664 



OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. (SARGENT SCHENCK.) 



Sargent, Johnathan Everett, iurist. born in New Lon- 

 don, N. II., Oct. 16, 1816; died in Concord, N. H., 

 Jan. 6, 1890. He was graduated at Dartmouth Col- 

 lege in 1836, admitted to the bar in 1842, and elected 

 President of the State Senate in 1854. In 1855 he was 

 appointed a iudge, and he served continuously till 

 1874, holding'the office of Chief Justice of the Supreme 

 Court of New Hampshire during the last year of his 

 service. Judge Sargent was Speaker of the State 

 House of Representatives in 1878, and had been Vice- 

 President and President of the New Hampshire His- 

 torical Society, President of the New Hampshire Cen- 

 tennial Home for the Aged, and President of the Loan 

 and Trust Savings Bank, and a director of the Na- 

 tional State Capital Bank and of other financial cor- 

 Bjrations. He received the degree of LL. D. from 

 artmouth College in 18*59. 



Scammon, Jonathan Young, lawyer, born in White- 

 field, Lincoln County, Me., July 27, 1812- died in 

 Chicago, 111., March 17, 1890. He was graduated at 

 Waterville College ; studied law and was admitted to 

 the bar in Hallowell, Me. ; 

 and removed to Chicago 

 in September, 1835. when 

 the city contained but 2,- 

 000 inhabitants. Profes- 

 sionally he met with large 

 success for that period, and 

 prepared for publication 

 a revised edition of the 

 statutes of Illinois, and, 

 as reporter of the Supreme 

 Court of the State, pub- 

 lished four volumes of re- 

 ports (1843). He took an 

 active interest in all move- 

 ments designed to pro- 

 mote the growth and pros- 

 perity of the city, and after 



a few years became so engrossed in such measures 

 that he was obliged to abandon his law practice. He 

 was one of the founders of the great railroad system 

 that united Chicago with the East and West ; of the 

 public-school system of Chicago; of the Marine Bank, 

 the first institution of its kind in the city ; of the Chi- 

 cago Fire Insurance Company ; of the "Tribune" and 

 " Evening Journal" newspapers; and of the Mechan- 

 ics' National Bank. He was an early abolitionist, an 

 active Republican, and the founder of the " American" 

 newspaper, a Henry Clay organ, in 1842, the " Inter- 

 Ocean" newspaper in 1872, the first Swedenborgian 

 Church in Chicago, the Hahnemann Hospital, and the 

 Dearborn Observatory of the University of Chicago. 

 He retired from business with a large fortune in 1857, 

 but the great fire in 1871 and the financial panic of 1873 

 swept away most of it. He held several public offices, 

 and was delegate to the Republican National Conven- 

 tions in 1864 and 1872. Waterville College, Me. (now 

 Colby University) conferred upon him the degree of 

 LL. D. in 1869. 



Schenck, Eobert Gumming, diplomatist, born in Frank- 

 lin, Warren County, Ohio, Oct. 7, 1809; died in 

 Washington, D. C., March 23, 1890. He was gradu- 

 ated at Miami University in 1827, remained there for 

 three years as tutor in French and Latin, studied 

 law, and was admitted to the bar in 1831. Settling 

 in Dayton, Ohio, he soon acquired a large practice, 

 and entered political life as a Whig. In 1838 he was 

 defeated as a candidate for the Legislature, in 1840 

 stumped the State for AVilliam Henry Harrison, in 

 1841 was elected to the Legislature, and in 1842 was 

 re-elected to the Legislature and also elected to Con- 

 gress. In Congress he rendered conspicuous service 

 both on the floor and in several committees to which 

 he was appointed. He was re-elected three times, 

 serving from 1843 till 1851, and during 1847-'49 he 

 was chairman of the Committee on Roads and Canals, 

 and had the opportunity for carrying out some of the 

 plans he had formed for the internal improvement of 

 several commercial sections in the Western States. 

 In 1850 he declined a renomination for Congress, and 



in 1851 was appointed United States minister to 

 Brazil. During Ms two years' residence in South 

 America he negotiated commercial treaties with the 

 states bordering La Plata river, personally visiting 

 Buenos Ayres, Montevideo, and the Uruguay, Para- 

 quay, and* Parana river regions. Returning to the 

 United States in 1853, he resumed professional prac- 

 tice and was engaged in the management of the Fort 

 Wayne Railroad till the beginning of the civil war. 

 When the first call for volunteers was made, he offered 

 his services to Gov. Dennison, and was appointed a 

 brigadier-general of State militia. On reaching the 

 field he was placed in command of all the Ohio troops 

 in eastern Virginia, and had his first encounter with the 

 Confederates at Vienna, June 17, 1861. He was or- 

 dered to dislodge the enemy there, and, advancing by 

 railroad, was drawn into an artillery ambuscade. 

 His command left the cars and retreated till he met 

 re-enforcements, when he returned and effected his 



Barpose. During the retreat of the army from Bull 

 un, July 21, 1861, he did much to protect the rear. 

 Soon afterward he was transferred to western Virginia, 

 where he aided Gen. Rosecrans in driving the Con- 

 federates from that department. In. the spring of 

 1862 he succeeded the late Gen. Lander in command 

 at Cumberland, Md. ; on June 8, he commanded the 

 right of Gen. Fremont's army in the Battle of Cross 

 Keys ; and during the interval between Gen. Fre- 

 mont's relief and Gen. Sigel's assumption of the com- 

 mand of the 1st Corps of the Army of Virginia Gen. 

 . Schenck was its commander. On Aug. 30, 1862, he 

 was wounded in the second Battle of Bull Run and 

 had to retire from the field, and on Sept. 18 he was 

 promoted major-general United States Volunteers, 

 his commission dating from Aug. 30. While on dis- 

 ability leave he was again elected to Congress as a Re- 

 publican, where he was appointed chairman of the 

 Committee on Military Affairs, and, resigning his 

 commission in the army, was re-elected to Congress 

 in 1864, 1866, and 1868, and defeated in 1870. Dur- 

 ing his last term in Congress he directed important 

 financial legislation as Chairman of the Committee on 

 Ways and Means. In 1870 he was appointed United 

 States minister to England, but before departing he 

 served bjr appointment as a member of the High Joint 

 Commission, which resulted in the Treaty of Wash- 

 ington, the Geneva arbitration, and the settlement of 

 the " Alabama " controversy. While he was in Eng- 

 land a charge was preferred against him of complicity 

 in the celebrated Emma mine fraud. His name had 

 been used as a stockholder and director of the com- 

 pany, and it was asserted that English capitalists had 

 lost money through 

 investments in the 

 mine that were made 

 on the strength of 

 his alleged connection 

 with it. He resigned 

 the office and returned 

 in March, 1876, to ap- 

 pear before a commit- 

 tee of the House of 

 Eepresentatives. The 

 committee reported 

 that there was noth- 

 ing u in the evidence 

 to show that Gen. 

 Schenck knew or sus- 

 pected that any fraud 

 was intended or about 

 to be perpetrated upon 



the public, or that his official position was to be used 

 to insure the successful perpetration of a fraud." 

 And Judge Wallace, of the United States circuit 

 court, in charging the jury in the judicial investiga- 

 tion in New York city, said that " whatever else may 

 appear from the testimony, it is clear that no part of 

 it can be held in the slightest degree to throw a 

 shadow on the integrity of Gen. Schenck." After 

 the investigations he was tendered a renomination for 

 Congress from his old district, but declined it. 



