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OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. (FRAZEE FYFFE.) 



Frazee, Laurence Fisher, inventor, born in 

 New Brunswick, N. J., May 22, 1813 ; died in Jersey 

 City, N. J., Oct. 10, 1896. 'lie learned the jewelry 

 business, and was carrying it on for himself when 

 the great tornado that struck New Brunswick on 

 June 19, 1835, demolished his store and ruined him. 

 Soon afterward he entered the employment of the 

 New Brunswick Steamboat and Transportation 

 Company, and remained with its successors, the 

 Camden and Amboy and the Pennsylvania Railroad 

 Companies till his death, excepting during the civil 

 war, when he commanded the Government trans- 

 port " Massachusetts," which ran between Fort 

 Monroe and points on James river. During his 

 marine career he invented and perfected appliances 

 of much value, including a stern paddle wheel for 

 canal boats, a lifeboat, a life raft that was adopted 

 by the United States Government, a safety gang- 

 plank, the lifeboat davits now used on ocean steam- 

 ships and on ferryboats, and the safety gates in use 

 on ferryboats. 



Fuller, Andrew S., horticulturist, born in 

 Utica, N. Y., in 1828 ; died near Ridgewood, N. J., 

 May 4, 1896. He unwillingly learned the carpen- 

 ter's trade with his father, who declared that the 

 boy was daft on bugs and plants, and when about 

 nineteen years old he accompanied the family to 

 Milwaukee, Wis. On the death of his father, five 

 years afterward, Andrew married, built several 

 small greenhouses, and, giving himself up to his 

 favorite pursuit, soon became known as an author- 

 ity on new varieties of plants. His reputation 

 attracted the attention of William Prince, the 

 nurseryman of Flushing, N. Y., who engaged him 

 to take charge of his extensive greenhouses. In 

 1857 Mr. Fuller removed to Brooklyn, engaged in 

 grape growing, and produced several new varieties 

 and improved others, notably the Delaware. About . 

 this time he began to write on agricultural and 

 horticultural subjects for " The Weekly Tribune." 

 and subsequently he was the agricultural editor of 

 the "New York Weekly Sun " for twenty-six years. 

 He published "Strawberry Culture," "The Grape 

 Culturist," "Small Fruits," "Forestry," "The 

 Propagation of Plants," and had in "the press 

 " Nut Culture." 



Fuller, Levi K., manufacturer, born in West- 

 moreland, N. H., Feb. 24, 1841; died in Brattle- 

 boro, Vt., Oct. 10, 1896. In 1855 he removed with 

 his parents to Windham County, Vermont, where he 

 learned telegraphy and the printer's trade. When 

 sixteen years old he won a prize at a county fair for 

 a steam engine of his own construction. Soon 

 afterward he settled in Boston, where he served an 

 apprenticeship as a machinist, working at night as 

 a telegrapher, and also taking a course of study in 

 science. In 1860 he returned to Brattleboro and 

 entered the Estey Organ Works as machinist and 

 mechanical engineer. Subsequently he established 

 a plant of his own for the manufacture of wood- 

 working and other machinery. In April, 1866, he 

 became a member of the firm of J. Estey & Co., 

 taking charge of the manufacturing department. 

 He took out more than 100 patents. His achieve- 

 ment in securing the adoption of the international 

 pitch for musical instruments was pronounced by 

 William Steinway " one of the most important 

 in the annals of musical history.'' He was elected 

 a State Senator in 1880 ; Lieutenant Governor of 

 Vermont in 1886 ; and Governor in 1892. 



Fnrness, William Henry, clergyman, born in 

 Boston, Mass., April 20, 1802 ; died in Philadelphia, 

 Pa., Jan. 30, 1896. He was the oldest living graduate 

 of Boston Latin School, of Harvard College (1820), 

 and of the Harvard Divinity School (1823). At the 

 time of his death he was pastor emeritus of the 

 First Unitarian Church in Philadelphia, of which 



he was the active pastor from 1825 till 1875. Har- 

 vard College gave him the degree of D. D. in 1847, 

 and Columbia College that of Doctor of Letters in 

 1887. Among the most intimate friends of his 

 childhood was Ralph Waldo Emerson, and in later 

 years, especially during the abolition movement, of 

 which he was a most intense advocate, were Lucre- 

 tia Mott, Charles Sumner, and William Lloyd Gar- 

 rison. He was a speaker at the great antislavery 

 meeting in New York city in 1850, and witnessed 

 the Rynders riot that resulted from it. On Dec. 2, 

 1859, the day of John Brown's execution, he took 

 part: in a public prayer meeting held in Philadelphia, 

 and afterward went with several others to the 

 railroad station when Brown's body was brought 

 from the gallows by Gen. Tyndale and James M. 

 McKim. Because of his outspoken sentiments dur- 

 ing this period, his church was more than once in 

 peril from mob violence. In a Fourth of July ora- 

 tion in 1860 he pointed out the benefits to be de- 

 rived from the abolition of slavery, and anticipated 

 the celebration of the nation's centennial over a 

 free land. Among his publications were : " Remarks 

 on the Four Gospels " (Philadelphia, 1835) ; " Jesus 

 and his Biographers " (1838) ; " Domestic Worship," 

 a volume of prayers (1842) ; "A History of Jesus" 

 (1S50); "Discourses" (1855); "Thoughts on the 

 Life and Character of Jesus of Nazareth " (1859) ; 

 " The Veil partly lifted and Jesus becoming Visi- 

 ble " (1864) ; " The Unconscious Truth of the Four 

 Gospels" (1868); "Jesus" (1871); "The Power of 

 Spirit manifest in Jesus of Nazareth" (1877); "The 

 Story of the Resurrection told once more " (1885) ; 

 and "Verses: Translations and Hymns" (1886). 

 His translations from the German included Schu- 

 bert's " Mirror of Nature " (1849), *' Geirs of Ger- 

 man Verse" (1851), and "Julius and other Tales" 

 (1856); Schenkel's " Characterbild Jesu" (1866); 

 and Schiller's " Song of the Bell." 



Fyffe, Joseph, naval officer, born in Ohio, July 

 26, 1832 ; died in Pierce, Neb., Feb. 25, 1896. He 

 was appointed a midshipman in the United States 

 navy Sept. 9, 1847; became passed midshipman 

 June 15, 1854; master, Sept. 16, 1855; lieutenant on 

 the following day; lieutenant commander. July 

 16, 1862; commander, Dec. 2, 1867; captain, Jan. 

 13, 1879 ; commodore, Feb. 28, 1890 : and rear ad- 

 miral, July 10, 1894 ; and was retired July 20 follow- 

 ing. He was on sea service for eighteen years and 

 eleven months, and on shore or other duty for six- 

 teen years and one month. His first duty was on 

 board the bomb vessel "Stromboli " of the home 

 squadron, after which he served for two years on 

 the sloop " Yorktown " off the coast of Africa 

 against the slave traders. In 1853-'54 he was on 

 duty at the United States Naval Academy ; in 

 1856-'57 was with the Brazil squadron ; in 1857-'59 

 was on the " Germantown " in the East India 

 squadron: and in 1863-'65 served on the steam 

 frigate " Minnesota," the flagship of the North At- 

 lantic blockading squadron. Under this last as- 

 signment he took part in the destruction of the 

 Confederate blockade runner " Hebe " and beach 

 works near Fort Fisher, N. ('.. in August, 1863 ; in 

 the destruction of the blockade runner " Ranger " 

 and the engagement with infantry below Fort 

 Caswell, N. C., in January, 1864; and in the en- 

 gagement with Confederate batteries on Janus 

 river in May and June, 1864, and January, 1865. 

 After the war he was at the Boston Navy Yard, 

 18(17; on the "Oneida," in the Asiatic squadron, 

 1868-'69; commanded the "Centaur," North At- 

 lantic fleet, 1869-'70; in charge of the niter depot, 

 Maiden, Mass., 1871-'72 ; commanded the " Monoc- 

 acy," Asiatic station, 1875-'78; the receiving ships 

 "St. Louis," 18',9-'80, and "Franklin," 1880-'82; 

 and the " Pensacola," on the Pacific station, 1882- 



