694 



OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. 



delegate to the State Convention of 1861, and 

 was on the Union side. In the Convention of 

 1865, which repealed the secession ordinance, 

 he was an influential member. He lived with- 

 drawn from public life until 1875, when he 

 was elected State Senator by the Conservatives 

 and Democrats. He served until 1877, when 

 declining health forced him to resign. He did 

 much to promote improvements in Raymond 

 and in Jackson. He went north in search of 

 health, but died in Cincinnati, and on the 28th 

 of June was buried in Jackson, Mississippi. 



MEAD, WILLIAM COOPER, D. D., LL. D., born 

 in Greenwich, Connecticut, died July 17th. 

 He received a systematic education, entered the 

 ministry in the Protestant Episcopal Church, 

 and in 1836 became rector of St. Paul's Church, 

 Norwalk, where he remained till his death, a 

 period of more than forty-three years. He was 

 a Freemason, and took great interest in the 

 order. At different times he was Grand Chap- 

 lain of the Grand Lodges of Connecticut and 

 Pennsylvania, and of the Grand Chapter of 

 Connecticut. He was made a Mason in 1824, 

 in Westchester Lodge, No. 46, of White Plains, 

 New York. He was elected an honorary mem- 

 ber of St. John's Lodge, No. 6, of Norwalk, in 

 1849, and was chaplain and trustee for many 

 years. He was one of the four Episcopal cler- 

 gymen in the United States who have been rec- 

 tor of one parish for a period of forty years. 

 The cane which he held at the time of his 

 death on account of having been longest in a 

 parish of any rector in the State, went to the 

 Rev. B. M. Yarrington of Greenwich, who has 

 been rector there for forty years. Dr. Mead 

 received the degree of LL. D. from Trinity Col- 

 lege. He died suddenly, soon after returning 

 from a ride. 



MOYNAHAN, Rev. CORNELIUS, born and edu- 

 cated in Ireland, died in New Orleans, Febru- 

 ary 13th. He emigrated to America in com- 

 pany with his brother, the Rev. J. Moynahan, 

 completed his theological course in New Or- 

 leans, was ordained priest by Archbishop Blanc 

 in 1848, and received the Third District as his 

 field. At that time it had no Catholic or- 

 ganization. Father Moynahan built a wooden 

 church for the use of the English - speaking 

 residents. This was afterward converted into 

 a parochial school, and replaced by a large and 

 beautiful brick structure called St. Peter's 

 church. He was a man of ardent, impulsive 

 eloquence, and his influence extended far be- 

 yond his own denomination. Like his elder 

 brother, he was canon and counselor of his 

 Grace the Archbishop. 



NEW, Major JOHN H., born in Louisville, 

 Kentucky, in 1827, died in New Orleans, Janu- 

 ary 17th. He procured an education by his 

 own labor, graduated at Oakland College, Mis- 

 sissippi, continued his studies while acting as 

 private tutor, and afterward entered the Cam- 

 bridge Law School. His first intention was to 

 pursue literature as a profession, and he wrote 

 many graceful minor poems ; but after com- 



mencing the study of law he devoted himself 

 to it exclusively. He was already in success- 

 ful practice at Baton Rouge when the war 

 broke out, in which he volunteered as a junior 

 lieutenant, and reached the rank of adjutant- 

 general and inspector -general of division under 

 Stonewall Jackson. After its close he settled 

 in New Orleans with broken health and ruined 

 fortune, forming a law partnership with his 

 companion in arms General Henry Hays. The 

 health of the latter soon gave way, but the tal- 

 ent and energy of the junior partner insured to 

 the firm a rapid and brilliant success. He was 

 able and eloquent, and these qualities won him 

 the professional success he coveted. Just as its 

 highest distinctions lay within his grasp he was 

 attacked by consumption, and he traveled for 

 several years in Japan, through Greece and 

 Spain, and the less frequented parts of Europe 

 and Asia. He was fond of art, and delighted 

 in collecting objects of virtu and curiosities 

 from every country. All the while his disease 

 was making slow but unrelenting progress, and 

 he reached home only to die. 



PECK, ASADEL, born in Roy.ilston, Massa- 

 chusetts, in September, 1803, died at Jericho, 

 Vermont, May 18th. His father removed to 

 Vermont in 1804, and the son, after fair dili- 

 gence in youth as a student, was admitted to 

 practice law in 1832. In 1850 he was made a 

 Judge of the Circuit Court, which position he 

 held until the Court was abolished. In 1860 

 he was one of the State Senators from Chitten- 

 den County, and was elected Judge of the Su- 

 preme Court, which office he held until 1874, 

 when he was elected Governor. He was sim- 

 ple in manner and habits, and some said grand- 

 ly so in thought. His memory was very tena- 

 cious, and through a long life he applied his 

 mind to the law, and thus was regarded as hav- 

 ing a knowledge of it unsurpassed by that of 

 any other man. He was never married, and it 

 has been observed that this was perhaps be- 

 cause he knew the law was a jealous mistress. 

 A man of strong convictions and will, with a 

 temper that could occasionally burst forth, he 

 was yet tender and gentle to the weak ; so much 

 so that it was said his one failing as a Judge was 

 " riding " a case for the weaker party. " With 

 a corporation on one side and a woman on the 

 other, the law generally seemed to the jury 

 pretty clear for the woman after the Judge's 

 charge ; and what made it bad for the corpora- 

 tion was that it was good law too." Being 

 honest and straightforward withal, he had the 

 respect and confidence of the people beyond 

 any other man in the State. 



PELHAM, General WILLIAM, died at his resi- 

 dence near Menchaca Springs, Travis County, 

 Texas, June 8th. He was born in Maysville, 

 Kentucky, April 10, 1803. He moved to Ar- 

 kansas early in life, and married the sister of 

 Governor Conway. In 1841 he was appoint- 

 ed Surveyer-General of Arkansas by President 

 Harrison, and in 1845 reappointed by Polk. 

 He filled this important office for eight years. 



