596 



OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. 



eral Zachary Taylor. During the Cherokee 

 campaign he was with General Scott. He was 

 stationed on the frontier until the breaking out 

 of the Mexican War, when he was made chief 

 surgeon under General Worth. He was ship- 

 wrecked off Cape Horn on the transport San 

 Francisco, while on the way to California. 

 During the civil war he was Medical Purveyor 

 of the army. He was retired by President 

 Johnson. He died in New York, on November 

 10th. 



SEARS, BARNAS, died July 6, 1880, at Sara- 

 toga, New York, in the seventy-seventh year of 

 his age. Dr. Sears had long been prominent in 

 educational affairs, was the author of several 

 books on educational subjects, and for many 

 years President of Brown University, at Provi- 

 dence. Wheii George Peabody gave the fund 

 for the promotion of education in the South, 

 Dr. Sears was made manager, with an advis- 

 ory Board of Trustees. He went to live in 

 Staunton, Virginia, which was his residence 

 at the time of his death. 



SEDDEN, JAMES ALEXANDER, a descendant of 

 William Alexander, Earl of Stirling, was born 

 in Virginia, in 1815. He entered public life at 

 an early age, and represented the Richmond 

 district in the Twenty-ninth and Thirty-third 

 Congresses, having defeated John Minor Botts, 

 the Whig candidate. He was one of the Peace 

 Commissioners in 1861. He was elected to 

 the First Confederate Congress. In 1862 he 

 was appointed Confederate Secretary of War. 

 After the war he engaged in mercantile pur- 

 suits. He died in Goochland County, Virginia, 

 August 19th. 



SEGITIN, Dr. EDWARD, was born in France, in 

 1812, but removed to America in 1848, and es- 

 tablished himself first in Ohio, and afterward 

 in New York. His specialty was the treatment 

 of idiocy, insanity, and nervous diseases. He 

 was the first person who established in 1838 a 

 school for the training of idiots. This has 

 been the model of nearly a hundred institu- 

 tions having this object. He has published 

 many works treating the subject of idiocy and 

 cognate matters. Since 1866 he has been en- 

 gaged in researches on thermography, or the 

 science of animal heat, in which department 

 he made many notable discoveries. He was 

 President of the American Association of Med- 

 ical Officers having charge of Institutions for 

 Idiots. His latest essay, "On the Training of 

 the Idiotic Hand," was read at the last meet- 

 ing of the American Medical Association. He 

 died in New York, October 28th. 



SIMONS, M. LAIRD, a journalist and literary 

 man, died in Philadelphia, November 17th. 

 He was born in that city, in 1843, and was a 

 graduate of its Central High School. He was 

 editor of u Stodart's Review." He condensed 

 D'Aubigne's "History of the Reformation." 

 He was the continuator of Duyckink's " Cyclo- 

 paedia of American Literature." He had just 

 prepared a " History of the World " in many 

 volumes, which was the last labor of his life. 



He also published a series of books entitled 

 " Half Hours with the Best Preachers." 



SPOFFORD, HENRY M., was born in Massachu- 

 setts. His father was a clergyman, living then 

 at Cljilmark, on Cape Cod. He removed to 

 Amherst to educate his sons. Henry M. Spof- 

 ford graduated at the head of his class at Am- 

 herst College in 1840. He spent three years 

 there as a tutor, and then removed to Louisi- 

 ana, where he was principal of an academy in 

 Bienville Parish. During this period he was 

 studying law. After his admission to the bar 

 in 1846, he settled in Shreveport, and became 

 the partner of Judge Olcott, brother-in-law of 

 Rufus Choate. His rise was rapid. He was 

 elected Judge of the district in which Shreve- 

 port is situated in 1852. In 1854 he became 

 Associate-Justice of the Supreme Court of 

 Louisiana. In 1858 he resigned this position, 

 and began practicing law in New Orleans. 

 After the war he was taken as a partner by 

 Hon. John A Campbell, who had held the po- 

 sition of Associate-Justice of the United Sta 

 Supreme Court until 1861, when he resigned i 

 Having amassed a fortune, Judge Spofford 

 tired from the practice of the law, and liv 

 chiefly on an estate in Tennessee. In 1877 he 

 was nominated by the Democratic caucus for 

 United States Senator, and was unanimously 

 elected by the Louisiana Legislature to fill the 

 term beginning March, 1877. The " Packard " 

 Legislature, shortly before its disbanding, elect- 

 ed William Pitt Kellogg for the same term, and 

 he took his seat. Judge Spofford made two 

 contests against Mr. Kellogg, but was not ad- 

 mitted up to the time of his death, which o 

 curred at the Red Sulphur Springs, West Vi 

 ginia, August 20th. 



STEVENS, Colonel AMBROSE, died in Lexin 

 ton, Kentucky, December 10th, aged seventy 

 three. He commanded a regiment during t" 

 civil war. For the last four years of his lift 

 he was the editor of the "Live-Stock Journal. 

 He was considered in England and America th 

 highest authority on pedigrees and the raisi 

 of live-stock. He was a native of New Yor 

 State. 



THORNE, JOHN S., M. D., was born in New 

 York in 1806, and graduated from Union Col 

 lege, Schenectady. He studied medicine, a: 

 settled in Brooklyn. During the prevalen 

 of cholera, in 1832, he distinguished himself b, 

 his courage and successful practice. He was 

 founder of the Brooklyn City Hospital, and on 

 of the Board of Regents of the Long Island Co" 

 lege Hospital. For twenty-five years he was 

 member of the Brooklyn Board of Education, 

 of which he was elected President. Dr. Thorn 

 was also an associate of the King's County 

 Medical Society, the Long Island Historical 

 Society, and a trustee of the Packer Institute. 

 He died, September 1st, in Brooklyn. 



TILESTON, WILLIAM M., died in New York, 

 April 22d, from injuries received at Madi 

 Square Garden. He saw much travel in 

 youth, especially in China and Japan. In 187 



