OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. 



689 



jects, and the author of the biographies of many 

 of Brooklyn's most noted men. His chief work, 

 perhaps, was the founding of the Long Island 

 Historical Society. He drew up the original 

 circular for the society in 1863, and obtained 

 the signatures. He contributed at once five 

 hundred and fifty-three bound volumes and 

 five hundred and seventy-two pamphlets as a 

 nucleus for a library, and made many other 

 gifts afterward. He lived to see the comple- 

 tion of the library edifice, at a cost of $135,000, 

 and the largest collection of books on local 

 history to be found, together with a museum 

 of natural history containing specimens of ev- 

 ery reptile, bird, and beast that has its habita- 

 tion on Long Island, or fish that swims in its 

 waters. 



STILI,WEIX, SILAS M., died May 16, 1881, in 

 New York, at the age of eighty-one. He was 

 noted as the author of the Stillwell Act, abol- 

 ishing the law of imprisonment for debt, which 

 was passed by the New York Legislature many 

 years ago. 



TAPPAN, H. P., born at Rhinebeck, New 

 York, April 23, 1805 ; died at Vevay, Switzer- 

 land, November, 1881. He graduated at Un- 

 ion College in 1825. Subsequently he studied 

 theology at Princeton, New Jersey, and aft- 

 er having been for a year associate pastor of a 

 Dutch Reformed Church in Schenectady, New 

 York, became in 1828 pastor of a Congrega- 

 tional Church in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. In 

 1832 Dr. Tappan became Professor of Moral 

 Philosophy in the University of the City of 

 New York, which position he resigned in 1838, 

 and opened a private school. He was elected 

 Chancellor of the University of Michigan in 

 1852 ; in 1859, corresponding member of the 

 French Imperial Institute, and President of the 

 American Association for the Advancement of 

 Education. He devoted much attention to the 

 subject of university education, and studied its 

 system both in England and Germany. He 

 also published a book on the freedom of the 

 will, a treatise on university education, and 

 other literary works. 



THAXTER, EDWARD R., born in Maine ; died 

 June 29, 1881, in Naples, Italy, aged twenty- 

 seven. Mr. Thaxter's reputation as a sculptor 

 began in Boston. In 1878 he went to Florence, 

 where he occupied the studio of the late Amer- 

 ican sculptor Jackson. His most important 

 work, which he had only completed in clay, and 

 had cast preparatory to being cut in marble, 

 is called "Love's First Dream." This young 

 sculptor gave promise of high attainments, and 

 has left indications of his genius in several ideal 

 study busts, and one marble statue called " Re- 

 proof." 



VAIL, AAEOX S., died December 17, 1881, at 

 Smithtown, Long Island, in the eighty-fifth year 

 of his age. Mr. Vail was one of the oldest and 

 most successful trout-breeders on Long Island. 

 He owned several trout ponds and streams, and 

 his house was a noted resort for anglers. Dan- 

 iel "Webster, Henry Clay, and other distin- 

 VOL. xxi. 44 A 



guished men were frequently entertained by 

 him in the trout-fishing season. 



VETROMILLE, EUGEJTE, born at Gallipoli, It- 

 aly; died at Gallipoli, August 23, 1881. Fa- 

 ther Vetromille came to America at the age 

 of twenty-one, and traveled so extensively and 

 familiarly among the Indians that he was able 

 to translate the Bible into fourteen of their lan- 

 guages. He was particularly interested in the 

 Abenaquis Indians, and published a book in 

 their tongue for their benefit, entitled "Indian 

 Good Book." He was for a long time pastor of 

 St. Mary's Church, Machias, Maine. After his 

 travels through Europe and the Holy Land, he 

 published a large volume on the subject. He 

 was a member of many scientific societies, and 

 left in charge of the Interior Department a 

 great mass of valuable manuscripts in regard to 

 the various idioms of the North American In- 

 dians. In his will he leaves a certain amount 

 of money for the benefit of the widows and or- 

 phans of the Passamaquoddy and Penobscot 

 Indians, also a large sum to charitable institu- 

 tions, and a dowry to Italian orphan girls, 

 payable every year from the interest of five 

 thousand dollars. He desired to have his body 

 interred at Passamaquoddy, Maine. 



WALLACE, WILLIAM Ross, born in Lexington, 

 Kentucky, in 1819 ; died in New York city, 

 May 5, 1881. He commenced his education at 

 the Bloomington and South Hanover College 

 in Indiana, and then studied law in Lexington. 

 In 1841 he became a resident of New York, 

 where he engaged in literary pursuits. With 

 the exception of a brief period spent in Europe, 

 his life was passed in New York. He was a 

 contributor to " Harper's " and the "Knicker- 

 bocker " Magazines, and to other publications. 

 He practiced law at the same time, but is chiefly 

 known by his literary productions. His first 

 work that attracted attention was a poem 

 entitled " Perdita," published in the " Union 

 Magazine." He published a volume of verse 

 entitled "Meditations in America," in 1846; 

 " Alton," a poetical romance ; " The Loved and 

 the Lost," a prose and poetical work ; and 

 " The Liberty Bell," a poem, besides a num- 

 ber of others, contributed to various period- 

 icals. 



WARE, Rev. JOHN F. W., born in Boston 

 in 1818; died in Boston, February 26, 1881.. 

 lie entered Harvard University in 1884, and 

 graduated in 1838, with several classmates 

 who afterward became distinguished men. In 

 1839 he entered the Divinity School, and grad- 

 uated in 1842. His first settlement as pastor 

 was with the Unitarian Society in Fall River, 

 Massachusetts, from which he removed toCam- 

 bridgeport Parish. In 1864 he accepted an 

 invitation to become pastor of the Unitarian 

 Society in Baltimore, Maryland, where his 

 ministry was energetic and successful. He 

 gave much attention to the religious and per- 

 sonal needs of the colored people. Before and 

 during the war he was an anti-slavery man. A 

 strong feature in his Baltimore ministry was a 



