54:6 



OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. (BIRDSEYE BOOTES.) 



ciety, Princeton Theological Seminary, Lying-in 

 Hospital, New York Sabbath Committee, Presby- 

 terian Church in University Place, of whose Sun- 

 day school he was superintendent from 1880, and 

 the Presbyterian Social Union. 



Birdseye. Lucien. jurist, born in Pompey, N. Y., 

 Oct. 10, 1*821 i died in Brooklyn, N. Y., Jan. 27, 

 1896. He WHS graduated at Yale in 1841 ; studied 

 law in Utica, N. Y.; was admitted to the bar in 

 1844; and, after practicing in Albany till 1850, re- 

 moved to Brooklyn. In 1856 he was appointed by 

 Gov. Clark a justice of the Supreme Court of the 

 2d District, to fill an nnexpired term, and in 

 the following year he was defeated as the Repub- 

 lican candidate for the office for a full time. He 

 then returned to private practice. One of his most 

 interesting cases was for the foreclosure, in the 

 courts of New Mexico and California, of the mort- 

 gage on the Maxwell tract of over 1,700,000 acres, 

 granted by the Republic of Mexico to Messrs. 

 Beaubien and Miranda in 1841, in which he was 

 successful. Another was the Lake Shore and Mich- 

 igan Southern Railroad litigation, which he brought 

 to a successful close after fourteen years. 



Blair. John B., painter and inventor, born near 

 the boundary line of Ohio and Pennsylvania, in 

 1800; died in Chicago, 111.. Jan. 1, 1896. He was 

 educated at Yale, studied painting in Europe, and 

 made two journeys around the world, sketching 

 and painting specimens of bird life ; and on his re- 

 turn to the United States was employed for many 

 years as a portrait painter. The portrait of Presi- 

 dent Taylor, in the White House gallery in Wash- 

 ington, was from his brush. He was the first to 

 paint great panorama in the United States, his first 

 one showing the birds of the world. Subsequently 

 he became widely known by his panoramas of the 

 civil war. From early youth he exhibited much 

 inventive skill, and among his accomplishments in 

 this line were a bicycle made fifty years ago, quite 

 similar to the safety wheels of to-day ; the silk-bag 

 gas balloon ; and the rubber tips for lead pencils. 



Bliss, George, banker, born in Northampton, 

 Mass., in 1817; died in New York city, Feb. 2, 

 1896. He was brought up on a farm, and subse- 

 quently learned the dry-goods business in New 

 Haven. In 1845 he removed to New York city and 

 entered the establishment of S. B. Chittenden. Aft- 

 erward he became a member of the firm of Phelps, 

 Bliss & Co. He continued in the dry-goods busi- 

 ness till 1863, when he associated himself with Levi 

 P. Morton in the banking business, under the firm 

 name of Morton, Bliss & Co., of New York, and 

 Morton, Rose & Co., of London. He continued in 

 this relation till his death. Mr. Bliss was officially 

 identified with many important financial concerns 

 and with large charitable enterprises. In life, Tie 

 gave to his birthplace a beautiful church edifice, 

 and erected a church for the poor on Blackwell's 

 Island, N. Y., which cost upward of $100,000. He 

 bequeathed to Yale University, $50,000 ; the Wom- 

 an's Hospital of the State of New York, $20.000 ; 

 Hospital of the New York Society for the Relief 

 of the Ruptured and Crippled, $20,000; Manhattan 

 Eye and Ear Hospital, $10,000 ; New York Mission 

 and Tract Society, $10,000 ; New York Protestant 

 Episcopal City Missions Society, $10,000 ; Domestic 

 and Foreign Mission Society of the Protestant Epis- 

 copal Church, $20.000 ; and the Old Woman's Home, 

 Northampton, Mass., $10,000. 



Block, Washee, Indian heroine, born on the 

 Cheyenne Reservation, then in Indian Territory; 

 died in Watonga, Oklahoma, in February. 1896. She 

 married Philip Block, a German, about 1874. For 

 nearly a quarter of a century she was one of the 

 most conspicuous members of the Cheyenne tribe, 

 and was a strong champion of every movement 



tending to improve the condition of the tribe. She 

 early recognized the impending disintegration of 

 tribal governments, and when the Federal authori- 

 ties made overtures looking to the allotment of In- 

 dian lands in what is now known as old Oklahoma, 

 the commissioners found in her a willing and valu- 

 able ally. Against the opposition of some of the 

 most powerful chiefs, she succeeded in securing the 

 signatures to the petition, and the success of the 

 movement was largely due to her efforts. She had 

 acquired the highest education in the eyes of an 

 Indian, a thorough knowledge of Indian medicines, 

 and would have become the medicine woman of the 

 Cheyennes had she survived her mother, now be- 

 lieved to be over one hundred years old. " Washee " 

 was a friend alike of the white man, the Government, 

 and the Indian. 



Bogran, Bernard, philanthropist, born in Lifford, 

 Ireland, in 1820; died in Brooklyn, N. Y., Sept. 7. 

 1896. He came to the United States with his 

 brother Charles in 1843, and, settling in Newark, 

 N. J., the brothers established a large bakery. In 

 1858 Bernard removed to Brooklyn and engaged in 

 the same business. He was a charities commissioner 

 in Brooklyn for several years. For over sixty years 

 he was a teacher in Catholic Sunday schools. Soon 

 after settling in Brooklyn he conceived the idea of 

 establishing a newsboys' home in that city, and he 

 raised $16.000 within two weeks and opened the St. 

 Vincent Home. From this beginning newsboys' 

 homes sprang up all over the country. His particu- 

 lar desire was the reclamation of homeless children 

 from the life of the streets, and his love for boys 

 especially was remarkable. 



Bond, Elias, missionary, born in Hallowell, Me., 

 in 1813 ; died in North Kohala, Hawaii, in August, 

 1896. He was graduated at Bowdoin College in 

 1837, and at the Bangor Theological Seminary in 

 1840 ; and was one of the company of six volunteer 

 missionaries of the American board who landed at 

 Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1841. With his wife he was 

 assigned to work in North Kohala, and he labored 

 there for more than fifty years. He was one of the 

 first missionaries to decline the support of the 

 American Board and to rely on his own resources 

 for his maintenance. Soon after his arrival he was 

 appointed general school agent, a post he held till 

 1869. During this period a number of schoolhouses 

 were built under his supervision, and a large stone 

 meetinghouse at lole, and in 1874 he founded the 

 Kohala Girls' School. He labored for many years 

 to secure from his friends financial aid and employ- 

 ment for the natives, who were rapidly removing to 

 Honolulu in search of work, and in 1863 he suc- 

 ceeded in establishing a large sugar plantation. 

 Twelve years passed before any profits were made, 

 and it was only the opportune passage of the reci- 

 procity treaty between the United States and the 

 Sandwich Islands in 1875 that saved the enterprise 

 from ruin. The entire income from the plantation 

 since that time has been applied to the promotion 

 of religion and education in Hawaii as well as in 

 foreign lands, and Mr. Bond's personal gifts in these 

 directions exceeded $100,000. 



Bootes, Levi Clark, military officer, born in the 

 District of Columbia, in 1809 ; died in Washington, 

 Del., April 18, 1896. He served as a private and 

 sergeant in the army in Mexico from June 19, 1846. 

 till July 25, 1848, and for gallantry was commis- 

 sioned a brevet 2d lieutenant in the 6th Infantry, 

 June 28, 1848. In the regular army he was pro- 

 moted 2d lieutenant, Sept. 28, 1848 ; 1st lieutenant, 

 June 9, 1853; captain, June 5, 1860; major of the 

 17th Infantry, Sept. 20, 1863; transferred to the 

 26th Infantry, Sept, 21, 1866, and to the 20th In- 

 fantry, Dec. 15, 1870 ; lieutenant colonel of the 25th 

 Infantry, Jan. 1, 1871 ; and was retired Oct. 7, 1874, 



