836 



OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. (BoYxrox BRGW.V.) 



lowing; lieutenant-commander, July 16, 1862; com- 

 mander, May, 20, 1871 ; captain, June 19, 1882; and 

 was ordered on special duty at New York city Oct. 15, 

 1889. During his naval career he was on sea service 

 twenty years and nine months, on shore or other duty 

 twelve years and three months, and was unemployed 

 six vea'rs and eleven months. He had commanded 

 the " Vermont," the " Powhatan." the " Richmond," 

 and the frigate " Tennessee " when it was the flag- 

 ship of the North Atlantic squadron, and after the 

 expiration of his last cruise, in September, 1888, was 

 appointed supervisor of the harbor of New York, and 

 held this office until made inspector of merchant ves- 

 sels in the port of New York. 



Boynton, John Farnham, inventor, born in Bradford, 

 Mass., Sept. 20, 1811 ; died in Syracuse, N. Y., Oct. 

 20, 1890. lie was educated at Columbia College, New 

 York city ; studied medicine and received his diploma 

 in St. Louis, Mo. ; and, after practicing a short time in 

 several Eastern and Western cities, became a pioneer 

 in the field of popular scientific lectures. He spent 

 several years in traveling through nearly everv State 

 in the Union, lecturing on " Geology and the Natural 

 History of Creation " and kindred subjects, and settled 

 in Syracuse, N. Y., in 1845. At the beginning of the 

 gold excitement in 1849 he went to California, and 

 spent several years in successful mining operations. 

 Returning to Syracuse, he laid out a famous peach 

 orchard and applied himself to scientific study and 

 invention, His first invention was the chemical ap- 

 paratus for putting out small and incipient fires, which 

 is now in almost universal use, and is known as the 

 Babcock fire-extinguisher. This was followed by a 

 soda fountain ; a method of extracting gold from ore 

 by the vacuum process ; the first process for convert- 

 ing cast iron into malleable steel ; the method of color- 

 ing buttons and glassware, now generally used ; and 

 a patent wall plaster, which he had nearly perfected 

 at the time of his death. He received more than thirty 

 patents. Dr. Boynton exposed die fraudulent repre- 

 sentations concerning the " Cardiff Giant," furnished 

 the press of New York city with daily bulletins on 

 the condition of Dr. Henry S. Tanner during his 

 memorable fast in 1880, and first called the attention 

 of the public to the Tewksbury iMass.) almshouse 

 horror in 1883. He completed, but did not live to 

 publish, a genealogy of the Boynton family. 



Brace, Gharlfls Lacing, philanthropist, born in Litch- 

 field, Conn., June 19, 1826: died in the Tyrol, Switz- 

 erland, Aug. 11, 1890. He was graduated at Yale 



College in 1846, studied theology at the Yale Divin- 

 ity School in 1847-'48 and at Union Theological Sem- 

 inary in 1848-'49, made a pedestrian tour of Great 

 Britain and Ireland in 1850, and was arrested and 

 tried by court-martial, on suspicion of being a secret 

 revolutionary agent, at Groe Wardein, Hungary, in 

 1851. Through the efforts of the American charge 



eFafaireg at Vienna, he was released with ample apol- 

 ogies by the Austrian Government, and returned to 

 the United States in 1852. The same vear he became 

 active in missionary work in New York city, and 

 on the islands in the East river, and was one of the 

 founders of the Children's Aid Society. In the fol- 

 lowing year he became its secretary "and executive 

 agent, and he remained in this office till his death. 

 In 1854 he established the first Newsboys' Lodging 

 House in the city, in 1855 an Italian Industrial School, 

 and in 1856 a German Industrial School. He devoted 

 the remainder of his life to work among the youth 

 and the poor of the city ; was a delegate to the inter- 

 national Convention of Childrens' Charities in London 

 in 1856 ; made a sanitary investigation of the chief 

 cities in Great Britain in 1865 ; and was a delegate to 

 the International Prison Congress in London ii, 

 His work in New York city became known through- 

 out Europe, and his advice was sought for countless 

 enterprises having the improvement of the condition 

 of the poor and of youth in view. For more than 

 twenty years he was an editorial writer for the New 

 York " Times " and a contributor to its book reviews, 

 generally confining himself to theological and phil- 

 anthropic subjects. His publications include " Hun- 

 gary in 1S51 " (New York, 1852) ; " Home Lite in Ger- 

 many " (1853) ; " The Norse Folk " (1867) ; " Short 

 Sermons to Newsboys" (1861); "Races of the Old 

 World" (1863); "The New West " 71868) ; "The 

 Dangerous Classes of New York, and Twenty Years' 

 Work among them" (1872, third edition, 1880): 

 ' Free Trade as promoting Peace and Good- Will 

 among Men" (1879); " Gesta Christi, or a History 

 of Humane Progress under Christianity" (1883. third 

 edition, 1885) ; and " To the Unknown God " (1889). 



BrooMO, Sherlock Anaon, educator, born in Water- 

 bury. Conn., April 21, 1807 ; died in Mansfield, Ohio, 

 May 7, 1890. When he was a few months old his 

 parents settled fifteen miles from Cleveland, which 

 then had but three log cabins. He attended the 

 pioneer settlers' school in winter and worked on his 

 father's farm in summer till his sixteenth year, when 

 he began teaching. In 1826 he was appointed assist- 

 ant principal of the Norwalk Academy, Ohio. He 

 was graduated at Kenyon College in 1833. and was 

 ordained a minister of the Protestant Episcopal 

 Church, in Cincinnati, in 1835. After serving one 

 year as a missionary in Lancaster, Ohio, he settled in 

 Granville, Ohio, in*1837, and remained there till 1S45. 

 In September, of that vear, he was chosen President 

 of Kenyon College, and, after holding the office five 

 years, resigned to accept the rectorship of Grace 

 Church, in Sandusky, Ohio, which he held for sixteen 

 years. He then returned to Ken von College and was 

 Professor of Theologv in its seminary for five years, 

 besides editing the ""Western Episcopalian." He 

 was chosen rector of Grace Church. Mansfield. Ohio, in 

 June, 1872, and officiated there till 1888, when he re- 

 tired from active service. He received the degree of 

 D. D. from Geneva College, N. Y., in 1846. and that 

 of L L. D. after settling in Mansfield. He was a 

 trustee of Kenyon College for many years, and pub- 

 lished a " Life "of John Sherman " (1880). Dr. Bron- 

 son was a life-long friend of Senator Sherman, who 

 writes that his life was " honorable in all its parts, 

 and in some respecte very interesting." 



Brown. George William, lawyer, born in Baltimore, 

 Md., Oct. 13, 1812; died at Lake Mohonk. ? 

 Sept. 6, 1890. He was graduated at Rutgers College, 

 in 1831, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 

 Baltimore. In 1842 he led a bitter fight against the 

 " Shareholders' Convention " and its resolutions ; in 

 1858 organized the "Reform Association" for the 

 purification of election methods ; and in 1860 wa 

 elected mayor of the city on the Reform ticket. Dur- 

 ing his administration, on April 19, 1861 , occurred the 

 attack by a Baltimore mob on the Sixth Massachusetts 

 Regiment while on its way to the defense of Washing- 

 ton. As soon as Mayor Brown heard the disturbance. 

 he rushed from his office, placed himself at the head 

 of the regiment, and marched with it to the boat- 



