578 



OBITUARIES, UNITED STATES. 



to Ohio many years ago, and entered on the 

 successful practice of his profession. He was 

 from 1854 to 1859 a Judge of the Superior 

 Court, and from 1860 to 1865 a Judge of the Su- 

 preme Court of Ohio. As a lawyer and jurist 

 he had few equals in the State. He observed 

 public affairs with the eye of a statesman, 

 and was an effective political speaker. Of 

 sterling integrity, he was faithful to every 

 trust confided to him, and, though positive and 

 outspoken, whenever occasion required an ex- 

 pression of his views, his character was never 

 tarnished by the breath of calumny. 



Sept. 22. HotrGHTON, GEORGE FREDERICK, 

 an eminent jurist; died at St. Albans, Vt. He 

 was born in Guilford, May 31, 1820. After 

 completing a preparatory course of study at 

 the Vermont Episcopal Institute in 1837, he 

 entered the University of Vermont, and was 

 graduated in the class of 1839. He studied 

 law in the office of Benjamin Swift, and 

 came to the bar in 1841. In 1848-'49 Mr. 

 Houghton was chosen State Secretary of Civil 

 and Military Affairs ; and in 1852-'53 was 

 State's Attorney for Franklin County. He 

 established the Vermont Transcript in 1854 ; 

 was subsequently connected with the Church 

 Journal of New York ; contributed largely 

 historical and biographical sketches to various 

 publications ; and was one of the founders of 

 the Vermont Historical Society. He was pres- 

 ident of that society, and United States Com- 

 missioner, at the time of his death. 



Sept. 24. KEYES, HENRY, President of the 

 Connecticut and Passumpsic River Railroad ; 

 died at Newbury, Vt., aged 65 years. He was 

 born in Vershire, in that State, and was educated 

 for mercantile pursuits. For several years he 

 was the Democratic nominee for Governor, and 

 frequently a delegate of his party to national 

 conventions ; was a member of the State Sen- 

 ate from Orange County, in 1847 and 1848, 

 and was one of the original founders of the 

 Vermont State Agricultural Society. He was 

 also, at the time of his death, president of a 

 road in Kansas. 



Sept. 24. RAY, Dr. JAMES H., a journalist; 

 died in Chicago. He was at one time editor 

 of the Chicago Tribune, and at the time of 

 his death was editor of the Post, of that city. 



Sept. 27. CUMMINGS, Major WILLIAM R., U. 

 S. Assessor of the First District of New York ; 

 died at Jamaica, in the 55th year of his 

 age. During the late war he commanded a 

 battery of artillery, and took part in the bat- 

 tles of Antietam and Gettysburg. In his last 

 campaign he contracted disease that obliged 

 him to resign. He had been identified with 

 the Republican party since its organization, 

 and was the first president of the first anti- 

 slavery society formed in Indiana. He filled 

 the office of assessor for a long time, and ac- 

 ceptably to the Government and to the resi- 

 dents of the district. 



Sept. 27. PACKER, WILLIAM F., formerly 

 Governor of Pennsylvania ; died at Williams- 



port, in that State, aged 64 years. He was 

 born in Centre County, in 1807, was appren- 

 ticed to the printing business before reach- 

 ing the age of thirteen, and, after com- 

 pleting his trade, worked in the State 

 Printing-office, at Harrisburg, then under 

 the control of Simon Cameron. He sub- 

 sequently studied law, but never applied 

 for admission to the bar. From 1827 to 

 1836 he published the Lycoming Gazette. In 

 1839 he was appointed one of the three 

 Canal Commissioners of Pennsylvania, and 

 held that office until 1842, when he was ap- 

 pointed Auditor-General of the State, and held 

 th/it position for three years, quitting it in 1845. 

 He served one term of three years as State 

 Senator. On quitting the Senate, he was 

 chosen President of the Susquehanna Railroad 

 Company, and continued to hold that position 

 until the company was consolidated with 

 others to form the present Northern Central 

 Railroad Company, of which he was made a 

 member of the Board of Directors, and re- 

 mained a member of the Board until his elec- 

 tion as Governor of the State in 1857. While 

 holding that office, he labored sedulously to 

 improve the internal resources of the State, 

 and advance her best interests. 



Sept. 28. YATES, Brigadier-General CHAS., 

 U. S. Volunteers ; died in New York. He was 

 educated at Union College, and was for many 

 years a colonel in the militia. During the 

 late war he entered the service as a volunteer, 

 and accompanied his command in the battle 

 of Gettysburg. 



Sept. . SAYRE, DAVID A., a philanthropic 

 banker, of Lexington, Ky. ; died there, aged 

 77 years. He was a native of New Jersey, 

 but removed to Lexington in his youth, where 

 he became a successful merchant and banker. 

 Though repeatedly meeting with heavy losses, 

 he gave, during his lifetime, not less than half 

 a million to benevolent objects. He expended 

 upon the Sayre Institute $100,000. 



Sept. . SEELY, JOSEPH, a veteran teacher, 

 of New York ; died in that city, aged 97 

 years. He was a native of Connecticut, but 

 removed to New York in early manhood, and 

 taught there for nearly sixty years. 



Sept. . WAKEFIELD, Mrs. NAXCY W. 

 PRIEST, a gifted poetess ; died in Winchendon, 

 Mass., aged 33 years. She early displayed a 

 talent for writing, but was best known to the 

 public as the author of the beautiful and touch- 

 ing poem, " Over the River they beckon to 

 me," which has taken its place among the 

 most exquisite lyrics in the English language. 



Oct. 5. STEINBERGER, Major JUSTUS, Pay- 

 master U. S. A. ; died at Helena, Montana Ter- 

 ritory, aged 45 years. He was born in 1825, 

 in Montgomery County, Penn., was educated 

 at Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa., and af- 

 terward graduated from a medical college in 

 Philadelphia. In the early days of the gold 

 excitement on the Pacific coast he became a 

 resident and practising physician of Marys- 



