696 



OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. 



at William and Mary College, and in 1827 went 

 to Bardstown, Kentucky, where he practiced 

 law for two years, and then removed to Bed- 

 ford, Indiana. In 1832 he was elected a mem- 

 ber of the Indiana Legislature, and introduced 

 into that body a set of resolutions strongly sus- 

 taining President Andrew Jackson's proclama- 

 tion to the South Carolina nullifiers. He was 

 appointed Register of the Land-Office at Indian- 

 apolis in 1833, and in 1835 at Green Bay. The 

 same year he was elected a member of the 

 Legislative Council of Michigan, and in that 

 body introduced a memorial to Congress ask- 

 ing that the territory lying west of Lake Michi- 

 gan be set off from Michigan and organized into 

 a new Territory to be named Wisconsin. In 1837 

 he went to Wisconsin, and resided on a farm 

 until 1845, when he returned to his birthplace 

 in Virginia. In 1881 he removed to Middleton, 

 Wisconsin, and in 1862 was a commissary of 

 subsistence and quartermaster, which office he 

 held for one year. He was an extensive writer 

 for periodicals, made some contributions to 

 encyclopaedias, and published a work entitled 

 " Reminiscences of Distinguished Men I have 

 seen." He was much respected and esteemed. 



SOMERBY, GOSTAVUS A., an advocate, died in 

 Boston, July 24th. He was one of the oldest 

 members of the bar in that city, having'few or 

 no superiors as an advocate before a jury. 

 His name was made conspicuous by his success 

 in the case of Leavitt Abbey, who was charged 

 with the murder of Abijah Ellis in Boston. 



SOULE, GIDEON L., a teacher, born at Free- 

 port, Maine, July 25, 1796, died at Exeter, 

 New Hampshire, May 28th. He was connected 

 with Phillips Exeter Academy over fifty years, 

 and was the principal of the institution from 

 1838 to 1873. His predecessor, Dr. Benjamin 

 Abbot, was principal of the institution from 

 its foundation in 1788 to 1838, and Dr. Soule 

 was his associate during seventeen years. The 

 great success of the Academy is largely due to 

 the efforts of the latter. 



STILLE, Hon. R. B., born in New Jersey in 

 1804, died in New Orleans July 9th. At the 

 age of twenty-six he removed to Louisiana and 

 engaged in mercantile pursuits. He received 

 from President Taylor in 1849 the appointment 

 of Surveyor of the Port of New Orleans. He 

 was a member of the Legislature in 1866. At 

 the time of his death he was in attendance on 

 the Constitutional Convention as delegate from 

 Sabine Parish. 



THOMPSON, JOSEPH P., D. D., born in Phila- 

 delphia, August 7, 1819, died in Berlin, Ger- 

 many, September 21st. He graduated at Yale 

 College in 1838, studied theology at Andover 

 and at New Haven, and was first settled over 

 the Chapel Street Church in the latter city in 

 November, 1840. From 1845 to 1872 he was 

 'pastor of the Broadway Tabernacle, New York, 

 and during this extended ministry attained a 

 high rank among scholars, churchmen, and 

 literati. During this period Dr. Thompson, 

 with others, founded "The New-Englander," 



the well-known quarterly, and also assisted at 

 the birth of "The Independent." He was a 

 manager of the American Congregational Union 

 and the Home Missionary Society, and in 1852 

 originated the plan of the Albany Congrega- 

 tional Convention. In 1852-'53 he visited Egypt, 

 Palestine, and other Oriental countries, and 

 afterward devoted much time and research 

 to Egyptology and other Oriental subjects. 

 Among Dr. Thompson's most permanent lite- 

 rary works are : " Memoir of Timothy D wight " 

 (1844); "Lectures to Young Men" (1846); 

 "Egypt Past and Present" (1856); "The Be- 

 liever's Refuge " (1857) ; " Christianity and 

 Emancipation" (1863); "Man in Genesis and 

 Geology" (1869); "Theology of Christ from 

 His Own Words" (1870) ; "Church and State 

 in the United States " (1874) ; and a " Life of 

 Christ," published in 1875. 



THRASHER, JOHN S., born in Portland, Maine, 

 in 1817, died in Galveston, Texas, November 

 10th. While yet a youth his parents removed 

 to Havana, Cuba. He became a partner of the 

 wealthy firm of Tyng & Co., but his tastes 

 led him to journalism. In 1S49 he purchased 

 the " Faro Industrial," a daily Havana paper, 

 the only organ of the Liberal party. He con- 

 tinued its editor until September 1, 1851, when 

 General Concha suppressed it. On that day 

 Lopez, the famous filibuster, was executed. 

 Thrasher's sympathies and good offices were 

 freely given to his four hundred unfortunate 

 followers. He was court-martialed and con- 

 demned to ten years' imprisonment at hard 

 labor in Ceuta, and perpetual banishment from 

 Cuba. He was released after several months 

 through the intervention of the 'United States 

 Minister at Madrid, Mr. Barringer of North 

 Carolina, whose wife appealed successfully to 

 Queen Isabella. He afterward established in 

 New Orleans a Sunday paper called the " Bea- 

 con of Cuba." From 1853 to 1855 he was an 

 active member of the filibustering associations 

 which organized the expedition under General 

 Quitman. When the United States Govern- 

 ment prevented its departure, the Cuban Junta 

 dissolved and Thrasher went to New York. 

 He found a position on the staff of the " Her- 

 ald," and as a special correspondent traveled 

 extensively through Mexico and South Amer- 

 ica. In 1856 he published an essay on Hum- 

 boldt's "Personal Narrative," which he had 

 previously translated into English. He also 

 published various treatises on the social, finan- 

 cial, and political condition of Cuba, one of 

 which, "Cuba and Louisiana," addressed to 

 Samuel J. Peters, was received with marked at- 

 tention. While still connected with the " Her- 

 ald," he edited the " Noticioso de Z^uevo York," 

 a paper devoted to the interests of the Spanish- 

 American countries. He married a Southern 

 woman whose property was in Texas. During 

 the civil war he remained at the South, and 

 was the agent of the Associated Press at At- 

 lanta. After the war he resumed his editor- 

 ship, and had charge of Frank Leslie's " Ilus- 



