Father Fitton's name was familiar throughout New England, and his career may be said to have connected all the deceased Catholic priests of Boston with the time of his own death. Only four years before he died the fiftieth anniversary of his ordination was celebrated. He was educated in part under the pioneer Bishop of Boston, afterward Cardinal Cheverus, was ordained by Bishop Fenwick, and actively engaged in the work and progress that distinguished the episcopate of Bishop Fitzpatrick. He had been none the less active under Archbishop Williams. The parents of Father Fitton were married in the small Huguenot church in School Street, Boston, where the first Catholic worshipers of that city gathered. There, also, James Fitton was baptized by the Rev. Dr. Matignon the first Catholic pastor regularly settled in that city. Prior to his ordination as a priest, Father Fitton held a position as teacher in the seminary attached to the old church in Franklin Street, Boston, and among his pupils was John Williams, the present archbishop. On the 23d of December, 1827, he was ordained, and in 1828 was sent as a missionary to the Passamaquoddy Indians. Afterward he ministered to the scattered Catholics of New Hampshire and Vermont. Soon the whole territory between Boston and Long Island, New York, was placed under his care, with Hartford as the central point of his labors. The railroads were not then built, and the work involved in the charge of so large a parish can now scarcely be realized. The beginning of the Catholic College' at Worcester is attributable to his efforts, as well as the publication of the first Catholic newspaper. His pastorate in East Boston began twenty-six years ago, and by his influence and exertion four churches and several schools were built up in that part of the city. Throughout his long life he retained the deep respect and esteem of the people to whom he administered, and the ecclesiastics with whom he was associated.

Fox, EDWARD, born in Portland, Maine, June 10, 1815; died December 14, 1881, at his residence in Portland. He was the son of John Fox, a merchant of Portland, and educated in the city high-school. After graduating there, he was sent to Exeter Academy, New Hampshire, where he prepared for college, and entered Harvard in 1830, at the age of fifteen. Having graduated there with honors in 1834, he immediately entered the lawschool, and graduated at the age of twentytwo. He began to practice his profession at the Cumberland County bar and continued there until about the year 1849, when he removed for a short time to Cincinnati, but returned to Portland and resumed his practice. In 1862 he was appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court, but served only part of a year, when he resigned. In 1866 he was appointed to succeed Judge Ware as District Judge of the United States Court, and this position he held

until his death. His ability as a lawyer, and impartiality in his judicial career, were fully recognized by his contemporaries, and his private life was equally exemplary.

FRENCH, VIRGINIA L., died at McMinnville, Tennessee, March 31, 1881. Mrs. French, née Smith, was an author of creditable repute, and was born on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, in 1830. She was educated in Pennsylvania, but removed to Tennessee in 1848, and while residing at Nashville wrote much over the name "L'Inconnue." In 1852 she formed a connection with "The Southern Handbook," of New Orleans, and in 1853 married Mr. J. H. French, of McMinnville. For a time she edited "The Crusader," at Atlanta, Georgia. Among her works are "Wind-Whispers," poems published in 1856; "Iztalixo," a tragedy; and "Legends of the South."

GOBRIGHT, L. A., died May 16, 1881, in Washington, D. C., in the sixty-seventh year of his age. Mr. Gobright was one of the oldest journalists in this country, having been connected with the press of Washington more than fortyfive years. For nearly thirty years he represented the New York Associated Press in Washington, but retired from active service in 1878. He was prominently identified with the "Independent Order of Odd-Fellows," and the "Oldest Inhabitants Association," of Washington, and was esteemed in all the relations of life an honest, upright, and faithful man. During the civil conflict he enjoyed the fullest confidence of President Lincoln and Secretaries Seward and Stanton, being frequently called upon to assist them in the preparation of proclamations, and other important documents, which were finally intrusted to his hands to be dispatched by telegraph. When President Andrew Johnson made his celebrated tour to the Eastern States, Mr. Gobright accompanied him, and prepared the elaborate and interesting reports which were sent to the Associated Press. He was intimate with the most noted men of both parties who have made prominent figures in public life during the past forty years, and, though often trusted with important matters of state, he never yielded to the temptation to print what had been communicated to him in confidence.

GRIGSBY, HUGH BLAIR, born November 22, 1806, in Norfolk, Virginia; died April 28, 1881, in the county of Charlotte, Virginia. Mr. Grigsby was a graduate of Yale College. He represented Norfolk in the Legislature when scarcely more than a boy, and was afterward a member of the State Convention of 1829 and 1830, with Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and others. Subsequently he withdrew from public life, and devoted himself to literary and agricultural pursuits. He was unsurpassed for accurate information in regard to all events connected with the history of Virginia from her earliest settlement, and was President of the Virginia Historical Society, and a member of similar societies in several other States. He

was also Chancellor of William and Mary College.

HAYES, ISAAC ISRAEL, born in Chester, Pennsylvania, in 1832; died in New York, December 17, 1881. After a general education, Mr. Hayes graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1853, with the degree of M. D. During his studies he had become interested in the writings and intentions of Dr. Kane, and tendered him his services. In the latter part of May, 1853, he was appointed surgeon of the second Grinnell expedition, with which he sailed in the brig Advance. Nothing of importance to Mr. Hayes transpired until the 18th of May, 1854, when he started with a dog-sledge, in company with William Godfrey, for Cape Frazer, in latitude 79° 42'. When Dr. Kane resolved to return, finding it impossible to extricate the Advance from the ice which surrounded her, many of the party determined to remain with the vessel, and put up with hardships, rather than undertake a journey over the ice toward Upernavik, which would be attended with so much suffering and trial. Others, in an organized body, with J. Carl Patterson, who had experienced twenty years of Arctic life in all its phases, as their leader, commenced the lonely journey in the hope of being able to send relief to those whom they had left. Of this unsuccessful party Dr. Hayes was a member. These brave men lived three months among the Esquimaux, and returned to the brig in the middle of an Arctic night, in the dog-sledges of the natives, having traveled one hundred and fifty miles during the last forty hours of their journey back. On his return to the United States in 1855, Dr. Hayes devoted himself to the instruction of the public in what soon became a specialty with him. An enthusiast on the subject of the Arctic Sea, he knew by experience what he talked about. He had found Greenland a mass of snow and ice, toward the center of which he had approached nearer than any other man by eighty miles. He had ascended an elevation of six thousand feet, from which no land, but only a vast region of ice, was to be seen. His descriptions of the peculiar effect of the midnight sun upon men and animals, and the awful desolation of the Arctic night, whose moonlight stillness was far more terrible, were thrillingly vivid. Having roused popular curiosity as well as scientific interest, and aided by subscriptions, he fitted up, in July, 1860, the schooner United States, one hundred and thirty-three tons, and sailed for Melville Bay. He wintered in Port Foulke, and started northward in April, 1861. The expedition reached the west coast in May, but, having exhausted their provisions, were obliged to return, after touching land in latitude 81° 37' north, beyond which they saw open water. On his return Dr. Hayes published "The Open Polar Sea," received medals from the Geographical Societies of London and Paris, and then entered the army in a medical capacity. In 1869 he sailed

in the steamer Panther, with William Bedford, for the purpose of exploring the southern coast of Greenland, after which he published "The Land of Desolation," "Cast away in the Cold," and a history of maritime discoveries. He was a member of the New York Legislature in 1876-'77-'78-'79-'80, serving each year on important committees of the House. He resumed his pursuits as lecturer, writer, etc., and was heartily welcomed by large and appreciative audiences. Dr. Hayes possessed the essential qualities for a successful man, being quickwitted, industrious, nervous, energetic, and versatile; he spoke well, wrote better, and understood his subjects.

He re

HOSMER, GEORGE WASHINGTON, died July 5, 1881, at Canton, Massachusetts, aged seventyseven years. Dr. Hosmer was one of the noted preachers in the Unitarian denomination. He graduated at Harvard University in the class of 1826, and subsequently entered the Theological School, where he remained until 1830. His first settlement was at Northfield, Massachusetts, which continued for two years. moved thence to Buffalo, New York. In 1862 he was elected President of Antioch College. While discharging the duties of that position he also held a non-resident professorship in connection with the Theological School at Meadville, Pennsylvania, lecturing there on pastoral care. He was also one of the Board of Instruction for that institution, and held both his professorship and his position in the board at the time of his death. He resigned his position as President of Antioch College in 1872, but continued his connection with the institution as Professor of History and Ethics until 1873. That year he became pastor of the Channing Religious Society of Newton, Massachusetts, this pastorate continuing until the year 1879.

JACKSON, TIMOTHY I., born at Jericho, Queens County, New York, in 1812; died at Flushing, Long Island, August 7, 1881. At the time of his death he was the oldest turf-man on Long Island, and his proficiency as a horse-breaker, trainer, and driver was known throughout the United States. His stables at Jamaica were the resort of the most noted horse-men in the country, who sought him for the value of his opinions and knowledge of the horse. He inherited to a marked degree the principles of his Quaker ancestry for honesty, sobriety, and fair dealing, and was highly respected by the community in which he lived.

LANE, HENRY S., born in Montgomery County, Kentucky, February 24, 1811; died at Crawfordsville, Indiana, June 18, 1881. His father was a popular citizen, and among the early settlers of Kentucky. When a boy Mr. Lane was employed on the farm of his father, and went to school when he had an opportunity until he was sixteen. He then attempted a higher course of study, including the classics. At the age of eighteen he began the study of the law, and was admitted to the bar when he

attained his majority. In 1854 he retired from his profession, and was never after occupied with any private business, except his interest in a banking-house. He was elected to the Legislature of Indiana in 1837, and to the lower House of Congress in 1840, and re-elected in 1842. In 1844 he advocated the claims of Clay for the presidency with great energy. Clay was his ideal statesman and the idol of his partisan adoration, and his defeat put an end to the political career of Mr. Lane for sixteen years. Two years after his retirement from Congress the Mexican War broke out, and he at once organized a company which formed part of the First Indiana Regiment, of which Lane was first major, then lieutenantcolonel. After his return from Mexico, he appeared occasionally to make campaign speeches for General Taylor in 1848, for General Scott in 1852, and for the People's party in 1854. He was at one time at the head of the Republican party in Indiana. The election of 1858 gave the Republicans the majority of both Houses of the Indiana Legislature in 1859. With the help of the "Americans," or "Old Whigs," they elected Henry S. Lane and Monroe McCarty Senators in Congress, hoping to annul the informal election of 1857. The case went to the Committee on Elections, of which Judge Butler, of South Carolina, was chairman. He reported in favor of the validity of the election of 1857, and the report was sustained. This was the first appearance of Mr. Lane as a candidate for office since 1842. At the first National Republican Convention he made a speech so admirably effective as to attract general notice; and he was made permanent president of the convention at Philadelphia, June 17, 1856, which nominated John C. Fremont for President, and William L. Dayton for Vice-President. He was nominated for Governor, February 22, 1860, and subsequently elected. On January 16th, as governor, he was elected to the United States Senate to fill a vacancy. The Senate was an indifferent field for the exercise of his peculiar talents, and he never made a figure there commensurate with his popular reputation and real ability. After the expiration of his senatorial term he retired from political life and never undertook any public service, except as Indian peace commissioner appointed by General Grant. Colonel Lane leaves to his survivors the record of a pure and genial gentleman, whose life was mellowed by the kindliest charity and readiest sympathy with every phase of human suffering.

LANIER, SIDNEY, died at Lynn, North Carolina, September 8, 1881. As poet, scholar, and littérateur, Mr. Lanier was among the most promising of our writers. His verse was distinguished for grace, richness of diction, and rare depth of sentiment. It was as a student of English verse, however, that he excelled, and his investigations in this direction have been of great value. About a year and a half

before his death he published a little work on "The Science of English Verse," which will be of much help to students. He was also the author of editions of old legends, including "The Boy's Froissart," and "The Boy's King Arthur." "The Boy's Mabinogion was in press when he died. In 1867 he published a novel entitled "Tiger Lilies." He came into prominence as the author of the ode written for the Centennial celebration at Philadelphia. At the time of his death he was connected as Professor of Literature with the Johns Hopkins University at Baltimore, where he lectured for some time. Through the war of the States Mr. Lanier was in the Confederate service, and at its close he was for several years principal of a school at Prattville, Alabama. His last years were passed in Baltimore.

LAVEAU, MARIE, died in New Orleans, June 15th, at the age of ninety-eight years. She was descended from distinguished parents, and was one of the most noted women of her day, celebrated alike for her beauty and accomplishments. At the age of twenty-five years she married Jacques Paris, a carpenter, who disappeared a year afterward, and was never heard from. After waiting a year for his return, Marie married Captain Christophe Glapion, a prominent man, who served with distinction in the War of 1812. Fifteen children were the result of this marriage. Five years after the death of Captain Glapion, which was in 1855, Marie became a confirmed invalid, her sufferings increasing with her years. She was remarkable for her skill in the practice of medicine, and possessed great knowledge of the healing qualities of indigenous berbs. She was a most efficient nurse, and untiring in her devotion to the sick, never flinching from the most malignant diseases. In yellow fever and cholera epidemics she was always called upon to minister to the stricken, and in every instance responded promptly. While her, services were gratefully received by intelligent and cultivated people, the ignorant attributed her success as a nurse to unnatural means, and held her in constant dread. In 1853 a committee of gentlemen, appointed at a mass-meeting, waited on Marie, and requested her to nurse the fever-patients. She went and fought the pestilence where it was thickest, and many owed their recovery to her devotion. She was always kind and generous to the needy. Her great piety was one of her highest possessions. She would sit with the condemned persons in their last moments, endeavoring to turn their thoughts to the Saviour, and was often successful in obtaining a commutation of their sentences, and even a pardon for them. Up to a recent period, when she lost her memory, she was rich in interesting reminiscences of the early history of New Orleans. Her intimate acquaintance with many distinguished men of her day, the young Governor Claiborne, Aaron Burr, and others, rendered her conversation both valuable and entertaining. She loved to

recall the time when Lafayette, during his visit to New Orleans, called to see her at her home, and at parting left her a kiss. She remembered the old French General Humbert, and was one of the few who escorted to the tomb the remains of the hero of Castel bar. During the late war she was active in aiding those who suffered, whenever an opportunity of fered.

gun.

MOGRATH, H. PRICE, born in Versailles, Woodford County, Kentucky, in 1813; died July, 1881, in the sixty-eighth year of his age. Mr. McGrath's reputation as a sporting-man commenced at a very early age. His father was a tailor, and taught his son that trade, but he had selected one more in accordance with his tastes, and was an adept in all games of cards. Leaving the paternal roof, he roamed over the South and West, fluctuating between affluence and poverty, after the manner of his kind. In 1852 he opened the first gamblinghouse in the South, at New Orleans. It was there that he conceived the idea, original with himself, of selling pools. At the outset McGrath and his partners merely acted as a depository for stakes made hand in hand, and charged no commissions. The patronage of the house grew to such an extent that it was found necessary to issue tickets of invitation, charging ten dollars for the same. One evening McGrath proposed selling choices upon a race, he acting as auctioneer, and his partners as pool-writers, and thus the business was beThe house was at the height of its success when the war commenced, and McGrath went to New York, where he formed a copartnership with Morrissey and Chamberlain in 1863. He remained there until the spring of 1864, when, drawing $250,000 out of the game, he returned to the South, and purchased five hundred acres of land in the blue-grass region, near Lexington. This he converted into one of the grandest stock farms, which he christened "McGrathiana." Here he entertained his friends on every Sunday preceding the spring and fall meeting of the Kentucky Association. His viands and wines were of the choicest, and his hospitality genial and liberal. To his stables belonged some of the best racers that ever graced the American turf, including Endorser, Rhynodine, Calvin, Aaron Pennington, Bob Woolly, Leonard, Aristides, Tom Bowling, and others. Upon the turf McGrath was regarded as strictly honorable, always backing his own horses heavily, and making no concealments. His good impulses and keen insight into character no doubt contributed much to his success; and his generous disposition, which prompted him to large and active charity, made him much beloved by his family, friends, and the numerous pensioners on his bounty, whom his death has sorely bereaved. His estate was worth $200,000.

NUTT, GEORGE WASHINGTON MORRISON, born April 1, 1844, at Manchester, New Hampshire; died April 25, 1881, in New York. "Commo

dore Nutt," as this celebrated dwarf was known to the public, was the son of a New Hampshire farmer, who held the position of city marshal in Manchester. Both of his parents were large, hearty folk, the father weighing upward of two hundred and fifty pounds. In a family of five, his brother, "Major" Rodney Nutt, and the "Commodore," were of diminutive stature; these two maintained through life the most affectionate relations. Until he was fifteen years of age the Liliputian size of George Washington Morrison had not spread beyond his native town, but some time during 1859 P. T. Barnum heard of the Manchester phenomenon, and soon made his parents so tempting an offer for his services that, in 1860, he was first presented to the New York public at Barnum's Museum, Broadway and Ann Streets, which then occupied the site of the present "Herald " building. Here he was for a long time a great attraction, not only because of his being forty-three inches in height, but by reason of his pleasing manners, lively antics, and unfailing good-humor. Unlike most dwarfs, he had a pleasant countenance, and a figure in perfect proportion to his height. In 1869, at the suggestion of Mr. Barnum, a troupe of midgets was organized for a tour around the world. The party consisted of Tom Thumb, his wife, Commodore Nutt, and Minnie Warren. During the following three years this quartet of little people visited almost every important part of the habitable globe. The inhabitants of Japan, China, Australia, India, Arabia, Egypt, France, England, Ireland, and Scotland were astonished and amused by the sight of this condensed form of humanity, and after one of the longest and most successful starring tours on record the tiny folk arrived off Sandy Hook just three years and a day after their departure from New York. The Commodore subsequently joined a company of artists styled the Deakin Liliputian Opera Troupe, to which his musical and dramatic talent lent luster; he then went into management, and, with his brother, the "Major," opened a variety show at Portland, Oregon; but, this venture not proving successful, he sold out, and went to San Francisco, where he started an entertainment of a similar nature. Before a year had passed he tired of this, and organized a theatrical company, which did not reward his enterprise with much success; he abandoned it, and entered business in Sixth Avenue, New York. Afterward he acted as superintendent at the Rockaway Pier, and still later resumed his wandering life as a showman, with a combination known as the "Tally-ho." Commodore Nutt was distinguished for large-hearted virtues that are often lacking in bigger men; his genial temper was allied to constancy and generosity that entitle his memory to the highest respect. It is stated by his cousin and manager, Mr. D. C. Purdy, that, of the $30,000 paid him by Barnum for a three years' engagement, one half

was bestowed by the dwarf upon his brother, the " Major." After being for many years faithful to an early love, the little man married, two years before his death, a lady in Redwood City, California.

PALFREY, JOHN GORHAM, was born May 2, 1796; died April 26, 1881, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was a grandson of William Palfrey, who was paymaster-general in the Revolutionary army, and served as aide-de-camp to Washington on the occupation of Dorchester. The future historian of New England received his elementary education at a boardingschool kept by Mr. William Payne, the father of John Howard Payne, and entered Harvard University in the class of 1815. Jared Sparks and Theophilus Parsons were among his classmates. Mr. Palfrey devoted himself to theology, and in 1818 was ordained pastor of the Brattle Square Church, Edward Everett having preceded him. His pastorate continued about thirteen years, and was resigned in 1831, when he accepted the appointment as Dexter Professor of Sacred Literature in Harvard University. While filling this position he became editor of the "North American Review," as a means of adding to an income insufficient for the wants of his family. Besides these duties of professor and editor, he was one of three preachers in the university chapel, and dean of the theological faculty. He also undertook a work on the Hebrew Scriptures, and engaged to deliver and print courses of lectures for the Lowell Institute. These he delivered during the winters of 1839-42. This stress of combined labors so impaired his health that he was compelled to resign the professorship. He then became a resident of Boston, devoting himself to his studies, the management of the "Review," and the publication of his Lowell lectures. In 1841 he was elected Representative to the Massachusetts Legislature, and was a member during the sessions of 1842-'43, serving as chairman of the Committee on Education. In 1843 he disposed of his interest in the "North American Review," and became a candidate for the position of Secretary of the Commonwealth, to which office he was elected by the Legislature in January, 1844; his incumbency continued four years. Although he was in 1842 a delegate to the Whig State Convention, and had made several speeches in the presidential campaign of 1844, Mr. Palfrey did not enter the field of politics with great activity until the autumn of 1845. He then became interested in the anti-slavery question; and during the summer of 1846 contributed to the Boston "Whig," of which Mr. Charles Francis Adams had just assumed the editorship, a series of twenty-six articles-"Papers on the Slave Power." These attracted much attention, and were afterward published in pamphlet form. Early in life Mr. Palfrey had manifested the very decided views which he entertained in regard to slavery, by emancipating certain slaves in Louisiana which he had inherited.

In the autumn of 1846 he was solicited to become a candidate for Congress as successor to Benjamin Thompson. Mr. Palfrey was elected on the second trial, and served from December 6, 1847, to March 3, 1849. In the election of 1848 he ran as a Free-Soil candidate, but was defeated. This contest was a remarkable one, and contributed to form the coalition by which Charles Sumner was sent to the United States Senate. Mr. Palfrey did not again enter public life until 1861. Abraham Lincoln was then President of the United States, and the party in power was that which Mr. Palfrey, with Charles Francis Adams, Horace Mann, Charles Sumner, and others of their class had assisted to form. Through Mr. Sumner's influence the position of Postmaster of Boston was given to Mr. Palfrey, on March 29, 1861, which he continued to hold until May, 1867. After his retirement he went to Europe, where he represented the United States at the Antislavery Congress, held in Paris in the autumn of 1867. Returning to America, he made his residence in Cambridge. The literary career of Mr. Palfrey has been, notwithstanding his industry as a writer, signalized by only one important work-his "History of New England." His publications consist chiefly of lectures and discourses. His "History of New England" was planned after his retirement from Congress, and is still incomplete, the period preceding the Revolution being merely sketched. The large edition published (1858'64) is in three volumes, and ends with 1689. The compendious history published (1866-'73) is in four volumes, and ends with 1765. Mr. Palfrey published also a "History of Brattle Square Church," and a "Life of Colonel William Palfrey."

PECK, EBENEZER, died May 25, 1881, in Chicago. He was at one time a member of the Legislature of Lower Canada, and came to the United States about the year 1840. The most intimate relations of friendship subsisted for many years between Judge Peck and Abraham Lincoln, by whom he was appointed Judge of the Court of Claims, an office which he held for some time. It is said that no other man possessed the confidence of President Lincoln to so full an extent.

RACE, GEORGE W., born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1814; died June 17, 1881, in New Orleans. Mr. Race arrived in Louisiana in 1840, and settled in Jackson, where he followed the business of carpenter and builder. While plying this trade by day, he made the money to attend the Centenary College at night. In this institute he studied with Judge E. T. Merrick and William H. Foster. The former was then learning the cabinet-maker's trade, while Mr. Foster was a dry-goods clerk. In college the three friends became intimate, and in 1845 Mr. Race and Mr. Foster passed an examination in law before the Supreme Court and were admitted to practice. In 1847 Race and Foster formed a partnership, and soon estab