632 



OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. (APPLE-TON BEARDSLEY.) 



Appleton, Daniel Sidney, publisher, born in Boston, 

 Mass., April 9, 1824 ; died in New York city, Nov. 13, 

 1890. He was the fourth son of Daniel Appleton, 

 founder of the publishing firm of IX Appletou & Co. ; 

 was graduated at Yale College in 1843; and, atter 

 studying one year in the Yale Law School, removed 

 to New York city and entered his father's publishing 

 Louse. After he had become familiar with the busi- 

 ness, his father sent him to London, where he man- 

 aged the English branch of the house till 1849, when 

 he was called home by his father's illness, on whose 

 death, in the same year, he became a member of the 

 firm. To him was assigned the management of the 

 manufacturing department, and he also became the 

 financial adviser of the house. He remained in these 

 relations till failing health caused him to withdraw 

 from active participation in the business ; but he re- 

 tained a general advisory interest until his death. Mr. 

 Appleton was a director of several financial institu- 

 tions and a member of the Union, Century, Universi- 

 ty, and New York Yacht clubs. 



Astor, John Jacob, second, capitalist, born in New 

 York city, June 10, 1822; died there, Feb. 22, 1890. 

 He was a grandson of John Jacob Astor, first, and a 

 son of William B. Astor ; was graduated at Columbia 

 College; subsequently studied in the University of 

 Gottingen, was graduated at Harvard Law School, 

 and, alter spending a year in law practice, entered 

 the office of the family estate in 1847. The manage- 

 ment of the great family estate, on the rigid lines pre- 

 scribed by the founder, occupied his attention very 

 closely ; yet he personally and liberally promoted 

 several interests with which the family name had been 

 associated for many years, and through his wife was 

 constantly engaged in deeds of practical benevolence. 

 On the death of his father he assumed, as head of the 

 family, the special care of the Astor Library, though 

 he would accept no other office in its directory than 

 that of treasurer. In 1879 he deeded the institution 

 three lots on Lafayette Place, on which he subsequent- 

 ly erected the extension known as the North Library 

 Building, at a cost of $250,000. The library also re- 

 ceived from him a valuable collection of early printed 

 books and rare manuscripts and other contributions, 

 which brought the aggregate of the family benefac- 

 tions to the institution up to $1,250,000. Another 

 object of his special favor was Trinity Church, of 

 which he had been a vestryman for many years ana to 

 which, in association with his brother, he presented the 

 reredos and altar, which cost $80,000, as a memorial 

 to his father. Through his wife he virtually built the 

 New York Cancer Hospital, placed the Woman's Hos- 

 pital beyond the possibility of financial failure, made 

 the Children's Aid Society one of the foremost insti- 

 tutions of practical benevolence in the country, and 

 aided other institutions and enterprises to an extent 

 of which only himself, his wife, and some trusted third 

 person were ever aware. After the death of his wife 

 in 1887 he presented to the Metropolitan Museum of 

 Art her superb collection of laces. By his father's 

 will he received two thirds of the family estate (vari- 

 ously estimated to be worth from $100,000,000 to 

 $150,000,000), and this share, with its accumulations, 

 he in turn bequeathed to his son, William Waldorf 

 Astor, who thus became the head of the family. His 

 public bequests included $100.000 to St. Luke's Hos- 

 pital ; $50,000 to the Metropolitan Museum of Art ; 

 $100,000 to the New York Cancer Hospital ; $400,000 

 to the Astor Library, the net income to be used ex- 

 clusively for the purchase of books ; and $50,000 to 

 the library, the income to be used in paying the trus- 

 tees for attendance at regular meetings of the board 

 at the rate of $10 each for each meeting. 



Baker, George M., dramatist, born in Portland, Me., 

 July 2, 1832 ; died in Barnstable, Mass., Oct. 20, 1890. 

 He removed to Boston at an early age, learned the 

 publishing business there, and carried it on, with a 

 partner and alone, for several years. He became edi- 

 torial reader and superintendent of the publishing de- 

 partment in the firm of Lee & Shepard in 1862, and 

 remained with the firm till June, 1889, when illness 



compelled him to resign. From youth he had taken 

 an active interest in the amateur drama, and he be- 

 came widely known through the performance of his 

 dramatic compositions by clubs and societies. His 

 5, which were popular in New England, num- 



jred about eighty, and included "Wanted, a Male 

 Cook," u Above the Clouds," " Among the Break- 

 ers," "Down by the Sea," "Better than Gold," 

 "Nevada," "Rebecca's Triumph," "Bread on the 

 Waters," and " Comrades and Messmates." He ed- 

 ited a series of ballads, and published the novels 

 " Running to Waste" and " Something Better." 



Barry, Patrick, horticulturist, born near Belfast, Ire- 

 land, in May, 1816; died in Rochester, N. Y., June 

 23, 1890. He was educated and became a teacher in a 

 national school, and when twenty years old emigrated 

 to the United States. His first employment as a clerk 

 in Prince & Go's nursery in Flushing, L. I., led him 

 to adopt the business of a nurseryman, and after four 

 years' experience he became a partner of George Ell- 

 wanger in Rochester. He applied his whole attention 

 to his business, and made a special and detailed study 

 of horticulture and pomology, and the firm soon be- 

 came widely known as growers and importers, and 

 their nurseries became the largest in the country. 

 In 1844 he became editor of the " Genesee Farmer!" 

 and in 1852 left that paper and was editor of the 

 " Horticulturist " for two years. He was a frequent 

 contributor to agricultural and other publications, 

 writing particularly on pomology, published a '' Treat- 

 ise on the Fruit Garden" (1851; new ed., 1872), and 

 compiled the "Catalogue" of the American Ponio- 

 logical Society. He was a member of the board of 

 control of the New York State Agricultural Experi- 

 ment Station, an ex-president of the New York State 

 Agricultural Society, and president of the Western 

 New York Horticultural Society for over twenty years. 



Bates, Charlotte Fiske, author, born in New York 

 city, Nov. 30, 1838 ; died there Jan. 4, 1890. She re- 

 moved to Cambridge, Mass., in 1847, received a pub- 

 lic-school education there, and began writing verses 

 while very young. As a contributor to " Our Young 

 Folks " and other magazines, she soon obtained a 

 wide reputation. Early in her literary career she won 

 the friendship of Henry W. Longfellow, whom she 

 subsequently assisted in compiling his " Poems of. 

 Places," making numerous translations for that work. 

 She published several works, among which " Risk, 

 and other Poems" (1879) is the best known, and 

 edited " The Longfellow Birthday Book " " The 

 Seven Voices of Sympathy " (1881), and " The Cam- 

 bridge Book of Poetry " (1882). 



Baxter, Jedediah Hyde, surgeon, born in Staff ord > 

 Orange County, Vt., May 11, 1837 ; died in Washing- 

 ton, D. C., Dec. 4, 1890. He was graduated at the 

 University of Vermont in 1859, and at its medical de- 

 partment in 1861, and entered the army as surgeon of 

 the Twelfth Massachusetts Infantry on June 26, 1861. 

 He was appointed surgeon of United States volunteers 

 April 4, 1862 ; brevetted lieutenant-colonel and col- 

 onel for services in the recruitment of the armies of 

 the United States and for faithful services during the 

 war, March 13 and 30, 1865 j commissioned lieuten- 

 ant-colonel and assistant medical purveyor in the per- 

 manent establishment of the army, July 20, 1867 , 

 lieutenant-colonel and chief medical purveyor, March 

 12, 1872 ; colonel and chief medical purveyor, June 

 23,1874; and appointed surgeon-general of the army, 

 Aug. 16, 1890. Dr. Baxter was also a graduate 

 of the law department of Columbian University. 

 Washington, D. C., which gave him the degree of 

 LL. B. in 1875; compiler of" Medical Statistics of the 

 Provost Marshal General's Bureau " ; and a member 

 of several medical and scientific associations. 



Beardsley, Sidney Burr, lawyer, born in Monroe, Conn. , 

 Aug. 20, 18'22 ; died in Bridgeport, Conn., April 24, 

 1890. He came from a family of lawyers, and was a 

 son of Judge Cyrus Beardsley. After studying at 

 Yale College in 1839-'40, he studied law in Danbury, 

 was admitted to the bar in August, 1843, and became 

 judge of the Probate Court in Norwalk in 1844. He 



