OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. (ROWAN-SANDS.) 



003 





Kowan, Stephen Clegg, naval officer born near Dub- 

 lin, Ireland, Dec. 25, 1808 ; died in Washington, D. C., 

 March 31, 1890. He came to the United States when a 

 boy, was appointed a midshipman in the United States 



navy Feb. 1,1826: 

 was promoted 

 passed midship- 

 man April 28, 

 1832 ; lieutenant, 

 March 8, 1837 ; 

 commander, Sept. 

 14, 1855 ; captain, 

 July 16, 1862; 

 commodore, July 

 16,1862; rear-ad- 

 miral, July 25, 

 1866 ; vice admi- 

 ral, Aug. 15, 1870; 

 and was retired at 

 his own request 

 Feb. 26, 1889. 

 During his service 

 in the navy he was 

 on sea duty twen- 

 ty-five years; on 

 shore or other duty, twenty-nine years and ten months; 

 and was unemployed ten years. As passed mid- 

 shipman he cruised on the " V andalia " off the west- 

 ern _coast of Florida during the Seminole War, and 

 as lieutenant was on coast- survey duty in 1838-' 40, 

 subsequently serving in the Brazilian and Pacific 

 squadrons. In the Mexican War he took part in the 

 capture of Monterey and San Diego as executive officer 

 of the " Cyane," as well as in the bombardment of 

 Guaymas by that vessel ; commanded the naval bat- 

 talion under Com. Stockton at the battle of theNiesa, 

 Upper California, and the landing party that made 

 the successful night attack on the Mexican outpost 

 near Mazatlan, and was highly commended for his 

 services. He was on ordnance duty 1850-'53, and 



again in 1858-' 61, commanding the storeship ''Re- 

 lief" in the mean time ; and at the beginning of the 

 civil war was in command of the sloop-of-war " Paw- 

 nee.'^ With this vessel he covered the city of Alex- 

 andria, after its occupation by the national troops in 

 May, 1861, and on May 25 following he engaged with 

 his vessel the Confederate battery on Acquia Creek, 

 the first naval action of the war. He also, with the 

 "Pawnee," took part in the capture of the forts and 

 garrison at Hatteras Inlet, and destroyed Fort Ocra- 

 coke, 20 miles south of Hatteras. In January, 1862, 

 he led the vessels of the Goldsborough expedition to 

 North Carolina, and on Feb. 8 took part in the suc- 

 cessful attack of the army and navy on Roanoke 

 Island. Two days afterward, with a portion of his 

 flotilla and in his flagship the "Delaware," he pur- 

 sued the Confederate flotilla into Albemarle Sound, 

 and, after coming within three fourths of a mile of the 

 enemy's vessels'and their supporting earthworks, he 

 suddenly opened fire, dashed ahead at full speed, and 

 captured or destroyed the Confederate works and the 

 entire fleet. This was the first naval movement of the 

 kind in the war. He immediately followed up the ad- 

 vantage thus gained, passed up Pasquotank river, took 

 possession of Elizabeth City and Edenton, destroyed 

 several armed vessels, and captured one steamer, and 

 then returned to obstruct the Chesapeake and Albe- 

 marle Canal. He co-operated with Gen. Burnside in 

 the expedition to Newbern, N. C., forced the sur- 

 render of the forts there, and by the capture of Fort 

 Macon restored the national authority in the waters 

 of North Carolina. His next command was the " New 

 Ironsides," off Charleston, in which he took part in 

 the engagements with Forts Wagner, Gregg, and 

 Moultrie. In 1866 he received a vote of thanks from 

 Congress and was promoted real-admiral. He com- 

 manded the Norfolk Navy Yard in 1866-' 67, the 

 Asiatic squadron in 1868-'69, and the Brooklyn Navy 

 Yard in 1872-' 76 ; was admiral of the port of New 

 York in 1877-'78, President of the Board of Naval Ex- 

 aminers in 1S79-'81, governor of the Naval Asylum 



in Philadelphia in 1881, superintendent of the United 

 btates Naval Observatory in 1882, and chairman ot 

 the United States Lighthouse Board from 1883 till hi-, 

 retirement in 1889. 



Sabin, Chauncey B., lawyer, born in Otsego County 

 JLJ'' i? lb24 ; died in Galv eton, Texas, March 29! 

 1890. He was admitted to the bar in 1847, and soon 

 afterward settled in Houston, Texas. As he had 

 strong Union principles, he removed to the north in 

 1888, and remained there till the close of the civil 

 war. On his return to Texas in 1865 he was appointed 

 judge of the 3d Judicial District by Maj.-Gen. Griffin, 

 commanding the Department of Texas. In 1871 he 

 removed to Galveston, in 1872 became judge of the 

 Galveston district, in 1873 was elected to the State 

 Legislature, in 1874 was appointed postmaster of Gal- 

 veston, and held the office till 1880. In 1884 was ap- 

 pointed United States district judge. 



St. John, Daniel Bennett, financier, born in Shrron 

 Conn., Oct. 8, 1808 ; died in New York city. Feb. 18, 

 1890. At an early age he was employed by his uncle, 

 Iliram Bennett, in his mercantile and real-estate es- 

 tablishment in Monticello, Sullivan County, N. Y. In 

 1831 he succeeded to the business, and in 1856 retired 

 with a large fortune. He began his political career in 

 1840, when he was elected to the State Assembly as a 

 Henry Clay Whig. He was a Representative in Con- 

 gress as a Democrat in 1847-'49, register of the State 

 Bank Department in 1849-'51, and the first superin- 

 tendent of the New York Banking Department in 

 1851-'55. He then removed to Newburg, New York, 

 where he passed the remainder of his life. He was a 

 delegate to the National Union Convention at Balti- 

 more in 1860 ; was the same year defeated for Con- 

 gress as the Democratic nominee; was defeated by 

 Chauncey M. Depew, for Secretary of State of New 

 York in 1863 ; was elected a State Senator in 1875 ; 

 and was a delegate to the National Democratic Con- 

 vention at St. Louis in 1876. He was President of the 

 Newburg Savings Bank for many years. Mr. St. 

 John bequeathed $10,000 to St. Luke's Home and 

 Hospital at Newburg; $5,000 to the Newburg Home 

 for the Friendless ; $5,000 to the Domestic and For- 

 eign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal 

 CHurch ; $10 000 to the Post-Graduate and Medical 

 School and Hospital of New York city ; $5,000 to the 

 Trustees of the Fund for Aged and Infirm Protestant 

 Episcopal Clergymen, Diocese of New York ; $5,000 

 St. John's Church at Monticello, N. Y. ; and $5,000 to 

 the archdeaconry of Orange, N. J. 



Salt, William P., clergyman, born in Brooklyn, N.Y., 

 in 1837 ; died in South Orange, N. J.. Oct. 7. 1890. 

 He was educated for the ministry of the Protestant 

 Episcopal Church, and was ordained a deacon in tlie 

 diocese of Central New York. In 1867 he was re- 

 ceived into the Roman Catholic Church, and, after 

 studying at Seton Hall College, N. J., and at the 

 American College in Rome, Italy, was ordained a 

 priest in 1871. On his return to the United States he 

 was appointed rector of the seminary at Seton Hall 

 and Professor of Ecclesiastical History and Political 

 Economy, and held these offices till his death. In 

 1885 he was appointed by Bishop Wigger vicar-gen- 

 eral of the diocese of Newark, N. J. 



Sands, Elizabeth, centenarian, born in Darlington, 

 Hartbrd County, Md., March 7, 1789; died in Balti- 

 more, Md., Aug. 3, 1890. She was a daughter of 

 Judge Breese, of Utica, N. Y., and Catherine Living- 

 stone ; was a sister of Chief-Justice Sidney Breese, of 

 Illinois, and a cousin of Samuel Finley Breese Morse. 

 In 1805 she married Peter Smick, who died in 1824, 

 and afterward married John Sands, who died in 1829. 

 In 1812, while her first husband was serving in the 

 army, she nursed the American soldiers who were 

 wounded in the battle of North Point, and for her 

 patriotic devotion at that time was afterward elected 

 an honorary member of the Old Defenders' Associa- 

 tion. She survived all the members of that associa- 

 tion, and on her one hundredth birthday was given a 

 semi-public reception, and received presents and con- 

 gratulations from many distinguished persons. 



