OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. 



Father Fitton's name was familiar throughout 

 New England, and his career may be said to 

 have connected all the deceased Catholic priests 

 of Boston with the time of his own death. 

 Only four years before he died the fiftieth an- 

 niversary of his ordination was celebrated. He 

 was educated in part under the pioneer Bishop 

 of Boston, afterward Cardinal Cheverus, was 

 ordained by Bishop Fen wick, and actively en- 

 gaged in the work and progress that distin- 

 guished the episcopate of Bishop Fitzpatrick. 

 He had been none the less active under Arch- 

 bishop "Williams. The parents of Father Fitton 

 were married in the small Huguenot church 

 in School Street, Boston, where the first Cath- 

 olic worshipers of that city gathered. There, 

 also, James Fitton was baptized by the Rev. 

 Dr. Matignon the first Catholic pastor regu- 

 larly settled in that city. Prior to his ordina- 

 tion as a priest, Father Fitton held a position 

 as teacher in the seminary attached to the old 

 church in Franklin Street, Boston, and among 

 his pupils was John Williams, the present arch- 

 bishop. On the 23d of December, 1827, he 

 was ordained, and in 1828 was sent as a mis- 

 sionary to the Passamaquoddy Indians. After- 

 ward he ministered to the scattered Catholics 

 of New Hampshire and Vermont. Soon the 

 whole territory between Boston and Long Isl- 

 and, New York, was placed under his care, 

 with Hartford as the central point of his 

 labors. The railroads were not then built, 

 and the work involved in the charge of so 

 large a parish can now scarcely be realized. 

 The beginning of the Catholic College at Wor- 

 cester is attributable to his efforts, as well as 

 the publication of the first Catholic newspaper. 

 His pastorate in East Boston began twenty-six 

 years ago, and by his influence and exertion 

 four churches and several schools were built 

 up in that part of the city. Throughout his 

 long life he retained the deep respect and 

 esteem of the people to whom he adminis- 

 tered, and the ecclesiastics with whom he was 

 associated. 



Fox, EDWARD, born in Portland, Maine, 

 June 10, 1815; died December 14, 1881, at his 

 residence in Portland. He was the son of 

 John Fox, a merchant of Portland, and edu- 

 cated in the city high-school. After graduat- 

 ing there, he was sent to Exeter Academy, 

 New Hampshire, where he prepared for col- 

 lege, and entered Harvard in 1830, at the age 

 of fifteen. Having graduated there with hon- 

 ors in 1834, he immediately entered the law- 

 school, and graduated at the age of twenty- 

 two. He began to practice his profession at 

 the Cumberland County bar and continued 

 there until about the year 1849, when he re- 

 moved for a short time to Cincinnati, but re- 

 turned to Portland and resumed his practice. 

 In 1862 he was appointed a Judge of the Su- 

 preme Court, but served only part of a year, 

 when he resigned. In 1866 he was appointed 

 to succeed Judge Ware as District Judge of the 

 United States Court, and this position he held 



until his death. His ability as a lawyer, and 

 impartiality in his judicial career, we're fully 

 recognized by his contemporaries, and his pri- 

 vate life was equally exemplary. 



FRENCH, VIRGINIA L., died at McMinnville, 

 Tennessee, March 31, 1881. Mrs. French, nie 

 Smith, was an author of creditable repute, and 

 was born on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, in 

 1830. She was educated in Pennsylvania, but 

 removed to Tennessee in 1848, and while re- 

 siding at Nashville wrote much over the name 

 " L'Inconnue." In 1852 she formed a con- 

 nection with "The Southern Handbook," of 

 New Orleans, and in 1853 married Mr. J. H. 

 French, of McMinnville. For a time she edited 

 " The Crusader, " at Atlanta, Georgia. Among 

 her works are " Wind-Whispers," poems pub- 

 lished in 1856; " Iztalixo, a tragedy; and 

 " Legends of the South." 



GOBRIGHT, L. A., died May 16, 1881, in Wash- 

 ington, D. C., in the sixty-seventh year of his 

 age. Mr. Gobright was one of the oldest jour- 

 nalists in this country, having been connected 

 with the press of Washington more than forty- 

 five years. For nearly thirty years he repre- 

 sented the New York Associated Press in 

 Washington, but retired from active service in 

 1878. He was prominently identified with the 

 " Independent Order of Odd-Fellows," and the 

 "Oldest Inhabitants Association," of Wash- 

 ington, and was esteemed in all the relations 

 of life an honest, upright, and faithful man. 

 During the civil conflict he enjoyed the fullest 

 confidence of President Lincoln and Secre- 

 taries Seward and Stanton, being frequently 

 called upon to assist them in the preparation 

 of proclamations, and other important docu- 

 ments, which were finally intrusted to his 

 hands to be dispatched by telegraph. When 

 President Andrew Johnson made his celebrated 

 tour to the Eastern States, Mr. Gobright ac- 

 companied him, and prepared the elaborate 

 and interesting reports which were sent to the 

 Associated Press. He was intimate with the 

 most noted men of both parties who have made 

 prominent figures in public life during the past 

 forty years, and, though often trusted with im- 

 portant matters of state, he never yielded to 

 the temptation to print what had been com- 

 municated to him in confidence. 



GRIGSBT, HUGH BLAIR, born November 22, 

 1806, in Norfolk, Virginia; died April 28, 1881, 

 in the county of Charlotte, Virginia. Mr. 

 Grigsby was a graduate of Yale College. He 

 represented Norfolk in the Legislature when 

 scarcely more than a boy, and was afterward 

 a member of the State Convention of 1829 and 

 1830, with Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, nnd 

 others. Subsequently he withdrew from pub- 

 lic life, and devoted himself to literary and 

 agricultural pursuits. He was unsurpassed for 

 accurate information in regard to all events 

 connected with the history of Virginia from 

 her earliest settlement, and was President of 

 the Virginia Historical Society, and a member 

 of similar societies in several other States. Ho 



