OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. 



637 



and forty-two years, have held rightful and 

 indisputed possession of the first white-man's 

 settlement formed within the present limits of 

 the State of New York. Gardiner's Island is, 

 probably, the oldest entailed estate in the coun- 

 try ; it was purchased from the Indians by 

 Lion Gardiner in 1639. It was then known as 

 Manchonock Island, and the Indians willingly 

 sold it for a few coats, hats, hatchets, and small 

 trinkets. Gardiner changed its name to the 

 Isle of Wight ; but, in course of time, it came 

 to be designated only by the owner's name. 

 The island is situated about one hundred and 

 twenty miles from New York and fourteen 

 from New London ; it lies in Gardiner's Bay, 

 which sets in from the ocean at the extreme end 

 of Long Island, with Orient Point on the north 

 and Montauk land on the south. The sur- 

 roundings are very beautiful. The island is 

 nine miles long, a mile and a half wide, and 

 contains thirty-three hundred acres, a goodly 

 proportion of which is under cultivation. Im- 

 mense quantities of grain, hay, live-stock, fruit, 

 dairy-produce, timber, etc., are raised thereon 

 yearly. The subject of this sketch succeeded 

 his brother, John Griswold Gardiner, in the 

 ownership of the island in 1861. He was a 

 fine-looking, but quiet and unostentatious gen- 

 tleman. 



GILLETTE, Rev. Dr. A. D., born September 

 8, 1807; died August 24, 1882. After passing 

 through a successful course of studies at Madi- 

 son University and Union College, he was or- 

 dained a Baptist minister in 1831, and passed 

 the greater part of his life in active service. 

 In May, 1862, he was installed pastor over the 

 Schenectady Baptist Church, where he remained 

 for five years, was then called to Philadelphia, 

 and afterward to New York, where he became 

 pastor of the Broadway Baptist Church, a posi- 

 tion which he held twelve years ; then he went 

 to Washington, D. 0. In January, 1872, he 

 was elected Corresponding Secretary of the 

 American and Foreign Bible Society. 



GEMMILL, WILLIAM D., died in San Francisco, 

 1882, aged forty years. Mr. Gemmill was the 

 son of a Philadelphia dry-goods merchant. At 

 his father's death he inherited an ample for- 

 tune, and, having a predilection for the stage, 

 he abandoned his business in 1875, and, in con- 

 junction with three other young gentlemen of 

 means, he opened the Chestnut-Street Thea- 

 tre, Philadelphia, with Byron's comedy, " Our 

 Boys." After a short season, he inaugurated 

 a series of Shakespearean revivals, in which 

 money was spent with a lavish hand. The 

 venture was not successful, and, for financial 

 reasons, the management of the theatre was 

 given up, and Mr. Gemmill went on the stage. 

 He appeared in leading characters, and his 

 impersonation of Hamlet was much praised. 

 About two years ago he retired from the Chest- 

 nut-Street Theatre, and since then belonged to 

 different stock companies, and appeared fre- 

 quently in the West. 



GODDARD, DELANO A., editor of the Bos- 



ton "Daily Advertiser," died on January 4th 

 of congestion of the lungs. Mr. Goddard was 

 bonr in Worcester, Mass., August 27, 1831, 

 and was a graduate of Yale College. After 

 having spent some years upon the Worcester 

 " Spy," he became, in 1869, associate editor of 

 the "Daily Advertiser," and shortly afterward 

 editor-in-chief. He was a member of the Mas- 

 sachusetts Historical Society, and was much 

 interested in questions relating to the history 

 and influence of his profession. Two years 

 ago he read a paper before the New England 

 Historico-Genealogical Society upon "News- 

 papers and Newspaper Writers of New Eng- 

 land," which formed the basis of an article 

 contributed to the second volume of the "Me- 

 morial History of Boston," entitled "The Press 

 and Literature of the Provincial Period." An 

 article on " The Pulpit, Press, and Literature of 

 the Revolutionary Period," was also contrib- 

 uted by him to the third volume of the same 

 work. Mr. Goddard represented his native 

 place in the State Legislature in 1862, and also 

 in 1868, but beyond these he held no public 

 positions. 



GUBEET, LOUISE, born in Philadelphia, Pa. ; 

 died in Baltimore, Md., 1882. Her paternal 

 grandfather was a French officer, and served 

 under the first Napoleon. Her father was born 

 in Cuba, and married a sister of the late Mil- 

 nor Roberts, a civil engineer of distinction. 

 At the age of eighteen months, Louise devel- 

 oped the most wonderful musical talent, and, 

 to the surprise of her family, sang with perfect 

 correctness a little ballad that she had fre- 

 quently heard others sing, called " By the Mar- 

 gin of Fair Zurich's Waters." As she grew 

 older the wonderful gift attracted the atten- 

 tion of some of the most distinguished musi- 

 cians of the time. At the age of fifteen she 

 was selected by Mr. Cross, an experienced 

 musician, to sing the "Inflammatus" from 

 Rossini's " Stabat Mater," at a concert given 

 by the Musical Fund Hall Society, in Phila- 

 delphia, in preference to a number of ama- 

 teurs who were also to take part. Her voice 

 was the most exquisite soprano, and the night 

 of the concert she sang the celebrated selection 

 with such power and sweetness, that Perelli, 

 the eminent Italian vocalist, who was conduct- 

 ing the orchestra, was so much enraptured 

 with the loveliness of her voice that he en- 

 treated her father to grant him the privilege 

 of training it. The request was complied with, 

 and the knowledge of music that she had al- 

 ready acquired under the instruction of Mr. 

 Wolseiffer, a German professor of renown in 

 her native city, enabled her very soon to be- 

 come celebrated, and she was always the 

 prominent voice in the numerous concerts and 

 soirees got up for charitable purposes. She 

 also sang in the choir of St. Augustine's church. 

 While she was still pursuing her education, 

 the Sisters of the Visitation from Georgetown, 

 D. C., established a branch of their order in 

 Philadelphia. Miss Gubert became one of their 



