682 



OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. 



teacher, but obtained considerable reputation 

 as an author. Her first story was published 

 wheu she was only fourteen, and subsequently 

 she contributed for many years to the weekly 

 press, and published several volumes of fiction. 

 More fortunate than the great majority of 

 writers, Miss Dupuy accumulated money as 

 well as fame, and left a large sum to her heirs. 

 FABOO, WILLIAM G., died in Buffalo, New 

 York, August 3, 1881. His name was identi- 

 fied with the express business of the United 

 States from the year 1845, and formed a link 

 in the circle of men like Adams, Harnden, 

 Dinsmore, and their associates, who introduced 

 a new feature in civilization, and- brought the 

 service of capital and labor to the door of every 

 man, however rich or poor. At the age of 

 thirteen young Fargo was employed to carry 

 the mail on horseback, twice a week, from 

 Pompey Hill, New York, by way of Water- 

 vale, Manlius, Oran, Delphi, Fabius, and Apu- 

 lia, back to Pompey Hill, a circuit of about 

 forty miles. This business compelled him to 

 cultivate habits of promptness and persistence. 

 From this time till 1835 he worked, as oppor- 

 tunity offered, for different persons, but chiefly 

 at Watervale, in a country tavern and store. 

 In this employment he acquired a knowledge 

 of the routine of business, and improved him- 

 self in arithmetic by keeping accounts. During 

 the winter he was permitted to attend the dis- 

 trict school. In 1841 he removed to Auburn, 

 to accept the freight agency of the Auburn 

 and Syracuse Railroad Company, then just 

 completed, and in 1842 he aided in the estab- 

 lishment of an express line between Albany 

 and Buffalo. At this time the rails were laid 

 to Batavia, and express packages went by 

 stage thence to Buffalo, until the completion 

 of the Buffalo and Attica Railroad. The 

 express business was in its infancy then, but 

 Mr. Fargo discerned in it the elements of great 

 growth and expansion. In January, 1844, in 

 company with Henry Wells and Daniel Dun- 

 ning, he organized an express line from Buffalo 

 to Detroit, by way of Cleveland, under the 

 firm name of Wells & Co. The capital pos- 

 sessed by these parties consisted principally in 

 energy, industry, and determination. The one 

 who was able to borrow, on a short note, two 

 hundred dollars was regarded by the firm as a 

 financial success. At this time the only rail- 

 roads west of Buffalo were the one in Ohio, 

 from Sandusky City to Monroeville, and the 

 one in Michigan, from Detroit to Ypsilanti. 

 These expressmen employed the steamers on 

 the lakes in the season of navigation, and stages 

 and express-wagons in winter. Their business 

 was not at first a heavy one, but steadily in- 

 creased and was rapidly pushed. They ex- 

 tended the line to Chicago and St. Louis, and 

 westward to Galena. After a year the part- 

 nership of Wells & Co. was dissolved and 

 changed to Livingston & Fargo. The express 

 business west of Buffalo was thus managed 

 until March, 1850, when the American Express 



Company was organized, and consolidated the 

 interests of Johnston, Livingston, Wells & Co., 

 proprietors of the line between New York and 

 Buffalo ; those of Butterfield, Wasson & Co., 

 proprietors of a rival line between these two 

 cities ; and those of Livingston & Fargo, who 

 owned the lines west of Buffalo. Henry Wells 

 was the first president, and William G. Fargo 

 the first secretary. These positions were thus 

 held until the consolidation with the Mer- 

 chants' Union Express Co., in December, 1868, 

 when Mr. Fargo was elected president, and 

 thus remained until his death the company 

 having a capital of eighteen million dollars, 

 maintaining twenty-seven hundred offices, and 

 giving employment to more than five thousand 

 men, of whom six hundred were messengers. 

 In 1851 Mr. Fargo, Henry Wells, and their 

 associates, organized a company under the 

 name of Wells, Fargo & Co., and commenced 

 to do an express business between New York 

 and San Francisco, by way of the Isthmus, and 

 to operate interior lines on the Pacific coast. 

 This enterprise proved successful, and was con- 

 tinued over this route until the completion of 

 the Union and Central Pacific Railroads, when 

 water was abandoned for the railways, and 

 the management of the company transferred to 

 San Francisco. While the control was in New 

 York, Mr. Fargo was director and vice-presi- 

 dent. This company operated on a capital of 

 five million dollars. Mr. Fargo was for a time 

 a director and vice-president of the New York 

 Central Railroad Company, and was connected 

 with, and a large contributor to, the enterprise 

 of the Northern Pacific Railroad, of which he 

 was for several years a director. He had been 

 also a director of the Buffalo, New York and 

 Philadelphia Railroad Company, and was large- 

 ly interested in the Buffalo Coal Company and 

 the McKean and Buffalo Railroad Company. 

 He was a stockholder in several of the large 

 manufacturing establishments of Buffalo. For 

 four years he was the Mayor of Buffalo, and 

 distinguished for his courtesy, impartiality, 

 and executive ability. His contributions to 

 all charitable, religions, and public enterprises 

 were most generous. The success that crowned 

 his useful life was in no sense accidental ; 

 remarkable decision of character, instinctive 

 judgment of men, unflinching resolution in his 

 purposes, allied to a rare power of organization 

 and control, were the " stars " that influenced 

 his career, and lighted his ascent to the top- 

 most round of fortune's ladder. 



FILLMORE, Mrs. CAROLINE, died August 11, 

 1881, at Buffalo, New York, aged seventy-one. 

 Mrs. Fillmore, relict of President Fillmore, was 

 a Miss McMichael, and afterward Mrs. Mcln- 

 tosh, of Albany, where she continued to reside 

 after her marriage with the ex-President. Her 

 life was characterized by charities both public 

 and private, and by great physical suffering 

 toward its close. 



FITTON, Rev. JAMES, born in Boston, 1803; 

 died in East Boston, September 15, 1881. 



