572 



OBITUARIES, UNITED STATES. 



on the 28th of January, 1867, he was placed on 

 the retired list. From that time Commodore 

 Gansevoort spent most of his time "waiting 

 orders," and was registered as at his residence 

 in Schenectady. His total service in the navy 

 comprised forty-five years, four months, and 

 twelve days, of which eighteen years were 

 spent at sea. 



July 15. MOETON, WILLIAM THOMAS GBEEN, 

 M. D., a celebrated dentist and the reputed 

 discoverer of etherization, died suddenly in 

 New York. He was a native of Charlton, 

 Mass., horn August, 19, 1819. He commenced 

 the practice of dentistry in Boston in 1841, and 

 about 1846 turned his attention to the use of 

 sulphuric ether as an anaesthetic. His claims 

 to the discovery were denied by other rivals 

 for the honor, and his life was in some degree 

 imbittered by the protracted and zealous con- 

 troversy of those claimants. He put forth a 

 defence of his pretensions to the discovery in 

 two volumes, one published in 1859 under the 

 title of "Trials of a Public Benefactor," by 

 Nathan P. Rice ; the other prepared by Mr. 

 O. S. Weyman, and which was just ready for 

 publication at the time of his death. 



July 16. EVANS, Kuan DAVY, LL. D., an 

 eminent jurist of Baltimore, died there, aged 

 JQ years. Early bred to the law, and possess- 

 ing a mind capable of grasping and delighting 

 in its great principles, he took rank, while yet 

 a young man, with the great lawyers of the 

 Maryland bar ; with Pinckney, and Wirt, and 

 Thomas, and Reverdy Johnson, and attained a 

 conspicuous position as a great constitutional 

 lawyer. He was very active also in religious 

 matters, and his counsels were greatly valued 

 in the conventions of the Episcopal Church, in 

 which he was a worthy communicant. 



July 16. HOOPEE, JOHN W., a prominent 

 jurist of Georgia, died in Dade County, aged 

 70 years. In 1833 he was appointed Judge 

 of the Cherokee Circuit, which then embraced 

 all the territory north of the Chattahoochee 

 River, except, perhaps, Cobb County. In 

 1836 or 1837 he moved West, and was ab- 

 sent from the State some ten years. He al- 

 ways maintained a high and honorable posi- 

 tion as a lawyer, and was a most excellent 

 citizen in all the relations of life. He was re- 

 markable for his warm-hearted kindness and 

 the generosity of his disposition. 



July 21. FRENCH, ELI, a teacher, publisher, 

 and book-collector, well known in Boston, 

 New York, and Philadelphia, died in Ports- 

 mouth, N. H., aged 68 years. He was a native 

 of Dummerston, Vt., and graduated at Dart- 

 mouth College in the class of 1827. On leav- 

 ing college he took charge of the principal 

 school of Dover, N. H., where he was emi- 

 nently successful. But, love of books being his 

 ruling passion, he devoted himself first at 

 Dover, then at Philadelphia, and subsequently, 

 for the past thirty-eight years in New York, 

 to supplying public and private libraries with 

 the choicest works ; his fine scholarship and 



thorough knowledge of literature rendering 

 him peculiarly fitted for this work. As a 

 collector of rare books at home and abroad he 

 was unequalled, and in the prosecution of his 

 duties he was brought in contact with many of 

 the leading scholars in this country. He 

 was a man of indefatigable industry, remark- 

 able purity of character, and a cheerful, 

 happy nature which kept him from depres- 

 sion through many years of severe physical 

 suffering. 



July 21. WEEKS, JOSEPH, an eminent New 

 York merchant, died in Islip, Long Island, at 

 the advanced age of 97 years. He was born in 

 New York in 1771, and entered the mercan- 

 tile business in that city about 1788. It was 

 his fortune to be personally acquainted with 

 Lafayette, Pulaski, Kosciusko, Washington, 

 Greene, Wayne, and many other officers of the 

 Revolution. His mother was descended from 

 the Huguenots, and spoke the French and Eng- 

 lish languages with equal fluency. While our 

 French allies were encamped in an orchard 

 connected with his estate, she was often seen 

 walking with Washington and Lafayette, acting 

 as an interpreter. When the British evacuated 

 the city, November 25, 1783, Mr. Weeks was 

 twelve years old, and he assisted in hauling 

 down the British flag at the Battery. 



July 22. FEOST, Judge EDWAED, formerly 

 Judge of the Supreme Court of South Carolina, 

 died in Charleston, aged 67 years. He was a 

 native of that city, and having been admitted 

 to the bar in 1823, entered upon the practice 

 of his profession under the most favorable au- 

 spices. At an early period of his life he repre- 

 sented Charleston in the Legislature, and was 

 twice elected chairman of the Judiciary Com- 

 mittee of the House. His administration of 

 its important functions was marked by ability, 

 learning, and judgment, and commanded the 

 applause and unqualified consideration of the 

 distinguished lawyers who were from time to 

 time his colleagues in that committee. As an 

 evidence of the estimation in which he was 

 held by the bar, and the people of the State, 

 after twenty years' practice of his profession 

 he was elevated, in the year 1843, to the 

 bench of the Supreme Court of the State, 

 until 1853, when he retired to private life. 



July 25. WEIGHT, Mrs., a venerable lady 

 of Watertown, N. Y., died at the age of 102 

 years. 



July 28. NOTES, JOSEPH C., died in Port- 

 land, Me. He was born in that city, in 1798, 

 and was a merchant by occupation. He 

 was a Representative in Congress, from Maine, 

 from 1837 to 1839, serving as a member of 

 the Committee on Agriculture. From 1841 to 

 1843 he was Collector of the Passamaquoddy 

 District, and was subsequently Treasurer of 

 the Portland Savings Bank. 



Aug. 2. DEAPEE, HENEY, director of 

 English opera comique and classical con- 

 certs, died in Providence, R. I. He had 

 studied music in France and Italy, and was 



