638 



OBITUARIES, UNITED STATES. 



Governor Vroom, the present Chancellor Green, 

 and the late Minister Dayton, on a commission 

 to revise the laws of New Jersey, and besides 

 performing his share of the revision, it devolved 

 on him to arrange and systematize the result 

 for publication. Upon the incorporation of the 

 Lnnatic Asylum of the State he was placed on 

 the first board of managers, and was active in 

 its affairs from 1847 till his resignation in 1852. 

 In that year he was chosen a Justice of the 

 Supreme Court, and at the close of the term of 

 seven years retired from public life. In 1844 

 the honorary degree of Master of Arts was 

 conferred on him by the College of New Jersey. 

 Judge Potts was an active member of the Pres- 

 byterian Church, and was at different times 

 connected with various boards and institutions 

 of the Church at large. When a member of 

 the General Assembly in 1851, he was made 

 chairman of a special committee to arrange the 

 complicated finances of the Church, and his 

 report, published in full, elicited great admira- 

 tion from its skill and perfectness. He devoted 

 some of his later time to the composition of a 

 work, entitled "The Christ of Revelation," de- 

 signed to trace the Scriptural doctrine of the 

 Redeemer from the prophecies to the life and 

 teaching of the New Testament. 



April 9. SMYTH, Brig.-Gen. THOMAS A., 

 commanding the 2d division 2d army corps, 

 was mortally wounded near Farmville, Va., by 

 a shot from a sharpshooter on the 6th of April, 

 and died at Petersburg. He was born in Ire- 

 land, but emigrated to this country when a boy, 

 and settled at Wilmington, Del., where he en- 

 gaged in the coachmaking business. At the 

 opening of the war he recruited a company in 

 Wilmington, and proceeded to Philadelphia and 

 joined a three months' regiment then leaving 

 for the Shenandoah valley. Returning home 

 he was made major of the Delaware regiment 

 then leaving for the seat of war, and rose grad- 

 ually from that position to lieutenant -col on el 

 and colonel, and soon was put in charge of a 

 brigade, where he won a high reputation for 

 his daring and skill. He was appointed to the 

 rank of brigadier- general in the summer of 1864, 

 for his gallant conduct at Cold Harbor. 



April 11. AAEOX, Rev. SAMTTEL, a Baptist 

 clergyman, teacher, and author, died at Mount 

 Holly, N. J., aged 65 years. He was a native 

 of New Britain, Pa., and of Welsh-Irish extrac- 

 tion. Left an orphan at the early age of six 

 years, he was placed under the care of an uncle, 

 upon whose farm he worked for several years, 

 spending a portion of the winter months in a 

 district school. Inheriting a small patrimony 

 from his father, when about sixteen years of 

 ago he entered the academy at Doylestown. 

 At twenty, he connected himself with the Clas- 

 sical and Mathematical School at Burlington, 

 N. J., as a student and assistant teacher, and 

 subsequently, after his marriage, opened a day 

 school at Bridge Point, and later became prin- 

 cipal of an Academy at Doylestown. In 1829 

 he was ordained as a minister, and became 



pastor, of the Baptist church at New Britain. 

 In 1833 he took charge of the Burlington High 

 School, at the same time holding the pastorate 

 of the church in that place. In 1841, accepting 

 a call to the church at Norristown, Pa., he 

 removed thither, and after preaching about three 

 years, he resigned the pastorate, and removing 

 to the suburbs, founded the " Treemount Semi- 

 nary," which under his auspices became famous 

 throughout Eastern Pennsylvania and New Jer- 

 sey, not only for the number of its students, but 

 for the thoroughness of the instruction afforded 

 them. Becoming involved in the financial crisis 

 of 1857, through endorsements for a friend, he 

 gave up "Treemount" to his creditors, and re- 

 moving to Mount Holly, accepted a call to the 

 pastorate of the Baptist church a position he 

 retained till his death. In September of the 

 same year, Mr. Aaron and his son Charles 

 became the principals of the "Mount Holly 

 Institute," continuing in the discharge of his 

 duties up to the time of the brief illness which 

 terminated his useful life. Mr. Aaron was twice 

 tendered the presidency of the New York Cen- 

 tral College. He was the author of many im- 

 provements in text-books. 



April 11. BOOTH, Mrs. MART H. C., an 

 American poetess, died at New York city, aged 

 34 years. She was a native of Connecticut, and 

 married early an editor of some note by the 

 name of Booth, with whom she removed about 

 fifteen years since to Milwaukee, Wis. Here 

 she contributed occasionally to her husband's 

 paper. After some years domestic trials in- 

 vaded her home, and the sorrow which brooded 

 over it from the misconduct of others, impaired 

 her naturally frail constitution. By the advice 

 of her friends she made the voyage to Europe, 

 and amid the mountain air of Zurich, Switzer- 

 land, found the pulmonary disease which had 

 threatened her life measurably checked. She 

 resided in Zurich several years, corresponding 

 with some American papers and periodicals, 

 and in 1864 a little volume of her occasional 

 poems and translations was published in Ger- 

 many, though with a Milwaukee imprint also, 

 under the title of "Wayside Blossoms." Find- 

 ing that her disease was again assuming an aggra- 

 vated form, and yearning to behold her native 

 land once more, she returned in the autumn of 

 1864 to the United States, and took up her 

 residence in New York. During the winter 

 she suffered most intensely, but by the force of 

 a strong will succeeded in revising her poems 

 for a new edition before her death. Her poems 

 evince talent of a very high order. 



April 11. SEROKANT, Col. WILLIAM, 210th 

 Pennsylvania volunteers, and captain of the 12th 

 infantry, U. S. A., was wounded on the 31st of 

 March near Petersburg, and died on board the 

 boat coming from City Point to Fortress Mon- 

 roe. He was born in Philadelphia in 1830, and 

 was the son of the late Hon. John Sergeant, 

 and brother of Mrs. General Meade. lie was 

 educated for the bar, and had attained a high 

 position, and represented his native city in 



