648 



OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. 



year, and after the army moved from that place was 

 almost continuously in charge of the Sixth Corps 

 hospital in the field. After the war he practiced in 

 Elizabeth till his death. 



Palmer, Gourtlandt, founder of the Nineteenth Cent- 

 ury Club, born in New York city, March 25, 1843 ; 

 died at Lake Dunraore. Vt, July 23, 1888. He was 

 educated at Columbia and Williams Colleges, and was 

 graduated a Columbia Law School in 1869, but never 

 practiced. He inherited a fourth part of his father's 

 estate of $4,000,000, and had a private fortune of 

 $250,000. In 1880 he organized the Nineteenth Cent- 

 ury Club, which for three years held its meetings at 

 his residence. Of this organization he was president 

 until his death. On religious and social questions he 

 entertained what are known as extreme liberal views. 

 lie made occasional contributions to current litera- 

 ture, and left an unpublished volume. 



Parker, Joel, law ver, born near Freehold, N. J., Nov. 

 24, 1816: died in Philadelphia, Pa., Jan. 2, 1888. He 

 was graduated at Princeton in 1839, was admitted to 

 the bar in 1842. and began practicing in Freehold, 

 where he resided until death. Directly after gradua- 

 tion he entered political life, and through the presi- 

 dential canvass of 1840 worked for the election of 

 Martin Van Buren. During the succeeding four 

 years he attained reputation as a Democratic speaker. 

 and in 1844 canvassed the State. In 1847 he entered 

 the Legislature, being the youngest member and the 

 only lawyer on the Democratic side at that session. 

 He represented the minority on the judiciary and oth- 

 er committees, and introduced various reform bills. 

 He was prosecuting attorney of Monmouth County 

 from 1852 till 1857, and was a* Democratic presidential 

 elector in 1860. He was commissioned brigadier-gen- 

 eral of State militia in 1857, and major-general in 1861, 

 g_avc a vigorous support to the national Administra- 

 tion from the beginning of the civil war, and was elect- 

 ed Governor in 1862. He served in that office till 

 1866, and was a third time elected Governor in 1870. 

 In 1868 and 1876 the New Jersey delegation support- 

 ed him in the National Democratic Convention tor the 

 presidential nomination, and in 1872 the National La- 

 bor Reform Convention nominated him for Vice-Presi- 

 dent on the ticket headed by Judge David Davis. In 

 1880 and 1887 lie was appointed a judge of the Su- 

 preme Court of the State, and in 1883 declined a fourth 

 nomination for Governor. 



Parker, Peter, physician and clergyman, born in 

 Framingham, Mass., June 18, 1804; died in Wash- 

 ington, D. C., Jan. 10, 1888. He took the academic, 

 medical, and theological courses at Yale, and in 1834 

 was ordained a Congregational clergyman and ap- 

 pointed a missionary to China. Socn after his arrival 

 at Canton, he combined both professions, established 

 a hospital for the special treatment of diseases of the 

 eye, which he was shortly obliged to throw open for 

 general practice, and preached regularly to nis pa- 

 tients. His success as a physician was so large that 

 . within the first year he treated over 2,000 persons, 

 and formed a class of native students in medicine and 

 surgery to aid him in his work. In 1840, in conse- 

 quence of the war with England, he closed his hospi- 

 tal and returned to the United States. In 1842 he re- 

 turned to Canton, and reopened his hospital ; in 

 1845 he was appointed secretary and interpreter to the 

 United States embassy ; was acting United States 

 minister several times; and in 1855 was appointed 

 United States Commissioner to China to revise the 

 treaty of 1844. On the completion of this service in 

 1857, he returned permanently to the United States. 

 Among his publications are ""Journal of an Expedi- 

 tion from Singapore to Japan" (London, 1838); "A 

 Statement respecting Hospitals in China " (1841 ) ; and 

 " Euloary on Henry Wilson" (Washington, 1880). 



Patrick, Marsena B., soldier, born near Watertown, 

 Jeiferson County, N. Y., March 15, 1811 ; died in 

 Dayton, Ohio, July 27, 1888. He was graduated at 

 the' United States Military Academy in 1835, served 

 through the Mexican War, became captain in 1847, 



and major in 1849, and ; resigning from the army, en- 

 gaged in farming in his native county in 1850. He 

 followed this pursuit till 1859, when he was appoint- 

 ed president of the New York State Agricultural Col- 

 lege, and held the office till the outbreak of the civil 

 war. Entering the military service, he_ was appointed 

 inspector-general of State militia, and in March, 1862, 

 was commissioned brigadier-general of volunteers. 

 Subsequently he was appointed provost-marshal gen- 

 eral of the Army of the Potomac, of the combined 

 forces operating against Richmond, and of the mili- 

 tary Department of Virginia. He resigned his com- 

 mission June 12, 1865, and on Sept. 23, 1880, was ap- 

 pointed governor of the Central Branch, National 

 Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, at Dayton, 

 Ohio, in which office he served until his death. 



Patton, Alfred Spencer, clergyman, born in Suffolk, 

 England, Dec. 25, 1825; died in Brooklyn, N. Y., 

 Jan. 12, 1888. He came to the United States with his 

 parents when a child, was educated at Columbian 

 University, Washington, D. C., and Madison Uni- 

 versity, Hamilton, N. Y., studied for the Baptist 

 ministry, and held his first pastorate in West Chester, 

 Pa. After a brief service there, he went to Haddon- 

 field, N. J., and thence to the First Baptist Church in 

 Hoboken, N. J., where he remained five years. In 

 1859 he accepted a call from Watertown, Mass., 

 preached there five years, and was chaplain of the 

 State Senate in 1862-' 63, and went to the old Broad 

 Street Church in Utica, N. Y., in 1864. He remained 

 with the latter cpngregatiou till 1872, and built the 

 Tabernacle Baptist Church. In 1872 he removed to 

 New York city, bought the " American Baptist," 

 changed its name to the " Baptist Weekly," and ed- 

 ited it until his death. His published works comprise 

 " L'urht in the Valley " (Philadelphia, 1852) ; " My 

 Joy and Crown" (1855); " Kincaid, the Hero Mis- 

 sionary " (New York, 1858) ; " The Losing and Tak- 

 ing oi' Mansoul, or Lectures on the Holy War" 

 (1859); "Live for Jesus" (Philadelphia, 1861); and 

 numerous pamphlets. 



Pearson, John James, lawyer, born in Delaware Coun- 

 ty, Pa., Oct. 25, 1800 ; died in Harrisburg, Pa., May 

 30, 1888. He was educated and admitted to the bar 

 in Mercer County, began practice in Franklin, Venan- 

 go County, in 18:22, and returned to Mercer County in 

 1830. In 1835 he was elected to Congress, and on the 

 expiration of his term was sent to the State Senate. 

 In 1849 he was appointed judge of the Twelfth Judi- 

 cial District, and in 1851, under a change in the State 

 Constitution, was elected to the office for ten years, 

 lie was re-elected in 1861 and 1871, and declined the 

 nomination in 1881. He became president judge of 

 the district, and retired from service in January, 1882. 



Perkins, George Leonard, treasurer, born in Norwich, 

 Conn., Aug. 5, 1788; died there, Sept. 5, 1888. He 

 was educated in public schools, and in 1807 he walked 

 to Poughkeepsie to embark in the " Clermont " for 

 New York city. The steamer trip lasted a day and a 

 ni<rht, and he then returned home on foot by way of 

 New Haven. During the war with Great Britain lie 

 was paymaster of the United States Military District 

 No. 2." including Rhode Island, Connecticut; and 

 Massachusetts, and was several times in service as 

 major of brigade. He was one of the committee ap- 

 pointed to receive Lafayette in 1824. At the age of 

 forty-seven he became a director in the Norwich and 

 Worcester Railroad, of whicli he was one of the in- 

 corporators, and in 1838 was elected treasurer of the 

 road, which office he then held until his death. He 

 outlived eight of the nine presidents and more than 

 ninety directors of the company. Mr. Perkins voted 

 at eighteen presidential elections, and was introduced 

 to twelve of the Presidents. He continued in the full 

 possession of his faculties until his death, and his one 

 hundredth birthday was celebrated. 



Phelps, George May, inventor, born in Watervliet, 

 Albany County, N. Y., March 19, 18-20; died in 

 Brooklyn, N. Y., May 18, 1888. In early life he be- 

 came a manufacturer of mathematical instruments, 



