OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. ABBOTT, JOSEPH C., was born July 15, 1825, in Concord, New Hampshire, and died in 1881. He received his academic education at Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts. Afterward, for three years, under private instruction, he pursued the usual collegiate course, and then read law at Concord and Manchester, and settled in the latter place May 1, 1852. He had for six months previous been editor of the Manchester "Daily American," which position he held until February, 1857. He was editor and proprietor of the Boston "Atlas and Bee," from May 1, 1859, to May 1, 1861. He was a member of the New Hampshire State Council of the "Know-Nothing" party, and chairman of the committee which transformed the order into "Fremont Clubs," and as such supported the State Committee that was formed in May, 1856, with E. H. Rollins at its head. Mr. Abbott was early identified with the State military force. Having been appointed Adjutant and QuartermasterGeneral of New Hampshire, he superintended, with great energy and success, the raising and fitting out of the First and Second Regiments in the war. He also raised the Seventh Regiment, taking the commission of lieutenantcolonel. He was at the head of a brigade for more than a year, and was ever foremost in the engagements. For distinguished bravery at Fort Wagner, he was brevetted brigadiergeneral of United States Volunteers. In early manhood he was a member of the commission for adjusting the boundary-line between New Hampshire and Canada. He took great interest in literary and historical matters, and contributed illustrated articles to magazines. After the war, General Abbott removed to Wilmington, North Carolina, and was for a time commandant of the city. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention of that State, and was elected Republican United States Senator for a partial term, which closed in 1871. He was Collector of the Port of Wilmington under President Grant, and Inspector of the Ports along the eastern line of the Southern coast under President Hayes.

ADAMS, JOHN F., was born at Stratham, New Hampshire, May 23, 1790; died in Greenland, in that State, on June 11, 1881. Mr. Adams was the oldest Methodist minister in New Hampshire at the time of his death, and possibly in New England. He began to preach in 1812, and joined the New England Conference, which then embraced all the New England States. Sent to the back settlements of the then District of Maine, he endured many hardships in the cause of religion, traveling on horseback through ten or twenty towns, doing good, and making himself beloved wherever he went. His talents, judgment, and zeal soon

made him a leader among his brethren. He served churches which were regarded as the best appointments, such as those in Boston and Lynn, and had two terms, of four years each, as presiding elder. He was one of the pioneers in the anti-slavery cause, and was four times chosen to represent his conference in the General Conference.

BARBOUR, JOHN M., was born at Cambridge, Washington County, New York; died in New York city, December 8, 1881. Mr. Barbour's parents were humble and poor, unable to afford him the education he desired, and his early days were spent in occupations foreign to his taste. When a very young man, he went to Michigan and studied law; was first elected a justice of the peace, and served with acceptance, then was made Commissioner of Internal Improvements, and after the expiration of his term was elected County Judge, in which capacity he served eight years with popular favor and professional indorsement. În 1850 he moved to New York. Although not a brilliant man, his high character and professional worth soon established for him an enviable reputation, and in a short time he found himself the center of a profitable circle of clients. He moved slowly but surely to the front rank of his profession. In 1861 he was nominated by the Democrats as Judge of the Superior Court, and was aided somewhat by the undeserved reputation of being the author of "Barbour's Reports." He was elected by a large majority. His six years' experience on the bench secured him a renomination in 1867, and he wns again elected by a flattering majority. His judicial career was characterized by a conscientious and unsensational endeavor to secure justice, which gained for him the confidence and esteem of his brethren of the bar, as well as of the people. This was clearly shown at the death of Chief-Justice Robertson, when Judge Barbour was unanimously chosen to preside in his place. He was an able and well-read lawyer, oftener excelling in the more quiet branches of the law which formerly came under the cognizance of the Court of Chancery, than in the active contests which come before a jury. As an authority in statutes he was considered expert and reliable. In arguing cases before him, the counsel were always certain that he gave the case careful investigation, and that his decision would be correct in its conclusions, as well as honest and conscientious. His mind was very deliberate, and not so rapid in its operation as some of his colleagues. For this reason he was better adapted to that branch of the court where cases are reviewed on appeal than where he was required to determine questions instanter, as in jury-trials.

BARKSDALE, HARRIS, born in Holmes County,

Mississippi; died August 22, 1881. His parents removed to Yazoo City when he was an infant. He had only entered upon his sixteenth year when he became a soldier in the Southern army, as a member of the Burt Rifles of the Eighteenth Mississippi. Though of tender years and delicate frame, Mr. Barksdale fulfilled with great zeal and fidelity the arduous duties of a private until the promotion of his uncle, General William Barksdale, when he served on the staff of that commander. After the war closed, Captain Barksdale studied law, but his tastes inclined him to the profession of journalism, and in February, 1868, he formed a connection with the "Mississippi Clarion." His labors on this paper were varied, and he was equally capable in any department of its business. At all times an original writer, he seemed to reach his highest success amid the turmoil of political strife.

BEAUREGARD, AUGUSTINE TOUTANT, eldest brother of General P. G. T. Beauregard; died at San Antonio, Texas, April 11, 1881, at the age of sixty-six years. He was born in the parish of St. Bernard, Louisiana, August 8, 1815, and was educated in New York and Philadelphia to a high degree of scholarship. He married Miss Reggio, his cousin, a native of Louisiana, and a descendant of a member of the famous banking firm, Modena & Reggio. Mr. Beauregard was for many years a sugar-planter in Louisiana, but in 1853 he settled on a large stock-farm on the San Antonio River, Texas, and his death bereaves his friends of a genial companion and highly esteemed Christian gentleman.

BENTON, JAMES G., born in New Hampshire; died August 23, 1881, at Springfield, Massachusetts. Colonel Benton graduated at West Point Military Academy in July, 1842, and was promoted to brevet second-lieutenant of ordnance. He served at Watervliet Arsenal until 1848, and was then transferred to the Ordnance Bureau in Washington, where he assisted to prepare the "System of Artillery for the Land Service," and the "Ordnance Manual." Ile served also at Harper's Ferry Armory, Virginia; San Antonio Ordnance Depot, Texas; and commanded Charleston Armory.

BIDWELL, WALTER H., born at Farmington, Connecticut, June 21, 1798; died November, 1881. Mr. Bidwell was a graduate of Yale College, and a theological student at Yale Seminary. In 1833 he was made pastor of the Congregational Church at Medfield, Massachusetts, but five years later was compelled to resign this charge on account of the failure of his voice. He removed to Philadelphia, and in 1841 his long editorial career was commenced in the conduct of the "American National Preacher," which he edited about nineteen years. The New York "Evangelist" came into his hands in 1843, and was conducted by him for twelve years. In 1846 he became the proprietor of the "Eclectic Magazine," and about the same time proprietor and conductor

of the "American Biblical Repository." In 1860 he became the publisher and proprietor of the "American Theological Review.' Two years afterward this work was incorporated with the "Presbyterian Quarterly Review," and passed into other hands. Between 1848 and 1854 he published a series of seven valuable missionary maps, of which his brother, Rev. O. B. Bidwell, was the author. In 1867 he was appointed by Secretary Seward as special commissioner of the United States to visit various points in Western Asia, and passed eight months of continuous travel in Greece, Egypt, and Palestine, Syria and Turkey, returning from Constantinople by way of the Black Sea and the Danube. Subsequently he made several other brief visits to Europe.

BROWN, Rev. WILLIAM FAULKNER, born in New York city; died in New Jersey, August 22, 1881. He was educated by Protestant parents as a physician, and during the civil war served as surgeon on the United States steamer Mystic, at the time of the engagement between the Monitor and the Merrimac. He afterward became examining surgeon of Park Barracks, New York, and subsequently went to Rome as a newspaper correspondent, and reported the proceedings of the Vatican Council for several Catholic newspapers. He had been converted to the Catholic Church in 1857, and when he returned from Rome he entered Seton Hall College, and subsequently took clerical orders in Louisville, Kentucky. He was assigned to a parish in Georgia, where he suffered so severely from the effects of yellow fever that he was obliged to remove to the North, and in 1880 accepted the position of chaplain to St. Joseph's Hospital at Paterson. Here he remained until the time of his death.

BUTLER, BENJAMIN ISRAEL, died September 1, 1881, at Bayview, Massachusetts. He was the younger son of General Benjamin F. Butler, and a man of fair promise. Upon his graduation at West Point Military Academy, June 14, 1877, he was promoted second-lieutenant in the Eighth Cavalry, and became very popular with his regiment, exhibiting all the qualities requisite in a good soldier. He served on frontier duty at Fort Stockton, Texas, and at Grierson's Springs, in the same State, for upward of a year, when he resigned his post in the army, June 1, 1878. Later on he was admitted to the bar of Massachusetts, and practiced his profession with a fair amount of success.

CHAMBERS, WILLIAM H., died at Auburn, Alabama, July 4, 1881. Colonel Chambers by profession was a lawyer, and at one time edited a paper in Columbus, Georgia. Before the late war he practiced his profession in the city of Eufaula, and was elected to the Alabama Legislature from Barbour County, and made one of its most useful members. After returning to his old home in Russell County, a few years since, he was again elected to the Lower House of the Legislature for one term,

the age of nine the family removed to Fairlee, Vermont, and four years later went from there to Holderness, which was her home until the time of her death. Her father was an officer in the Revolutionary War, and lived to the age of eighty-six. In her twenty-second year Hannah married Robert Cox; her husband died in 1822, leaving seven children. Mrs. Cox was of Welsh descent, and in her early life was a slender, delicate child. She attributed her length of days to a perfect control of her nervous system, joined with regular habits and active labor. After she had reached a century she proudly recalled the fact that, at the age of five, she had knitted socks for Revolutionary soldiers. Up to ninety-seven Mrs. Cox was unremittingly industrious. Near the time of her death her senses, with the exception of impaired hearing, were in good preservation. She walked without a cane, and read small print without glasses. Her exact age was one hundred and five years, two months, and four days, having been born nine days before the Declaration of Independence by the American colonies.

CUTHBERT, JOHN A., was born at Savannah, Georgia, June 3, 1788; died near Mobile, Alabama, September 22, 1881. His father was a colonel in the army of the Revolution. Mr. Cuthbert entered the freshman class at Princeton College at the age of twelve, and graduated at the age of seventeen, receiving the degree of B. A. In 1808 the degree of A. M. was conferred on him by the same college, and in 1809 he became a law-student in New York. In 1810 he was elected to the Legislature of Georgia, from Liberty County, which he continued to represent for years, either in the Senate or in the House. During the War of 1812 he commanded a volunteer company, to protect the coast of Liberty County. In 1818 Georgia elected her representatives in Congress on one general ticket, and Cuthbert was thus chosen. At that time the Missouri question occupied the attention of Congress, and Judge Cuthbert took an active and zealous part in maintaining the Southern side of it. His warmest friends at that time were William Lowndes; Galliard, President of the Senate; Bayard, Calhoun, Randolph, Clay, Decatur, and Rogers. In 1831 Judge Cuthbert became editor and subsequently proprietor of "The Federal Union," an influential paper published at Milledgeville, Georgia, and in 1837 he removed to Mobile to practice his profession. In 1840 he was elected by the Legislature of Alabama Judge of the County Court of Mobile, and in 1852 he was appointed by the Governor Judge of the Circuit Court of the same county.

DAVIDSON, GEORGE S., died March 14, 1881, at Estillville, Scott County, Virginia, aged sixty-four years. To Captain Davidson belongs the fame of having fired the first Confederate gun at the first battle of Manassas, in 1861. At that time he was first-lieutenant of

Latham's battery, and was distinguished for his bravery on the field. He subsequently organized and commanded Davidson's battery. For years after the war he lived in very moderate circumstances, but with his good character, soldierly and dignified bearing, and military record, he continued to be regarded with the peculiar interest which attached to the man who had fired the first cannon-shot in the first great battle between the North and the South.

DIMAN, J. LEWIS, born in Bristol, Rhode Island, May 1, 1831; died in Providence, Rhode Island, February 3, 1881. Mr. Diman entered Brown University at the age of sixteen. Graduating with honor in 1851, he traveled in Europe, studying several years at the Universities of Halle, Heidelberg, and Berlin. Returning to America, he graduated in 1856 at the Theological Seminary in Andover, Massachusetts, and settled as pastor of the First Congregational Church in Fall River. In 1860 he became pastor of the Harvard Church in Brookline, Massachusetts. In 1864 he was appointed Professor of History and Political Economy in Brown University. In 1870 he received the degree of D. D. In 1873 he was elected a corresponding member of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Dr. Diman was frequently called upon to deliver sermons, addresses, etc., many of which have been published. As a speaker he was always heard with interest; he held a high rank among scholars, and, as a man, he was greatly esteemed. He contributed articles to the "North American Review," the "Providence Journal," and other leading publications, edited "John Cotton's Answer to Roger Williams" in the "Publications of the Narragansett Club," and also "George Fox Digg'd out of his Burrowes," in the same series.

DIXON, NATHAN F., died April 11, 1881, at Westerly, Rhode Island. He was born in Westerly, May 1, 1812, and graduated at Brown University in 1833. He attended the law-schools at New Haven and Cambridge, and was engaged in the practice of his profession, both in Connecticut and Rhode Island, from 1840 to 1849. He was elected a Representative from Rhode Island to the Thirty-first Congress, and was one of the Governor's Council appointed by the General Assembly during the Dorr troubles of 1842. In 1844 he was a presidential elector, and in 1851 was elected as a Whig to the General Assembly of his State, where, with the exception of two years, he held office until 1859. In 1863 he went to the Thirty-eighth Congress as a Republican, and served as a member of the Committee on Commerce. He was a member of the Thirty-ninth, Fortieth, and Forty-first Congresses, and declined re-election in 1870. He, however, resumed his service in the General Assembly, being elected successively from 1872 to 1877.

DUPUY, ELIZA, died January, 1881, at New Orleans. She was descended from prominent Virginia families, and was in her youth a

teacher, but obtained considerable reputation as an author. Her first story was published when she was only fourteen, and subsequently she contributed for many years to the weekly. press, and published several volumes of fiction. More fortunate than the great majority of writers, Miss Dupuy accumulated money as well as fame, and left a large sum to her heirs. FARGO, WILLIAM G., died in Buffalo, New York, August 3, 1881. His name was identified with the express business of the United States from the year 1845, and formed a link in the circle of men like Adams, Harnden, Dinsmore, and their associates, who introduced a new feature in civilization, and brought the service of capital and labor to the door of every man, however rich or poor. At the age of thirteen young Fargo was employed to carry the mail on horseback, twice a week, from Pompey Hill, New York, by way of Watervale, Manlius, Oran, Delphi, Fabius, and Apulia, back to Pompey Hill, a circuit of about forty miles. This business compelled him to cultivate habits of promptness and persistence. From this time till 1835 he worked, as opportunity offered, for different persons, but chiefly at Watervale, in a country tavern and store. In this employment he acquired a knowledge of the routine of business, and improved himself in arithmetic by keeping accounts. During the winter he was permitted to attend the district school. In 1841 he removed to Auburn, to accept the freight agency of the Auburn and Syracuse Railroad Company, then just completed, and in 1842 he aided in the establishment of an express line between Albany and Buffalo. At this time the rails were laid to Batavia, and express packages went by stage thence to Buffalo, until the completion of the Buffalo and Attica Railroad. The express business was in its infancy then, but Mr. Fargo discerned in it the elements of great growth and expansion. In January, 1844, in company with Henry Wells and Daniel Dunning, he organized an express line from Buffalo to Detroit, by way of Cleveland, under the firm name of Wells & Co. The capital possessed by these parties consisted principally in energy, industry, and determination. The one who was able to borrow, on a short note, two hundred dollars was regarded by the firm as a financial success. At this time the only railroads west of Buffalo were the one in Ohio, from Sandusky City to Monroeville, and the one in Michigan, from Detroit to Ypsilanti. These expressmen employed the steamers on the lakes in the season of navigation, and stages and express-wagons in winter. Their business was not at first a heavy one, but steadily increased and was rapidly pushed. They extended the line to Chicago and St. Louis, and westward to Galena. After a year the partnership of Wells & Co. was dissolved and changed to Livingston & Fargo. The express business west of Buffalo was thus managed until March, 1850, when the American Express

Company was organized, and consolidated the interests of Johnston, Livingston, Wells & Co., proprietors of the line between New York and Buffalo; those of Butterfield, Wasson & Co., proprietors of a rival line between these two cities; and those of Livingston & Fargo, who owned the lines west of Buffalo. Henry Wells was the first president, and William G. Fargo the first secretary. These positions were thus held until the consolidation with the Merchants' Union Express Co., in December, 1868, when Mr. Fargo was elected president, and thus remained until his death-the company having a capital of eighteen million dollars, maintaining twenty-seven hundred offices, and giving employment to more than five thousand men, of whom six hundred were messengers. In 1851 Mr. Fargo, Henry Wells, and their associates, organized a company under the name of Wells, Fargo & Co., and commenced to do an express business between New York and San Francisco, by way of the Isthmus, and to operate interior lines on the Pacific coast. This enterprise proved successful, and was continued over this route until the completion of the Union and Central Pacific Railroads, when water was abandoned for the railways, and the management of the company transferred to San Francisco. While the control was in New York, Mr. Fargo was director and vice-president. This company operated on a capital of five million dollars. Mr. Fargo was for a time a director and vice-president of the New York Central Railroad Company, and was connected with, and a large contributor to, the enterprise of the Northern Pacific Railroad, of which he was for several years a director. He had been also a director of the Buffalo, New York and Philadelphia Railroad Company, and was largely interested in the Buffalo Coal Company and the McKean and Buffalo Railroad Company. He was a stockholder in several of the large manufacturing establishments of Buffalo. For four years he was the Mayor of Buffalo, and distinguished for his courtesy, impartiality, and executive ability. His contributions to all charitable, religions, and public enterprises were most generous. The success that crowned his useful life was in no sense accidental; remarkable decision of character, instinctive judgment of men, unflinching resolution in his purposes, allied to a rare power of organization and control, were the "stars" that influenced his career, and lighted his ascent to the topmost round of fortune's ladder.

FILLMORE, Mrs. CAROLINE, died August 11, 1881, at Buffalo, New York, aged seventy-one. Mrs. Fillmore, relict of President Fillmore, was a Miss McMichael, and afterward Mrs. McIntosh, of Albany, where she continued to reside after her marriage with the ex-President. Her life was characterized by charities both public and private, and by great physical suffering toward its close.

FITTON, Rev. JAMES, born in Boston, 1803; died in East Boston, September 15, 1881.