OBITUARIES, UNITED STATES. 



521 



He was making a tour of Northern Europe at 

 the time of his sudden death. 



Sept. 27. COWEN, BENJAMIN S., M. D., a 

 prominent politician, jurist, and editor, of Ohio ; 

 died at St. Clairsville, Ohio, aged 76 years. 

 He was born in Washington County, N. Y., in 

 1793 ; educated there ; studied medicine, and 

 received his diploma about 1817. In 1820 he 

 removed to Moorefield, Harrison County, Ohio, 

 and, after some years' practice as a physician, 

 studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 

 1829. He removed to St. Clairsville in 1832, 

 and, after a time, added to his professional 

 duties the editorship of the Belmont Chronicle, 

 of which he was proprietor and principal 

 editor until 1852, when he relinquished it to 

 his son, now Brigadier-General B. E. Cowen. 

 In 1839 he was sent as a delegate to the con- 

 vention which nominated General Harrison for 

 President, and in 1840 was elected to Congress 

 by the Whigs, where he succeeded Joshua R. 

 Giddings as chairman of the Commitee on 

 Claims. He took strong ground in favor of 

 the Tariff of 1842, which passed by only one 

 majority, and throughout his congressional 

 career, as, indeed, throughout his long life, was 

 always looked upon as a consistent antislavery 

 man. During 1845 and 1846 he was a member 

 of the Ohio Legislature, and from 1847 to 1852 

 was presiding judge of the Court of Common 

 Pleas. At the commencement of the war he 

 took an active part in raising men and money, 

 and during its continuance his efforts to aid 

 the Government were never relaxed. 



Sept. 29. EKIN, Rev. JOHN, D. D., an elo- 

 quent and able clergyman of the Associate 

 Reformed Church, for many years a prominent 

 and influential clergyman of Cincinnati, but of 

 late settled in Kansas ; died in Topeka, Kan., 

 aged about 65 years. 



Oct. 2. NELSON, WILLIAM, a venerable 

 citizen and lawyer of Westchester County, 

 N. Y. ; died at Peekskill, N. Y., in the 86th 

 year of his age. He was born in Clinton, 

 Dutchess County, N. Y., June 29, 1784; re- 

 ceived an academical education, studied law, 

 and was admitted to the bar of the Supreme 

 Court in May, 1807, his license having been 

 signed by Chief-Justice Kent. He practised 

 law for more than fifty years in the counties 

 of Westchester, Putnam, and Rockland, with 

 ability and success. He was District Attor- 

 ney for these three counties for thirty years ; 

 a member of the Assembly of New York 

 in 1819 and 1820; State Senator in 1823-'24. 

 Governor Yates urged him about this time 

 to accept the circuit judgeship of the Second 

 Circuit, but he declined. He remained in 

 the active practice of his profession till 1847, 

 when he was elected member of Congress from 

 his district, and reflected in 1849. He declined 

 to be again a candidate, and returned to his 

 practice, in which he continued till his eightieth 

 year. 



Oct. 15. HASTINGS, FREDERICK H., an es- 

 timable citizen of Rensselaer County, N. Y., 



well known in the public councils of the State ; 

 died at Brainard's Bridge. N. Y., aged 51 years. 

 He was a member of the New York State 

 Senate in 1864-'65, and, though not a member 

 of the legal profession, having been for many 

 years engaged in manufacturing and farming, 

 he was, from the public confidence in his ability 

 and integrity, made chairman of the Com- 

 mittee on Manufactures, and assigned a promi- 

 nent position on the committees on Claims, 

 Public Health, and Medical Colleges and 

 Societies. His strict integrity and freedom 

 from partisanship won him high esteem from 

 all who knew him well. 



Oct. 16. RITNER, JOSEPH, a leading politi- 

 cian of Pennsylvania, many years since ; died 

 in Carlisle, Pa., aged 90 years. He had been 

 in early life a Federalist, and, on the organiza- 

 tion of the Whig party in 1828, became a 

 Whig. By that party, then, and for some 

 years after, in the majority in Pennsylvania, he 

 was elected Governor in 1835, and held office 

 till 1839. He was not a man of very great abili- 

 ties, but the able councillors he had about him, 

 the late Thaddeus Stevens being one of the fore- 

 most, caused his administration to be respectable 

 in character. During his term of office, a con- 

 vention for revising the State constitution was 

 held, and the new constitution was adopted in 

 1838. In the gubernatorial election which 

 followed, the Democratic party gained the as- 

 cendency, and, after a campaign of unsurpassed 

 bitterness, David R. Porter was elected Gov- 

 ernor. Each party feared the other ; it was 

 reported that Governor Ritner would hold 

 over, and there was so much talk of force to 

 inaugurate Governor Porter, that Governor 

 Ritner, naturally timid, requested that a body 

 of U. S. troops might be sent to Harrisburg 

 to keep the peace. Two bodies, each profess- 

 ing to be the Legislature, were in session. 

 Before any actual collision, however, wiser 

 counsels prevailed, and Governor Porter was 

 inaugurated peacefully, and Governor Ritner 

 retired to private life, taking no further part 

 in the politics of the State. (See PORTER, 

 DAVID R., in ANNUAL CYCLOPEDIA for 1867.) 



Oct. 17. RICE, VICTOR M., a Republican 

 politician and political leader of New York; 

 died at Oneida, Madison County, N. Y., aged 

 55 years. He was born at Clymer, Chautau- 

 qua County, N. Y., in 1814, but resided for 

 many years in Buffalo; had received an ex- 

 cellent education, and was, for a considerable 

 time, a teacher in that city, at first of penman- 

 ship, and subsequently the head of a commer- 

 cial or business college. Though active in 

 politics, he held no office until 1862, when he 

 was elected Superintendent of Public Instruc- 

 tion, a position whose onerous and varied 

 duties he performed with great success for 

 three years. At the close of his term in 1865, 

 he did not seek a reelection, but returned to 

 Buffalo, where he had since been a bank-officer. 

 His death occurred from a carbuncle. 



Oct. 18. MACDONALD, MOSES, an active po- 



