584 



OBITUARIES, UNITED STATES. 



interested in political matters being himself 

 a warm personal friend of General Harrison. 

 After the election he entered upon the study 

 of law in Toledo, was admitted to practice in 

 the State courts at the age of twenty-one, and 

 the following year appeared hefore the Su- 

 preme Court. The natural bias of his mind, 

 however, led him to abandon his law-office for 

 a larger experience and busier life among mer- 

 chants and speculators. His personal popu- 

 larity was so great that he was elected colonel 

 of the State militia at the age of twenty-one, 

 and in the following year he was appointed 

 brigadier-general. It was at this time that his 

 restless mind was betrayed into a most vision- 

 ary scheme. Excitement with reference to the 

 admission of Texas into the Union ran very 

 high, and young "Walbridge and a few of his 

 intimate friends formed a plan of establishing 

 four newspapers, at Houston, Galveston, Aus- 

 tin, and another point, to advocate the inde- 

 pendence of Texas, and to create an anti-an- 

 nexation sentiment throughout the State. The 

 scheme was a wild one, but the young confed- 

 erates engaged in it with great spirit, and can- 

 vassed the State with reference to the estab- 

 lishment of their journals. The annexation of 

 Texas rendered their enterprise futile, and 

 Walbridge returned to Toledo, whence he re- 

 moved to New York in 1847, to engage in ex- 

 tensive commercial transactions. In 1848 he 

 was nominated by the Democratic party as an 

 Assemblyman from one of the lower wards, 

 and was elected by a large majority. In 1852 

 he was elected by the Democrats to represent 

 the Fourth Congressional District at Washing- 

 ton. His short career during a single session 

 of Congress was marked by the advocacy of a 

 Pacific Eailroad bill, and the introduction of a 

 bill to regulate the militia of the seas, which 

 attracted a great share of public attention at the 

 time. At the close of his term of office he re- 

 tired from public life. At the opening of the 

 war he was an outspoken Union man. He was 

 a warm personal friend of President Lincoln, 

 and was offered a seat in his Cabinet. He was 

 also tendered the rank of brigadier-general in 

 the army, but declined on the ground that men 

 of military education should occupy posts of 

 trust and responsibility. During the war he fre- 

 quently addressed the Boards of Trade in West- 

 ern cities, advocating a powerful support of 

 the Government. He was Vice-President of 

 the National Commercial Convention at Chi- 

 cago, and subsequently presided at similar con- 

 ventions in Detroit and Louisville. At these 

 meetings he advocated free banking, a reduc- 

 tion of taxation, and the development of the 

 resources of the West. He was also promi- 

 nently identified with the Chamber of Com- 

 merce of New York. 



Dec. 7. BUTLER, Captain JOHN B., a retired 

 officer of the United States Army; died at 

 Mount Auburn, Cincinnati, aged 78 years. 

 He served as a private in the war of 1812, 

 after which he went to Pittsburg, Pa., and 



engaged in -the printing business, and subse- 

 quently was for many years editor and pub- 

 lisher of the Pittsburg Statesman. At this 

 period of life he was actively engaged in poli- 

 tics, and in 1838 was appointed recorder of 

 deeds, and afterward oanal commissioner. At 

 the commencement of the war with Mexico, 

 he was commissioned paymaster in the army, 

 and accompanied General Taylor's command to 

 the seat of war, after which he was made 

 military storekeeper at the Alleghany Arsenal, 

 where he remained until about 1863, when he 

 was retired on the usual pay and allowances. 

 Major Butler was a political writer of fine 

 ability, and possessed rare capacity for busi- 

 ness. 



Dec. 8. BEALS, WILLIAM, a newspaper pub- 

 lisher, and prominent citizen of Boston ; died 

 there, aged 85 years. When a young lad he 

 entered the counting-room of the Boston 

 Gazette, continuing there until he became one 

 of the proprietors of that journal. Subsequent- 

 ly disposing of his interest in the Gazette, he 

 purchased a share in the Boston Post, which 

 he held for nearly thirty-five years. 



Dec. 9. PECOUR, ANTHONY, an old resident 

 of Troy, N. Y. ; died there, aged 109 years. 



Dec. 10. BURNET, DAVID G., an eminent 

 citizen of Texas; died in Galveston, aged 80 

 years. He was born in Essex County, N. J., 

 in 1790, and was the son of Surgeon-General 

 Burnet, a Revolutionary hero. When very 

 young he repaired to the South American col- 

 onies and sought service in their conflict with 

 Spain for independence. Later he went to 

 Texas, then a Mexican State, and entered 

 zealously into the contest to wrest the State 

 from Mexico and establish a republic. Burnet 

 and Houston were candidates for the presi- 

 dency, the former succeeding by a large ma- 

 jority. He remained in the South during the 

 war, and at its close Avas elected in 1866 to the 

 United States Senate from Texas, but Congress 

 refused to admit him. 



Dec. 12. LATTNITZ, ROBERT E., an eminent 

 American sculptor; died in New-York City, 

 aged 64 years. He was born in Russia, but 

 had resided in the United States since 1830. 

 He was formerly quartermaster and captain 

 of engineers in the Seventh Regiment, N. G. S. 

 N. Y. Among his productions were the Pulaski 

 Monument, at Savannah, Ga., and the statue of 

 General Thomas, now in Troy ; also many 

 handsome monuments in Greenwood Ceme- 

 tery. 



Dec. 13. HOOPER, EDWARD, an engraver ; 

 died in Brooklyn, L. I. He was a native of Eng- 

 land, and since 1850 had devoted himself to his 

 profession in Brooklyn, as one of the firm of 

 Bobbett & Hooper. As an artist in water- 

 colors, Mr. Hooper's productions, which his 

 modesty would only occasionally allow to be 

 seen on the walls of the Academy of Design, 

 were admirable for accuracy of drawing and 

 harmony of coloring. He was one of the few 

 originators of the Brooklyn Society of Painters 



