558 



OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. (FERRIS FITZGIBBON.) 



sions, filled 40 large volumes. Judge Felch after- 

 ward engaged in private practice till 1878. and from 

 1879 till 1883 was Professor of Law in the University 

 of Michigan. 



Ferris, (ieorgre W., engineer, born in Galesburg, 

 111., Feb. 14, 1859 ; died in Pittsburg, Pa., Nov. 22, 

 1896. He passed his early life and was educated in 

 Carson City, Nov., and San Francisco, Cal. ; was grad- 

 uated at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1881 ; 

 and was first employed in locating mines and rail- 

 roads in West Virginia. Subsequently ho became an 

 engineer in a bridge-building company in Louis- 

 ville, Ky. In 1892 he was sent to Pittsburg, Pa., to 

 inspect the structural work for the Louisville and 

 Nashville Railroad bridge at Henderson, Ky. While 

 on this duty he conceived the idea of the gigantic 

 revolving wheel, which was one of the great me- 

 chanical attractions of the World's Columbian Kx- 

 position. On the completion of his bridge work 

 he retired from the Louisville. company, organized 

 the mechanical engineering firm of G. W. Ferris & 

 Co., and, despite the opposition of his partners, con- 

 structed the wheel in Pittsburg and superintended 

 its erection in Chicago. The wheel had a capacity 

 of over 1,000 passengers, and during the Exposition 

 many thousands of persons made the revolution in 

 it without accident. 



Ferry, Thomas White, legislator, born in Mack- 

 inac, Mich., June 1, 1827; died in Grand Haven, 

 Mich, Oct. 14, 1896. He acquired large wealth in 

 lumbering, milling, and mercantile business. In 

 1850 he was elected to the State House of Repre- 

 sentatives, where he served six years, and in 1S5<5 

 to the State Senate. In 1864, 1&J6, 1868, and is 70 

 he was elected to Congress from the 4th Michigan 

 District, but did not take his scat in the fourth 

 term, having been subsequently elected to the 

 United States Senate. He entered the Senate, 

 March 4, 1871, and served till March 3, 1883, being 

 defeated for a third term by Thomas W. Palmer. 

 While in the Senate, as chairman of the Committee 

 on Rules, he reported a reclassification and revision 

 of the rules of that body, which were adopted unani- 

 mously and without amendment ; and he was a 

 member of the special committee that framed the 

 resumption act of Jan. 14, 1875. He was elected 

 president pro tern, of the Senate on March 9 and 19 

 and Dec. 20, 1875 ; March 5, 1877 ; Feb. 26 and 

 April 17, 1878 ; and March 3, 1879. On the death 

 of Vice-President Wilson, Nov. 22, 1875, he became 

 acting Vice-President. He presided at the impeach- 

 ment trial of Gen. William W. Bel knap, the Secre- 

 tary of War, in 1876, and over the 16 joint meetings 

 of Congress during the electoral count of 1876-'77. 

 On the expiration of his last term he spent several 

 years in travel. 



Field, Kate, author and lecturer, born in St. 

 Louis, Mo., about 1840 ; died in Honolulu, Hawaii, 

 May 19, 1896. She was a daughter of Joseph M. 

 Field, an Englishman, who became an actor, drama- 

 tist, critic, and theatrical manager in the United 

 States. The daughter was educated in Massachu- 

 setts ; was sent to Europe for a finishing course 

 when sixteen years old ; and while traveling in 

 Sicily was seized by brigands and held till her fam- 

 ily and friends paid a large ransom. Subsequently 

 she made several trips abroad, and became a cor- 

 respondent of the New York " Tribune," Phila- 

 delphia " Press," and Chicago " Tribune." She ac- 

 quired a fine musical education in Europe, with a 

 view of becoming a cantatrice, but was prevented 

 by a sudden loss of her voice. She then applied 

 herself to literature, and on the recovery of her 

 voice to lecturing. With several friends she 

 bought John Brown's farm in the Adirondacks to 

 rescue his body, buried there, from oblivion, and 

 this gave her material for her first lecture. In 1874 



she appeared at Booth's Theater, New York, as 

 " Peg Woffington " ; then starred with John T. 

 Raymond ; and subsequently gave song, dance, and 

 recitation entertainments. On her next visit to 

 England she organized a benefit for the Shakes- 

 peare Memorial at Stratford, opened the Memorial 

 Theater, and sang in a concert with Sir Julius 

 Benedict, Charles Santley. and Antoinette Stirling. 

 Returning to the United States, she brought out 

 her successful musical monologue "Eyes and Ears." 

 In 1882 she organized and became manager of the 

 Co-operative Dress Association, which proved a 

 failure. Afterward she lectured on Mormonisrn 

 and other topics till 1890, when she established the 

 periodical " Kate Field's Washington " at the na- 

 tional capital, which was discontinued a short time 

 before her death. Her publications include " Plan- 

 chette's Diary " (New York, 1868) ; "Adelaide Ris- 

 tori " (1868) : a comedy, " Mad on Purpose " (1868) ; 

 " Pen Photographs from Charles Dickens's Read- 

 ings " (Boston, 1868); "Haphazard" (1873); "Ten 

 Days in Spain " (1875) ; and a " History of Bell's 

 Telephone" (London, 1878). 



Fitzgibbon, Mary Irene (known in religion as 

 " Sister Irene "), philanthropist, born in London, 

 England, May 12. 1823 ; died in New York city, 

 Aug. 14, 1896. She accompanied her parents to 

 New York city when young. On Jan. 15, 1850, she 

 was received into the community of the Sisters of 

 Charity at Mount St. Vincent, and in the following 

 year was sent as a novice to work with the sisters 

 having charge of St. Peter's School, in Barclay 

 Street, and the benevolent activities of the parish. 

 As a result of the executive ability here shown, she 

 was appointed superior of this community in 1856, 

 and held the place till called to inaugurate the dis- 

 tinctive work of her life. In those days it was cus- 

 tomary for policemen to take charge of waifs and 

 foundlings till they could be sent to Blackwell's 

 Island, there to be cared for by the paupers, and 

 few of such unfortunates survived their infancy. 

 In the spring of 1809 Archbishop (afterward Cardi- 

 nal) McCloskey urged the Mother Superior of the 

 Sisters of Charity in the archdiocese. Mother Mary 

 Jerome, to undertake the work of providing for 

 foundlings. She selected 3 sisters for the new mis- 

 sion and placed the entire enterprise in charge of 

 Sister Irene. With funds aggregating $5, Sister 

 Irene began her work. She made a study of the 

 operations of such asylums in Europe and in the 

 few cities in the United States in which they had 

 been established ; then organized a society of chari- 

 table women, who quickly raised sufficient money 

 to rent and furnish a temporary home ; and on 

 Oct. 11 following the New York Foundling Asy- 

 lum was formally opened. Within a month 45 

 children were being cared for, and within a year 

 the asylum was removed to larger quarters. The 

 Legislature in 1870 authorized the city to grant 

 the asylum a site and to appropriate $100,000 for 

 a building, on condition that an equal amount 

 should be raised by private subscription. This 

 was soon accomplished through the energy of 

 Sister Irene. A fair yielded $71,500, two matinees 

 by Augustin Daly $15,000, and a lecture by Sam- 

 uel S. Cox, $10,000, and there were many gifts 

 ranging from $1,000 to $10,000. Then the build- 

 ings were begun on the site given by the city, the 

 block between Third and Lexington Avenues and 

 Sixty-eighth and Sixty-ninth Streets, and these 

 increased in number till they now cover the entire 

 block and represent an outlay of over $1.000,000. 

 The asylum has given shelter to over 28.000 found- 

 lings and provided for upward of 6.000 homeless 

 mothers. Besides having full charge of this insti- 

 tution from its inception till her death. Sister Irene 

 raised $350,000 with which she established the Se- 



