during this term by the Whigs to construct a party platform, and to call State Conventions. Prom 1866 to 1875 Mr. Harris was a^member of the New Capitol Commission, performing efficient service in that important body. One of the most prominent men in party councils in the State, Mr. Harris exerts an influence which few men, even much older ones, have rarely equalled. He began his career as a Whig, and has been prominently connected with the Republican party ever since its or- ganization. Prom 1863 to 1864 he was a member of the Republican State Committee, and Chairman of its Executive Committee, and from 1864 until 1870 was Chairman of the State Committee. This latter onerous and responsible position was filled by him with, a rare degree of sagacity and executive ability, and that he discharged the duties of this trust in a manner in the highest degree satisfactory to his party may be inferred from the length of time he remained at the head of the committee. Mr. HaiTis has frequently been sent as a delegate to State Conventions, and in 1868 was a member of the National Republican Con- vention at Chicago. In 1875 he was nominated for Senator from the Thirteenth Senatorial District, and was elected by a majority of two hundred and forty- nine votes over the Democratic candidate, Jesse C. Dayton, who had won the preceding election by a ma- jority of two thousand one hundred and fifty-two votes, these latter figures representing the usual Demo- cratic majority in that district. Mr. Harris began his Senatorial labors in 1876 and was immediately named Chainnan of the Finance Committee. He served also as Chairman of the Committee on Joint Library, and was a member of the Select Committee on Apportion- ment of the State into Senate and Assembly Districts, and of the Standing Committees on Claims and En- grossed Bills. Although Senator Harris has confined his efforts principally to the fields of law and politics, he has occasionally made incm-sions upon the domain of literature, for which, at an early period of his life, he evinced so decided a preference. As a lecturer on miscellaneous topics he has been well received, and several of his addresses and lectures before Young Men's Associations have been published. Mr. Harris was re-elected Senator at the fall election of 1877. SMITH, HENRY, ESQ., a prominent lawyer of Albany, was born at Cobleskill, Schoharie County, N. Y., on the 14th of March, 1839. His father was Thomas Smith, Esq., at onetime a leading practitioner at the Schoharie County bar, and subsequently at the bar of Albany County, where he passed the latter years of his life. Henry Smith obtained his primary education in the poorly organized and irregularly maintained common schools of that early period, and fin- ished his training in an academy at Esperance, kept by an energetic Scotchman named William McLaren, to whose somewhat erratic but thorough discipline Mr. Smith acknowledges himself largely indebted for sev- eral acquu-ed habits, which have contributed in no slight degree to his success in life. Early in the fall of 1844 Mr. Smith went to Detroit, Michigan, and obtained a clerkship in a hardware store in that city. After remaining in this position about a year he re- turned home and began the study of law in his father's CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. i5r office. By dint of close application to his books, and imder the careful instruction of his father, he made rapid headway, and in eighteen months after entering upon his studies was enabled to pass a critical examin- ation. On the 10th of June, 1847, at the unusually early age of eighteen, he was admitted to practice in the old Court of Common Pleas for the County of Schoharie, and in 1850, upon attaining his majority, was admitted to practice in all the courts of the State, and has remained zealously devoted to his profession down to the present time. In recognition of his abilities he received, in 1854, the Whig nomination for County Judge, but his party being in a hopeless minority in that section, he was defeated. His high legal attain- ments, combined with an attractive and courteous man- ner, won him many warm friends and clients, and he rose rapidly in his profession. In February, 1857, he re- moved to Albany, this step being rendered necessary by the large increase in his business. In his new home he speedily won the respect of his fellow citizens, and rapidly advanced to a front rank at the bar. At the time of the formation of the Republican party, Mr. Smith joined its ranks and worked diligently to pro- mote its success. His marked abiUties, both as a law- yer and political leader, won from his party general recognition, and in 1863 he received the nomination for Congress in the 14tli District, which, however, was merely complimentary, the district being in the hands of the opposition. In 1865 he was nominated by acclamation for the office of District Attorney, and, after a sharply contested fight, was elected by a small majority, being the first Republican who had carried the county in several years. The duties of this respon- sible office were discharged by Mr. Smith to the entire satisfaction of the community, and with a high degree of success. His administration was signaUzed by a notable increase In the number of convictions for grave crimes, and through his efforts a severe blow was dealt to the criminal classes, whose evil conduct received a sudden and severe check. While filling this office his fine talents, legal acumen, shrewd judgment, and re- markable industry commanded the favorable consider- ation of his fellow citizens, and in 1866 he received a nomination to the Assembly. In this canvass his popularity was established beyond a doubt, for he not only succeeded in overcoming the several hundred majority usually given to the candidate of the opposite party, but also won the election by the handsome ma- jority of 564 votes, taking his seat in the Legislatme for 1867. In 1868 he was nominated for election to the Constitutional Convention, but was unsuccessful. In 1873 he was again elected to the Assembly, in which he was honored by being elevated to the Speak- ership. In this exceedingly difficult and responsible position he gave evidence of his eminent fitness to direct the proceedings of a legislative body, and won the respect of all by his impartiality and faifness. As a lawyer Mr. Smith's career has been varied and bril- liant. His practice is not limited to the district in wliich he resides, but extends over a wide extent of territory, and he has tried and argued many important cases for the State, on behalf of the Attorney Genei-al. Both in criminal and civil causes he has won a merited distinction. Among the trials in which he has played a prominent part are many of the most celebrated that have occurred in the State. In the trial of Judge George W. Smith, of Oneida County, before the Senate, he was associated with ex-Senator Shafer for the de- fense, and added fresh laurels to his already well- earned reputation. In the famous Gordon trial, which attracted so much attention throughout the State, he was the prosecuting attorney, and conducted the case with marked ability. His closing address on this oc- casion is an acknowledged masterpiece of forensic argument, and has been seldom, surpassed. In the Cole-Hiscook trial, likewise one wliich awakened a deep public interest, he was one of the counsel for the prosecution, and aided largely in conducting the case to a successful issue for his client. In the impeach- ment of Canal Commissioner Doane before the Court of Impeachment in 1869, Mr. Smith was one of the counsel for the defense, and secured the acquittal of Mr. Doane. In the celebrated Dudley will case, still before the courts, he is one of the counsel for the contestants. As a speaker Mr. Smith is impressive, direct, and earnest, and not so remarkable for rhetoric as for the overwhelming power of logic which he invariably displays. A man of wide learning, both general and professional, he is also genial in tempera- ment, and attracts and retains hosts of friends. In whatever position he may be placed by the suffrage of his fellow citizens, his qualifications and experience cannot but make him a prominent and efficient repre- sentative. fARD, SAMUEL B., M.D., was born in New York city, July 8th, 1843. His father, L. B. Ward, had large manufacturing interests in New Jersey, and to,ok a prominent part in the administration of the public affairs of his district, having been chosen at different times to occupy important official stations. His wife, mother of Dr. Ward, was Abbey Dwight Partridge, a native of Massachusetts. After a thor- ough preparatory course of study, he entered Colum- bia College, and having finished the curriculum of that institution, he was graduated in 1861. He immedi- ately commenced reading medicine under the super- vision of Dr. Willard Parker, and, matriculating at the l52 CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. College of Physicians and Surgeons In New York, he attended the course of lectures of the years 1861 and '63. In the spring of 1863, he entered the United States service as Medical Cadet, and in 1863 was ap- pointed Acting Assistant Surgeon. He served in this capacity till 1864, and then passing the required exam- ination and receiving his medical degree from the medical department of Georgetown College, was ap- pointed Assistant Surgeon of United States Volunteers. Retiring from military service in 1865, he visited Europe in the further pursuit of medical knowledge, and returning to New York the next year, he began the practice of medicine, continuing till 1876. Dur- ing this period of ten years. Dr. Ward was actively connected with the medical charities of the metropo- lis. He was an attending surgeon of the Northern Dispensary, and consulting surgeon to the Western Dispensary for Women and Children; also surgical attendant to the Presbyterian Hospital. Removing to Albany in 1876, he entered into connection with the Albany Medical College as Professor of Surgical Pathology and Operative Surgery. He is one of the attending surgeons to the Albany City Hospital, and also to St. Peter's Hospital. Dr. Ward's extensive surgical practice has made his services much sought after in this department of medical labor, and out of the abundance of his experience in this field of opera^ tions, he has made frequent contributions to the annals of surgery. Serving his generation, not only in the "tent and on the battle-field," but in society at large, and in those humane enterprises which form so marked a feature of the benevolent spirit of the age. Dr. Ward has shown himself a scientific and skilfiil phy- sician and surgeon ; a zealous, untiring worker in the interests of his profession. He was married, in 1871, to Miss Nina A., daughter of William A. Wheeler, of New York. WARD, E. HALSTED, M.D., of Troy, son of I. C. and Almeda H. Ward, was born in Bloomfield, New Jersey, June 17, 1837. He prepared for college in the excellent school of the Rev. E. Seymour, and in the equally well-known institution kept by James H. Rundell, of Bloomfield. Entering Williams College at the age of seventeen, he took the degree of A.B. in 1858 and thi-ee years later that of A.M. During his college term he was elected to fill the o*'lce of Librarian, and afterwards that of President of one of the literary societies connected with the institution — the "Philotechnian."' He was also one of the edi- tors of the college magazine of that time, ' ' The Wil- liams Qiuwterly." In the spring of 1857 the college fitted out an expedition — the first of its kind — to Florida and Georgia, for the purposes of scientific study and collection. Dr. Ward, then Mr. Ward, being one of its most active members. While pursuing his collegiate course he procured several microscopes of various kinds and commenced those microscopical studies in which he has since achieved distinguished success. Having a predilection for medical science, he placed himself under the preceptorship of Dr. N. S. King, a practitioner of Bloomfield, and subsequently pursued his studies in Philadelphia and in New York, graduating in 1863 from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of the latter city. In the beginning of his medical career — the war of the rebellion being then in progress — Dr. Ward offered his services to the Gov- ernment, and acted as Assistant Surgeon in the United States Military Hospital at Nashville, Tennessee. In the course of a few months, however, he was under the necessity of intermitting his labors on account of failing health. He removed to Minnesota with the hope of restoring his prostrated energies, and remained a year, when, the object of his residence there being accomplished, he returned to the east and im- mediately entered upon a course of scientific activity, settling at Troy in 1863. Having studied the science of botany under the able Professor, now President Chadbourne, he has continued his researches in that branch of scientific inquiry with equal diligence and success, paying especial attention to the department of structural and philosophical botany. In 1868 he was elected by the Trustees of Rensselaer Polytechnic In- stitute to the position of instructor in that science, and the subsequent year he was elected to the rank of Pro- fessor, a chair which he continues to fill in connection with the duties of his medical practice. Though a skilful practitioner, and a learned and successful Pro- fessor, it is in the department of microscopical science that he finds a most congenial and most distinguished field of usefulness. In 1871 the publishers of the American Naturalist, at that time issued in Salem, -Mas- sachusetts, but now by H. O. Houghton & Co., Cam- bridge, Massachusetts, engaged his services in the edito- rial department of that periodical, vnth a view to adding a new featm-e of interest to that already valuable issue. This was the first instance of a microscopical depart- ment being added to any periodical in this country, and it antedates any journal relating to this branch of science now in existence here. He was the author of the editorials on the subject of Microscopical Science and Inquiry, and of numerous papers on microscopical as well as medical subjects, many of which have elicited commendation abroad, and been republished in foreign journals. In pursuit of his specialty he has invented and introduced into use a variety of micro- scopical contrivances and accessories tending to facili- tate research in this department of science. By his AUautic BJilisiiEio ge3aL^a?ia^ Co iTewToik. -7^'/ CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. i53 critical microscopical knowledge he has greatly aided certain depai-tments of medical science, and as an ex- pert in microscopical examinations he has rendered eminent service to the more involved subject of medi- cal iurisprudence. He is a well-known and popular lecturer upon his favorite studies ; tlioroughly imbued with a love of science, he excels in the presentation of it to otlier minds, never failing to impart interest and flavor to his public efforts. In addition to the celeb- rity he has acquired in the field of microscopical in- quiry. Dr. Ward enjoys many medical and scientific honors. He is a permanent member of the Medical Society of tlie State of New York, also President of Rensselaer County Medical Society ; he is a mem- ber of the Board of Governors of the Marshall Infirm- ary, and holds office on the medical staff of that insti- tution, the principal medical charity in the county. His scientific associations are numerous and important. In 1876 he was made Cliairman of tlie Microscopical Sub-section of the American Association for the Ad- vancement of Science. He was President of the Troy Scientific Association from its organization in 1870 till 1877. The Belgian Microscopical Society has con- ferred upon him the distinction of honorary member- ship, and in addition to these he is honorary and cor- responding member of a large number of other Asso- ciations. During his short residence in Minneapolis, Minnesota, he was called upon to act as Health Officer, it being the only occasion upon wliich he has been in- duced to serve the public in any other, than a strictly scientific capacity. As a successful general practi- tioner his time is largely occupied with the calls of his profession, and engaged in his duties of Professor and microscopical specialist, he has neither opportunity nor . inclination for anything alien to his chosen work. Dr. Ward was married in 1862 to Miss Charlotte A. Bald- win, of Bloomfield. COWEN, ESEK, a member of the legal firm of Smith, Cowen & Fursman, of Troy, was born in the town of Hartford, Washington County, Oct. 14, 1834. His father, Solomon S. Cowen, who died at Saratoga Springs, in August, 1868, was for many years Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, of Wash- ington. Judge Cowen was bom in Sciluate, 1790, whence he came to this State in 1810, and soon after establishing himself in his profession married Electra T. Bush, daughter of Joseph Bush, an old resident of Port Ann. The original ancestor of the family in America emigrated from the north of Ireland, and settled in.Scituate prior to the Bevolutionary war. Esek Cowen, obtaining his elementary education in the local schools of his birth-place, entered the Troy Conference Academy, an institution of high repute at West Poultney, Vermont, from which he was gradu- ated in 1852. Having determined upon the legal pro- fession, in which his father had attained such emin- ence, he entered the office of B. F.Agen, at Granville, finisliing his studies with Hill, Cagger & Porter, and in the well-known law school at Albany. He was ad- mitted to the bar in 1855, and opened an office in Troy, removing soon after to Saratoga. The important character of his business demanding a more central location, Mr. Cowen, ten years later, returned to Troy. After practising five years without a business associate, he at length became a member of the firm with which he is at present connected, and which as counsel for the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad, the Troy and Boston Railroad, the Citizens Steamboat Company, and several local corporations, is especially prominent in the profession. Mr. Cowen and his father, the late Judge S. S. Cowen, are not the only members of the Cowen family who have attained high legal honors. His uncle, the late Judge Esek Cowen, during his life ranked foremost among the lawyers and Judges of New York State, and his works are accepted authorities on certain important legal questions. In 1823 tlie late Judge Esek Cowen, then an active prac- titioner at the bar, was appointed reporter to the Su- preme Court, and remained in that office till 1828, pro- ducing seven volumes of excellent reports. In 1828 he was appointed Judge of the Fourth Circuit, vice Reuben H. Walworth, who was made Chancellor. In 1836, upon the resignation of Chief Justice Savage, he was appointed one of the Judges of the Supreme Court. This position, one of the highest in the gift of his fellow citizens, was filled by Judge Cowen with distinguished ability until his death in 1844. He was the author of a most excellent work on the "Civil Jurisdiction of Justices of the Peace," and in connec- tion with the late Nicholas Hill, was one of the authors of "Notes to Phillips' Evidence," the stand- ard book of reference on that branch of the law. An- other brother of these two eminent Judges was Benja-- min F. Cowen, who, removing at an early age to the then new State of Ohio, became a lawyer of distinction and finally a Judge also. The son and nephew of these three distinguished men, Mr. Esek Cowen, occupied as he is with the cares and duties incident to a large and rapidly increasing practice, has never sought political or official station. Should circumstances, however, at any future time call him to the field of labor in which his honored relations rendered such distinguished service to the state and won for them- selves enviable renown, doubtless his inherited abil- ities as well as acquired talents would prove him a worthy representative of so eminent a family, fully qualified to maintain the honor of the name. 1 54 CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. FRANCIS, HON. JOHN M., editor of the Troy Daily Times, was bom March 7th, 1823. His fatlier was a native of "Wales, and a man of much force of character, possessing in an eminent degree the •distinguishing traits of tlie Welsh people — frugality, temperance, and habits of industry. The father, edu- cated for the church, chose the career of a sailor in the British navy, and was employed, with the rank of Midshipman, on the flag-ship of Admiral Rodney in the great and successful engagement of the latter with the French fleet, April 12th, 1782. He subsequently lesigued from the navy rather than serve against the United States, whither the squadron to which he was attached was sent. In 1787, when the Convention which framed the Constitution of the United States was in session at Philadelphia, this patriotic young foreigner visited the United States, bearing letters of introduction to Washington, which he presented to bim at the then seat of government. Seeking service in the American navy, he was told that America as yet had no navy. He then traveled extensively throughout the country, visiting almost all of its known points of interest. Teaching school for one winter in Kentucky, he made the acquaintance of Dan- iel Boone, of whose friendship he retained until his death the tenderest memories. Subsequently he re- turned to his native land, and in 1798 he emigi-ated to the United States and settled near Utica, from whence lie removed to Prattsburgh, Steuben County, then al- most a vrilderness region, and became one of the pio- neers of western New York. Here he engaged in agricultural pursuits, and here the son, John M., was Tsorn. Young Francis enjoyed In his early years the limited advantages of the district school, and was per. mitted to spend one winter at the village academy— this last privilege constituting all the academic instruc- tion he ever received. At the age of fourteen years, lie became an apprentice to learn the trade of a printer, in the oflice of the Ontario Messenger, published at Canandaigua. This town was then the seat of consid- erable political influence, and the young apprentice soon became not only an interested observer of events as they occurred, but a close student of political econ- omy and a patient listener at the earnest discussions -which took place bet ween the many distinguished men of the village. At the age of nineteen, having completed Lis apprenticeship, he removed' to Palmyra, in Wayne ■County, and began his first experience as an editorial -writer in the columns of the Wayne Sentinel. In 1845, he became the associate editor of the Roclmster Daily Ad-Dertiser, and in 1846 took up his residence in Troy, where he connected himself with the Troy Bu- get as its editor, and subsequently as one of its proprie- tors. In the Hunker and Barnburner campaigns which succeeded, he distinguished himself as an advocate of free soil, free speech, and free men. While engaged upon the Budget, Mr. Francis illustrated his journal- istic enterprise and aptitude by establishing a depart- ment of the paper specially devoted to the record of local events as they occurred daily in the city. This feature of the Budget at once became popular, and has since been adopted by all the journals of the country. Brief connections with the Troy Whig and Troy Post ensued ; and in 1852 Mr. Francis began his great life work in establishing his present journal, the Troy Daily Times, a paper of preeminent enterprise, ability, and influence, and which has been correspondingly successful in the material elements of prosperity. Prom 1853 to 1856, Mr. Francis was City Clerk of Troy ; in 1867 he was elected from the district com- posed of Rensselaer and Wasliington Counties, to serve in the Convention to revise the Constitution of New Y^ork State. While in that body he delivered one speech evincing elaborate preparation, (upon the government of cities), and took part in several debates. Mr. Francis is not, however, a talking man in deliberative assemblies. In 1869, he traveled ex- tensively in Europe, and in 1871 was appointed United States Minister to Greece by President Grant. He made a popular and able representative of our coun- try abroad ; and his resignation two years later was accepted with reluctance by the Government. In 1875-6, Mr. Francis made a tour of the globe, writing a series of letters for his paper descriptive of his travels and of foreign countries visited by him, which were widely read and extensively copied by the press of the country. As the editor of the Troy Times, Mr. Francis has a national reputation. He is a strong, logical, and graceful writer upon a wide range of sub- jects — his long experience as a journalist, his extensive travels and observation abroad, and his habits of thought and study giving him an almost unlimited command of topics for discussion beyond those which usually engage the attention of the press. As an edi- tor, comprehending alike his duty and the demands of the public, he has few, if any, superiors upon the press of the State of New York. He is practically a self-made man ; and being still in the prime of life, with mental powers increasing rather than diminishing, of a strong and robust physique, and a judgment upon men and things that rarely errs, it may be predicted of him that both as a journalist and as a public man he can, if he shall choose, make for himself a conspicuous and honorable figure in the history of the times. FURSMAN, EDGAR L., a prominent lawyer, of Troy, represents an Oxfordshire family of free- holders of considerable antiquity. The founder CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. l55 of the name in America, William Pursman, came from England in 1760, settled in Westchester County, es- poused the patriot side in the Ee volution, and was killed at the battle of White Plains. His son, John, held lands under the Van Rensselaer Patent. Our present sub- ject, the son of a farmer (Jesse B.), of Washington County, was born at Cliarlton, Saratoga County, where his parents then resided, August 5th, 1838. When he was two years- old, the family moved to Easton, in the former county. Young Fursman received an excel- lent preparatory education at the local schools of Easton, Greenwich Academy, in Washington County, and the New York Conference Seminary at Charlotte- ville, and, after a full course at Fort Edward Institute, graduated from the latter institution in 1856. Select- ing the profession of the law, he entered the office of Judge A. Dallas Waite, at Fort Edward, and after three years' thorough tuition, was licensed to practice in 1859. His first location was at Schuylerville, Saratoga County, and his business, almost from the start, did credit to his professional application and learning. In No- vember, 1866, however, he was prevailed upon to move to Troy, where having prosecuted several important causes, his reputation as an advocate and counsellor had preceded him. He associated himself in his new field with the Hon. James Forsyth, now President of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. In 1870 this con- nection was dissolved, and the present law firm of Smith, Fursman & Cowen established. In 1868, two years after his location in Troy, Mr. Fursman was married to Miss Minerva Cramer, daughter of James P. Cramer, a merchant and iron manufacturer, of Schuy- lerville, (deceased in 1870) and niece of the Hon. John Cramer, a prominent politician of the last generation, who was one of the electors on the Jefferson presi- dential ticket. Mr. Fursmau's devotion to his profes- sion has obUged him to decline frequent offers to enter the political field, and, though a Democrat through strong conviction, except an honest service as delegate to the State and County Conventions of the party, he has persistently refused to leave his private office for a public one. From 1869 to 1872 he occupied the posi- tion of Judge Advocate upon the staff of Major General Carr. He is counsel for various industrial cor- porations and several local monetary institutions, as well as the New York Central and Hudson River R. R. Co., the Troy and Boston R. R. Co., and the Citi- zens Steamboat Company. SHELDON, COL. ALVANUS W., was born in Northampton, Mass., July 18th, 1843. His father, Paul W., was a manufacturer. His mother, Eliza (Howell) Sheldon, was the sister of Senator James B. Howell, of Iowa. Col. Sheldon received his elemen- tary education and was prepared for college in the ex- cellent private schools of his native town. His family removed to Ohio as he was about entering college, and he therefore matriculated at Dennisou University, Granville, Licking County, Ohio, in 1857, and was ready to graduate in 1861, at the breaking out of the rebellion, when, glowing with patriotic fervor and without heeding his literary honors, he hastened to the assistance of his country and enlisted in April, 1861. The college authorities, nobly appreciating the spirit of the young patriot, allowed him to graduate as though he had remained, there being only three months of the prescribed term wanting, and conferred his degree on him in his absence. He had enlisted for three months^ service in the Seventeenth Ohio Infantry, but owing to the exigencies of the times, they remained for five months, rendering good service under Gen. Rose- crans, in Western Virginia. At the expiration of this term, he was appointed Adjutant of the Fifteenth Iowa Infantry, for three years' service. They formed a part of the Army of the Cumberland. He was afterwards detailed for duty at Benton Barracks, St. Louis, and then attached to the staff of Gen. Orme, serving with him at Springfield, Missouri. In the spring of 1863, prior to the investment of Vicksburg, his regiment did important service, being stationed at Moscow, on the Memphis and Charleston Raihoad. In the latter part of that year, he was appointed Cap- tain and ordered to the Commissary Department at Washington, where he remained till 1864. At that time he was ordered to report to Gen. Devens, First Brigade, Third Division of the Ninth Army Corps, serving with it till the surrender of Lee, in April, 1865. He subsequently was commissioned as Major and transferred to Gen. A. C. Voorhees' command, with headquarters at St. Louis. In , the fall of that year, he was again ordered to Virginia, and continued in service there till he was mustered out, with the rank of Major and brevet Lieutenant-Colonel. Returning to private life. Col. Sheldon devoted his attention to edi- torial work. He published a paper in Iowa called the Gate Gity, but disposing of this in 1868, he went to Richmond, and there published the Riohmond Register, the first Republican paper ever issued in that city. After engaging in other newspaper enterprises, he re- turned to Iowa, and having given some time to the study of law, he was admitted to the bar of that State. In 1870, he began practice in Chicago, but, removing to New York, he became the attorney of the Prison Association of this city, a position whose duties now occupy all his attention. Col. Sheldon is a graduate of the Columbia Law School, and Judge Advocate on Gen. Shaler's staff, New York State Militia. He was married in 1863, to Miss Ida M. Davis, of New York. i56 CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. JOHNSTON, DAVID J., Mayor of the city of Cohoes, was bom in Kinderliook, Columbia County, November 35, 1834. His fatlier, Robert Johnston, was a native of England, born at Carlisle in the year 1807. The elder Johnston came to the United States in 1830. Having had a thorough training in cotton manufacture in the old countiy, his services were soon made available to the growing industry on this side the water. He made his first residence in Providence, E. I. In 1827, four years before his ar- rival in America, a mill of 7,000 spindles had been erected in Providence, to be run by steam power. In 1839 Samuel Slater, the "father of American cotton manufactures," had become possessed of the entire stock of the corporation. To Slater, who himself had Introduced the Ai'kvpright system of spinning, the ad- vent of an intelligent operative well acquainted vnth and able to put into operation the improved pro- cesses of the British cotton mills, was most welcome. Por two years Robert Johnston was employed in the Providence steam mills, and under his direction the old water frames were superceded by the mules used in England, and the serious difficulty of spinning a satisfactory warp upon mules overcome. At the ex- piration of this period Mr. Johnston accepted a propo- sition to come to this State, urgently extended by Nathan Wild, a cotton manufacturer of Kinderhooli. He conducted the mill in the little village of Valatie with success from 1833 till 1850, when he formed the connection which he still holds as General Manager of the great Harmony Company's factories at Cohoes. During liis residence at Kinderhook he was married to Miss Sarah Martin, a young lady of Scotch nativity living in the town, who, after a long life of great do- mestic and social usefulness, died at Cohoes in 1874. Mr. Johnston's move from Valatie to Cohoes in 1850 was due to the large appreciation of Ms ability as a mill operator. At that date the Harmony Mill, after a considerable career of adverse success and a last abortive attempt to recuperate under a change of man- agement, had become virtually a bankrupt enterprise. Mr. Johnston's shrewd and sagacious observation, in Ms pocasional visits to the place, led Mm to believe that such exceptional advantages of water-power and general location, prudently and intelligently utilized, would develop a successful and remunerative industry. Through Ms strong and lucid exposition of the resources then to be secured, Alfred Wild, the son of Ms princi- pal at Valatie, and Thomas Garner, of New York, were inducedto purchase the property. Mr. Johnston at once moved to Cohoes and set about his work of a thor- ough reorgamzation When he commenced operations but one mill structure had been erected where the five magnificent factories, with their several out-buildings, now stand, and Ms pay-roU showed but 170 hands! male and female, instead of 4,300 now under his con- trol. Prom 1850 to the present time his life has been identified with the great industry of Cohoes, not merely, however, in realizing all that can be made out of water-power and machinery and human assiduity and ■ effort, but in advancing the organization of labor, ele- vating the nature and condition of the working com- munity, and thus securing the best results both to em- ployers and employed. During his eai'ly years in Kinderhook the subject of this sketch was a regular attendant of the district schools, at the proper age en- tering the academy which, under the management of Prof. Alexander Watson, for a long period had a high reputation tliroughout the country. In 1850 he was graduated, having acquired an excellent education ad- mirably adapted for a practical and useful life. He was, soon after leaving the institution, employed by Ms father m clerical duties at the Harmony Mill. Por four years he acted in the capacity of clerk, his intelli- gent observation meanwhile gradually grasping the system and details of cotton manufacturing. In 1854 Ms fidelity to the interests of the Company was recog- nized by his appointment as assistant to his father in the management. At tMs time the proportions of the industry were being extensively enlarged and young Johnston was charged with the superintendence of the new structures, locating the buildings and setting up the machinery, a responsibility involving difficulties inappreciable except to those practically acquainted with cotton manufacturing. In 1866, the value of Ms association with the enterprise was still farther marked by Ms election to a membership in the Boai-d of Direc- tors and his partnersMp in the interests of the Com- pany. In 1857 Mr. Johnston was married to Miss Adeline C. Hubbard, of Jefferson, Schohai'ie County, daughter of James Hubbard, the representative of a family conspicuous in the local history. His first wife dying in 1863, he was married in 1866 to Miss Anna E. Eddy, of Troy, daughter of Titus Eddy, an emi- nent merchant and manufacturer, who, after forty years of a useful career, died at Troy in 1875. In addition to his executive duties as Superintendent of the Harmony Mills, Mr. Johnston has served the busi- ness interests and the community of Cohoes in various positions and without intermission since the beginning of his citizenship. He is at present filling his second term as head of the city authorities, having been first chosen Mayor in 1873. One of those men whom oflSce seeks, he has been more than once solicited to take the nomination of his party (the Republican) for the State Senate and Assembly, but hag declined. While indisposed to partisan honors, he has still never been unwilling to accept the small local positions, however um-emunerative and lacking in official eclat, in which he can do Ms community the service of a good citizen. CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. i57 Thus he has for several years served as a Commissioner of the Public Schools, a member of the Board of Al- dermen, a village Trustee, and has flUed other places of practical usefulness. He is a member of the Re- formed Church and an active mover in religious work, faithfully performing a responsible duty as Superin- tendent of the Harmony Hill Sabbath-school, which has a large membership of factory operatives. He was instrumental in the estabMshment of the Young Men's Christian Association in 1858, being its first Ti-easurer, and upon its reorganization in 1875 was made its President. In all the local entei-prises of the place his interest has been felt, and his identity with the growth and prosperity of the city is everywhere obvious. He was chosen President of the Gas Light Company in 1869, having been for three years previous a Director. He is at present a member of the Cohoes Water tower Company Board, since 1866 a Director of the National Bank of Cohoes, since 1867 a Director of the Manufac- turers State Bank, and a Trustee (since 1865) and Director of the Cohoes Savings Bank. HALL, FITZEDWAJRD, a weU-known author and orientalist, traces his origin through both his parents from very early New England colonists. His ancestor, John Hall, of Coventry, landed at Charlestown, Mass., in 1630, and his remotest maternal ancestor in America was one of several brothers of the name of Fitch, who came from Booking, Essex, to Norwalk, Conn., in 1638. His paternal grandfather. Lot Hall, was engaged in the Revolutionary struggle, rose to be an eminent Judge of the Supreme Court of Vermont, and died in 1809. The parents of his mother, who were first cousins, were grandchildren of the Hon. Thomas Fitch, Colonial Governor of Connecti- cut. His father was Jlr. Daniel Hall, a lawyer of local repute, who was born at Westminster, Vermont ; was educated" at ^Middlebury College, graduating there in 1805, and died in 1868, in his eighty-second year. Mrs. Daniel Hall was born in 1800; is stOl living. Mr. F. Hall, the eldest son of his parents, was born at Troy, N.T., ilai'ch 21, 1835. After passing through various schools at his native place, with others at Wal- pole, N. H., and Poughkeepsie, he became a member of the Rensselaer Listitute, conducted by the celebrated Professor Amos Eaton, where he took the degree of Civil Engineer in 1843. The same year he entered Harvard College, with which he was connected tUl 1846. As a school-boy and collegian, Mr. Hall divided his attention pretty impartially among languages, mathematics, and the natural sciences. His diligence in acquiring foreign tongues was shown by the fact that at the age of sixteen he had, in addition to the ordinary learning of well-taught lads of his years, acquainted himself thoroughly with Fi-ench, and could both read and speak Spanish without difficulty. While at college he employed many of his spare hours on translations from German, of which enough were published, but anonymously, to fill three good sized volumes. In the spring of 1846 Mr. Hall sailed in a merchant-vessel from Boston, for Calcutta, and after a long voyage was sliipwrecked on the 16th of Sep- tember, at some distance below the mouth of the River Hooghly. Arrived at Calcutta, after having gone thi-ough no slight perils, he availed himself of letters of introduction to Bishop Daniel Wilson and others, which had been voluntarily given to him by the Hon. Edward Everett, and he was, consequently, in no want of society. His original purpose of almost im- mediately returning to America was frustrated by the loss of his ship, and his enforced detention at Calcutta left considerable leisure at his disposal. Without the least thought of becoming an orientalist, he was in- duced by a few lessons in Hindiisttot and Persian to re- solve on exploring at least those languages with some thoroughness, and the pleasure wliich he found in them led to his postponing indefinitely his departure homewards. At Calcutta he remained nearly three years, assiduously prosecuting his new studies, to which he soon added Bengalee and Sanskrit. Prefer- ring to be independent of others, he supported himself in the meantime, chiefly by writing for various local journals, to which he contributed largely, not only or- iginal matter, but translations in prose and verse, from French, Italian, and modern Greek. His next place of residence was Ghazeepore, on the upper Ganges, from which place, after a soioum of about five months, he removed to Benares on the 16th of January, 1850. Only a month later he was appointed, whollj' without any solicitation of his own, to a post in the Benares Government College, a post which, in 1853, was con- verted into a Professorship. While at Benares he nar- rowly escaped being killed by the explosion of a fleet of thirty boats laden with ahundred and eighteen tons of gunpowder. In July, 1855, he was transferred to Ajmere as Inspector of Schools, for Ajmere and Mair- wara, together with the superintendentship of the Aj- mere Government School, which charges he held for only little more than fifteen months. Again promoted, his next and last appointment in India was that of In- spector of Schools for the Sanger and Nerbudda Terri- tories, wliich he assumed at Sangor, in December, 1856, and retained till the spring of 1863. Within this period occurred the Indian mutinies, during which he spent seven months besieged in the Sangor Fort, and underwent severe hai'dships, not to speak of constant danger. In this interval, also, he was absent from India about a year and a half, which he spent partly i58 CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. in England and France, and partly in the United States. In 1860 he was honored with the degree of Doctor of Civil Law by the University of Oxford. From November, 1862, Mr. Hall lived for several years in London, where he was Professor of the Sanskrit Language and Literatui-e and of Indian Jurisprudence in King's College, and also filled other offices. In 1869 he removed to Marlesford, Suffolk, his present place of abode. He still holds, in connection with the Civil Service Commission, the examinerships in Hindu- stani and Hinde, to which he was appointed in 1864, and an examinership in English has recently been added to them. He married in 1854, at Delhi, a daughter of the late Lieutenant-Colonel Ai-thur Shuldliam, of a very ancient English family. Of his five children two survive, a daughter and a son. Retiring in disposi- tion, and a rigid husband of time, Mr. Hall holds him- self aloof from all literary societies, and has from the first persistently avoided all entanglement with cliques and coteries. Indeed, of his own choice, his acquaint- ance with men of letters is, and always has been ex- tremely Umited. These cu-cumstances, coupled with the unfamiliar character of his pursuits, go some way without doubt towards accounting for the slight recog- nition which, considering the abundant and multifari- ous fruits of his pen, he has received in England and America, where he is less known than at Paris, Ber- lin, Leipzig, St. Petersbm-g, and Rome. Satisfied with nothing short of real excellence in scholarship, uncompromising and careless of popularity, he is marked as a critic by his severe economy of commen- dation, and he has frequently assailed current judg- ments with a vigor corresponding to the strength of his argued convictions. It is not therefore altogether surprising that his writings have been to a large ex- tent ignored among the English-speaking nations. The few who have noticed them favorably are, however, for the most part judges of the highest class, from whose awards it would be hazardous to appeal. Prof. Max Mflller, in his History of Ancient Sanskrit Litera- twre, speaks of Mr. Hall as " A scholar of the most ex- tensive acquaintance with Sanskrit literature." In 1860 he also wi-ote : "We hope to see Mr. Hall continue his researches in Sanskrit literature, which even now entitle him to take rank with the best scholars of the day. No one since the days of Colebrooke and Wilson has done so much to rekindle a spirit of accurate scholarship among the lovers of Sanskrit in India, and his exten- sive acquaintance with the Brahmauic literature ac- quired during many years residence in India is such as to rouse the envy and admhation of every Sanskrit scholar in Em'ope." Professor Albrecht Weber pronounces that " his labors are, throughout, characterized by fidelity as to details." The Rev. Walter W. Skeat, one of the fore- most of English philologists, calls his ' 'Modern English" "all but indispensable to the student of the English language," and again, in the pages of Tlie Academy, has warmly eulogized his treatise entitled, "On Ad- jectives in -able," etc., which the learned Dr. Zupitza, writing in the Jenaer Literatur Zeitung, describes as "not only strictly scientific, but popular in the best sense of the term." Similar compliments on Mr. Hall's works might be extracted to tediousness from the Journal des Savants and numerous other authoritative som-ces. Yet, as concerns Americans, it may be asserted that they have scarcely any knowledge of what he has written, or even of its character and value, except through the misrepresentations of liis envious or imprudently irritated detractors. As a fact of history it is worth noting that Mr. Hall, first among his countrymen, edited a Sanskrit text. This was in 1852. It vnll further be remembered of him by orien- talists that he was the discoverer of several most in- teresting Sanskrit works supposed to be Irrecoverably lost, as"Bharata's Natyasdstra" and the "Harsha- charita," and of a complete copy of the very valuable " Brihaddevat.1," of which only a small fragment was previously known to exist. Once more, the various Sansltrit inscriptions which he has deciphered and translated thi-ow much new light on the history of an- cient India, and have entirely invalidated a whole host of assertions and speculations ventm-ed in Professor Lassen's "Indische Alterthumskunde." Mr. Hall's principal acknowledged works are the following : Sanskrit. (1.) "The Atmabodha," with its Com- mentary, and the " Tattvabodha. (3.) "The S^nkhya^ pravachana," with its Commentary. (3.) "The Sflrya- siddliAnta," with its Commentary. (4.) "The Vilsa- vadatta," with its Commentary. (5.) "TheSankhya- sara." (6.) "TneDasarftpa," with its Commentary, and four chapters of "Bharata's Natyasastra." The first of these works was published at Mirzapore, the rest at Calcutta. Most of them are accompanied by detailed English prefaces. Hind*) : (1.) "TheTar- kasangraha," translated into HindS from the Sanskrit and English. (3.) "The Siddhantasangraha," trans- lated into Hinds from the Sanskrit and English. (3.) "Hinde Reader," with Preface, Notes, and Vocabu- lary. The last-named work of this section was pub- lished at Hertford, in England, the other two at Allah- abad and Agra, respectively. Philological: (1.) "Recent Exemplifications of False Philology; New York, 1873. (3.) "Modern English ;" New York and London, 1873. (3.) "On English Adjectives in -able," with special reference to "Reliable;" London, 1877. Miscellaneous: (1.) "The Rajanlti," in the Braj Bhasha language, with preface, notes, and glossary ; Allahabad, 1854. (3.) "Classical Selections;" Agra, 1855. (3.) "A Contribution towards an Index to the Bibliogi-aphy of the Indian Philosophical Systems ;" CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. i5g Calcutta, 1859. (4.) "A Rational Refutation of the Hindu Philosophical Systems," translated from the Hindfi and Sanskrit ; Calcutta, 1862. (5.) "Benares, Ancient and Modern ; "a monograph ; Hertford, 1868. (6.) "The Vishnupm-ana;'' annotated edition of Pro- fessor H. H. Wilson's translation; London, 1864^ 1877. The second part of the fifth and last volume of this work consists of an index of 368 pages. Of the rest of this large work at least a fifth part is taken up with the editor's notes, corrective, corroboratory and supplemental. Mr. Hall has, further, edited, in old Scotch, a work by William Lauder, which has passed through two editions, and most of the writings of Sir David Lyndesay. Other works to which he has served as editor are specified at the end of his treatise, " On Adjectives in -able, " etc. To periodical and other publications Mr. Hall has been a voluminous contribu- tor. In India, to TJie Benares Magazine, Zedlie's Misaellany, Tlw Benares Reoorderr, The Englishman, The Hurkam,, and The Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal; in England, to The Pairtlwnon, The Reader, The Quarciian, The Pall Mall Gazette, Notes and Queries, Trulmer's Litefrary Record, Chamber's Gyclo- pmdia, The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, etc., etc.; and in America, to Soribner's Monthly, I/ippin- cott's Magazine, The North American Review, The Nation, The Independent, The Tribune, The Journal of the American Oriental Society, etc., etc. HALL, BENJAMIN HOMER, lawyer of Troy, N. Y., is the fourth child and third son of Daniel and Anjinette (Pitch) Hall, and was born at Troy November 14th, 1830, at which place he has since re- sided. His early education was pursued in several of the private schools of his native city until his fifteenth year, when he was placed at Phillips' Andover Acad- emy, which was then in charge of that renowned clas- sical teacher, since deceased, Dr. Samuel H. Taylor. After remaining there a year, he was admitted a mem- ber of the freshman class at Harvard College in 1847, and was graduated atthat institution in 1851, having en- joy ed its advantages during a portion of the presidencies of the Hon. Edward Everett and Dr. Jared Sparks. In his senior year he prepared and published a work en- titled "A Collection of College Words and Customs." This production appeared anonymously, the author being apprehensive that the faculty of the college might not regard its publication with favor. The fear was, however, groundless, for the author's name be- coming known, he was soon after honored by being made the recipient of the three histories of Harvard College then extant, in each of the volumes of which were inscribed in the handwriting of the President, these words : "Presented to Mr. Benj. H. Hall by the Cor- poration of Harvard University, June 18, 1851. Jared Sparks, Prest." A second edition of the work, re- vised and enlarged, appeared in 1856. With reference to this production, a writer in the Horns Journal remarked, " Though claiming no merit on the score of literaiy composition, yet it is an ingenious, curious, and elaborate compilation of all the odd sayings and doings characteristic of college life ; and is, therefore, particu- larly welcome to the numerous graduates of different in- stitutions who will find in it a fair mirror of the happiest daysof their lives." Possessing a taste for historical re- search and investigation, and his attention having been turnedtothe differences which early prevailed regarding the j urisdiction of the New Hampshire Grants, now Ver- mont, he was induced to begin the collecting of mate- rials relative to that subject and cognate matters. The result of his studies in this direction wa^ the publica- tion in 1858 of a " History of Eastern Vermont from the earliest settlement to the close of the eighteenth century, with a biographical chapter and appendices." This work is embraced in a large Svo volume of more than 800 pages, and contains 41 illustrations. The es- timate placed upon it by the North American Reoiew is as follows : " It is full of exciting incident, and of the play of such passions and the exercise of such vir- tues, as on an extended theatre produce world-famous conspirators, traitors, heroes and patriots. The author sustains himself throughout with unflagging spirit, and his book will be read with unwearying interest. Not the least engaging portion of the work is an extended biographical chapter which records all that tradition has transmitted of some thirty or forty of the chief citizens of Eastern Vermont during the last centm-y, with autographs and portraits where they could be procured." In the year 1856 Mr. Hall was admitted to the practice of the law, which profession he has since followed, his partner at one time having been the late Hon. George Van Santvoord, whose treatises on Equity Practice and Practice under the Code of the State of New York are recognized as authorities. In 1860 Mr. Hall prepared "A Descriptive Catalogue of Books and Pamphlets relating to the History and Sta- tistics of Vermont, or portions of it," which was pub- lished by Cliarles B. Norton of New York city, and formed the third number in his series known as "Bib- liography of the United States." When the news of the death of Lincoln was first announced, Mr. Hall began to make a collection of whatever he could obtain that was either printed or publicly spoken in the city of Troy concerning that distinguished statesman, and followed up this undertaking to and including June 1st, 1865, the day appointed by President Johnson to be observed "as a day of humiliation and mom-ning." From the productions thus obtained, embracing, among i6o CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. others, many of the solemn addresses pronounced dur- ing this long period of mourning from the twenty-three pulpits of eight different denominations, he compiled a work which was published in the latter part of the year 1865, and was entitled "A Tribute of Respect by the Citizens of Troy to the Memory of Abraham Lin- coln.'' It was comprised in a volume of 383 8vo pages, and among the various works which have been pub- lished concerning Mr. Lincoln, it is believed there is no one that sets forth so fully, and in such a variety of forms, the phases of feeUng and the expressions of sympathy of any community in view of this sad event as does this publication. Mr. Hall contributed to the volume a poem embodying very accurately the sentiment of the North regarding Mr. Lincoln in view of his eventful life and death. Mr. Hall has also en- gaged in a variety of miscellaneous literary work on different occasions. " The Tale of the Whale," writ- ten by him for Our Young Folks, with illustrations by Hoppin, and which appeared in that magazine in Sep- tember, 1866, is worthy of notice, as a semi-legendary rhythmical narration of an incident in the early history of New Netherlands. He was one of the authors inter- ested in the preparation of the ' ' Harvard Book, " which appeared in two large quarto volumes in 1875, and wrote the chapters on "College Commons," for that elegant and complete publication. From March, 1858 to March, 1859, he was City Clerk of the city of Troy, and was Chamberlain of that city from April, 1874 to September, 1877. On June 1st, 1859, he married Mar- garet McConn Lane, the third daughter of Jacob B. Lane, Esq. , late of Troy, deceased. LEWI, JOSEPH, M.D., was born in Badnitz, Austria, August, 1830. His parents, Elias and Rosa (Resek) Lewi, were natives of the same place. After having been thoroughly trained in the primary studies in the Gymnasium of Pilsen, Dr. Lewi attended the academy in Prague for the rprose- cution of the more advanced branches of his educa- tion, and, commencing the study of medicine there, he subsequently continued it at Vienna, where he was intimately associated with Moritz Hartman, Salomon Mosenthal, and Leopold Kompert, and was graduated at the Medical University of that city, having attended the lectures of Hyrtl, Oppolzer, Rokitanzki, Hebra, Schuh, Skoda, Rosas, and other eminent authorities of the time. Returning to practice in his native town, he remained there a year, and then, at the out- break of the "March Revolution," like many of his countrymen, looking to the Western World, and seeing what seemed to be a larger 'and more productive field of labor, he decided to emigrate to the United States. Coming hither in 1848, he chose Albany as his future home, and has found abundant and remunerative ex- ercise for his scientific skill and experience in that city, among the medical practitioners of which he holds a liigh position. He is an active member of the New York State Medical Society, and other associa- tions of the city and State ; a past President of the Albany County Medical Society; and is connected also with many of those institutions which depend upon the medical profession for their maintenance and their efficiency, and in some cases for their very existence. In addition to his labors in the interest of his pro- fession he has been for the past nine years a mem- ber of the Board of Public Instruction of the city of Albany, and was recently re-elected for a term of three years. The importance of such a connection is not to be overestimated, in view of the fact, that none can so well know, and knowing, provide for, the physical and intellectual necessities of the young, as the wise, educated, and experienced physician. Dr. Lewi's literary attainments are of a high order, while his scientific learning and experience are such as to give him a prominent standing in the fraternity. His contributions to the "professional literature," are numerous, and include papers on "Puerperal Fe- ver," "Idiopathic Peritonitis;" Proa. Med. Society State New York, 1873 ; &c. He was married in 1849, to Bertha Schwarz, a native of Hesse Cassel — the daughter of Joseph E. Schwarz, a theologian of that city — and has fourteen living children, of whom, one (Dr. Maurice J. Lewi), is at present resident physi- cian and surgeon of the Albany Hospital, of which institution Dr. Lewi is one of the attending physi- cians. HALLETT, ARNOLD, M.D., was born In St. John's, New Brunswick, Dec. 11th, 1835. His parents were Samuel and Hannah (Moore) Hallett. Hav- ing finished a grammar school course in his native place, Dr. Hallett commenced the pursuit of his med- ical studies, in 1844, with Dr. Robert Bayard, of St. John's, formerly of New York. He subsequently ma- triculated at the University of New York, and gradu- ated in medicine in 1848. Soon after receiving his de- gree, he was retained as medical adviser by the Dela- ware and Hudson Canal Company, at Rondout, the cholera, then epidemic, having broken out among the men employed by that corporation in the construction of the canal. There he rendered aid and comfort to a large number of men and gathered useful and valuable experience. He settled in Brooklyn in 1851, and has since that time been widely identified with its medical and benevolent enterprises. During the eai-ly part of CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. i6i Ms career in that city, Dr. Hallett was, for a term of four years, attending physician of the Broolilyn Cen- tral ITispensary. Upon tlie organization of the Long Island College Hospital, he was elected to serve on its medical staff as adjunct physician, and has for the last ten years been one of the attending physicians of that institution. He was also, at one time, connected in the same capacity with the Brooklyn Home for Consumptives, and has been, since the establishment of the Sheltering Arms Nursery, one of its consulting physicians. He is a member of the Kings County Medical Society, and of various other kindred associ- ations. Dr. Hallett is an eminent practitioner, whose reputation is co-extensive with the growth of the med- ical organizations with which he is connected. His ser- vices as a consulting physician are too well known to need more than mention here. He is a man of un- wearied industry and conscientious fidelity, in the dis- charge of the duties incident to his official relations, in addition to those of a large practice. Clear and de- cided in diagnosis, and evincing a keen perception of the requirement of a case. Dr. Hallett moves on with a calm persistency in the use of recognized means, that in most cases compels success. He was married, in 1856, to Miss Margaretta Addams, of Brooklyn. SMITH, HON. CYRUS PORTER, was born on the 5th of April, 1800, at Hanover, New Hampshire, and was the son of Edward and Hannah Smith. His early life was spent on the farm of his parents, where he acquired the physical strength and rugged- ness which never forsook him during his long life. Al- though enabled to attend the district schools during the winter months only, this privilege increased rather than appeased his thirst for knowledge. With the spirit of determination through means of which, aided by patient endeavor, so much of his later success was accomplished, he set to work to prepare himself for college, not deeming lack of means an insurmountable obstacle. The aid of his brother Noah, who had already commenced the collegiate coiu-se, was invoked, and while still a youth he entered Dartmouth College, his brother's training enablinghim to pass the prelimi- nary examination in the classics and in the higher English branches. While in college he supported himself by teaching district schools in New Hampshire and Vermont every winter. In 1824 he was graduated with honor, and determining to enter the legal pro- fession, went to Hartford, Connecticut, where he en- tered the law office of Chief Justice T. S. Williams. With slender means and away from home, his situa- tion at this period was not an enviable one, but by teaching singing school during the winter months he managed to add sufficiently to his comforts to make It endurable, and full of determination and hope, prose- cuted his studies. In 1827 he was admitted to the bar. In looking about for a place to settle, his atten- tion was attracted to the then thriving village of Brooklyn, Long Island, the future importance of which his keen perception showed was inevitable. Accord- ingly, in the fall of 1827, he removed thither, and set- tling himself commenced the practice of his profession. The population of Brooklyn, which had been an incor- porated village for eleven years, was at this time eight thousand persons, fifteen hundred of whom were voters. Without a single friend, and with but a small sum of money, the young lawyer took up his abode among them and resolved to work and wait. It is said that more than seven months passed before he saw a client or made a dollar, but undismayed by this hard fortune, he con- tinued cheerfully to exercise his intelligence and com- mon sense, and ere long reaped a reward. His natu- rally sociable disposition led him to connect himself with several local societies as they became organized, and his many good qualities speedily won him many friends. He became a member of the sole Presbyte- rian church in the village, and joining the choir soon became its leader. He 'took a prominent part in the singing — having a fine baritone voice — and under Ins training and direction the choir became a noted and excellent one. He was also active in other affairs of the church, and became one of the Board of Trustees. and finally its President. As fortune smiled upon him he became a liberal benefactor of the church (Dr. Cox's First Presbyterian), and through his devotion to it, manifested up to the last day of his life, may be judged the sincerity of his religious convictions. Mr. Smith's first experience in politics was during the Jackson Presidential campaign in 1828. He was an active Whig, and, although scarcely thirty years of age, was the associate and friend of the local leaders and magnates of this party. In 1838 he received his first public recognition by being appointed clerk of the village Board of Trus- tees, an appointment he held for two years. By this- time he had become well known and moderately suc- cessful as a lawyer, and when, in 1835, the village was chartered as a city, he was elected Corporation Counsel by the Board of Aldermen. His practice was now equal to that of any other lawyer in Brooklyn. In 1839 he resigned the direction of the legal affairs of the city to accept the executive function, having been chosen Mayor by the Aldermanic body, with whom at that time the appointing power resided. Mr. Smith was the fourth incumbent of that office, the other three in their order of precedence being George Hall, Jona- than Trotter, and Jeremiah Johnson. His adminis- tration was characterized by the energy and earnest- ness with which it undertook and prosecuted every l62 CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. measui-e for the advancement of the city, and equally noted for the honest rigidity with which the expendi- ture of the people's money was conducted. The power of election being now vested in the people, they testi- fied their appreciation of his worth and services by a strong vote in his favor in the election of 1840. Alto- gether he filled the office of Mayor three years and four months. At the time of liis election the city of Brooklyn covered a district of twelve square miles, •with thirty-five miles of well-regulated, paved, lighted streets, twenty-three churches, three banks, whose united capital scarcely equalled one million dollars, and two markets. The population numbered about thirty thousand persons, and had a small police force and a suitable fire department. Upon his retirement from the mayoralty he devoted his attention princi- pally to his profession, but still continued to interest himself in whatever promised to be of permanent bene- fit to the city. In 1843, the question of supplying the city with gas being agitated, he sought and obtained an election as Alderman of the third ward, in order that he might exert his influence in an official way to bring about so needed an improvement. Another mat- ter to which he devoted his earnest attention from the first was the improvement of f eiTy communication be- tween the cities of New Tork and Brooklyn, and upon the establishment of the Union Perry Company be- came one of its trustees, and subsequently its Jlanag- ing Director, holding the latter office from 1855 till the time of his death. In this position he served the interests of the people in the most faithful manner, giving personal attention to every matter, from the low- est to the highest, and winning by his energetic and efficient course the unqualified approbation of the pub- lic. In 1856 he was elected to the State Senate and again m 1857 received a re-election. "While in this body he won an enviable reputation as a man who looked with a single eye to the people's good. He served as Chairman of the important Committee on Commerce and Navigation, one of the duties of which was establishing the shore lines of the city of New York and Brooklyn. In January, 1869, Mr. Smith was ap- pointed the acting President of the Brooklyn City Kailroad Company. This position, in connection with the Presidency of the Union Ferry Company, placed under his direction and control two of the greatest in- terests in Brooklyn, which he always sought to manage in the true interest of the people while faithfully per- forming his duty to the stockholders. Mr. Smith was one of the incorporators of the Greenwood Cemetery Association, which has given to the people of Brooklyn a resting-place for the dead unequalled, in almost every respect, by that of any other in the- world. In con- nection with the late Robert Nichols he founded a • hospital which was placed in charge of the regular faculty of medicine, and is now the Brooklyn City Hospital. For many years previous to his decease Mr. Smith was President of this institution. He was a Trustee of the House of Refuge on Randall's Island, and was connected with numerous beneficent and phi- lanthropic enterprises. In the work of education he was also warmly interested, his activity in this special field dating from a very early period in his career. As his influence extended he exerted it to the utmost to elevate the tone and increase the usefulness of the public schools. Hs became a member of the Board of Education and labored in it for thirty years — twenty- one of which he was its President — ^receiving on his retirement the warmest acknowledgments from the press, public, and associates, for his long and efficient service and faithful performance of duty. The Packer and Polytechnic Institutes — two of the most celebrated educational establishments of the city — re- ceived his consideration and support from their foun- dation. To exhibit the character and influence of Mr. Smith more fully than is set forth by the preced- ing facts, is unnecessary. The institutions in which his name and influence will survive him are those which will endure In Brooklyn forever. It has been said of him by a competent authority that "his monu- ment rests on a base as broad as our school system, and our ferries, and our j-aUroads. He pushed Brook- lyn far toward full cityhood. Those who are com- pleting the task never found in any other a better friend, nor in the lives of others wiU ever find a better incentive and example in their mighty labor." At the ripe age of seventy-seven years, and in the midst of his useful labors, Mr. Smith was stricken down by a fatal disease, from which he had suffered for several years, and died, after a short Illness, on the 13th of February, 1877, leaving a wife — with whom he had passed more than half a century, and who survived him but a few months — and four sons and a daughter. fARNER, PETER R., President of the North River Insurance Company, was born in New York city, on the 13th of March, 1804. His father was Leonard Warner, a respected merchant of the city ; and his mother, Susan Roome Warner, was a member of the Roome family. His father was a lineal descendant of Anneke Jans. Mr. Warner at- tended the private schools of his native city till his fourteenth year, when he entered the counting-room of the New York Sugar Refining Company, remaining there a little over two years. He next entered the employment of Messrs. Kip & Ingram, hardware and iron merchants, and continued with F. S. WyckofE, who shortly afterwards succeeded that firm. On the CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. l6^ 8th of April, 1832, he entered the office of the North River Insurance Company, then recently organized, and has remained identified with that Company, except for a brief period, to the present day, passing from the desk of the clerk to the chair of the President, by regular and deserved promotion, and contributing the energies and labor of over laalf a century of his life to its service and success. That Mr. Warner has been connected with this Company since the first year of its osgahization, and that he may justly be termed the present father of it, renders a brief notice of its rise and progress particularly appropriate in his biographi- cal sketch, the more so as this period of his life may be said to cover the whole of his honorable and extended business career. The North Biver Insurance Com- pany originated in the mind of the late Captain Rich- ard Whiley, a wealthy and respected citizen of the west side of the city, who, from the success attending the establishment of the North River Bank, in 1821, was led to infer that a Fire Insurance Company, located in the same vicinity, would supply a want of the resi- dents of that side of the city and meet with similar approval and support. This gentleman accordingly laid the project before a number of his friends, many of whom were warmly identified with the interests of the west side of the city, and prominent in social and business circles. The organization of a company was immediately determined upon, and articles of in- corporation drawn up and submitted to the Legisla^ lature, from which, on the 6th of February, 1822, a charter was obtained, wliich provided for a capital of $350,000, divided into fourteen thousand shares of $25 each. On the 25th of the same month, the subscrip- tion books were opened. The correctness of Captain "Whiley's supposition met with immediate verification, for vrtthin the few hours that the books were opened, more than one thousand subscriptions were received for an aggregate of upwards of 64,000 shares, or almost five times the capital required. The first policy was issued on the 6th day of March following, the business offices of the Company being opened at No. 192 (now 313) Greenwich street, where, after the lapse of fifty- five years, they still remain. In the ensuing August, owing to the general desertion of the lower part of the city, by reason of the prevalence of yellow fever, which broke out in the vicinity of Trinity Church and spread rapidly, the offices were removed to No. 299 Broadway, near the corner of Duane street. A month later a further removal was made to a building in Hammond street, near Bleecker (then Herring) street, where the business was conducted until the 1st of No- vember, in the same year, when it was returned to the original location. At the time the North River Com- pany was established, there were nine other Cpmpa^ nies in existence, viz : the Mutual, (since changed to the Knickerbocker), Washington, Eagle, Globe, Frank- lin, Fulton, Merchants, Mechanics, and Manliattan. About the year 1834, the tariff of rates, which had been adopted in 1831, and had governed all the Com- panies, was abandoned, and every Company was left to name its own premium. At the beginning of 1826, there were thirty-one Companies in operation, and the number was constantly increasing. As there was no corresponding increase in insurable property, and no established rates of premium, a ruinous competition was developed, which threatened the destruction of the entire business. To avoid this disastrous result, an association was formed, in January of the above year, and remained in operation till 1843. This association, which comprised the leading Companies of the city, including the North River Company, adopted uniform rates of premium, after having placed them on what was deemed a safe basis. Notwithstanding these pre- cautions, however, many of the Companies were ob- liged to discontinue business, and by 1832, the mmiber doing business . in the city was reduced to nineteen. The rates about this time, though generally unif oi-m, were not commensurate with the risks, especially in the business quarter of the city, where the construction find alteration of many buildings and stores was then extensively going on. The Directors of the North River, with that commendable prudence, which in the present as in the past is a marked characteristic of this Company, and which has proved no less profitable than wise, choosing to limit its business in prefer- ence to incurring the chances of ruin, decUued, about the year 1834, to assume many risks in this extra haz- ardous locality. The occurrence in the winter of the following year, of the disastrous conflagration which laid the lower part of the city in ashes, and which is known in history as the great fire of 1835, showed the wisdom and timeliness of this proceeding. But seven of the twenty-five Companies then in existence in the city, survived the terrible calamity ; the rest were ruined. Even those Companies which were enabled to continue business suffered a serious impairment of capi- tal, although they eventually recovered from the mis- fortune. It is worthy of note, as a rather singular circumstance, that sixteen of the eighteen ruined Com- panies were denizens of Wall street, and it was gen- erally conceded at the time, that the safety of the sur- viving Companies was due in a great degree to the fact that their offices were all somewhat distant from that busy centre. The great fire left the North River Company with a capital of $230,000 — or a deficiency of $130,000, which was recovered by its business in two years and ten months succeeding the fire, although the losses sustained within that period amounted to $111,318.31, which, with the expenses, were met by the business and the capital restored to its original 1 64 CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. amount. In achieving this result, it was found neces- sary to pass six dividends. In 1843, the association •of Fire Companies which had been formed in 1836, was dissolved. Being now without a guide for regulating premiums, each Company insured for what- •ever rate could be obtained, and again an undesirable competition was engendered, which brought the rates ruinously low. This loose method of conducting business received a wholesome check in July, 1845, ■when the second great conflagi-ation, known as the Broad street flre, took place. At this time there were about thirty Fire Companies in operation in the city. Of these, six were completely ruined by the disaster, and several others were obliged to suspend soon after- wards. The North Elver Company came out of the ordeal with a slight impairment of capital, amounting to $15,000, which, however, was recovered through its business in a short time, it being only necessary to pass one dividend. It is a strong testimony to the ability of the management of the Company, that on neither of the occasions when the capital was impaired, were the stockholders called on to make up the defi- ciency. With the foregoing exceptions, the Company has never passed a dividend since the first one was de- clared, at the end of its first business year, in March, 1823. It has recently declared its one hundred and second dividend. Mr. Warner, who on the 1st of July, 1835, had been elected Secretary of the Company, was raised to the Presidency on the 11th of March, 1847. Educated in the business from his early youth, he as- sumed this responsible position well qualified to dis- charge its duties. His course, in the management of the Company during the past thirty years, has been distinguished for its prudence and remarkable for its success. The eminently honorable character of the man, and the strict business integrity of the officer, have shed additional lustre on a Company whose re- cord is without a stain ; and the high estimation In which the Company is held, is due no less to his un- wearying and unpretentious efforts to fill the full meas- ure of Ms duties, than to his own unsullied reputation, both in social and business life. So well have the affairs of the Company been managed during Mr. Warner's administration, that to state the result devoid of technicalities and as shown by the Company's pub- lished reports, the profits of the business during the past thirty j^ears have been such as to enable the pay- ment to stockholders of an annual dividend of ten per cent., besides taxes on stock, and also of an amount equal to the original subscriptions. All this, too, des- pite the large increase in the number of Companies, and the great reductions in rates which has obliged the refusal of many risks, the rates offered not being at all commensm-ate with the danger incurred. Of the original promoters and Directors of the Company, the only one still living is Wm. C. Rhinelander. Mr. Wai-ner is the senior President in the fire insurance business. Indeed, since the foundation of this busi- ness, no other presiding officer, and for that matter no other official in any capacity, has had such an extended lease of office; and it may truly be said that none could deserve it more. But Mr. AVarner's usefulness has not been limited to the field of business. Although filling a position fraught with responsibilities and en- tailing constant watchfulness and direction, he has dis- charged his duties to society and to religion with even greater assiduity. He is a member of the Reformed Church, and for a number of years served in the Board of Directors of that religious body, a greater part of the time being President of the Board. His resigna- tion of the office of President was tendered at the Seventieth General Synod of the Reformed Church in America, held at Kingston, N. Y., in June, 1876, and was reluctantly accepted, the foUovring resolution being unanimously adopted, and by a rising vote : ' " Resdhed, That the thanks of the Synod be hereby tendered to Mr. Peter R. Warner, for his long and faithful services in the Board of Direction, and that we add the fervent prayer that he may be abundantly rewarded by the great Head of the Church." Though somewhat advanced in years, Mr. Warner still prefers an active life, and his unclouded intellect and clear judgment seem to defy the ravages of time. Cheerfully and diligently he attends to the duties of his responsible position, serene in the possession of a ripe old age, and an unsullied and honorable record. &ITN]SmsrG, THOMAS BRIAJST, a leading dental surgeon of New York city, is a native of London, England, who came to New York at an early period in his life. While quite young he showed a strong aptitude for mechanical pursuits, and as he approached manhood developed a decided taste for surgery and medical studies. In deciding upon a profession, he chose dentistry, which seemed to afford proper scope for the exercise of his natural abilities. The wis- dom of tliis choice has been amply demonstrated by an active, useful life, the beneficial results of which, to the dental and medical professions, and to the world at large, have been of the most signal chai-acter. In March, 1840, Dr. Gunning commenced the study of dentistry in the office of John Burdell, one of the most famous dental surgeons of that time, and "a special patron of the Dental Journal" which had been es- tablished in June of the preceding year, and was the earliest dental periodical in the world. This Burdell was also well-known as an advocate of vegetarianism, and his writings on health, attracted considerable at- CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. I65 tention. Many who read them visited his oflBce, oppo- site the City Hall Parle, for advice and treatment. This afEorded the young student a fine field for observation and study, not merely in the treatment of affections of the teeth, but in other and gi'aver forms of disease and injmy; At this period dentistry was in its infancy, for though the Ameriaan Journal of Dental Sdenoe had been started in 1839, the American Society of Dental Surgeons was not organized till August, 1840. Many of the practitioners of dentistry had attended the regular medical schools, and graduated in medicine before entering upon the practice of their specialty. But in obedience to a real want of the profession, the Balti- more College of Dental Surgery was opened in the fall of 1840, and its first class of two members, was graduated on the 9th of March, in the following year. At the close of the second year, the college graduated three more, and conferred its honorary degree upon eighteen practitioners of dentistry. The splendid op- portunities enjoyed by Dr. Gunning in the office of Dr. Burdell rendered it unnecessary for him to attend the Baltimore College, but as many dental students studied surgery in the medical schools. Dr. Gunning decided on pursuing the same plan, and accordingly devoted a considerable portion of his time to anatomy and to other branches of medicine. Frequently at this time dental surgeons attended only to the natural teeth, and their immediate connections, relegating the de- partment of artificial teeth, to the mechanical dentists. Although this plan was followed by a number of the leading members of the profession. Dr. Gunning was not disposed to adopt it, judging from observation that a knowledge of all departments, and the ability to do conscientious work in each, were required of a good dental practitioner. His natural thoroughness, also, made him look upon this division of labor as a weak attempt at evading either work or responsibility, and therefore he determined in his practice to include all branches of the profession. Many difficulties beset this attempt. The manufacture of porcelain teeth was then in its infancy. The supply was frequently not suited to the special case, and the dentist was then obliged to make them himself. This required a knowledge of the manufacture of porcelain, and also of the coloring materials necessary to give a natural appearance to artificial teeth. Furthermore, success in the mechanical department was impossible without a knowledge of refining, mixing and working gold, silver and other metals. All these branches Dr. Gunning studied faithfully, in addition to his regular medical and surgical com-se, and gave his earnest at- tention also, to whatever could be called an improve- ment in the art. His persistent endeavors resulted in a marked degree of proficiency. Not only did he become a dexterous manipulator and a clever and ex- perienced dental surgeon, but also an expert mechani- cian. The American Society of Dental Surgeons, soon after its formation in 1840, took strong action upon the amalgam question, and appointed a committee to report on "mineral paste" as a filling for decayed teeth. At the first annual meeting of the society, the report of the committee, condemning all fillings con- taining mercury, and approving gold only, was unani- mously adopted. So bitter was the discussion which ensued that by the year 1847, but five of the two hundred, dentists of New York city were on the society's list of members. On the 30th of October, 1847, a meeting of about forty dentists of the city was held, and it was resolved to form a Btate Dental Society. A further meeting, which lasted two days, was held in November, and the leading opponents of amalgam, worked strenuously in opposition to the formation of a new society, while on the other hand, a determined effort was made to invest it with the power to grant diplomas. This measure, which might have made the society a public nmsance, was strongly opposed by Dr. Gunning, who subsequently received warm thanks for his successful effort for the protection of the interests of the profession, and for the welfare of the public at large. His course, however, awakened so much ill-feeling that he did not join the new society, although he was strongly opposed to the course taken, in condemning those who used amalgam. In 1850 the American Society of Dental Surgeons repealed its resolutions against the use of amalgam. It also dis- continued the publication of the Dental Journal, which was transferred to Professor C. A. Harris of Balti- more. Dr. Gunning's experience with anaesthetics dates almost from their very first introduction to public notice. In 1846 and 1847 he made frequent experiments with ether and chloroform, wluch were then attracting the attention of the surgical ijrofession. He was present at the first administration of nitrous oxide gas, in the New York hospital, which, although superintended by its introducer. Dr. Horace "Wells, was unsuccessful. Dr. Gunning's experience and observa- tion soon led him to the conclusion that the employ- ment of ansesthetics was not advisable, except in very severe operations. For operations on the teeth Dr. Gunning prefers the skilled hand, and condemns the use of machines. His views in respect to the manage- ment of irregular teeth in childhood differ radically with all who have written upon this subject. In child- hood if the teeth press or hit each other into irregular position, no other injmy results, and Dr. Gunning's practice is to guide the teeth into proper position during their growth, and not to wait until they are firmly held by their full-grown sockets. In the early days of dentistry artificial teeth were set upon bone or sea-horse plates, which although highly valued, were 1 66 CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. apt to decay in the mouth, and otherwise prove annoy- ing or unserviceable. This led to the substitution of metal plates, to which were fitted porcelain teeth. Dr. Gunning's inventive genius devised a plan which enabled the dentist to produce a metal plate greatly superior to those made by the ordinary methods. But the introduction of hard rubber, or vulcanite, effected a still further improvement, and about the year 1860, the vulcanite plates became so perfect as to be superior in many respects to the best made of metal. In 1861, Dr. Gunning put the hard rubber to a still further use by his invention of interdental splints for the treat- ment of fractures of the jaw. This valuable improve- ment, which could only have suggested itself to the practiced eye of a sm-geon, was a most surprising advance on the old, bungling and painful methods of deaUng with these injuries, and though slow in making its way into general use, owing to the jealousy of those who should have been the most earnest in com- mending it, several circumstances conspired to bring it into favorable notice in America, and to introduce it to the attention of European surgeons. The first rubber splint was applied in the case of a seaman, left by a Spanish frigate in the United States Naval Hospital, New York ; his jaw remaining ununited, after four months' treatment under the usual methods. Dr. Gunning was called in consultation. He applied a splint on February 12th, 1861, and the man was sent home cured in May. In November, 1863, Dr. Gunning sustained, through his horse falling, a compound fracture in the lower jaw, which he himself successfully treated vrith his splint. The case was brought before the New York Academy of Medicine in January, 1863, and reported in their bulle- tin. The Medical Society of the State of New York also published an elaborate account of it in their an- nual volume. The splints were soon applied in a num- ber of cases, and in October, 1863, Dr. Gunning re- ceived the thanks of the Academy of Medicine to- gether with a request that he report further respect- ing a splint for general use. In June, 1864, Dr. Gun- ning read a paper on his invention before the Aca- demy of Medicine. In this paper he gave a full description of the methods necessary to treat every variety of fractured lower jaw ; he also described a splint for the use of medical practitioners and for hos- pital treatment of oases where a splint cannot be made for the case. Dr. Gunning's practice, however, was to make a splint for each particular case, and by that means never failed to secure a union of the bone, al- though many of the injm-ies submitted to his treat- ment were quite old and a number of them much com- plicated by the attempts to control the fractures by bandages. In April, 1865, when the assassination of the President of the United States, and the attempt upon the life of the Hon. "William H. Seward, Secre- tary of State, filled the public mind with horror, and with the most painful anxiety lest the in- juries inflicted on the latter should also result fatally. Dr. Gunning was called to Washington to at- tend him. Ten days before, when thrown from his carriage, the Secretary had sustained a dangerous fracture of the jaw, which proved unmanageable by the surgeons in attendance, and was now gravely compli- cated by the cuts inflicted in the attempt to kiU him. Dr. Gunning, on seeing the patient, corrected the diagnosis and explained the treatment necessary for the case, but the surgeons in attendance concluded that the patient was then too weak to proceed, although Dr. Gunning opposed delay. Finally, on the 39th, he set the fractures without their assistance. The splint held the jaw in place so perfectly that Mr. Seward was at once able to talk without discomfort, and soon to attend the meetings of the Cabinet and discharge the other duties of his office. The result of Dr. Gunning's treatment may be further judged of by the following extract from a letter to him from Secre- tary Seward : "I am indebted to you for a more effective and per- fect restoration from dangerous fractures than could have been obtained from any other hand or under any system of treatment than that new one which you so energetically and skilfully applied." The recommendation that Dr. Gunning be called in to attend this case came from Surgeon B. F. Bache, Director of the United States Laboratory. Surgeon- General Barnes was also advised from Richmond of the great value of the interdental hard rubber splints which had been used in the Confederate army hospi- tals with remarkable success. Mr. Seward's case, to- gether with others selected to illustrate the treatment of every description of fracture of the jaw, was pub- lished in 1866 in the New York Medical Journal. It is a fact universally admitted by the medical profes- sion that fractures of the inferior maxillary are more difficult of management than those of any other bone, and their treatment has not added greatly to the re- nown of even the most clever surgeons. The success of Dr. Gunning in this case — one in which the civil- ized world manifested the warmest interest — was so marked as to attract the attention of several distin- guished foreign personages, among these the Prussian Minister to the United States, Baron Gefolt, who in- vited Dr. Gunning to communicate with his govern- ment in relation to his valuable invention. In 1867 Dr. Gunning's treatment was clearly set forth by Christopher Heath, F.R.C.S., in the Jacksonian Prize Essay of the Royal College of Surgeons of Eng- land. Another invention of Dr. Gunning is his hard rubber appliance to supplement the congenital cleft palate. In 1864 he took up the treatment of this CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. 167 deformity, as the appliances in use were constructed on wrong principles and those of soft rubber were also very perishable. The hard-rubber palate which he devised can be worn from early childhood and thus prevent the formation of bad habits in speaking and secure a good tone of voice. It also improves the general health, as it is worn without intermission and thus covers parts which in normal conditions are closed in. In 1866 Dr. Gunning, with Surgeon-General Barnes and four other gentlemen, was appointed to decide upon medical instruments for which space was asked in the Paris Exposition of 1867. He also sent printed descriptions and electrotype plates, illustrating his treatment, to Paris, to assist in establishing the "American Sanitary Museum" which it was intended to open at the time of the Exposition. In the Cen- tennial Exhibition of 1876 Dr. Gunning's exhibits explained his peculiar views arid methods of treatment very completely. The splints included those showmg what was required for every description of fractured jaw ; one was that used by Dr. Gunning on his own jaw after he had set it himself, also those used in the Hon. William H. Seward's case, and others in cases of the severest character from the battle-fields of the civil war. One splint, of the simplest form, had been ap- plied under circumstances which afforded perhaps the strongest testimony to his surgical skill and courage. It was that used in a case which arose from the terri- ble stage accident in the White Mountains in 1873. The patient, about twenty years old, brought a writ- ten protest against any interference with the result of the previous surgical efforts. Upon examinution it was seen that his jaw had united firmly but so distort- ed that speech was interfered with, eating even more difficult, and the irregularity in front very unsightly. Dr. Gunning at once decided to rescue him from his distressing condition, and, after taking the impression, cut and broke the jaw apart. The patient bore this ter- rible ordeal heroically, without anaesthetics, rallied well while the splint was making, and the day it was applied used his jaw in eating. In sixty days the splint was left off, leaving no trace of the injury. This case showed conclusively the advantage of splints, as the impression was taken with the jaw displaced, the plaster cast being cut apart and adjusted to make the splint. The jaw was therefore set by pressing it into the splint. His "exhibits "of hard rubber ap- pliances for supplementing "congenital cleft palate," were facsimiles. One was that of a case in which a soft rubber appliance had been found useless and unbear- able ; the hard rubber applicance was, however, worn continuously. Another case was so severe that surgical treatment had failed repeatedly. The hard rubber appliance, however, was quite successful, and it was worn night and day. There is no forward action of the constrictor muscles to interfere with a rigid palate, but before Dr. Gunning discovered their true action, flexibility of the artificial palate was supposed to be necessary, whereas it is a great disadvantage. One exhibit, that of an acquired injury reported fre- quently in surgical records, was shown to clear the way to an understanding of Dr. Gunning's most im- portant discovery, the source of the vowel sounds of speech. This exhibit was a cast of the head and face of Carlton Burgan, a soldier in the Federal army, who, while under treatment for typhoid pneumonia in a military hospital, lost the right eye, part of his nose, and adjacent cheek, half the upper lip, roof of the mouth, three out of the four front teeth, and all the others on the right side ; the lower lip being di'awn up on the right side and curving down two inches and a half to the left corner of the mouth. The opening in front, which could not be closed during speech, was larger in area than a circle two inches in diameter. The patient entered the New York Hospital December 31, 1862. His speech was then scarcely intelligible for want of the consonants, but his vowel sounds were very distinct. Dr. Gunning inserted a roof-plate and other appliances which at once enabled the man to speak fluently and swallow well. The subsequent plastic operations were not under Dr. Gunning's con- trol. His suggestions, however, modified them some- what, but in his judgment the cutting should not have exceeded one-thirtieth of that inflicted, and this is borne out by the photos shown in the Exhibition. The exhibit was moulded in the plaster casts taken by Dr. Gunning, before any attempt in substitution of the parts lost, and it therefore represented the man's face and all the cavity of the mouth to the soft palate, and of the nose to the back of the pharynx. In short, this plaster head showed the teeth, tongue and all the parts so perfectly that it was strictly a work of art, and it was the first one taken from the casts. Others were made from them, for the Army Medical Museum, Washington, for St. Petersburg, New York Hospital, and other places. Another very important exhibit was a skull, mounted to show how the jaw and head are controlled, fully demonstrating the correctness of the views set forth in his "Memoir on the Muscles of the Head, Neck, Jaw, and Palate," of wliich an ex- tract was published in the New York Medical Journal of 1867, entitled, "On the Physiological Action of the-Muscles concerned in the Movements of the Lower Jaw." This memoir also fm-nished material for the pamphlet on "The Larynx, the Source of Vowel Sounds," published in 1874 in the American Journal of Dental Science. The first explained the action of the muscles which open the mouth, showing that the jaw is depressed by muscles on a line with the opening of the ear, and not by those under the jaw, as stated by 1 68 CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. the anatomists and physiologists. This paper also pointed out the correct action of several other impor- tant muscles. In the pamphlet on the som-ce of the vowel sounds, to prove that tliey are not formed in the mouth, it is shown that imperfection in any part of this cavity, and even the loss of the tongue, does not pre- vent their enunciation, and also that the movements to form the consonants would make pure vowel sounds impossible in connection with them in any syllable, if the vowels were dependent on the form of the mouth cavity, the parts within it, or its outlet through the lips, as the consonants, for example, k, t, p, are formed by contact of the tongue with the palate, or the lips with each otlier, and in moving from or to this contact the vowel in the syllable would be changed if the vowel sounds were determined by the form of these parts, whereas syllables are continuous sounds whose vowel quality is not altered either by an initial or a terminal consonant. Further the movements of the vocal organs are so explained as to demonstrate that in speech, the parts above the epiglottis, in addition to forming the consonants, simply afiord a proper passage for the vowel sounds which are formed in the larynx. The plaster head representing Carlton Burgan's condition, to be seen in Washington, St. Petersburg and New York, even more clearly than the illustrations in the different records of his case, afford opportunities to investigators to arrive at a clear understanding that the source of the vowel sounds of human speech is in the larynx, as stated by Dr. Gunning ; at least the fact that the man could speak after the plastic operations had left his face so full of rigid cicatrices, is conclu- sive that the vowels are not formed in the mouth. Dr. Gunning also exhibited appliances used in regulating teeth according to his long-tried methods, which avoid continuous pressure. He also displayed a collection of plates and bases holding teeth. One base of cast tin, made in 1839, was probably the earliest attempt to avoid the disadvantages of stamped plates placed in the Exhibition. The others showed the changes in the dental plates made by Dr. Gunning for patients from the year 1 840 to 1876, except anew plate of hard rubber with porcelam teeth, an exact copy in shape of a continuous gum set placed beside it ; but the rubber set differed on a material point, for it was less than half as heavy. This rubber set presented a most singular contrast to the uncouth one of 1839, and illus- trated most forcibly, in common with the regulating appliances, those for fractured jaw and cleft palate, the importance of hard rubber. Of these exhibits only the last two classes were submitted in competi- tion. All however, were made instructive by clear descriptions, while the pampUets in the case upon the treatment of fracture of the jaw, upon the muscles which control it, and upon "The Larynx, the Source of the Vowel Sounds," gave full information. In the Centennial Commissioners' Report of the International Exhibition of 1876, Dr. Gunning's appliances for fractured jaws and cleft palate are fully described and illustrated. The report admits his splint to be the first ever used without an appliance outside the mouth, and minutely explains the splints for the different classes of fracture. Of the hard rubber appliance for cleft palate the report says, "This contrivance is a very marked improvement over all previous appliances for this distressing malformation." The report also ex- plains the advantages of this appliance and how it en- ables the wearer to utilize the action of the muscles of the cleft velum. Dr. Gunning's career presents an example of what the well-directed energies of one man may accomplish unaided. A student in 1840, he became a prominent surgeon dentist, of whom it was said in 1861 that his mechanical manipulations were perhaps unequalled. In 1863 his treatment of fractm-es of the jaw was so highly estimated that he received the thanks of the New York Academy of Medicine, with an invi- tation to report further, and in answer to this he read a paper before them in the following year which de- scribed the treatment for every form of this fracture, wliile in 1865 it was given to him to conduct the critical case of Secretary Seward to a successful ter- mination, when the efforts of the ablest physicians and surgeons had proved unavailing. By 1867 he had shown that the mouth was not opened by muscles under the jaw, as hitherto supposed, but by those on a line with the ears. This also explained why the head moved up and back ineatingif the jaw was obstructed, as by a cravat, which movement of the head had baf- fled all previous investigations. He had also demon- strated that the prominent muscles which pass from the head, just behind the ears, obliquely down the neck to the sternum, are neither flexors, extensors, nor the usual rotators of the head, but that they control the atlas which supports the head. In January, 1874, Dr. Gunning's views on the Vowel Sounds of human speech were circulated, wherein he shows that these sounds are formed in the laryijx and not in the mouth, as sup- posed, until he discovered their true source. That his important announcement has remained unchallenged, affords a convincing proof of his close observation and thorough knowledge of the action of the organs in- volved. This precise knowledge accounts in part for his unerring diagnosis of the injuries brought before him, and for his success in treatment, and shows why his splints and treatment of fracture of the jaws, to- gether with his device to supplement the congenital cleft palate were presented at length in the Cen- tennial Report. This retrospect of a professional career which extends back to the point of time when dental practitioners first took concerted action to raise CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. 169 their specialty to the rank of a profession — which period covers all important efforts to attach plastic bases to artificial teeth — would be incomplete should it omit reference to the legal struggles with those claim- ing rights in patents relating to hard rubber — the only- reliable and important base known ; the more so from the fact that, in the several thousand suits brought for using rubber without a license under the Cummings' patent, tlie dentists having been defeated almost with- out an exception, the inference is that they use that to which they have no right, whereas they are unjustly condemned. A succinct history of this unequalled base — hard rubber — may be useful not only for the present, but for important purposes in the future. The World's Fair, held in London, in 1851, contained several ex- hibits of artificial teeth set on plastic bases or plates, but nothing approaching to the hard rubber, for which an American patent was granted to Nelson Goodyear in May of the same year. His brother Charles obtained his first idea of applying it to artificial teeth while in Europe to attend the fair, and experiments were subse- ■ quently made to adapt it for use in the mouth, but with no useful result until 1857, and this of little im- portance for two or three years later. In 1861 Dr. Gunning purchased the right to use the Goodyear patents through all their extensions. In June, 1864, the patents had less than a year to run, but a new patent for the application of the rubber to artificial teeth was obtained on the ground that one John A. Cummings had perfected the process in 1855. This patent, having a seventeen year term, extended the monopoly from fourteen years to thirty, that Is to 1881, and to enforce this, the Goodyear patents being extended seven years, a license was given to use both sets of patents, so that the Goodyear patents sustained the Cummings'. This was resisted by many who ad- mitted the validity of the Goodyear patents, but suits were brought and the Cummings' patent sustained by the United States Chcuit Court in Boston, in 1866. As Dr. Gunning would not be made an example of sub- mission to what he deemed an illegal claim, several bills in equity were filed against him, but the Com- pany rested as soon as his answers were filed. In the autumn of 1871 the case known as the "Gardner appeal " was presented to the dentists, who rallied to its support as urgently advised by leading members of the profession. But the United States Supreme Court decided adversely to the dentists, and affirmed the Cummings' patent on May 6th, 1873, the day the Goodyear patents expired. The Company then commenced another, (the fourth) suit, against Dr. Gunning, who, finding that his patent counsel had ac- cepted a retainer from his opponents and could not appear for him, instructed his attorney to do so instead. Gunning's desire was to have the decision in the Gardner case recalled, and he offered to break the Cummings' patent if the American Dental Association would cooperate with him. As this offer was not accepted, it was impossible to form a combination to bring the Company to a fair fight on the merits of the case. Dr. Gunning therefore decided to force the Company to a settlement with himself. The result was, that rather than have the answer which he had dictated filed, they acknowledged his right to do as he had done, and stipulated that he should use all the improvements claimed under their patents without molestation in the future. Their bill was dismissed by Judge Woodruff Oct. 18, 1873, the Company pay- ing the ta,xed costs. Dr. Gunning had warned the dentists against the Gardner appeal case. Now, although his personal interest in the matter was at an end, he still earnestly desired to relieve them from un- just exaction. Having submitted the matter to Charles O'Conor, Dr. Gunning sought Judge Black, and gave him full explanations, together with Mr. O'Conor's written views. Judge Black then determined to make the motion before the Supreme Court, and it being shown that the counsel on both sides of the Gardner case had been paid by the complainant, on March 3d, 1873 the court dismissed that case and recalled its mandate although it had issued to the Circuit Court. This is the first instance in which the Supreme Court of the United States ever revoked its deci- sion. By this revocation the dentists were again at liberty to contest the Cummings' patent. In 1878 Dr. Gunning accepted office in the Board of Begents of the Maryland Dental College, founded in Baltimore the same year. This Board also included members in the clerical, medical, and legal professions of the highest standing. Dr. Gunning was elected President at the first annual meeting, but his connection with this institution was of short duration, as rather than appear to favor that which he considered detrimental to the interests of the public, he resigned in 1874. He subse- quently published a protest against the surrender to non-members of the dental profession, of the right and duty to decide upon the fitness of the faculties of dental colleges. Dr. Gunning enjoys a wide reputa- tion and an extended practice. In his list of patients are included hundreds of our best citizens with their famiUes, and many distinguished native and foreign personages. Among the latter may be mentioned Don Carlos, the Spanish Pretender, from whom he received the following autograph letter : " WiNDSOE Hotel, New York,) September 1, 1876. ) ''Dewr Dr. Ounning,— Allow me, before I leave this country, to express to you my profound gratitude for the kindness and ability which you showed in the treatment of my case. You know better than any- body the importance of the operation you performed i7o CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. on me, and this will be the best guarantee to you, however far away I may be, I shall always remember you as a friend who has secured for me both comfort and health. "Believe me, dear Doctor, "Yours, faithfully and thankfully, "Caelos." Dr. Gunning arriving in the United States early in life, a stranger and a foreigner, if we can so speak of one coming from those whose speech and spirit is our heritage, he has, by his integrity of character, firmness of purpose and intelligent labors, not only raised himself to the front rank in his profession, but has commanded the respect of the medical faculty of the world, and earned the sincere thanks of his fel- low men. fASON, THEODORE LEWIS, M.D., of Brook- lyn, was born in Cooperstown, Otsego County, New York, on Sept. 30th, 1803. His father, Da- vid Mason, Esq., attorney and counsellor at law, was a lineal descendant of the famous Major John Mason, one of the founders of Norwich, Connecticut, and for years a member of the Council, Lieutenant Governor, and Commander-in-Chief of the military of the State. Dr. Mason's mother was a daughter of the Rev. Dr. Isaac Lewis, of Greenwich, Fairfield County, Conn., long and favorably known for talent, piety, and influ- ence. After a thorough classical education, and a pre- liminary com-se of professional study, Dr. Mason en- tered the College of Physicians and Surgeons, now the medical department of Columbia College, and graduated m 1835. Practising awhile in Connecticut, he removed to New York city, and at the solicitation of medical and other friends, went to Brooklyn in 1834. At that time Brooklyn had no public provision for the medical relief of her poor, and Dr. Mason en- tered at once into measures to supply this want. A memorial from the Medical Society of the county, prepared by him, was addressed to the Common Coun- cil of the city, urging them to take action in confor- mity with the city charter, without, however, any immediate results. But, in 1839, the subject was again agitated and the Council appropriated a small sum to the . support of a city hospital, called, from Its location, the " Adams Street Hospital." Dr. Ma- son became the senior surgeon and President of the Hospital Board, and, in conjunction vidth the other members of the Board, demonstrated by its successful management the great necessity of such an institution in the city of Brooklyn. On a change in the munici- pal administration of Brooklyn, however, the hospi- tal fund was withdrawn and the hospital closed. But the conviction of the necessity of such an institution had fixed itself in the public mind. A public meeting was called and a committee appointed to take meas- ures for the permanent establishment of a Brooklyn city hospital. Of this committee, Dr. Mason was a member and influential in giving shape to the charter of the hospital and in the selection of its Directors and its medical staff. As senior surgeon, he continued in connection with the Brooklyn City Hospital until, yielding to the combined pressure of private profes- sional business and feeble health, he tendered Ms res- ignation and retired, as he supposed, from active con- nection with public institutions. But, in 1858, the neces- sity of a hospital in the western portion of the western district of the city having become apparent to several of the medical residents, they proposed to estabUsh there a hospital, having in connection with it a teaching depart- ment, and Dr. Mason, being urgently solicited to lend liis aid to the project, yielded to what seemed the require- ment of duty, and was made a Councillor of the institu- tion and President of the collegiate department of the Long Island College Hospital. A most important ob- ject which the founders of this institution proposed to attain, by the connection of the college with the hos- pital, was to make clinical teaching a reality. By bringing the college and the hospital into the same edifice and under the same authoritative control, ad- vantages were gained wliich, for real practical value had never been approached in this country, and a new feature was introduced into the methods of instruction in the medical colleges of the United States. The medical and other oflBces held by Dr. Mason, may be enumerated as follows : In 1839, he was elected senior surgeon and President of the Medical Board of the Adams Street Hospital, in Brooklyn ; in 1842, Presi- dent of the Medical Society of the County of Kings —re-elected in 1843; In 1846, senior surgeon of Brooklyn City Hospital ; in 1847, permanent member of the American Medical Association; in 1858, Councillor, President of the collegiate department. Regent, and consulting surgeon of the Long Island College Hospi- tal ; in 1862, permanent member of the Medical Soci- ety of the State of New York ; in 1863, one of the original founders, Du-ector, and life member of the Long Island Historical Society ; in 1874, Vice Presi- dent of the American Colonization Society ; in 1875, President of the American Association for the Cure of Inebriates— re-elected 1876 and 1877 ; in 1876, mem- ber of the International Medical Congress, Philadel- phia; and in 1877, President of the Inebriates' Home for Kings County. He is also a Resident Fellow of the New Y'ork Academy of Medicine. Dr. Mason was married in 1838, to Miss Katharine V. V. DeWitt daughter of Peter DeWitf, Esq., attorney and coun- sellor at law, of New York city. c;^^<5^ CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. 177 position in the medical fraternity of that place. Din-ing the war, Dr. Upham was appointed examining sur- geon for the Tenth Congressional District, with head- quarters at Tarrytown. At the close of the war, he was appointed pension surgeon, serving in this capac- ity for about six years. He has also been for a num- ber of years a member of the Medical Board of St. John's Riverside Hospital, at Yonkers. Dr. Upham is widely and favorably known, both to the fraternity and the community. His wide range of study, his having been a student of several of our great centres of medical learning, Bowdoin, Dartmouth, and of one of the New York Colleges, together with the fact that he also studied under such men as Professors Mott and Peaslee, have given him a reputation which is well supported by his learning and medical skill. He was married in 1850, to Miss Sarah Richardson, of Bath, Maine. SCRIBNER, JAMES W., M.D., of Tarrytown, was born in that place January 17, 1830. His father, Joseph M. Scribner, a native of Westchester County, was for many years a prominent practitioner of Tarrytown, where he died in 1848. His grandfather, Enoch Scrib- ner, a man of English descent, and largely engaged in agricultural pursuits, emigrated from the neighborhood of the State line, near Stamford, Conn., and settled in Westchester County prior to the war of 1813. His mother, Rebecca Ward, was the daughter of Thomas Ward, of Sing Sing. Having obtained an excellent education in the common schools, and subsequently in the seminary in his vicinity, he went, at the age of seventeen, to New York city, and there engaging as clerk in a mercantile house, he remained till he had attained his twentieth year. Determining at that time to adopt the profession of his father, he returned to Tarrytown and began his medical studies under pater- nal supervision. He matriculated at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York, and received his degree in 1847. Making his advent as medi- cal practitioner in his native town, by the death of his father, in 1848, he succeeded to a large and lucrative practice. A delegate to the American Medi- cal Association upon the occasion of its meeting in San Francisco, he spent two months in that region, and, in connection with a number of delegates from this side of the Missouri River, he formed the Rocky Mountain Medical Society. He is a member of the County Medical Society, of which he has been President and also Treasurer. A number of times elected by that body as delegate to the State Medical Society, he has never, owing to the pressure of professional engagements, attended its deliberations. He was at one time Presi- dent of the Board of Education of Tarrytown, an or- ganization with which he has been associated for the last ten years. He is one of the Trustees of the village and has long been connected with the management of its affairs. An active Director of the County Agricul- tural Society, he has served as the President of the or- ganization. A skillful and successful medical practi- tioner, an active and pubUc-spirited citizen. Dr. Scrib- ner has long been influential in the best interests of Tarrytown. He was married in 1851 to Miss Margaret E. Miller, daughter of Joseph Miller, of New York city. COLLINS, ISAAC G., M.D., of Sing Sing, was born in Greenville, Greene County, N. Y., June 17th, 1833. His father, Japhet W. Collins, a na- tive of the same place, was engaged in mercantile and agricultural pursuits. The ancestors of this family, of English birth, removed to the north of Ireland, whence they emigrated to America in 1780, settling in Connecticut. Dr. Collins' grandfather located in Greene County, N. Y., about 1780. His mother, Su- san Hegeman, was of Dutch extraction, though a na- tive of Albany. Having concluded an academic course, he entered the sophomore class of Union Col- lege, Schenectady, in 1853, and was graduated in 1855, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, receiving three years later that of Master of Arts. He at once commenced the pursuit of his medical studies in the office of Dr. Mosher, of Coeymans, Albany County, and afterwards attending the regular course of medi- cal instruction in Albany College, was graduated from there in 1858. Associating himself after receiving his degree, with Dr. A. H. Knapp, of Coxsackie, for the practice of his profession, he continued this connec- tion for three years, and upon its being dissolved re- mained without a partner. Removing to Sing Sing, in 1865, he has since that time been a resident there. Frpm 1869 to 1870, inclusive, he was physician in charge of the prison at that place. During his resi- dence in Coxsackie, he was Coroner of Greene County. Dr. Collins has been for the last six years a delegate to the American Medical Association, and has been a member of the County Medical Society since 1866, serving as President of that body, and also as Vice President. Dr. Collins is a zealous and active worker in his profession. Having been chosen to serve his fellow citizens in public capacities, by reason of his medical skill and professional learning, he has attained considerable local reputation. His repeated connec- tions with the American Medical Association have also given him a more extensive fame. He was married in 1860, to Miss F. L. Smith, daughter of ifTB. Smith, Esq., an old and respected citizen of Port Bergen, New York. 1/8 CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. HELM, REV. JAMES I., S.T.D., Rector of St. Paul's Chui-ch, Sing Sing, was born April 35, 1811, in "Washington County, Tennessee. His father, Henry Helm, a native of Virginia, was a lead- ing medical practitioner in the part of Tennessee in which he resided. His grandfather, John Helm, was born and reared in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. He was a student at Princeton at the time when its operations were suspended by the occupation of that town by the British troops. Belonging to a family whose estate was largely depleted by the assistance which they gave to Congress in its efforts to resist the encroachments of Great Britain, he subsequently ren- dered personal service to the country by enlisting in the Continental Army. Rev. Mr. Helm's mother was Matilda Cosson, daughter of Rev. John Cosson, an Englishman of Huguenot extraction, who was sent out in 1772 by the Countess of Huntington to South Carolina, as a missionary. The mission, founded by the Rev. George Whitfield, was subsequently aban- doned, and Mr. Cosson removed to Tennessee. The Rev. Mr. Helm- was educated at Greenville CoUege, Tenn., and at Princeton College, New Jersey. His life has been devoted to two of the most noble objects that can occupy the energies of the human mind, viz., teaching and pastoral labor. A man of excellent native abilities, his thorough college training resulted in his being well fitted for either task. As a teacher, his well-known talent and high acquisitions pointed to him as a desirable head of a flourishing literaiy insti- tution — Washington College, in liis native county and State — the Presidency of which has been twice offered to him, and twice declined. Mr. Helm's early con- nections were with the Presbyterian denomination, for whose ministry he received the thorough doctrinal training which characterizes that branch of the church. Ministering for some years under the auspices of Pres- byterianism, he finally took orders in the Episcopal Church, and is now engaged in the exercise of the pastoral relations in the diocese of N. Y. He has at different times pi-esided over congregations inl^^ash- ville, Tenn., in Princeton, New Jersey, and in the city of Philadelphia. Removing to Sing Sing, fourteen years since, he has been unremitting in his ministerial labors in that place. Active in duty, he is an advocate and supporter of every good work in the community. His logical and well-disciplined mind presents the glorious truths of the Gospel in the most perspicuous and forcible manner, and his zeal, guided by sound judgment, is a potent agent in his truly evangelical efforts to diffuse the knowledge of the Word. He was married to Miss Eliza M. Bucldey, daughter of John Buckley, of English birth, and a manufacturer, who lived successively at Bronxville, Poughkeepsie, and Pleasant Valley, New York, where he died. SYMONDS, HENRY CLAY, Major and Brevet Colonel, U.S.A., was born in Salem, Massachu- setts, Feb. 10th, 1833. His paternal ancestors, of English extraction, have for six generations been na- tives of that old town, one of the first settlements in the commonwealth of Massachusetts. His father, Nathaniel Symonds, was engaged in the pm-suits of agriculture. His mother was Elizabeth Baker, a na- tive also of Massachusetts. After a thorough training in the excellent common schools of Salem, and subse- quently in the Latin school of that place, he entered the Military Academy at West Point, in 1849, at the age of seventeen. After a four years' course of study and discipline there, he was graduated in 1853, and was immediately appointed Brevet Second Lieutenant of Artillery. Then followed several years' garrison and frontier service, and he was appointed, in 1857, one of the staff of instructors at the United States Military Academy at West Point, as Assistant Professor of Geography, History, and Ethics, the duties of which position he fulfilled till the breaking out of the Rebellion, in 1861. He served during the whole period of hostilities, first as Commissary in the de- fences of Washington, with the rank of Captain, and afterwards with that of Major. He was ordered to Louisville and commissioned as Captain in the Second Artillery, subsequently being brevetted Lieutenant Colonel and finally Colonel, for "faithful and merito- rious services during the rebellion." Resigning from the army when the exigencies of war no longer existed, he entered upon the pursuits of civil life, and in 1865, in company with others, formed a business association under the name of Symonds, Courtney & Co., com- mission merchants and planters, of New Orleans. Retiring from this copartnership in 1869, he located at Sing Sing, and the next year established an institution known as Vireiin School for Boys, which, while providing a collegiate and a scientific course of study, offers also a curriculum especially designed for those who wish to enter the Military Academy at West Point or the Naval School at Annapolis. The arrange- ments of this institution, mental, moral, and material, are of the most approved character. The grounds cover an area of about seven acres, fronting the Hud- son River ; and the building, substantial and fire- proof, is replete with the necessary means of comfort. Col. Symonds is the author of a system of grammar and arithmetic tables, which it is claimed facilitate the acquisition of those important studies. ' ' Wliile the classics are taught upon the same general plan with more than flattering success," the flue scholarship of the Principal of this school, his well-known eiBciency as an instructor, and his excellent military record, make it a favorite, especially with those army and navy officials who desire not only fundamental and CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. 179 classical instruction for their sons, but a thorough course of discipline, mental and physical. Col. Sy- monds was appointed, in 1877, by Clarkson N. Potter, one of the Board of Examiners of the qualifications of those scholars of the New York public schools, who, according to provision of Congress, were allowed to compete for the vacant cadetship in the U. S. Military Academy, for their district. Colonel Symonds is also interested in the local afEairs of his town, having been a member of the Board of Trustees of the village for several years. He has been a Vestryman of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, of Sing Sing, for several years. He was married in 1863, to Miss Brandreth, of that place. HELM, WILLIAM H., M.D., of Sing Smg, was born in Nashville, Tennessee, January 19, 1840. His father, the Rev. James I. Helm, a member of the Episcopalian ministry of the Diocese of New York, is also a native of Tennessee, and a man of scholarly attainments and clerical distinction. His mother, Eliza M. Buckley, was the daughter of William Buckley, who came from England to America about 1817, and carried on a large cloth manufacturing trade, to which, by his business activity, he gave consider- able impetus. Having been carefully educated in a private school. Dr. Helm entered Princeton Col- lege in 1856, being then only sixteen years of age, and after a thorough course of study was graduated in 1860 with the usual honors, receiving subsequently the degree of A. M. His paternal grandfather having been a mem- ber of the medical profession, he determined to pursue a similar career, and commenced to prepare for it under the direction of Dr. Joseph Carson, Professor of Ma- teria Medica in the University of Pennsylvania. After- wards attending the regular course of medical instruc- tion at that institution, h& received his degree in 1864. For a period of eighteen months immediately succeed- ing his graduation he was engaged as resident physi- cian in the Pennsylvania Hospital at Philadelphia. Entering the army at the expiration of that time he was commissioned as Assistant Surgeon U. S. Volun- teers, and ordered to Nevsrport News, and was surgeon- in-charge of the prison camp hospital. Remaining in this field of labor till the necessity for surgico-mili- tary service had passed away, he located at the close of the war, in 1865, in the village of Sing Sing. Dr. Helm is actively and honorably connected with the medical societies of the State and County. He was President of the latter for the years 1874 and '75, and had previ- ously in 1870, '71, and '73 been Secretary of that or- ganization. He is a permanent member of the State Medical Society, and was, in the year 1876, one of three delegates from that body to the American Medi- cal Association. During that year he also served as Censor for the County Medical Society. Despite the numerous labors imposed by these ofiicial connections, in addition to the pressing duties of his daily practice. Dr. Helm has frequently contributed to the pages of current medical literature. Inclining by tradition to the pursuit of the higher sciences, thorouglily educated, classically and professionally, and possessing also ex- cellent administrative power and medical skill, he has been the recipient of many honors from the fraternity, and has acquired much public favor. He was married in 1871 to Miss Annie Lloyd Potts, daughter of Judge Stacey G. Potts, of the Supreme Court of the State of New Jersey. REINFELDER, MAXIMILIAN JOSEPH, M.D., was born in Munich, kingdom of Bavaria, March 4th, 1831. His father, Ferdinand Reinfelder, was a surgeon in the military academy of that capital, where he was in active service thirty-three years. Dr. Reinfelder, in his early manhood, paid great attention to the study of natural sciences, especially chemistry (from his fourteenth year), and to the study of phar- macy, in which science he graduated from the Uni- versity of Munich in 1844. In 1847 he commenced his medical studies there, and continued until 1850. Attracted by the large field of usefulness which America affords to scientific men as medical practi- tioners, as well as by his natural and unconquerable predilection for this country from his almost childhood, Dr. Reinfelder came to the United States in 1854. Nothwithstanding the thoroughness of his European medical education, he matriculated at the University Medical College in New York City. His object in doing this was to familiarize himself vrith American medical authorities, and identity himself with Ameri- can interests, also to observe and study the great changes which took place during twenty years in all branches of medical science. Having finished the courses prescribed in that school of medicine, he was graduated in 1869, receiving, besides his regular di- ploma, also a certificate of honor, as an evidence of having pursued a fuller course of medical instruction than that usually followed by students, and continued the practice of medicine in Yonkers, where he has been located for the last twenty-three years. Dr. Rein- felder is a man of acknowledged reputation in the pro- fession, and has been elected to serve upon the Medi- cal Board of St. John's Riverside Hospital as a visiting physician, a member of whose staff he has been for several years. He is a Fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine, and also a member of the Westchester Medical Society. He was married in 1854 to Miss A. Merz, of Lindau, Lake Constance, Bavaria. i8o CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. BROWN, HENRY KIRKE, sculptor, was born in Leyden, Mass., in 1814. His first attempt in art was made at twelve years of age, when he essayed the portrait of an old man. At the age of eighteen he went to Boston, with the intention of perfecting him- self in what some one calls, the "putting life into canvas." His attention, however, heing directed to the art of sculpture, Mr. Brown determined upon that as his future work. In order to a complete mastery of the principles of the art, as well as for the study of the works of the great masters, a foreign tour and a residence abroad was necessary. In the hope of ac- cumulating funds suflBcient for such an imdertaking, Mr. Brown went west and engaged in engineering for some time. Finally, having accompUshed this part of his plan, he embarked for Europe ; remaining in Italy for several years in the pursuit of his art studies, he returned at length to enrich his country with the results of his wonderful genius. His best known •works in marble are; "Hope;"' "The Pleiades;" ' ' The Indian and the Panther ; " " The Angel of Retribu- tion;" "The Four Seasons;" and the statute of Gen. Nathanael Greene, in the capitol at Washington. This statute, of life size, was presented by the State of Rhode Island to the general government. Being the first presentation of the kind, it was inaugurated with appropriate ceremonies. Congress having set apart a day for their special abservance. Upon his return from Italy, Mr. Brown commenced the casting of bronze, and produced the first statue ever made in this country of that material. Since then his works in that depart- ment of art have been many in number, and of the most celebrated character. The colossal equestrian statue of Washington in Union Square, New York city, is one of his greatest efforts. Of equal merit with this, is the colossal statue of the late President Lincoln, with the Emancipation Proclamation in his hand. This statue onaments the large open area front- ing Prospect Park, Brooklyn. His statue of General Scott occupies a place in the capitol at Washington. He has also made a statue of Gen. Philip Kearney, for New Jersey, to be placed in the capitol, and a statue of Richard Stockton, to be placed in Washing- ton. Mr. Brown removed from Brooklyn, where he settled on his return from Europe, in 1858, and since then has made the city of Newburgh his place of residence. ELY, SMITH, M.D., was born in Washingtonville, Orange County, New York, April, 1828. He re- ceived an academic education, graduating at the Newburgh Academy in 1846. Two years afterwards he began to study medicine in the oflice of the late Dr. Charles L. Drake. He subsequently matriculated at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York city, and, after attending two courses of medical lectures there, he entered Vermont Medical College, from which he was graduated in 1850. Immediately after receiving his degree he was appointed one of the house physicians in the Ward's Island Hospital. The following winter he served in the capacity of surgeon on one of the ocean steamers, but not inclining to this desultory manner of life, he determined to settle, and chose Newburgh as the field of his future usefulness. After a few years' practice, Dr. Ely went to Europe, mainly with a view to studying in the hospitals of London and Paris. This method of supplementing the knowledge of the medical practitioner cannot be over-estimated, since those great centres of medical and surgical science afford more means of instruction than can be found elsewhere in an equal given space in the civilized world. Returning from abroad he re- sumed his practice in Newburgh, where he still resides. Dr. Ely is a member of the Orange County Medical Society, and delegate from that organization to the New York State Medical Society. He is also connected with the Newburgh Board of Education. Dr. Ely is a thoroughly educated medical man, whose learning and experience, as well as liis superior skill, have made him very popular among practitioners and patients. He was married in 1870 to Miss Gertrude Hardy, of Ports- mouth, N. H., and has two sons— Moses Ely, jr., and Charles Hardy Ely. MoCROSKERY, HON. JOHN J. S., Mayor of Newburgh, was born in that city February 14, 1834. His father, John McCroskery, was a native of County Down, Ireland, and came to this country in 1798. Despising the arrogance of Great Britain in the war of 1813, he took up arms with his adopted countrymen, and being made prisoner was canied to Halifax and remained in captivity for nearly three years. He was afterwards a merchant in Newburgh, in which city he died in 1855. His wife, Catharine (Shields) McCroskery, was the daughter of John Shields, also a native of Ireland, and one of the oldest settlers of Newburgh. Mr. McCroskery was educated in that well-known institution of English and classical learning, the Newburgh Academy, graduating there- from in 1848. Choosing the mercantile line as his avocation, he entered the dry goods store of George Cornwell & Son, as clerk, reniaining there till he reached the age of manhood. He then engaged as clerk in the Bank of Newburgh, maintaining his con- nection with that corporation up to the present time, having been appointed in 1864, when it became a Na- tional Bank, to the important position of Cashier. Mr. CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. i8r McCroskery's entrance to public official life took place in 1867, when he was made Collector of Newburgh. In 1869 he was elected Alderman of the third ward, and in 1871 was re-elected to that office. In 1875 the Mayoralty of Newburgh having become vacant by the death of Hon. C. M. Leonard, the then incumbent, Mr. McCroskery was chosen to fill the unexpired term. His judicious course of proceeding dming this time met with general approbation and resulted in his re- election in 1876 to serve for a full term. Mr. Mc- Croskery's record from his boyhood is known and read of all men in the community. He has advanced from one position of public honor and trust to another with regular steps, until he now occupies the honora- ble position of chief magistrate of his native place, the ■enterprising and thriving city of Newburgh. Such an endorsement of a man's character and action are not only in the highest degree satisfactory to himself and his friends, but must prove stimulative of progressive movement to a higher plane of civic distinction. He was married in 1861 to Miss Henrietta Young, daugh- ter of the late Lewis W. Young, of Newburgh. fARD, PETER, was born in Ramapo, Rockland County, N. Y., Sept. 80th, 1837. After the usual common school education, he completed his studies at the academy In Goshen, N. Y. In 1843, he entered the employment of the Erie Railroad Com- pany as civil engineer, continuing in this occupation for about four years. Hearing much about the fields of bituminous coal in Ohio, he went thither for the purpose of mining this article, expecting to find a near market for it as fuel for the steamboats that ply between the various points on the Ohio River. Upon arriving at the scene of his intended operations, a close scrutiny of the matter did not satisfy him that it promised success, and he therefore abandoned the project. He then purchased a flat-boat, and having stocked it with dry goods, clothing, boots and shoes, and other articles of every-day need, he hired two clerks and a cook and sailed down the Ohio, trading at different places on that river and on the Mississippi, mitil he reached Baton Rouge. Having disposed of his cargo, he sold the boat, and sailing up the Missis- sippi to its head waters, he bought corn and venison, and shipped them to New Orleans. These two busi- ness ventures having consumed the space of fifteen months, he turned his face eastward, with $700 net profits as the result, a not inconsiderable sum at that time. In 1849, he resumed the occupation of engineer on the Erie Railway, and ran the levels from Corning to Dunkirk. In 1851, he was appointed Superinten- dent of the Newburgh Branch Railroad, filling that position up to 1859, vrith the exception of the interval of one year, during which he was engaged in building the Maysville and Lexington Road in Kentucky. At the termination of his engagement with the Erie Rail- road Company, he formed a copartnership with Mr. C. M. Leonard, under the name of Ward & Leonard. Afterwards, by the admission of James J. Logan, the style was changed to Ward, Leonard & Co., and at the death of Mr. Leonard, in 1874, it became Ward & Lo- gan, and so continues at the present time. Mr. Ward has been extensively engaged in the construction of railroads, either alone or in conjunction with members of the firm of Ward & Lary, of which he was senior partner. He built the Lexington and Maysville Road, in Kentucky. In 1860 he built the Newburgh and If ew York (short cut) Railway. The Hackensack Ex- tension, from Hillsdale to Spring Valley, was con- structed by him in 1870, and also the third track from Turner's to Short Cut Junction. The same year he also completed thirty-five miles of road for the New Jersey Southern, as a cut-ofl, between Long Branch and Philadelphia, from Pemberton to Whiting. In 1873-73, the road from Spring Valley to Stony Point, above Haverstraw, was finished by Mr. Ward, and in the latter year he also completed the construction of the Smyrna and Delaware Bay Railway. The bmlding of these roads has involved the use of a large amount of capital, the outlay of which by Mr. Ward has given great satisfaction to those immediately concerned. A man of practical mathematical knowledge, as well as of large constructive ability, Mr. Ward possesses also application and perseverance, those faculties without which genius fails of tangible results, and by use of which a man is able to bring the most difficult under- takings to a successful issue. Mr. Ward, though a man of activity and pubhc spirit, has evinced no am- bition for official distinction, his service as a member of the Board of Education being the only occasion wherein he has employed his talents in a public capacity. &RAHAM, HON. JAMES G., of Newburgh, lawyer and member of Assembly, is of Scotch-Irish parent- age, and was born October 39, 1831, in Shawan- gunk, Ulster County, New York, to which place his ancestors had emigrated about 1730. His father, George G. Graham, and his grandfather, James Graham, were in their time men of excellent medical reputation. The latter, in addition to his fame as a physician, acquired some political renown, having been at one time a member of the State Senate. His mother, Cathanne (McKay) Graham, was the daughter of Alexander McKay, a soldier of the Revolution. The l82 CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. early education of ; James G. Graliam was obtained in tlie common schools of that period ; after due prep- aration in wliioh he entered the Newbm-gh Academy, then an excellent English and classical school, and, after a four years' course, graduated in 1836. Mat- riculating at that time-honored institution— Columbia College, of New York— he distinguished himself by his diligence and his proficiency. Continuing his col- legiate course till 1840, he graduated, after receiving the usual degree, and was appointed to deliver the Salutatory of that year. Three years afterwards he received from his alma mater the degree of A.JI. Having a decidedly logical turn of mind, he was ad- vised to fit himself for the legal profession, and ac- cordingly entered the office of a well-known lawyer, at Newburgh, for that purpose. He was admitted to the bar in 1843, and at once began to practice law in the town of his nativity, where he continued to live untill 1866. In 1848 he was elected to repre- sent his district in the Legislature, and was re-elected in 1865. During his term of legislative service, Mr. Graham was connected with the Committee of Ways and Means, also the Committee of Civil Divisions, and was Chairman of the Insurance Committee. He intro- duced into the Legislature a General Insm-ance Bill, which passed the House but failed to reach a vote in the Senate. At the close of his second period of ser- vice in the Legislatm^e, Mr. Graham returned to New- burgh, whither he had removed in 1866, and again re- sumed his professional duties. He has served his fellow citizens in a variety of public capacities, having been Corporation Counsel of the city of Newburgh, also one of the Trustees of the Washington Head- quarters' Commission, of which body he was Secretary for several years. He has been one of the Directors of the Shawangunk Plank Road since its organization, and a Director of the Homoeopathic Asylum at Middle- town since 1873. The Republican party of Newburgh nominated him as their candidate for Mayor in 1876, but they failed to secm-e his election. Mr. Graham possesses in an eminent degree the characteristics of his forefathers: tenacity of purpose, qnickness of in- telligence, love of order, and an indomitable persever- ance. His intellectual abilities naturally good, have been developed and matured by a long course of study and culture. His nice powers of discrimination and deep knowledge of human nature, as well as his ex- cellent legal talents, have contributed largely to his success as a public man. Evincing in early manhood an aptitude for the routine of legislative labor, Mr. Graham, after gaining his first election to the Legis- latm-e, by his executive force and sound judgment, together with his consistent action, his diligence and his integrity in the performance of his official duties, gave such satisfaction to his constituents as secured his re-election and raised him to a iigh rank in the estimation of his fellow citizens. He was married in 1858 to Miss Margaret J. Knapp, daughter of Israel Knapp, of Walden, Orange County, New York. DETO, NATHAJSTIEL, M.D., of Newburgh, was born in Old Paltz, now called Gardiner, Ulster County, New York, May 14, 1817. His father, Jonathan D. Deyo, also a native of Ulster County, was engaged in agricultural pursuits. The Deyos trace their descent from French Huguenots, who settled on the banks of Wall Kill about 1660. Dr. Deyo's mother, Mary (Hardenberg) Deyo, was a niece of Simeon De Witt, who, as State Engineer about the time of the Revolution, was actively connected with the material interests of the State. He was of Hol- land extraction and lived to a ripe old age. Dr. Deyo, after finishing his academic course at the Montgomery Academy, New York, commenced the study of medi- cine with Dr. Daniel N. Deyo, of Old Paltz, and con- tinued the further -prosecution of his medical studies with Dr. Peter Millspaugh, of Montgomery, finally matriculating at Jefferson Medical College of Phila- delphia, receiving his degree from that institution in 1838. He began the practice of his profession at Marlborough, Ulster County, continuing there till 1843. Having spent the winter of 1843-44 in attending lec- tures within the venerable walls of his alma mater, he returned to New York State and located himself at Newburgh. Since then he has been a successful gen- eral practitioner there, and is an honored member of the Orange County Medical Society. He is also a mem- ber of the Board of Health of Newburgh, and Presi- dent of the Cedar Hill Cemetery. He was married in 1840 to Miss C. B. Dubois, daughter of Lewis Dubois, Esq., and granddaughter of Colonel Lewis Dubois, of Revolutionary fame. A son, John D. Deyo, gradu- ated at Bellevue College, New York, is associated with his father in the practice of medicine. STEVENS, HALSEYR., was born at Enfield, Graf- ton County, New Hampshire, February 22, 1800. His father, Moses Stevens, was a farmer of that State. His mother was Sally Cass, a relative of the late General Lewis Cass. Farming in the early part of this century was much more laborious and less re- munerative than it is now. Before labor was facili- tated and utilized, as at present, by the use of various agricultural machines and implements, everyone about an ordinary farm had to work early and late in order to make it productive enough to support a large family. CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. 183 Even a small boy was useful, a lad of ten being con- sidered half a man as far as farm labor was concerned. Mr. Stevens, the oldest son of such a family, was obliged to assist his father in the fields, often to the neglect of his attendance at school. This circumstance did not, however, prevent his eager pursuit of learning which, developing itself in his early boyhood, has al- ways attended his collateral occupations. His mind, naturally vigorous and keenly alive to external influ^ enoes, was ever on the alert for opportunities of im- provement. Though possessing only such advantages as were aflforded by the irregularly maintained dis- trict schools of the period, Mr. Stevens made such good use Of his time and of the few books that came in his way as to be qualified at the age of sixteen to take charge of one of the common schools ia his neighbor- hood, teaching during the winter, and at other seasons rendering valuable aid to his father in the manage- ment of his farm. This course he pursued till he came of age. Having attained his majority, he continued his agricultm-al labors for several years, at the same time devoting all his intervals of leisure to the ever congenial occupation of study. He removed from En- field to Lebanon, New.Hampshire, in 1824. A residence in this place, from its comparative vicinity to Dart- mouth College, brought Mr. Stevens in contact with the Professors of that institution and resulted in his being elected, in 1837, an honorary member of the college literary societies. Soon after Ms removal to this place, he engaged as clerk in the store of Jonas Willis, be- coming his partner in 1828 ; and, subsequently purchas- ing the interest of Mr. Willis, he carried on the concern without an associate. In 1834 he was appointed post- master at East Lebanon, and about the same time was made Justice of the Peace. In 1836 he was elected to the Legislature of New Hampshire, serving in that body as Chairman on the Committee of Engrossed Bills. About that time he was elected Justice of the Quorum. In 1837 he was re-elected to represent his district in the Legislature for the regular and extra session of that year. During this period of service he was Chairman of the Committee on Beads, Bridges and Canals. As the creation and management of these works of internal improvement are of prime import- ance to the community, this committee was one of great consequence. About 1840 Mr. Stevens entered into business relations with his son-in-law, Mr. W. G. Perley, under the firm name of Stevens & Perley, the trade being in general merchandise'. Mr. Stevens also carried on at the same time large transactions in wool, buying for the Middlesex Manufacturing Company, at Lowell, Mass. In 1850-51 he withdrew from his busi- ness associations in Lebanon and, removing to New- burgh, New York, connected himself with Messrs. Homer Ramsdell and David Moore, in the lumber trade at Newburgh, and the manufacture of lumber at Wellsville, Alleghany County, New York, having pre- viously, as a member of the firm of H. R. Stevens & Co., purchased large tracts of timber land in that re- gion. During these operations his residence was at Newburgh, a city in which he has resided without in- terruption for the last twenty-five years. This and similar business associations and transactions continued till 1858, when he and Mr. Moore purchased the in- terest of several firms in which he was a partner, and formed a new copartnership known as David Moore & Co., his connection with which continues at the present time. About 1863 he was associated with the Board of Directors of the Highland National Bank, and was subsequently elected Trustee of the corporation of Newburgh. The varied occupations of Mr. Stevens' life, whether mercantile, judicial or legislative, have not interrupted his .ardent pursuit of knowledge. He has been a life-long student, and of late years his in- tellectual labors have assumed the form of literary and scientific investigations which have resulted in the honors of authorship. He pubUshed in 1875, as the fruit of his inquiries in these directions, a work entitled "Scripture Speculations," of which a popular journal speaks in the following terms : "Mr. Stevens has not read Scriptures inattentively, and his tlieories, whatever may be the (orthodox) critical estimate of them, have been evolved from his inner consciousness, after long study and reflection, all the more creditable to one who has 'acted his part well ' in the busy scenes of life. ■ The work gives evi- dence of no small amount of careful research and much erudition, and, irrespective of its theological bias, con- tains a large element of useful information in biblical matters." In 1877 Mr. Stevens published another work entitled : " Faith and Reason, Heart, Soul and Hand Work," a 13mo. book of about 400 pages. The career of Mr. Stevens, from its beginning as a teacher at the age of sixteen to the present time, has been characterized by vigor of mind, persistent effort, thorough-going business habits and uprightness of pur- pose. As a member of the legislative councils of his native State in 1837, his maiden effort was a report made by him as Chairman of the Standing Committee on Roads, Bridges and Canals, to whom was referred, by order of the House, a bill entitled "An Act in ad- dition to an Act to incorporate the Merrimack River Transportation Company," passed June 17th, 1886. This paper evinced a degree of practical wisdom and a far-seeing policy, as well as a keen perception of tlie interests of his fellow citizens, both in theii- individual and in their corporate capacity, and a determination to hold the balance of justice evenly between the rival claimants of existing and proposed improvements, that would have fitted him, had his tastes so inclined, to occupy a higher sphere of official public labor. To great i84 CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. intellectual activity and incessant industry he adds a continuity of purpose that would have distinguished him in any career, and has helped to make him the popular Justice and legislator, the indefatigable stu- dent, the successful and honorable man of business. Mr. Stevens was married in 1828, to Miss Betsey Ticknor, daughter of John Ticknor, of Plainfield, New Hampshire. She died in 1847. In 1849 he was again married to Mrs. Mary Woodbury, of Lebanon, who died at Newburgh in 1875. GASSED Y, ABEAM S., lawyer of Newburgh, N. Y., was born Nov. 39, 1838, at Ramapo, Rockland County. His father, Archibald Cassedy, a native of Rockland County, engaged in agricultural and mer- cantile pm-suits, was the son of Archibald Cassedy, an old settler of that county, who emigrated from the north of Ireland about the time of the Revolutionary war. Bringing with him the thrifty habits of his ancestors, together with their domestic virtues and their independent spirit, he was a valuable acquisition to the pioneer element of that region, and, engaging in husbandry, helped to convert the wilderness of those early times into the highly cultivated districts that have long characterized the valley of the Hudson. The mother of Mr. Abram S. Cassedy was Lydia Gurnee, daughter of Judge Gurnee, also of Rockland County. The Gurnee family, whose progenitors were of French stock, settled in that section contemporaneously with the Cassedy ancestry. After the usual preparation in the common schools of the district, Mr. Cassedy re- ceived an academic course, graduating from the State Normal School in 1853. Not inheriting the agricultu- ral preferences of his paternal ancestors, he inclined to the profession of his grandfather, Judge Gurnee, and gave his attention to the study of law immediately after graduating, taking his initial instruction in legal science from Judge William F. Eraser, of Clarkstown. Rockland County, in 1855. Afterwards, entering the law office of Wilkin & Gott, at Goshen, he was ad- mitted to the bar in 1857. He was immediately ap- pointed Deputy County Clerk by the late Dr. Drake, then the popular Clerk of the county. Having served two years in this office he became Clerk to the Board of Supervisors, and filled that position from 1858 to 1863. Meanwhile, in 1859, he had removed to New- burgh, and was engaged in the active discharge of his professional duties. In 1863 he was elected District Attorney of the county, remaining in office three years. He subsequently served as Alderman, a position, however, from which he soon resigned. Since 1874 he has been connected with the Board of Education, and in 1875 he was appointed Corporation Counsel, an office which he now fflls. He has also been interested in financial affairs, having been for several years a Director of the Quassaick Bank. Thus identified with the official and the educational interests of the munici- pality, Mr. Cassedy has displayed the industry, the systematic habits, and the uprightness that he inherits from his forefathers, added to which, his excellent legal abilities and attainments, developed and supple- mented by practice and experience, have made him the chosen legal adviser of his fellow citizens in their corporate capacity, and a successful and highly-es- teemed public man. He was man-ied in 1861 to Miss Margaret J., daughter of the late Dr. Charles Drake of Newburgh. f TLKIN, HON. JOHN G., was bom in Ulster County, N. Y., Oct. 23d, 1818. His father, Daniel Wilkin, a native of Orange County, was engaged in the occupation of farming. The Wilkin family are of Welsh origin, but emigrated to the north of Ireland about the year 1600. There came to this country, about the middle of the seventeenth century, three brothers of the name, who settled in different parts of the United States— one going to Pennsylvania, one to the Eastern States, while the one from whom Mr. Wilkin claims descent settled in New York, near the Orange County line. Large tracts of land in that sec- tion have been in possession of different branches of the family for the last two hundred years. The pater- nal grandfather of Mr. Wilkin gave his services to his adopted country during its great struggle for national independence, as did also two of his brothers, great- uncles of the subject of this sketch. His mother was Harriet Haines, daughter of John B. Haines, whose parents were among the eai-ly English settlers of Con- necticut. Attracted by the fine soil and other advan- tages of Orange County, they removed thither among the pioneers of that region, and there the mother of Mr. Wilkin was born. Mr. Willdn's pai-ents destined him for the ministry, and having this end in view, they placed him, when only eight years of age, under the tuition of a celebrated Latin scholar, Fi-ancis Galley, for instruction in the classics. At twelve years of age he had acquired much proficiency in the languages. He subsequently pursued his classical studies at the Mont- gomery Academy, remaining there till the close of 1838. Removing at that date to Monticello, he en- gaged in teaching, meanwhile reading law in the office of Judge WilUam B. Wright, late of the Court of Ap- peals. He continued to prosecute his legal studies under the preceptorship of Gen. A. C. Niven, of Mon- ticello, and was admitted to the bar as attorney in 1843, and as counsel in 1845. About that time, Mr. CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. l85 Wilkin settled in Middletown, Orange County, his present residence, and assumed the duties of his professional career. With the exception of a pai-t- nership which continued from 1856 to 1863, he has had no associate in business. His late partner was Charles McQuoid, Esq., now deceased. In 1851, he was elected County Judge by the Democratic party, holding the office from 1852 till 1856. Judge Wilkin has, at various times, been actively connected with the Board of Education of Middletown. In 1849, he was elected member of the Board of Directors of the Bank of Middletown, now a national bank of high standing; and in 1857 he became Vice President of that institution. Judge Wilkin was originally a Democrat, but not approving of the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, he went over to the Republican party, with which he acted until 1872. Upon the nomination of Horace Greeley for the Presidency, he became one of his warmest supporters, and has ever since been independent in politics. Judge Wil- kin enjoys in an eminent degree tlie confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens, and has frequently been called to represent them in State and County Con- ventions. He was a delegate in the famous Conven- tion held at Rome, in 1849, by a faction of the Demo- cratic party, whose ultimate result was the re-union of the various parts into which that organization had been disrupted. He was also, for a number of years, Judge-Advocate on the staff of General Nevins, also of Gen. Pine, old State militia. He was married in 1850, to Miss Louise Cooley, daughter of Nathaniel Cooley, Esq., of Middletown. MOORE, DAVID, of Newburgh, was born in New- town, Long Island, November 2d, 1813. His father. Col. Thomas Moore, took up arms in the war of 1813, and at its close, engaged in the more peaceful pursuit of farming. His grandfather, David Moore, held a commission in the patriot army during the Revolution, and belonged to a long line of families of the name who were distinguished for their active and honorable participation in the early affairs of New- town. They were descendents of the Rev. John Moore, an Independent minister, of English birth, who, removing from New England, was the flist to exercise the ministerial function in the tovpn of New- town. Following the example of the renowned WiUiam Penn, the people of that town secured a just title to the territory, and the good-will of the local tribes of Indians, by the right of purchase. The Rev. John Moore was one of the prime movers in this transaction, and in acknowledgment of his claims and services, the town thirty years after his decease, awarded eighty acres to his descendents. The mother of Mr. Moore, was Anna (Luyster) Moore, also a rep- resentative of an old Long Island family, whose name occupies a prominent place in the historic records of Newtown. Early colonized by people who set a high value upon educational advantages, this place was the seat of excellent common schools from its first set- tlement. Mr. Moore, having been well trained in the course of study in these district schools, discontinued his attendance thereat when he was fourteen years of age, such being the custom in the early part of this century with lads who were not intended for one of the learned professions. The death of his father oc- curring about this time, he entered a mercantile house in New York city, where he remained till he reached his twentieth year. Associating himself at that time with a merchant named Sleight, under the firm name of Sleight & Moore, for the transaction of the dry-goods business, he continued this relation till 1837, when he dissolved his commercial connectioris in New York, and removed to Michigan City, Indiana, pursuing the same line of trade for two years. The city of Newburgh, . which, in common with so many of the business centres of the country, had suffered greatly from the financial disasters of the years 1835, '36 and '37, began to revive about 1840, and oflEered an inviting field of operations to active men of every department of trade or labor. Attracted thither by this consideration, Mr. Moore removed to Newburgh, and entered into a copartnership under the firm name of Reeve & Moore, for the transaction of the freight and commission business. Subsequently withdrawing from this connection, he became one of the firm of Powell, Ramsdell & Co., in which he continued till 1857. From that time till his decease in September, 1877, he was engaged in a wholesale lumber and com- mission business, in company with Halsey R. Stevens. Though actively concerned in large mercantile opera- tions, Mr. Moore never allowed his mere business oc- cupations to exclude from his attention the higher relations every citizen bears to the community of which he forms a part ; on the contrary, though taking no part in politics, he always gave much time and thought to matters pertaining to the public good. He was one of the incorporators and Trustees of the Newburgh Savings Bank, and at one time served as its President. He was a member of the Board of Trustees of the village, and was President of the last Board that exercised its functions prior to Newburgh's being invested with the rights of a municipality. He was Vice President of the Powell Bank during the financial crisis of 1856 and '57 ; and was also a mem- ber of the Board of Directors of the Highland Bank for many years. A staunch patriot, he was from its organization a member of the Board of Trustees 1 86 CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. of Washington's Headquarters. Having been for nearly forty years a resident of Newburgh, liis enterprising business qualities, and substantial sympathies have been beneficent agents in that community. Though never a politician, he sided vnth the Democratic party until the breaking out of the Rebellion ; but from the beginning of our civil troubles, he was unwavering in Ms adherance to the Republican cause. Thoroughly independent of oflOice, he was a desirable man to secure for a public trust, but he could only be persuaded to accept the positions that were tendered him, upon high moral grounds. Gifted by nature with those qualities that constitute a loved and respected man, his name embalmed in the memories of his fel- low citizens, will be associated with the warm and noble instincts,' the generous, disinterested nature, that endeared him to all classes. An earnest Christian worker, he was for a long time a Warden and Vestry- man of St. George's Episcopal Chm-ch, in which a large concourse assembled to pay the farewell honors to the departed. Mr. Moore was married in 18S7 to Miss EUzabeth D. Smith, daughter of Ephraim Smith, of New York. Mrs. Moore survives her husband. BEADLE, EDWARD L., M.D., was born in Dutch- ess County, New York, in July, 1807. His parents were John and Sarah Ward Beadle. After being well instructed in the usual branches of a common school education, he pursued his classical studies at Sharon Academy, Conn. He commenced his medical studies in Dutchess County, 1837, and, matriculating the same year at the College of Physicians and Sur- geons, in New York, he was graduated in 1839. He located liimself at Hyde Park, where he remained five years, and in 1834 he removed to New York, where for twenty-five years he had a large and flourisliing practice. During the last seventeen years of his resi- dence in that city he was intimately connected vrith the educational interests of the metropolis, as Trustee of Common Schools and as a member of the Board of Education. In the course of a long and very success- ful professional career Dr. Beadle has been the recipi- ent of many medical honors. He was for a number of years one of the physicians of the Lying-in Asylum of New York, and also consulting physician of the Blind Asylum, which office he still holds. In 1854 he was appointed Trustee and Fellow of the College of Phy- sicians and Surgeons in New York. In 1858 he was elected Vice President of that time-honored institu- tion, and has filled the position with great acceptance up to the present time. He has been one of the Board of Trustees of Columbia College for nearly twenty- five years. In 1858-59 he was President of the New York County Medical Society, and is also permanent member of the New York State Medical Society. He made a tour of Europe in the years 1859-'60, and in '61, upon his return, he settled in Poughkeepsie, but did not resume his general professional duties, though he has been for several years consulting physician to St. Barnabas Hospital, and is President of the Dutch- ess County Medical Society. He is at present one of the Board of Trustees of Vassar College. Upon the organization of the Hudson River State Hospital for the Insane, he was appointed one of the Board of Man- agers, and still retains his connection with that institu- tion. He is also interested in the administration of the affaire of numerous other medical organizations. He was married in 1833 to Miss Adeline Bogert, of New York, who died in November, 1876. Dr. Beadle is a man whose skill and learning place him in the foremost rank of the profession, while his executive abiMties are such as constitute liim a very desirable co- adjutor, and an invaluable presiding officer in the vari- ous medical and beneficient institutions in the man- agement of whose affairs he is interested. CARTER, NORRIS M., M.D., of Poughkeepsie, was born in Wilna, Jefferson County, N. Y., June 4, 1838. His father, Milton H. Carter, a merchant, was of Scotch descent, the ancestors of the Carter family being natives of Edinburgh. During the Mexi- can War, 1846 to '48, Milton Carter entered the service of the United States, and was brevetted Colonel for brave and gallant action. He died a few years ago amid the rural scenes of Jefferson County at the age of sixty-seven. His wife, Catherine (Rings- len) Carter, mother of Dr. Carter, was of German ex- traction, though herself a native of this country. After pursuing his studies under the supervis- ion of the best teachers in his native town, young Carter attended an excellent course of in- struction at the Carthage Academy, then a noted school under Professor B. F. Brush. Determining to qualify himself for medical practice, he entered upon the prosecution of his studies under the direction of Dr. J. S. Conkey, of Antwerp, JeSerson County, and subsequently with Dr. Alexander H. HofE, of Albany. While in pursuit of his professional studies he was engaged in teaching, and by this course of mental dis- cipline rendered the acquisition of more severe scien- tific knowledge comparatively easy. . In 1859 he grad- uated from the Albany Medical College, having com- pleted the required course in that institution. He im- mediately began to practice medicine in the town of Carthage, and continued thus engaged till 1863. Among those who flocked to the national standard dming the CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. 187 hour of our country's danger in the late war, none were more conspicuous than the physicians and surgeons of the country, who, as a class, did what men could to relieve the suflEerings of those engaged in the more active ser- vice of the field. Dr. Carter entered the service and was commissioned Assistant Surgeon with the rank of First Lieutenant, and attaclied to the Twentieth New York Cavalry. He was soon- after raised to the post of Surgeon with the rank of Major in the One Hundredth Regiment New York Infantry. Subsequently, as in the case of his honored father, he was brevetted Lieutenant Coloriel for meritorious services. He continued in service till the close of the war, having had professional expe- rience on several of its great battle-fields. At the ter- mination of his military career he went to Poughkeepsie, and locating there has been active in his duties as medical practitioner for a num- ber of years. In addition to the demands of a large private practice. Dr. Carter has been much occu- pied as a member of the Poughkeepsie Board of Health. In 1876 he went to Europe and added to his aheady rich experience by critical observation of the hospitals of Paris, London and Vienna ; making also, in 1877, another professional visit to the Old "World with a special view to the celebrated German hospitals. He was married in 1861 to Miss Marie McCollom of Carthage. SWIET, HON. CHARLES W., lawyer of Pough- keepsie, was born in the town of Washington, Dutchess County, New York, June 37th, 1813. His father, Henry Swift, also a member pf the legal profession, was a native of Amenia in the same county, and spending most of his life there, he died in 1866, at the ripe age of 84. He was a graduate of Yale, and was noted in his day as the most eminent member of the bar in that part of the State. The Swift family, who are of "Welsh origin, removed from. New England to Dutchess County in 1760. The mother of Charles "W. Swift, Rebecca ("Warner) Swift, was of French Huguenot descent, though born in Poughkeepsie. Mr. Swift pursued his earlier studies in the select schools of Poughkeepsie, pre- paring for college at the then famous school of Dr. Allen, at Hyde Park. In 1829, he entered the sopho- more class at Yale College, but, remaining only a short time, he subsequently was matriculated at Rutgers College, New Brunswick, N. J., and was graduated with honors in 1833, having been chosen to deliver the Latin salutatory of that year. He entered immedi- ately upon the prosecution of his legal studies under the preceptorship of his father. He was licensed as attorney in 1835, and as counsellor in 1838, from which time he was associated with his father in the practice of law. The copartnership continued till 1853, when the junior partner retired from active practice and devoted his attention more especially to the manage- ment of trusts, loans, and estates, and the purchase and sale of real estate. Mr. Swift was Vice President of the Farmers and Manufacturers National Bank of Poughkeepsie, and Director of that institution for the last twenty years. He also occupied a similar position in the Dutchess County Mutual Fire Insurance Company. He was President of the Dutchess County Turnpike Company, and one of the Board of Trustees of the Poughkeepsie Cemetery Association. He was, likewise, for some time, a Trustee of the ven- erable institution from which he graduated, Rutgers College, New Jersey. During the time that he was engaged in the active practice of his profession, he was Master in Chancery. Mr. Swift was married in 1841, to Miss Catharine E. Van "Wyck, daughter of John C. Van "Wyck, of Fishkill, New York, a gentle- man well-known in mercantile circles in that place. This estimable lady died in 1846, and in a few years he was married to Miss Mary Messier, daughter of Rev. Abraham Messier, of Somerville, New Jersey, who for more than forty years has ministered to the First Reformed congregation of that town. Mr. Swift was a man fully appreciated by his fellow citizens, who twice conferred upon him the honor of the Mayoralty; the second period for which he served, being double that of the first. He was one of the original Board of Trustees of Vassar College, and for some time participated very actively in the manage- ment of the affairs of that institution. He was at vari- ous timfes trustee of several large estates, among them that of Matthew Vassar, the noble founder of the col- lege that bears his name. Mr. Swift was also person- ally interested in large transactions in real estate. He was a man of recognized financial and administrative ability, andwas a valuable acquisition to any corpora- tion that was fortunate enough to secure him as a member. He died in 1877. TUTHILL, ROBERT K., M.D., of Poughkeepsie, was born in Newburgh, New York, January 18, 1835. His father, Samuel Tuthill, also a member of the medical profession, and for many years a lead- ing practitioner in Orange County, is now a resident of Poughkeepsie. His mother was Miss Sarah M. Kelly, of New York. Dr. Robert K. Tuthill was first edu- cated in the schools of his native county, afterwards pursuing the study of the higher branches in the Charlotteville Seminary. He began to prosecute his medical studies with his father, and matriculated at i88 CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. the New York Medical College in 1857, graduating in 1859. After receiving his degree lie began his profes- sional career at Poughlieepsie, and was engaged in active practice there at the breaking out of the Rebellion in 1861. With characteristic patriotism, he oflfered his services to his country, and was appointed Assist- ant Surgeon of the Twentieth New York Infantry. The faithfulness with which he discharged liis duties in this capacity, attracting the attention of those in command, he was shortly afterwards promoted to the position of Regimental Surgeon of the 145th New York Infantry. He continued with his regiment till its term of service expired near the close of the war, and returned to the practice of his pi-ofession with the con- sciousness of having contributed his sliare to the up- holding of the honor of the nation, by devoting his time and talents to the care and relief of those more directly engaged in the combat. Dr. Tuthill is a mem- ber of tlie Dutchess County Medical Society, and has been several times elected delegate to the State Medi- cal Society. He is considered a skilful surgeon, his experience while serving his country being a great ad- vantage to him. He was married to Miss Cornelia Irish, of Poughkeepsie, in 1864. f RIGHT, REV. DANIEL GROSVENOR, was born in Leverett, Massachusetts, September 23, 1813. His father, the Rev. Joel Wright, was a Congregational minister of New Hampshire. His mother, Lucy W. Grosvenor, was the daughter of the Rev. Dr. Grosvenor, also a Congregational minister, who resided in the town of Grafton, Mass. Rev. Mr. Wright, after leaving Williams College, in 1833, began to prepare for the ministry under the teaching of the Right Rev. Dr. Chase, Bishop of New Hampshire, by whom he was ordained in 1846. For the next five years Mr. Wright was in charge of the parishes of Cornish and Plainfield, New Hampshire, and was also rector of a church in Massachusetts. In 1857 he settled in Poughkeepsie and became proprietor and Principal of the celebrated school known as the Poughlteepsie Female Academy, established in 1836. An institution which in these days of rapid growth and sudden changes holds on its way for forty years, bespeaks, to say the least, a consideration of its merits, which are sufficiently varied and pronounced to place it among the best educational establishments of its kind in the United States. The curriculum of this institution, comprising, as it does, an academic and collegiate course, and also instruc- tion in the arts of music, of painting, and of draw- ing, raises it to a level of many of our colleges. The high degree of proficiency observable in the scholars generally, and especially in the departments of music and painting, as well as the atmosphere of mental and moral culture that pervades the academy, have made it a chosen seat of learning. The faculty of tliis insti- tution are teachers of recognized superiority in their several spheres, while Rev. Mr. Wright, the Principal, an honored and scholarly man, is a Christian gentle- man of the highest type. He has given the prime of his manhood and the maturity of his ciUture to the work of teaching, and, having kept the reputation of his school up to a very high standard of excellence, he has made it a more than ordinary honor to graduate from the Poughkeepsie Female Academy. He was marriedin 1836 to Miss Aletta VanBrimt,of Long Island. HARVEY, ALBERT B., M.D., of Poughkeepsie, was born in Dracut, Middlesex County, Massa- chusetts, March 3, 1817. His father, John Har- vey, a native of the same State, was engaged in agri- cultural pursuits. The Harveys were originally from the north of Ireland. The progenitor of this branch of the family, John Downs Harvey, emigrated to America about the time of the fli'st English settlement of Massachusetts and located himself in that State. The mother of Dr. Harvey, Mary (Straw) Harvey, was the daughter of Jacob Straw, of New Hampsliire, who fought with the troops from that State during the whole course of the Revolutionary war, and died in 1835, at an advanced age. Obtaining his knowledge of the primary branches of his education at the select schools of his native place, Dr. Harvey subsequently attended the academy at Hopkinton, N. H., for in- struction in the higher studies, and was graduated at that institution in 1835. He then entered upon a course of medical study under Drs. Gilman and Kim- ball, also under Dr. Elisha Bartlett, of Lowell, Mass. Matriculating at the medical department of Dart- mouth College, he attended there for one season, and after taking two courses of medical lectures at Wood- stock, Vermont, received his degree in medicine in 1843. His entrance to a medical career was made at Shrewsbury, Vermont, where he practiced two years and then removed to Poughkeepsie, his present place of residence. He was at one time President of the Dutchess County Medical Society, and still retains connection with that organization. He has also since its formation served on the staff of medical oflBcers of St. Barnabas Hospital, of Poughkeepsie. As a man of ability and a skilful and successful medical practi- tioner. Dr. Harvey occupies a prominent place in the fraternity and in the community in which he lives. He was married in 1843 to Miss Mary Phalen, of Shrewsbury, Vermont, who died January 21, 1877. CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. 189 PAYNE, JOHN C, M.D., was born in Amenia, Dutchess County, New York, Oct. 3d, 1819. His father, Thomas Payne, was a farmer. His mother, Sarah Bartlett, was a native of Connecticut. Dr. Payne acquired the rudiments of his education at the Amenia Seminary, tlien a well-linown institution of learning, of wliieh Gilbert Haven, since the popu- lar Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, was Principal. After leaving the seminary, Dr. Payne prepared to enter college, though for some reason he did not carry out his plan, but immediately began the study of medicine, having for his preceptor Dr. Luke W. Stanton, of Amenia. After pursuing his medical studies for some time in this way, he at- tended two com-ses of lectures at the Berkshire Medi- cal Institute, at "Woodstock, Vermont, and one course at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, in New York. From the latter institution, he received his degree in 1846, and thereupon commenced the prac- tice of medicine in Amenia, with his late preceptor. Dr. Stanton. Such a connection is always of great benefit to the young practitioner, giving him a pres- tige and standing not otherwise obtainable until after years of practice. In 1856, Dr. Payne went abroad, and spent two years in visiting the hos- pitals of London and Paris, gathering, at the bedsides of the patients in those renowned institutions, rare medical knowledge ; witnessing methods of treatment of the most scientific kind, and not unfrequently of a unique character; and listening to lectures from the lips of men whose devotion to their art amounts to heroism. Returning in 1858, to this country, he lo- cated at Poughkeepsie, where he has now a flourish- ing practice. He is a member of the N. Y. State Medi- cal Society, also a member of the Medical Board of St. Barnabas Hospital. Dr. Payne was a member during the years 1873-'4-'5, of the Board of Health of Poughkeepsie. During the years 1864^'5, he was surgeon of the Board of Enrollment, a body exercising its functions under the auspices of the Episcopal Church of that place. Dr. Payne is one of a large class of physicians, whose tried skill and self-denying spirit are best appreciated by those who are witnesses of their daily lives ; while they themselves find their greatest compensation in doing their work for the work's sake. SMITH, GEORGE CLARK, M.D., is a native of Salem, New Hampshire, and was born in August, 1833. His parents were John and Beulah (Lee) Smith. After the usual preparatory education he en- tered Dartmouth College in 1853, and pursued the studies of a two years' course. In the several years immediately succeeding his college term he was en- gaged in teaching. Commencing his medical studies in the office of Dr. John Stow, of Lawrence, Mass., he subsequently continued the same with Dr. Walter Burnham, of Lowell, Mass. Having attended a course of lectures in the medical department of Harvard University, he graduated in medicine from the Univer- sity of New York in 1863. He then entered the service of the United States as Assistant Surgeon, and was as> signed to the 156th Regiment New York Volunteers, serving in this capacity till 1864, when he was pro- moted to the position of Surgeon of the same regiment. He continued in active service till the close of the war and then resumed his practice at Rondont in partner- ship with Dr. A. Crispell, having entered into this arrangement prior to his military service. He is a member of the Ulster County Medical Society, and has been delegate to the State Medical Society. Dr. Smith sharing the labors of his relative and associate Dr. . Crispell, enjoys also with him the confidence and ap- preciation of the community. His medical skill and attainments generally are of a high order, while his devotion to his country has given him a hold on the hearts of his fellow citizens that cannot be weakened by time or circumstances. He was married in 1873 to Miss Kate Crispell, daughter of Dr. Crispell. DRAKE, CHARLES, M.D., was born in Herki- mer County, April 17th, 1805. After completing his studies he commenced his professional career in the town of Plattekill, Ulster County, New Y"ork. In 1846 he was elected by the Democratic party to represent his Assembly District in the State Legisla- ture. Soon after he removed to Newburgh, continu- ing the practice of his profession, and was elected one of the Trustees of the village in 1853, which office he filled for two terms. In 1848 he joined the Van Buren faction of the Democratic party, becoming, when the Republican party was formed, one of the staunchest upholders of its principles. In 1855 he was nominated by the Republicans for County Clerk, and being a man highly esteemed by his fellow citizens, without regard to political opinions, he was ably supported by the best men of both parties, and consequently was elected by a handsome majority, his ticket running far ahead of the party vote. At the expiration of his term of office, he resumed his professional duties, continuing in the discharge of them up to the time of his decease. Dr. Drake was a man of more than ordinary ability, and his death has left a vacancy in the ranks of the profession which is not easily filled. In all positions of political trust he proved faithful to the principles he represented, and he performed his official functions 190 CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. -with upright and conscientious eflaciency. He was far from being a neutral man, and when necessary, asserted his views with the utmost fearlessness. He never re- sorted to dissimulation, but was always ready, not only to define his position upon the various questions of the day, but also to defend it with firmness and vigor. He was a man of noble instincts, never suffer- ing a case of distress to pass his notice unrelieved. His benevolence made him accessible at all times for medical advice, as well to those who were unable to remunerate his services, as to those from whom he expected a golden fee. Dr. Drake has finished his. earthly career. His undaunted spirit and his fidelity in political affairs gained him the respect and esteem of his constituents, and the remembrance of his hu- mane and generous deeds will long survive him. his son, Darwin Everett, M.D„ born in 1843, who, after completing an academic course in the well-known school at Walkill, studied medicine with his father. He afterwards attended the usual routine of medical instruction in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, receiving his diploma therefrom in 1864, and practicing, subsequently, in Bellevue Hospital, returned to Middletown in 1866. Dr. Harvey Everett was married in 1837 to Miss Sarah A., daughter of Walter Everett of Middletown. EVERETT, HARVEY, M.D., of Middletown, was born there on Dec. 19, 1811. His father, David Everett, was a farmer of the County of Orange. His grandfather, Ephraim Everett, was of English origin, and removed from Long Island, in 1763, to Orange County, where his descendants were born. Being unable, through physical disability, to serve his country in the field during the Revolutionary struggle, he paid a man to act as his representative, thus con- tributing his share to the maintenance of equal rights and the establishing of the Republic. The mother of Dr. Everett was Mary (McNish) Everett, a lady of Scotch parentage, though born in New York State. Having availed himself of all the educational oppor- tunities offered by his native district. Dr. Everett be- gan the study of medicine with Dr. John T. Jansen of Minisink, Orange County ; subsequently matriculat- ing at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York city, and at the Vermont Academy of Medicine at Woodstock, in which latter institution he attended two courses of lectures, and was graduated in 1834. Beginning immediately to practice medicine in his native town, he has since then been uninterruptedly engaged in his professional duties. Dr. Everett is a member of the Medical Society of the County of Orange. He was for three years School Inspector of the town of Walkill, and Trustee of Walkill Academy. Pie has also been, for some time. Railroad Commis- sioner of that place. Serving for several years as member of the Board of Education of his town, he was finally, owing to the pressure of other duties, obliged to resign. Dr. Everett is a man of high stand- ing in the profession, while his practical wisdom is such as to make his fellow citizens rely on his judg- ment, not only in professional relations but in matters generally. Associated with him in medical practice is DECKER, GEORGE H., lawyer of Middletown, N. Y., was born in Penn Yan, Yates County, AprU 23d, 1843. His father, William H. Decker, a na- tive of the same town, was engaged in agricultural pursuits. Mr. Decker's ancestors came from Holland, and settling in Columbia County, New York, bought large tracts of land there and carried on extensive farming operations. His grandfather removed to Yates County about 1807, and engaged in the same occupation. His mother, Lucy (Durham) Decker, was the daughter of Benjamin Durham, a farmer and a mill-wright, and one of the first settlers of Yates County. The father of Benjamin Durham was an Eng- hshman who settled near Niagara Falls, in 1753, but subsequently removed to the county where his son was born. Mr. Decker attended the common schools of his neighborhood until he reached the age of seven- teen, when, desiring to prepare for college, he entered the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, at Lima, Livingston County, N. Y. Having completed his academical course, he matriculated at Hamilton College, Clinton, N. Y., and was graduated with the usual honors in 1866,' receiving the degi-ee of A.M. in 1869. Upon leaving school, he engaged as assistant teacher in the Walkill Academy, being elected, after one year's ser- vice, to the position of Principal of that school. Meanwhile, having chosen the law as his future avoca- tion, he began the prosecution of his legal studies under the direction of J. M. Pronk, of Middletown. Resigning his position as head of the Walkill Academy, upon his admission to the bar in 1870, he entered at once upon the practice of his profession in Middle- tovra, and is now one of the law firm of Decker & Lit- tle. During the progress of his career in Middletown, Mr. Decker has interested himself in all the public en- terprises of that region, and has gained much popular favor. His well-known executive sluU and legal tal- ent procured his election as Corporation Counsel, an office which he held from 1873 to 1875. He has also been connected with tlie Board of Education since 1871. Being well fitted, by his experience as an in- structor, and by his thorough academic and collegiate CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. 191 training, to supervise educational matters, he has taken an active part in the transactions of that body. Mr. Decker is a man of vigorous mind and high literary attainments, and has contributed not a little to the ad- vancement of the higher interests of the community in -wliich he lives. He was married in 1872, to Miss Francis E. Horton, daughter of Charles Horton, a retired merchant and manufacturer of Middletown. LITTLE, THERON N., Judge, of Middletown, Orange County, was born in Walkill in that county, June 3d, 1840. His father, Joseph Little, a far- mer of that section, was the grandson of James Little, a native of the north of Ireland, who came to America about the middle of the last century for the purpose of enjoying that civil and religious liberty which was denied him in his native land. On his voyage hither, he was a fellow passenger of the Clintons, a family of historic renown in the annals of New York State. He settled in Orange County; and at first engaged in mechanical pursuits. He did not, however, follow his trade long, being soon occupied as teacher, and in the exercise of the functions of Justice of the Peace, under the British crown. He is supposed to have held this ofHce for a long time, as there were found at his death a great many public documents. These were remarka- ble for their exceeding beauty of penmanship. He is known to have been a man of culture, and influential as an educator. As a judicial officer he was con- scientious, impartial and upright ; , possessed of much pubUc spirit, he gave two of his sons to the service of their country ; and, surviving their loss and living to see the Republic firmly rooted and established, he died in 1798, at an advanced age. His grandson, James Little, married. Hannah Harlow, a native of Orange County, of English extraction. Tliis couple, the parents of Judge Theron N. Little, hved to celebrate their golden wedding at the homstead in 1867. Pur- suing his studies in the district schools till he reached the age of sixteen. Judge Little then com- menced a course of more advanced study at the "Walkill Academy, preparatory to entering Williams College, Mass. Attaching himself to the class of 1860, he gave diligent attention to the Uterary pursuits of a full four years term, and was graduated in 1864, with the degree of A.B., receiving three years later that of A.M. At the termination of his collegiate career he engaged in teaching; first, in tlie West Jersey Academy, at Bridgeton, New Jersey, and then, at Ivy Hill Female Classical Institute. Thus occupied till 1866, he became in that year the Principal of Mont- gomery Academy in Orange County. Having entered •upon the study of law, he soon relinquished the occu- pation of teaching, and after a fitting length of time spent in the pm'suit of legal science in the office of Judge Gedney, at Goshen, he was admitted to the bar in 1868. He immediately began the practice of his pro- fession, continuing for some time without an associate therein, but in 1874 he became a member of the firm known as Hulse, Little and Finn. Withdrawing from this copartnership in 1876, he formed new business rela- tions under the name of Decker & Little. Judge Little has always been more or less engaged in official life. In 1872, he was chosen Corporation Attorney of Middletown, and subsequently was elected Special County Judge. His majority in that election was 800, and the vote poUed for him ran far ahead of his party ticket. He entered upon the exercise of his judicial functions in January, 1873, and served for a term of three years. He has been a number of times delegate to the County Conventions, and has done miich service in the Republican interest. Judge Little is a man of high literary and professional attainments , of traditional uprightness and strict impartiality. His participation in the management of pubhc affairs can- not fail to be promotive of the best interests of the community. He was married in 1870 to Miss Pauhne D. Shaw, daughter of B. W. Shaw, a merchant of Middletown. KING, THOMAS, President of the National Bank of Middletown, Orange County, New T^ork, was born in Sullivan County, Aug. 25th, 1827. His father, Zavan King, whose ancestors were English, was largely engaged in the construction of the Dela- ware and Hudson Canal. His mother was Lydia (Cadwell) King, a native of New York State. Her mother, (the grandmother of Mr. King), whose maiden name was Sylvia Stevens, was a witness of the Wyoming massacre, being at that time fourteen years old. Mr. King, leaving school at the age of thirteen, entered the printing office of the proprietors of the Middletown Courier. After remaining here four years, he engaged in the employ of the New York Central Railroad, and was for several years occupied as railroad contractor and in farming operations. From 1856 to 1860, he was in the hardware business at Middletown. In 1863 he was elected Teller of the old Bank of Middletown, which office he filled till 1865, being made in the latter year. Cashier. He remained in that position till 1870, when he withdrew from the bank to embark in busi- ness in New York, and became Treasurer of the Orange County Milk Association. He returned to the bank, engaging for a time as clerk, but was subsequently, in 1877, elected President of that corporation. The Bank of Middletown, founded in 1844, and created a Na- 192 CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. tional Bank in 1865, is one of the solid financial insti- tutions of tlie State. Its accounts since its organiza- tion show a percentage of retui-n upon investment seldom equalled, and very rarely excelled. Mr. King was married in 1857, to Miss Laura Harding, daughter of Charles Harding, a farmer of Orange County. CRISPBLL, A., M.D., was born in Marbletovm, Ulster County, New York, June 32, 1833. His father, Peter Crispell, also a member of the medi- cal faculty, is a native of the same county, residing there at the present time. His mother was Catharine Eltinge, also of Ulster County. The family are of Huguenot ancestry, tracing their descent from Antoine Crispell, who, leaving the place of his nativity, Ro- chelle, France, came to this country with some Hu- guenot colonists in 1657. Dr. Crispell, after gradua- ting at the Kingston Academy, commenced the study of medicine under the direction of his learned father. After passing through the usual medical course at the University of New York, he was graduated by that in- stitution in 1849. He went to Roudout after receiv- ing his degree, for the purpose of practicing medicine in that town, and for nearly thirty years has been one of the leading practitioners of that district. At the beginning of the war he was appointed Brigade Sm-geon of the Eighth Brigade, New York State Militia, and was attached to the Twentieth Regiment New York militia. During the progress of the war he occupied for two years the important post of Health Officer at Port Royal, South Carolina. Leaving this post, he was appointed to another scarcely less important, that of Chief Medical Officer at Buffalo, afterwards receiv- ing the appointment of Surgeon-in-charge of the hos- pital at that point. Dr. Crispell has been for many years an active member of the Ulster County Medical Society, an organization which owes its present high standing mainly to Ms efforts in its behalf. He is a prominent member of the New York State Medical Society, also a member of the New York Medico-legal Association, and is connected with the American Medical Association. Dr. Crispell also served one term as a member of the Legislature. While Dr. Crispell is widely known and sought after as a man of skill and learning, and is thoroughly appreciated by his medical compeers, his reputation is by no means confined to his own State or even to the fraternity of which he is a member. The various responsible posi- tions filled by him during the war, and the valuable services he rendered to his country at a time when the devotion of medical and surgical talent was one of the great needs of the hour, have won him, among the citi- zens and soldiers, a name which, embalmed in their grateful remembrances, has been carried by them to their distant homes. Dr. Crispell was married in 1849 to Miss Adeline M. Barber, of Delaware County, New York. This lady dying in 1854, Dr. Crispell was again married, in 1855, to Miss Jane A. Catlin, of Kingston, N. Y. TAN VORST, ABRAHAM A., President of the Schenectady Bank, of Schenectady, was born In Glenville, Schenectady County, New York, Nov. 38, 1806. His father, Abraham F. Van Vorst, was a farmer, and, though born in the same county, was of Holland descent. The progenitors of the Van Vorst.s were three brothers who emigrated to the Empire State in the early part of the last century. One of them settled in Brooklyn, where there was, at that time, a flourishing colony of his countrymen : another located on the Hudson, near Kingston ; and the third, who was the immediate ancestor of Mr. Van Vorst's family, fixed upon Schenectady County as his future home. Inheriting the thrifty and industrious habits of their nation, they engaged in the cultivation of the soil, and, like their countrymen generally, soon accumu- lated a handsome competence as the result of their honorable labor. His mother was the daughter of Jacob Wallace, a native of New York, but of Scotch extraction. Mr. Van Vorst pursued his studies at the district schools till he attained the age of seventeen, when, preferring a mercantile to an agricultural occu- pation, he entered as clerk, a country store in Schenec- tady, and continued thus employed four years. Soon after attaining his majority in 1828, he engaged in the hardware business in the same place in company with Henry Peck, the firm being Peck & Van Vorst. This copartnership lasted till 1835, when the firm was dis- solved, Mr. Van Vorst continuing the business on his own account till 1858. For a few years subsequently he was connected with the Hudson River & New York Central Railroad. In 1858 he became a member of the firm of Van Vorst, Vedder & Co., for the trans- action of the lumber business, in which line of oper- ations he continued till 1874, when he retired from the active duties of mercantile life. Previously, in 1845, he had been elected a member of the Board of Directors of the Schenectady Bank, then a State banlc. Upon its reorganization, in 1862, Mr. Van Vorst was elected as Vice President, and on the death of Jay Cady, in 1875, he succeeded to the office of President. This bank, one of the most flourishing financial corporations in the State, has a competent capital, and also a surplus fund, and declares an aver- age dividend of five per cent, semi-annually, clear of State and national taxes. Mr. Van Vorst is also Vice ~^- ^-^fm l/i^l/My ucn/iJ— — CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. 193 President of the Schenectady Savings Bank, a sound and prosperous institution. He has been for many years a Warden of St. George's Episcopal Church in Schenectady. Thougli naturally averse to political preferment, Mr. Van Vorst has served as Alderman for several terms, and as member of the County Demo, cratic Committee, and was induced, through tlie per- suasion of his party, to accept the nomination for Mayor for 1853 and '54. His excellent administration of the functions of the Mayoralty gained him so much popular favor as to cause his re-nomination to that office for the years 1869 and '70. By the urgent soli- citations of his friends, who appealed to his patriotism and his desire for the welfare of the community — those higher motives that influence a man in his acceptance of office — he was again prevailed upon to serve his fellow citizens as Mayor of Schenectady. During the existence of our civil war, Mr. Van Vorst was an active War Democrat, and upheld by all the means in his power the hands of his Government in that trying period. He was for many years identified with the business world of Schenectady, in which his thrifty and sterling habits made him a prominent mercantile character. Since 1863 his financial skill and con- scientious management of monetary interests have been an important factor in the prosperity of that city. He was married in 1830 to Miss Amanda Hulbert, daughter of Dr. Hulbert of Pennsylvania. TEDDER, ALEXANDER M., M.D., of Schenect- ady, was bom in that city on the 15th of January, 1814. His ancestors, originally of Holland birth, were well-known in the colonial times of the State of New York. One of his progenitors, as early as 1661, carried on the manufacture of salt on Coney Island. Others located themselves in the counties bordering on the Hudson, where they owned large tracts of land. Rip Van Winkle, on his return from his twenty years trance in Sleepy Hollow, inquires first for Nicholas Vedder. In the Indian massacre, by which the popu- lation of Schenectady was decimated, two of the fam- ily were carried off by the savages, though, more for- tunate than many of their compatriots, they were afterwards restored to their homes. Dr. Alexander M. Vedder was the oldest of a family of ten children, whose parents were Nicholas A. Vedder and Annatie (Marselis) Vedder. His father, a carpenter and builder by trade, erected numerous edifices in the town of Schenectady. In addition to his skill in this branch of trade, he possessed much mechanical genius in other departments of labor. Employed by Dr. Nott, in the construction of his famous stoves, he was the first in his town to produce one that would accomplish the then almost impossible feat of burning anthracite coal. A man of uncommon energy and much practi- cal wisdom, he was keenly alive to the necessity of ac- quiring knowledge at that time little appreciated by the masses. Though possessing only a moderate in- come, he gave tlu-ee of his sons the advantages of a collegiate course. In the early part of this century, and indeed during its first three decades, the educa^ tion of the young beyond the simple elements — read- ing, writing, and ai-ithmetic— was not regarded as a necessity. Out of two hundred pupils in one of the common schools of Schenectady, Dr. Vedder was the only one who studied geography and history, his father being obliged to send to Albany for the necessary books. Subsequently, attending the academy taught by William Beattie, his preparatory course was com- pleted at sixteen, when, entering Union College, he took a high stand both in the classics and in mathematics, of which latter he was especially fond. Graduating in 1838, at the age of twenty-one, he delivered, at the commencement, the Latin Salutatory. Three years later he received the degree of A.M. After graduat- ing he engaged part of the time in teaching at Schen- ectady, and afterwards as Principal of the Hudson Academy. Attending medical lectures in Philadelphia during the winter of 1835 and '36, he was soon ap- pointed resident physician of Blockley Hospital. In 1889 he graduated at the University of Pennsylvania, at that time considered the best medical school in the United States. The connection of Dr. Vedder with Blockley Hospital was of great service to him in his subsequent professional practice. The large nimiber of patients in that institution, and its very able corps of attendant surgeons and physicians, prominent among whom were Drs. Gerhart, Pancoast, Horner and Dunglisou, combined to render it a superior centre of clinical instruction. In warm accord with all his coadjutors in this relation, Dr. Vedder became especi- ally attached to Dr. Dunglisou. With a devotion of purpose not always observable in a young physician. Dr. Vedder pursued bis professional studies with zealous industry, publishing in the Medical IntelU- geTicer, at that time edited by Dr. Dunglisou, a num- ber of his clinical notes, among others, one on ' 'Bright's Disease," in 1838. During his early practice he ac- quired a thorough knowledge of auscultation and per- cussion, then understood by few practitioners. This acquisition proved of great value to him and gave him a wide reputation in the treatment of pulmonary dis- eases. Beginning the practice of his profession in Schenectady, in 1839, an accident soon brought him into popular notice. A cannon exploding on the Fourth of July, each of the gunners in service lost an arm. Dr. Vedder performed a successful amputation 194 CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. in the case of one of the wounded men, and the opera- tion immediately gave him such prestige as to materi- ally increase his practice, making the demands for Ms professional services almost beyond his povrer of at- tending to them. In 1846 he was appointed Lecturer on Anatomy and Physiology in Union College, and soon afterwards was transferred to the chair of Pro- fessor of that department, which position he filled till his resignation in 1864. To large powers of general- ization he adds complete mastery of the details of a subject; and is eminently successful in his relations as a Professor. So distinguished is he in the special de- partment of professional training that his office is never wanting in a number of young men engaged under his guidance in medical research. Among the members of the profession who have graduated under his tuition are Dr. Van lugon. Dr. Loomis, of New York, Dr. J. Poster Jenkins, Dr. M. R. Vedder, Dr. J. H. Vedder, Dr. Robert Tuttle, Dr. Rosa, of Watertown, Dr. Van Zandt and others. A man of large scientific attain- ments, he has acquired through long observation and study of symptoms, together with post mortem exami- nation of the seat of diseases, such practical knowledge as renders his therapeutical deductions of great weight and authority, and causes liis advice to be frequently sought in cases of obscure or doubtful nature. For many years a leading surgical practitioner, he has per- formed many capital operations. In amputation of the limbs and in strangulated hernia he has been par- ticularly successful, and has brought to a happy issue a number of cases in which the delicate and hazajrdous operation of trepanning was necessary. A Republican of the " old-Une Whig " stock. Dr. Vedder has always uianifested an active interest in the administration of public affairs, and having been frequently urged to accept official honor, he was elected, in 1858, to the Mayoralty of Schenectady. During the civil war he was a strong supporter of the Government, and gave his services as surgeon to the Board of Enrollment of his section. LOWELL, PROF. ROBERT TRAILL SPENCE, S.T.D., Professor of Latin Language and Litera- ture in Union College, Schenectady, is the second son of the late Rev. Charles Lowell, D.D., for more than fifty years pastor of the "West Parish," in Bos- ton. Another son is James Russell Lowell, at present United States Minister to Spain. His mother was Harriette Brackett Spence, of Portsmouth, N. H. His grandfather was I-Ion. John Lowell, LL.D., ap- pointed, by Washington, Chief Justice of the Eastern District, United States, on the same day with the Hon. James Duane— one of whose great-granddaughters Mr. Lowell married — to the coiTesponding office in New York. His great-grandfather was the Rev. John Lowell (Harv. 1735) pastor of the 3d Church in New- bury, Mass. The first ancestor in this country was Perceval Lowle, a merchant from Bristol, England, who with two sons came to Newbury in 1639. The record of the family is carried up, uninterrupted, to Walter C, about 1274 ; after whom they were seated at Yardly, Worcestershire, England, for more than three hundred years, then removing to Somersetshire. The subject of this notice was born in Boston, Oct. 8th, 1816 ; at six years was sent to the famous Round Hill School, at Northampton, under Mr., afterwards Dr. Cogswell, of the Astor Library, and Mr. Bancroft, afterwards the historian. Between the age of twelve aud thirteen, he entered clear at Harvard, graduated A.B. and A.M., in course, studying medicine and at- tending all the required lectures and clinical and ana- tomical teaching ; after which he was for two or three years in business with an elder brother. He spent the winter of 1836-7 in Great Britain, and, in 1839, de- termined to study for holy orders in the Episcopal Church, he went to Schenectady, N. Y., to be under the charge of the Rev. A. Potter, D.D., afterwards Bishop, then Vice President of Union College. When, having passed the examination, he was ready to be ordained by Bishop Griswold, of Massachusetts, he was invited by Bishop Spencer of Newfoundland, to en- ter his diocese ; was ordained in Bermuda (belonging to that diocese) both deacon and priest in 1843 and 1843; and was appointed chaplain to the. Bishop and visitor to the schools of the island. The latter year, in order to have missionary work, he was transfen-ed to Newfoundland and appointed to the cure of Baj^ Rob- erts, in Conception Bay, together with a mission in Trinity Bay. During a severe and general famine, in 1846-7, being Chairman of the District Committee of Relief, he received an official congratulation from the Colonial Secretary, "because in Bay Roberts not one person, during the famine, having potatoes (the chief dependence) received more for them, for food or seed, than the price fixed at the outset." About this time, being much reduced in health by exertion, anxiety, and insufficient food, (in which his wife suffered equally with him), he declined the offer of the Rural Dean- ery of Ti-inity, twice offered by the then Bishop, the noble Dr. Field, as also the post of Domestic Chaplain to the Bishop in St. John's, afterwards offered, and came home. Here he took a mission, largely among the poor, in the city of Newark, N. J., and in 1848 he established the first Free Church, with daily morning and evening prayers and weekly communion, in New Jersey, and one of the earliest in the country. In 1858, he published "The New Priest in Conception Bay," a tale in two volumes, which was highly com- CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. 195 mended by the chief reviews ; Dr. Peabody, formerly editor of the North Ameiiean, and others pronouncing it the best novel ever written in this country. In 1860 he published a volume of "Poems by the author of the New Priest," which was also highly spoken of by reviews in England and this country. Thus the Lon- don Afhenmum said, "Powerful verses, compound proper of real living blood, and unquestionably pure HeUcon," &c. In 1859, he accepted a call to the Rec- torship of the church inDuanesburgh, N. Y., endowed' by Judge Duane, the proprietor of the town, and here, among a population of farmers, as among fishermen and city poor in the other two places, he devoted him- self to the work of a parish priest. While thus en- gaged, he revised the "New Priest" for issue in a new shape — one volume instead of two — and also the "Poems," adding many which were popular during the war, such as "The Massachusetts Line," repub- lished in many shapes ; "The Cumberland," read, on its appeai-ance, by a Boston clergyman to his congre- gation on Sunday morning ; and the " Relief of Luck- now," which first appeared in the Atlantic Monthly. The latter poem, a favorite of Ralph Waldo Emerson, has been recited by him to public audiences in difEerent cities, east and west. In 1864, Mr. Lowell was made S.T.D. by Union College, and in 1865 he vsrrote, by ap- pointment, the hymns sung at the Harvard University commemoration. In this and the following year, he declined the offer of Professorships of English Literature in two colleges. In 1869, he was appointed Head Master of St. Mark's School, in Massachusetts ; one result of which is a tale illustrative of school life, "Antony Brade," published in 1874. In 1873, he was appointed Professor of Latin Language and Literature in Union College, Schenectady, N. Y., which position he now holds. POTTER, HON. PLATT, of Schenectady, exjus- tice of the Supreme Court of New York, was born in Galway, Saratoga County, April 6, 1803. His father, Restcome Potter, was a native of Massachu- setts, but removed to New York State in early life. Notwithstanding the non-combatant principles of him- self and his ancestors, who were members of the So- ciety of Friends, he engaged in military service during the war with the mother country, and fought under Ethan Allen, of Revolutionary fame, and was also in the battle of Bennington. He removed to Saratoga County about 1794, and from there to Schenectady about 1806, and followed the occupation of farming. A man of energy and public spirit, he was chosen to fill various official positions, being In turn Alderman of the city and Justice of the Peace, and was for six- teen years a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. He was possessed of commanding influence in his day, and died generally regretted in 1853. The mother of Judge Piatt Potter was Lucinda (Strong) Potter, of Litchfield, Connecticut, who was also descended from a patriotic ancestry. During his boyhood Judge Pot- ter attended the best common schools of the county and the academy at Schenectady, from which he graduated in 1834, and immediately commenced the study of law under the direction of the Hon. Alonzo C. Paige (afterwards Judge of the Supreme Court). Being admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court in 1838, he entered upon the practice of his profession at Minaville, Montgomery County, and continued thus occupied till 1834, when, removing to Schenectady, he entered into a copartnership with his former pre- ceptor, A. C. Paige. This connection continued for a period of thirteen years. Upon its dissolution Judge Potter practiced alone for a few years, but was subse- quently associated in practice with distinguished legal men who have occupied high positions of official honor both in the State and the national government. In the automn of 1830 he was elected member of the Assem- bly from Montgomery County. During this session of the Legislature, a committee, of which Judge Potter was Chairman, was appointed to consider the matter of providing improved accommodations for the insane. He made the report and introduced the bill to erect an asylum at Utica for lunatics. He served also dur- ing the same period of legislative labor on the Judi- ciary Committee. From 1836 to 1847 he held the office of District Attorney for Schenectady County, and was at the same time Master and Examiner in Chan- cery, having been appointed to that position in 1828, and continuing to exercise its functions till the aboli- tion of the Court of Chancery about 1847. In 1857 he was elected Justice of the Supreme Court of New York, running as a candidate against his former part- ner. Judge A. C. Paige. He was returned with a majority of 425, serving during one of the most critical periods of our political history. During this term he served as a Judge of the Court of Appeals. He was re- elected in 1865 to the Supreme Bench of the State with- out opposition, both political parties concurring. In the same year he was elected Trustee of Union Col- lege, which office he continues to hold, and wluch in- . stitution conferred on him, in 1867, the degi-ee of LL. D. Always a staunch Republican in political sentiments, his judicial services, during the Rebellion and the four years of trying national experience which immediately preceded it, were of the utmost value to the govern- ment. Noted for more than usual mental readiness and penetration and great activity in the performance of every duty. Judge Potter has filled with honor many high official positions in the State. His election to the 196 CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. Supreme Bench of the Commonwealth, and his long continuance as a member of that distinguished body, evince the appreciation in which not only his talents but his worth are held by those whose interests have been the object of his judicial care. His labors as a legislator showed his large philanthropy and his wise statesmanship. As a jurist hestauds highinthe State. His argument before the Assembly upon the case of a "High Breach of Privilege of the Honorable the As- sembly of the State of New York, in the matter of the Hon. H. Ray" — published at the request of members of the bar in the counties of Rensselaer, Saratoga, Mont- gomery and Schenectady, fully reported in Barbour's Supreme Court Reports, vol. 55, page 635, etc. ^ex- hibits his profound knowledge not only of the consti- tutional rights and powers of the judiciary as a co-or- dinate department of the government, and the extent of the law of legislative privilege, but of those sound principles of constitutional law, equity and justice that underlie all sound legislative and judicial action. Combining great research and remarkable power of applying facts and precedents, he discovers also an uncommon facility for detecting the vulnerable points of an erroneous opinion, and a dignified tenacity in the maintenance of his own convictions. By his genuine eloquence, by the force and acuteness of his argument, as well as by his manly dignity upon that occasion, he not only greatly honored himself, but fully defended the judicial department from legislative encroachment. For the soundness and ability of this argument, for its constitutional defence of the judiciary in their co-ordi- nate department of the government, he received, from members of the judicial department of the State gen- erally, as well as from niembers of the United States Court severally, the highest compliment in the ex- pression of their thanks. He was married in 1836 to Antoinette, daughter of the Rev. Winslow Paige, D.D. MAXON, GEORGE G., President of the Mohawk National Bank of Schenectady, was born near Oneida Castle, Oneida County, N. Y., Februaiy 28th, 1818. His father, Ethan Maxon, a native of Rhode Island, was a farmer, who came to New York State in 1803. The ancestors of the Maxon family were three, brothers ol English birth who came hither in 1717 and settled in Rhode Island. One of them, previous to leaving his own country, served as a com- missioned officer in the British army. His mother, Betsey (Andrews) Maxon, was a daughter of Uriel Andrews, a native of Coventry, Connecticut, who was the first manufacturer of glass-ware in Oneida County. His manufactory was located at Vernon, and he made flint glass -in large quantities. The advent of the Andrews family in this State was contemporaneous with that of the paternal ancestors of Mr. Maxon. Studying in the schools of his district till he had attained the age of fifteen, he spent the year following in the pursuit of the more advanced branches in the academy at Vernon. Leaving school at sixteen, he started upon a business career, and for four years was in the employ of the Erie Canal Company, serving in different capacities. Having arrived at the age of manhood, he engaged as principal in a contract with the State for the purpose of building an embankment and making an excavation on the Erie Canal. In connection with E. Morris Kelsey, he built the Black River Dam and Side-Cut for a feeder. They also constructed three sections of the Erie Canal above Utica, near Newville. They entered into bonds for the fulfiltaent of their contract, but owing to the stringency of the times, the State ordered the work to be discontinued, and Mr. Maxon, disposing of his interest to his partner, went to Buffalo in 1843. There he was connected with the New York and Ohio Transportation Company, as Superintendent of the transfer of freights from ships to canal boats. Remaining there for a year he removed to Schenectady and engaged in the flour and grain business. During the years 1865 and '66, he built a gi-ain elevator with a capacity of two hundred thousand bushels. This building is now owned by a stock com- pany of which he is President and largest stockholder. They carry on very extensive transactions in grain, etc., with the eastern and western parts of the Union. In 1853 Mr. Maxon was elected Director of the old Mohawk Bank, wliich was originally a safety fund mstitution, but which in 1858 became an Associate State Bank. Mr. Maxon was elected President of the Mohawk Bank of Schenectady in 1858, and is now President of the Mohawk National Bank, organized as such in 1866. He was also Director, Treasurer and President, in turn, of the Schenectady Fire Insm-ance Company ; a corporation, which, closing up its accounts in 1873, paid back to the stockholders their invest- ments at par value. He was one of the incorporators and original Board of Directors of the Schenectady and Duanesburg Railroad, now leased to the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company. He is also one of the Vestrymen of St. George's Episcopal Church. Mr. Maxon's political sentiments have always been Demo- cratic, he having been during the Rebellion, a War Dem- ocrat. Though he has always taken an active interest in politics, he has never sought or held office. Bene- fited but little by fortune, or the favor of those in place or power, Mr. Maxon owes his success in life to his own enterprising spirit, his persistent efforts, his sound judgment and excellent financial ability. Having risen by the usual channels of trade to a posi- tion of aflJuence aud power in the community, his c:^ o>~ CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. 197 example is not without good efEect upon the younger members of the world in which he moves. He was married in 1841 to Miss Anna Maria Wood, daughter of William Wood, of Bergen County, New Jersey. HOTT, ELIPHALBT, D.D., LL.D., late Presi- dent of Union College, Schenectady, N. Y., and distinguished as a clergyman and an educator, was bom in Ashf ord, Windham County, Connecticut, June 25th, 1773, and died in Schenectady, January 39th, 1866. He was to a great extent self-educated, having never received a college training. He studied divinity in his native county, and at the age of twenty-one was sent out as a domestic missionary to the central part of the State of New York, at that early day offering a wide field for evangelical effort. On passing through the old settlement of Cherry Valley, he was requested to take charge of the Presbyterian Church at that place, which call he accepted, and, in addition to his pastoral duties, he also became the teacher in the acad- emy. Two or three years later he was called to the Presbyterian Church at Albany, where he at once took a prominent position as a preacher, and was listened to by large congregations. Among his most successful pulpit efforts while at Albany, was a sermon on the death of Alexander Hamilton. In 1804, he was chosen President of Union College, Schenectady, which place he continued to fill for sixty-two years, until his death, being the oldest head of any literary institution in the United States, and doubtless in the world. Probablj' fully 4,000 students wei-e graduated during his Presidency, and among them some of the most eminent men of the country. In the language of a well-known publicist, "Union College is emphati- cally of his own formation ; he came to it in its pov- erty and infancy, and has raised it to wealth and repu- tation." In 1854 occurred the semi-centennial anni- versary of his Presidency, when there came together to do him honor between 600 and 700 of the men who had graduated under him. Dr. Nott was an earnest advocate of - temperance, and published at Albany, in 1847, "Lectures on Temperance." Although he has written largely, and on many subjects, his publi- cations are confined principally to occasional addresses and " Counsels to Young Men," (New York), and a discourse delivered before the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church. He devoted much thought and attention to the laws of heat, and, besides obtaining some thirty or more patents for applications of heat to steam engines, the economical use of fuel, &c., he was the inventor of a stove bearing his name and very extensively used. Dr. Nott stood pre-eminent as an educator, and was universally esteemed, venerated. and loved by the many who enjoyed his teachings and counsels. His labors in the temperance cause, both by voice and pen, and his many and long-continued experiments on heat, with the view of applying it to useful and economical purposes for human benefit, if not as successful as he had hoped, evince the fertility of an intellect which loved to task itself for the good of others. As a preacher, his style of thought, his manner, his elocution were all his own — the chief char- acteristic being his impressiveness. In 1805, the Col- lege of New Jersey conferred upon him the title of D.D., and in 1828 he received that of LL.D. He married the daughter of Rev. Joel Benedict, D.D., of Plainfield, Conn., under whose tutelage in early life he pursued his classical and mathematical studies. SANDERS, HON. JOHN, was bom in Glennville, N. Y., in 1802. His father, John Sanders, also a native of that place, was Presiding Judge of Al- bany County before the section now constituting Schenectady County had been erected into a separate division of the State. His mother was Albertina (Ten Broeck) Sanders, a native of Columbia County. Re- ceiving his early education at Lenox, Mass., and in the schools of Schenectady, he entered Union College in 1818, and graduated after a four years' course in 1822, with the degree of A.B., and subsequently that of A.M. Commencing a course of legal reading m the ofiice of Samuel M. Hopkins of Albany, he completed his studies in 1825, and was licensed to practice in that year, and immediately entered upon his professional duties. Remaining thus occupied for a year in Albany he then removed to Northampton, Montgomery County, New York, now Pulton County. He con- tinued thus occupied till 1829, when he changed the scene of his labors to Catskill, and afterwards to Cler- mont, Columbia County. In 1836 he settled in Schenectady, and in 1840 was appointed, by Governor Seward, Surrogate of that county, which office he held till 1844. He exercised the functions of Judge of the county from 1855 till 1860. During our national troubles Judge Sanders was a War Democrat, though he had previously been a member of the party of the Old Line Whigs. Active in pursuit of his practice he has been identified with the interests of the bar in various localities of his State. Thoroughly conversant with the records of his vicinity, he has prepared a his- tory of Schenectady County, which the Common Council of the city of that name has ordered to be pub- lished. He was married in 1828 to Miss Jane Living- ston, of Columbia County, a daughter of a family whose name has long been associated with the highest interests of New York State. 198 CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. SANDERS, HON. "WALTER T. L., of Schenectady, was born in Catskill, New York, September 7, 1831. His father, the Hon. John Sanders, the his- torian and ex- Judge of the county, is a resident of Schenectady. His mother was Jane (Livingston) Sanders, daughter of "Walter Livingston, of Colum- bia County. The Livingstons, a family of Scotch birth originally, emigi-ated to this country in pre-revo- lutionary times and, settling in New York State, have acquired a historic name, its members having attained honorable distinction in all the higher spheres of pub- lic duty. Mr. Sanders, after having obtained his pre- liminary preparation at a select school in Clermont, concluded the pursuit of his studies in the Lyceum at Schenectady, from which he was graduated in 1845 at the age of fourteen. Intending to adopt the profes- sion of the law, he entered upon a course of legal study under paternal instruction, but his health failing he was obliged for the time to intermit his intellectual pursuits. Engaging in the occupation of teaching, he was employed in the Corinth Institute during the win- ter of 1847- '48. Relinquishing this position he be- came a clerk in a mercantile concern, and in 1853, in company with two others, he purchased the stock and succeeded to the business of his employer, the name of the new firm being Hoffman, Rice & Sanders. Con- tinuing in this line of operations till 1856, his health being at that time re-established, he returned to Schen- ectady and resumed his legal studies with his father, who was then Judge of the county. He was admitted to practice in 1858, and entering upon the pursuit of his professional duties in Schenectady, he has con- tinued so occupied up to the present time. Elected Clerk of the Board of Supervisors in 1860, he held that position till his elevation to the office of County Judge in 1870, by his Democratic constituency, with a ma- jority of 390. This term of official service expiring in 1874, he was nominated for Congress by the Demo- crats of the Twentieth District, but failed of his elec- tion, though the contest resulted in reducing the Re- publican majority from 3,000 to 600. In 1876 he was elected member of the Assembly from the Schenectady District with a majority of 76. Mr. Sanders Is an earnest worker, a practical business and legal man, and as such has been appointed on important committees in the State service. Having acquired under his learned father a thorough knowledge of the principles of the law and their practical working, he was well fitted for the judicial office of the county. During his service in this position he secured much popular favor, which resulted in his election to the councils of the State. His resolute will, his energy of pm-poSe, and his excellent abilities, natural and acquired, have marked him as a successful and rising public man, for whom the future has brilliant promise. JACKSON, HON. SAMUEL "W., of Schenectady, was born in the town of Palatine, Montgomery County, New York, June 38, 1831. His father, Allen H. Jackson, a native of the same county, was engaged in mercantile pursuits. A graduate from West Point, and by profession a civil engineer, he was at one time chief of the corps of engineers of the New York and New Haven Railroad and subsequently of the Central Railroad of New Jersey. The progenitor of this branch of the Jackson family was Colonel Samuel Jackson, an Englishman, who came hither about 1790, and settled at Florida, Montgomery County. He served honorably in the war of 1813, and died in 1846. Mr. Samuel W. Jackson's mother was Diana, (Paige) Jackson, sister of Judge Paige, of Schenectady. Having received an academic education, he entered the sophomore class of Union College in 1840, and was graduated in 1843 with the usual honors, receiving in due time the degree of A.M. Having begun a course of legal reading, previous to entering college, in the office of Alexander Sheldon, he resumed this study after graduating, and completed his legal course in the office of Paige & Potter, in Schenectady. He was licensed as attorney under the old regime in 1843, and as counsellor in 1846. Upon being admitted to the bar in 1843, he began to practice at Gilboa, Schoharie County, and continued thus occupied till 1850, when failing health obliged him to retire for a time from ac- tive labors. In 1856, however, his health being re-es- tablished, he resumed his professional duties, practic- ing in New York, but in 1858 he returned to Schenec- tady. He was appointed by Governor HofiEman, in 1867, to fill the unexpired term of Judge E. H. Rosen- crans. In 1873 he was elected member of the Consti- tutional Commission, and is now attorney for the New York Central Railroad for his locality. A man of varied acquisitions and liberal culture, Mr. Jaclison takes rank among the cultivated minds of society. His flourishing practice is the result not only of his excel- lent legal attainments, but of his untiring industry, systematic habits and strict attention to the perform- ance of his duties. Having been called to occupy im- portant official positions, he is highly honored by the community. He was married in 1847 to Miss Eunice Tuttle, who died m 1855. He was subse- quently married to MisS Louisa Potter, niece of Judge Potter, of Schenectady. fOOD, WALTER ABBOTT, of Hoosick Falls, N. Y., a distinguished American inventor and manufacturer, was born in Mason, Hillsboro' Co., New Hampshire, October 38d, 1815. His father, Aaron Wood, and his mother, whose maiden name " <^iiairhr. PLiTiliamL^ ^..Ixigrff^mi^ CoHewTort CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. 199 was Rebecca Wright, were natives of Massachusetts,, and both of English descent. Aaron Wood, who was a manufacturer of wagons and plows^ had lived in Mason from a very early period in his life, but the year following the birth of his son Walter, he removed to New York State and settled in the neighborhood of Albany, in which locality Walter grew to manhood, receiving his education in the district schools of Albany County, and serving his apprenticeship to the trade of wagon and plow-maldng in his father's shop. At twenty, having mastered tliis trade, he went to Hoosick Falls and secured employment as a journeyman ma- chinist, but soon afterwards engaged in business on his own account in a small way. For about seventeen yeai's, till about 1853, he carried on the manufacture of plows and also made castings for machinery. The great exliibition in London in 1851, under the auspices of the Society of Arts of England, of which the late Prince Albert was President, was the first pubUc illus- tration of the state of civilization and of the industries of the world. Pursuant to instructions from the Coun- cil of Chairmen to the Judges, actual trials of agricul- tm'al machinery , were instituted, and these public tests strongly drew the attention of the civilized world to the comparative merits of American and foreign implements. Of these by far the most serviceable to agriculture were the reaping and mowing machines of American invention and manufacture. The first Im- plement of this class, a mowing machine, was patented in America about 1842, and from that date till the issue of the second patent in 1845, about thirty patents were issued for improvements. In 1851 a combined mower and harvester was brought out by John H. Manny, of Illinois, and at the famous field trial held at Geneva, in 1852, under the auspices of the New York State Agricultural Society, gained one of the only two premiums awarded to machines of this kind, although its construction was admitted to be very imperfect. In 1852 and 1853 it was farther improved by the in- ventor, and afterwards became the basis of numerous improvements by Mr. Wood, who purchased a terri- torial right to manufacture. Mr. Wood was himself among the first to secure patents for this class of ma- chinery. As eai-ly as 1848 he entered upon experi- ments in their production, but did not succeed in per- fecting a machine which he deemed fit for sale till 1852, when but two were completed. These proving satisfactory, he commenced the manufacture on as large a scale as possible, and during the following year turned out three hundred machines. In "the immedi- ately succeeding years the business rapidly increased. In 1860 his establishment was destroyed by fire, but was rebuilt without delay on a larger scale, and in this year, despite this serious accident, 6,000 machines were manufactured. In 1870 the works were again destroyed by fire, but were again rapidly rebuilt and on the most extensive and improved scale. In 1865, the last year in which Mr. Wood conducted business single-handed, his factory turned out eight thousand five hundred machines, giving employment to about four hundred and fifty men, and returning an annual value of one million dollars. Besides this production, about one thousand machines were made out of the factory by Ucensed parties who paid Mr. Wood a roy- alty. The works of Mr. Wood at this period com- prised a main manufactory two hundred and fifty feet long by forty-four feet wide, four stories in height ; a foundry covering about the same ground area ; an im- mense blacksmith shop; a repair and pattern shop, office, and warehouse. Since 1852 about fifty thousand mowers and reapers had been constructed, and the capacity of the Wood factory now equalled twelve thousand annually. Mr. Wood early perceived the necessity for such implements abroad, particularly in the great grain districts of south-eastern Europe, where • the conditions so nearly correspond with those of the American grain producing areas. In 1858 he estab- lished an office in London, and, securing a competent representative, sent thither an invoice of fifty of his machines. They were the first implements of this class sent to Europe, and were speedily sold. The next year he sent out two hundred and fifty, which were disposed of with equal facility. Since that date the foreign sales have largely increased, the total num- ber exported by Mr. Wood up to the close of 1872 being thirty thousand, fully 90 per cent, of the whole number sold in that country by American makers. Up to 1857 one hundred and fifty-six grain and grass har- vesters, and sixty-two harvesting machines had been patented in the United States. In July of that year a grand field trial of mowers and reapers was insti- tuted by the United States Agricultural Society. Fif- teen mowers, nine reapers, and fourteen combined mowing and reaping machines entered for competi- tion. In this trial, which took place at Syracuse, N. Y., the Wood machines bore ofE the grand gold medal — the highest prize awarded; again, in 1859, and in 1860 (the last trial of the kind under the auspices of this society) similar honors were won. The Society of Arts of England, stimulated by the success of their London Exhibition of 1851, organized a second, which was held in 1862. This was the first International Exhibition at which Mr. Wood's machines made their appearance, although since their first introduction in Europe, in 1856, they had won the highest awards wherever exhibited, among others the first prize by the Royal Agricultural Society of England, at the famous trial at Leeds, in 1861. At the London Ex- hibition they won the medal of merit, the highest award conferred. They were now among the best 200 CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF NEW YORK. known machines in Europe, and rapidly found their way to all sections of that country, successfully per- forming their work, and winning the chief prizes wherever placed on trial or exhibition. At the Paris Universal Exposition held in 1867, the display of agri- cultural implements was very fine, the American ex- hibits especially being large and complete. As previ- ously, at London, the "Walter A. Wood machines took the leading rank, and were awai-ded the grand gold medal of honor, the highest distinction confeiTed ; winning, besides, the first prize at the great interna- tional field trials against all the world. The next great victory of the Wood machines was achieved at the Vienna International Exhibition in 1873. In this Exhibition the entire space covered by the exhibits of every kind from the United States did not much exceed twenty-five hundred square me- tres, including the necessary passages — an area consid- erably less than that occupied by either Switzerland or Belgium, and not more than half as much as allotted to the raw material and staple manufactures of Italy and Turkey. Of this area, scarcely one hundred square metres were covered by the entire exhibit of agricultural implements, the mowing and reaping ma- chines, however, being the leading feature. " All the great manufacturers of the United States were fully represented, not as strangers, but as the recognized suppliers of the ever increasing demand in the agricul- tural districts of the south of Europe — Austria, Hun- gary, Southern Russia, &c.," and made a fine exhibit. These machines constitute three classes and two sub- classes. The former consist of mowers, reapers, and the combined machines suitable for both purposes; the latter, of reapers and combined machines, which, in the one case, merely cut the cereals, and in the other, not only cut, but also bind the gavels into sheaves. This union of the processes of reaping and binding was the great problem, the solution of which was first successfully accomplished by Mr. Wood. At this exhibition he presented a machine which did this most successfully, binding the grain as it was cut. Its operations were simply wonderful, although not even approximating to the perfection to which it has since been brought in the hands of its intelligent inventors. To ascertain the relative merits of the mowing and reaping machines, a gi-and field trial— open to all the world— was held at the farm of M. Schwartz, at L