OBITUARY NOTICES FOR 1858.

A.

[1858. ]

He was appointed by Gov. Hull a major in the Mich. militia in 1805, and, during the war of 1812, he was quartermaster general of the army. He derived his title of judge from the fact ABBOTT, Capt. John, Monroe Co., that he was an associate or side judge | Miss., July 2, æ. 59. He was a native (5)

of Ga., emigrating to Ala. above 20 | laws of the state of his adoption; and years ago. While there he raised a few lawyers had so large a list of concompany of volunteers, and commanded fiding clients, though he never entered it in the Florida war. In 1838 he re- the profession, and had no advantages moved to Monroe Co.; in 1841 and in of education, except such as are af1843 he was elected therefrom to the forded by a common New England disMiss. legislature. trict school. He met with heavy losses and severe afflictions in the course of his life; but he never lost his courage, energy, and industry, his habits of rigid temperance and frugality, and incessant

ABBOTT, Mrs. Robert, Detroit, Mich., March, æ.. She had resided there 73 years; she was daughter of M. Audrain, one of the original settlers of what was then the trading post of De-activity; and he always cherished a retroit. ligious faith, which was founded on the old, severe, uncompromising Puritanism of his ancestors.

ABBOTT, Dr. William, Fairlee, Vt., July 30, æ. 78 years, 6 mos., formerly of Salem, Mass.

ADAMS, Mrs. Abigail B., Gilsum, N. H., Feb. 23, æ. 43, wife of Rev. Ezra Adams. She was one of the earliest scholars at Mt. Holyoke Female Seminary, and bore through life the impress of the moral and intellectual power of Miss Lyon. She was deeply interested in her husband's work; a faithful mother, and a humble and steadfast Christian.

ADAMS, Benjamin, Boston, Mass., Nov. 13, æ. 77. He was born in Exeter, N. H., Mar. 13, 1781; was a grandson of Rev. Joseph Adams, settled in Stratham, N. H., (H. U. 1742.) His father removed to B. while he was a child, and at a proper age placed him as an apprentice to mercantile business. In 1801 he commenced business under the firm of B. Adams & Co., (afterwards Adams, Homer, & Co.) He spent 40 years in the dry-goods business.

He was a minute-man during the war of 1812, though always in politics a consistent Federalist; and in 1820, having resigned his commission as colonel of the first regiment of the Mass. militia, he received an honorable discharge from military service. For about 30 years he was town clerk and treasurer of Natick, and during all that time was never absent from a town meeting; and a neater, more accurate set of books than that which he kept cannot be found in the commonwealth. He was representative to the legislature in the years 1833, '34, '35, '37, and '38. When first chosen representative, instead of treating, as had before been the custom, he gave $60 to the school fund. He was in the state Senate in 1842 and '49, and was one year in the Governor's Council. He was also for seven years postmaster. For about 40 years he was a justice of the peace in constant business; and his ability and integrity in that office were never called in question. When he died, all who knew him felt that a good, faithful, and most useful man had passed away.

HON. CHESTER ADAMS, Natick, Mass., March 15, æ. 72. He was born in Bristol, Conn., in 1785, removed to Dedham, Mass., in 1799, thence to Needham and Natick in 1808. He was one of the finest specimens of a New England self-made man. tual, exact, faithful, and strictly honest in the several relations of life; shrewd, intelligent, and careful in his business, ADAMS, Dr. F. W., at the Union - he won the confidence and respect House, Montpelier, Vt., Dec. 17, æ. 71, of all who knew him, gained a high interred at Barton. He was a wellposition in society, and acquired a hand-known physician of that region, and some fortune. He did much more than any other man in his neighborhood for the promotion of taste and skill in the culture of ornamental and fruit trees. He was well read in English literature, and especially in the constitution and

ADAMS, Christopher, Kittery, Me., Oct. 25, æ. 82. He was the last of the Punc-fourth generation who lived in his house, which was built in 1668 by his greatgrandfather, Christopher Adams.

was highly respected for his skill, and beloved for his devotion and tenderness to the suffering who came under his

care.

He had many peculiarities and caprices; yet he was a man of large heart, giving half his practice to the

ADAMS, Henry, Springfield, Mass., April 29, æ. 62. In 1851 he was a member of the Mass. legislature, and took part in the protracted and memorable contest which resulted in the election of Charles Sumner to the U. S. Senate by one majority. Mr. Adams was on a sick bed, but receiving advices by telegraph, he five times disobeyed the commands of his physician, and leaving his couch went to Boston, (100 miles distant,) and having voted for his favorite, returned to his chamber at home.

poor; and his grave was surrounded by | where he first saw the destined partner many sincere mourners. of his life, to whom he was married in the year 1806. In the autumn of 1803, the stage being full, he walked, with a friend, from Columbia to Charleston, arriving in advance of the stage, and with that friend, Mr. John Bones, commenced business in King Street, at the corner of Blackbird's Alley. His trade was mainly with the wagoners, who sold their cotton and purchased supplies. He was without any capital of consequence, but had already established a character, and by it obtained credit sufficient for his business, which rapidly grew and prospered. From this time until his death, he continued in active business, having never failed, through all that period of more than half a century, to pay in every instance the full amount of every one of his commercial and legal obligations.

ADAMS, Mrs. Jennette Root, at her father's house, Brooklyn, N. Y., Oct. 3, æ. 28. She was wife of William H. Adams, and only daughter of Rev. Seth Bliss, late Secretary of the American Tract Society, at Boston.

ADAMS, John, Middlesex, Yates Co., N. Y., æ. 66. He was a native of Pawlet, Vt., and came to M. at the age of 13; he amassed a large fortune, but retained a high reputation for integrity

and social worth.

ADAMS, Hon. Samuel, at Townsend, Mass., April 5, æ. 52. He held several local offices of trust and honor, and was, at his death, senator from the fourth district of Middlesex. His death was caused by aconite, which he had been using externally for rheumatism, and through some mistake was led to take internally.

ADDAMS, Judge Wm., Spring Township, Berks Co., Pa., May 28, æ. 82. He was a member of Congress from that section from 1825 to 1829, and more recently associate judge of the county.

JAMES ADGER, Charleston, S. C., at the St. Nicholas Hotel, New York city, of pneumonia, Sept. 24, æ. 81. He was born near Randalstown, County Antrim, Ireland, in the year 1777. At the age of 16 years he emigrated to this country, arriving in New York in Jan. 1794. He was apprenticed to a carpenter, but, after an experience of some four or five months, abandoned the trade, and obtained a situation as clerk in Mr. John Bailey's hardware store, in Maiden Lane. In the year 1802, he came to Charleston, on his way to visit his brother William, of Fairfield District,

It is well known that he never adventured into any speculations in the great staples of our produce. His settled policy was to pursue the path of patient, systematic labor. From the foot of the ladder he ascended, climbing step by step, slowly but surely; and the success of his whole career was not owing to any luck or fortune, but must be attributed under Providence to the qualities he possessed in a remarkable degree of economy, integrity, judgment, decision of character, punctuality, and unbounded energy and industry.

This eminent merchant, this architect of his own fortune, this bright example to our youth of the success attending well-directed energies, has now passed away. In his death society has lost a pillar of strength; our community a wise and public-spirited citizen; obscure and struggling merit a head to advise, and a hand to help; and the distressed and needy a generous friend, whose pity extended to the most forlorn.

He was a strong character, not always understood, prompt in action, but often slow to speak, thinking much and biding his time; not forward to volunteer or obtrude his counsel, but giving his opinion, when sought or when needed, in few words, clear, sententious, comprehensive. Underneath the blunt outside man were to be found a loving human heart, sensibilities of unfathomed depth, a soul devising the most generous deeds, and capable of the sublimest of all vir

tues-justice and impartiality. An oc- | him success in life we name prominently casional abruptness or sharpness of decision of character. The first element manner might be seen on a transient in decision of character is reliance on acquaintance; but it was for those who our own judgment; and the second is knew the man to appreciate him in the that energy of will and enthusiasm of justice of his nature, in the unassuming the passions which, when a wise plan is simplicity of his character, in the pa- selected, immediately spring into active tience of his labor, in the quiet, unos- powers of execution. These were contentatious streams of his charity, in his spicuous elements of his character. He good will to man, and his submission had confidence in his own judgment, to God. and did his own thinking in all practical affairs. No sooner was his plan determined than he commenced action. He had been through life an early riser. Not more certain was the sun to climb the eastern sky, than was this man to be early at his post; his purpose standing out clear to his view, and the energy of his will and the enthusiasm of his nature driving him from day to day onward to deserve, if not to attain, success. As a consequence of this concentration of mind, punctuality was a kindred virtue in his character worthy of universal imitation. To him may be truly applied the remark made by the celebrated Lord Nelson, when he said he owed every thing to being always a quarter of an hour before time.

When success crowned his labors, he did not become enslaved by money; but the man was, at every stage of his progress, superior to his acquisitions. This was true success. The mere accumulation of large property is a failure of life's end, unless with that increase the individual grows into a larger manfulness of soul. His success was that his property did not own him, but he was owner of his property, and could cheerfully part with it for wise and beneficent uses, or when taken from him by the stroke of Providence. His losses were many and heavy, at various epochs in the convulsions of trade and in the ruins of conflagration. After such blows of fortune, he was found always serene, and even cheerful-never looking back vainly upon yesterday, but forward to the morrow, and abating not a jot from the fortitude and energy of his continued labor in the present. Many of his deeds of charity are known to the community; more are known to his family and friends; but probably the greater part were seen only by the omniscient eye. In inspiring young men with the right spirit; in stimulating them, by his advice and example, to pursue a career of useful and honorable industry; in the judicious and generous employment of his capital for the establishment of others in advantageous business, he exerted a wide and salutary influence, and was thus a benefactor to his country. It is well known that the present generation of young men of our community take more correct views of a life of energetic labor, than those that preceded them; and it cannot be denied that the life and career of this self-made man contributed largely to this happy change. By his example as well as words, he spake through his long life, and, being dead, he yet speaketh.

Among the sterling qualities that gave

Another and a chief virtue in his character was integrity. The basis of the gigantic operations of commerce are laid in confidence. A man in Europe stakes his property, his faith, his name, with perfect reliance on the character of another man whom he has never seen, thousands of miles distant in America. Parties at a distance know whether or not their correspondents are faithful to their trust. All, therefore, who knew the strict attention to details, and the system of rigid justice to the interest of absent owners, on which this man conducted all his affairs, are at no loss to know why business flowed in upon him; and his name was known far and near as an agent in whom the largest confidence might be reposed. Integrity was as conspicuous in his character as decision and sound judgment; and it was, doubtless, owing to the fact that he, as an agent, was intrusted with the property of others, that his far-sighted and just mind laid it down as an axiom that in his business he must never speculate. The temptation might be very great, but it never moved his firm resolve. "Justum ac

tenacem propositi virum."

Were we to select for imitation the most conspicuous moral quality in his character, we would name the element Intrinsic. Beneath all the factitious distinctions of the world; through all sects, and parties, and conditions; in whatever form suffering and sorrow may be found, the electric chord of genuine love finds its way. It seeks no reward; its language is, "I am a man." He esteemed others not according to outside show, but according to their real worth. He did nothing for effect or mere appearance. He had no wish to be valued for qualities he did not possess. He never acted a part. "Esse, non videri," was not formally chosen by him as a motto. He did better. He acted it out in his life, and it may now be chosen for him by others as briefly expressing the mould of his manly nature and the form of his intrinsic character. Unassuming, honest, and humble himself, he had for all pomp and ostentatious parade the most profound contempt; and the stream of his beneficence was not directed to conciliate the rich and great, but it flowed where his kind heart prompted, to the obscure and neglected, to the stranger and the friendless, to the widow and the fatherless.

hour illustrated his iron strength of mind and his heroic trust in God.

He was eminently social in his feelings, enjoying with the greatest zest the companionship of old, tried, and trusty friends, to whom he always opened his hand and his heart, whatever might be their station in life. Favors done to him were never forgotten, but always repaid, if opportunity offered, with interest. At the friendly fireside and the festive board he presided an acknowledged chief. The old and the young alike owned the spell of a soul so brimful of social glee and gladness. It would be a task to find in any circle his peer for the combination of those qualities of head and heart that shone out in every feature, and found vent in every expression, diffusing around him the good will and happiness of his genial nature. His life is his best eulogy. His last act was a visit to some of the friends of his early days; a visit and generous relief of the fatherless and the widow in their affliction. God saw that his work was done, and called him home.

Having filled up his long life to the end with untiring usefulness, having raised a large family in respectability and honor, and left to them and to his countrymen a brilliant example in all the affairs of practical life of a virtuous energizer, he has fallen asleep. He died after a brief illness of only five days. He who never lingered through life in performing his duty, was not kept lingering on the bed of death. He retained his faculties to the last, and died as he had lived-a hearty and an earnest man. His only desire for life was that he might still longer be useful to his family; but he expressed submission to God's will, and implicit reliance on his love and mercy through the great Redeemer.

It would be an omission not to notice also his fortitude under affliction. It is not yet five years since his son, William, died suddenly in New York, under the most painful circumstances. In the expression of public sympathy, many said the sudden and cruel death of such a son would kill the aged father. When the heavy tidings came, it was like the tornado bearing down on the old oak tree, or the earthquake moving beneath the solid rock; but the granite rock stood firm, and the old oak tree, bending for the moment, soon stood erect again, and defied the fury of the storm. His heart bled, but the solid, fixed mind never quailed. He fully appreciated the dimensions of his loss, but he saw that AGATE, William, Pittsford, Monroe it was done-it was inevitable-it was Co., April 10, æ. 88. Mr. A. was a past and gone forever. He saw the native of England. In 1795, after a hand of God, and bowed in submission boisterous voyage, he landed in New to his will. After a proper season of York, with his life-long friend, Rev. bitter tears-nature's inexorable claim Thos. Billinghurst, one of the pioneer -he said, it is enough; and, thence- preachers of the Universalists. The forth, instead of leaning upon others, friends, who had brought their families he, the aged, but the strong, stood, with them, first settled at Sparta, on the bulwark and support of his family the Hudson. Soon after, Mr. B. moved around him. His conduct in that dark | into the wilderness, where Pittsford now