638 



OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. 



pupils, and, under the pious teaching of the 

 Daughters of St. Francis of Sales, she formed 

 the determination of embracing a religious 

 life. In the mean time she was constantly 

 solicited to appear in puhlic. Madame La- 

 boide asked permission to take her to Paris 

 and place her in charge of Meyerbeer, who, 

 she said, would write operas for her voice. 

 Madame Sontag, after hearing her sing, passed 

 the highest encomiums upon her voice, and 

 advised her to abandon the instruction of 

 teachers, and follow the guidance of her own 

 genius. After this a great difference was ob- 

 served in her style ; she turned her attention 

 to the German school, and acquired great dra- 

 matic power and pathos. She possessed the 

 rare quality of imparting her knowledge to 

 others, which made her eminently successful as 

 a teacher. A few years after her father's death 

 she accompanied the Right Rev. Bishop Whe- 

 lan to his episcopal city of Wheeling, Va., and 

 in a short time she entered the Community of 

 Visitation Nuns established there, where the 

 spiritual name of Sister Mary Agnes was con- 

 ferred upon her. Through her skill and energy 

 their school acquired a reputation unsurpassed 

 in the United States. Before the academy was 

 removed to its present locality, at Mt. de Chan- 

 tal, she was visited by all the distinguished mu- 

 sicians who passed through Wheeling. Ade- 

 lina and Carlotta Patti, Carl Formes the great 

 basso, Thalberg the pianist, and other celebri- 

 ties, had the privilege of hearing her sing, in 

 obedience to. the commands of her superiors. 

 Carl Formes was at once impressed with her 

 rare dramatic power, and advised her to study 

 the grand aria from " Oberon," " Ocean, thou 

 mighty monster!" which afterward became 

 one of her favorite and most celebrated pieces. 

 Among her most prominent songs were " The 

 Eii King," by Schubert, and the principal 

 arias from " Der Freischutz." The last time that 

 she sang in the convent was on the occasion of 

 a first communion, when, without organ ac- 

 companiment, she rendered, with the pathetic 

 feeling for which she was so noted, one of 

 Father Faber's hymns. 



HEALT, JOHN PLTJMMER, born December 28, 

 1810, in Washington, Sullivan County, N. H. ; 

 died January 4, 1882, in Boston, Mass. His 

 father, Joseph Healy, was a Representative 

 from New Hampshire in Congress from 1825 

 to 1829, and a warm friend and admirer of 

 Daniel Webster; these facts had an important 

 bearing on the career of his son. The senior 

 Healy was a man of noble character, although 

 of limited means. He sent his son to Dart- 

 mouth College, through which he passed, as 

 poor boys do, eking out his pecuniary resources 

 by teaching. Mr. Healy was graduated from 

 Dartmouth in 1835, from which he received 

 the degree of LL. D. in 1871. He came at once 

 to Boston, and entered the law-office of Daniel 

 Webster. By his diligence, quick apprehen- 

 sion, and courteous conduct he won the warm 

 friendship of Mr. Webster ; and, when he had 



completed his legal studies, became the famous 

 statesman's law partner, a relation that he 

 maintained until it was terminated by Mr. 

 Webster's death. When Mr. Webster was Sec- 

 retary of State, he offered Mr. Healy the chief- 

 Sistieeship of California, which was declined, 

 e was several times offered the chief -justice- 

 ship of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, 

 but always declined, being content with his 

 position of a trusted legal adviser, and the So- 

 licitor of the City of Boston, which office he 

 assumed in 1856, and continued to hold until 

 March 30, 1881. While he was a general prac- 

 titioner of law, he was connected for several 

 years with the Massachusetts Legislature. He 

 entered the House in 1840, and was made Sen- 

 ator in 1854, serving his terms with ability. 

 After he became City Solicitor, he devoted by 

 far the greater part of his time to the duties 

 of that office, which he discharged most effi- 

 ciently. 



HATZLER, ELISABETH, born at Landau, France, 

 in 1790, died in Philadelphia, January 1, 1882. 

 She was a veteran of the Franco-Russian War 

 of 1812. At the age of twenty she married 

 George Hatzler, a sergeant of cavalry in the 

 French army. Very soon after their marriage 

 her husband was ordered to join the memorable 

 expedition against Russia, and Madame Hatzler 

 determined to go with him. Her hair was cut 

 short, a soldier's uniform took the place of the 

 feminine attire, and thus disguised she rode at 

 her husband's side during the whole campaign. 

 She was present at all of the principal battles, 

 and at the burning of Moscow. After the pro- 

 motion of her husband to the rank of a staff- 

 officer, she had many opportunities of seeing 

 the great Emperor, and on several occasions 

 conversed with him. An accident to her hus- 

 band separated them from the main army at 

 one time, and for nine weeks Madame Hatzler 

 dragged him on a hand-sledge over the frozen 

 ground. Through a guide's treachery they 

 were taken prisoners by the Cossacks, and held 

 for months. They were exchanged in time to 

 rejoin the French army and undergo the suf- 

 ferings and privations of the disastrous retreat 

 which almost annihilated Napoleon's forces. 

 Through all these vicissitudes the sex of the 

 woman remained undiscovered. Mrs. Hatzler 

 emigrated to this country in 1846, and lived 

 for twelve years on Fort Delaware, while it 

 was being built by Major Sanders. Up to the 

 time of her death she retained the full use of 

 all her faculties, and it is said that since 

 leaving the battle-field in 1814 she never suf- 

 fered any results of her long exposure. She 

 spoke English, German, and French fluently, 

 and had also skill in the Russian and Italian 

 languages. 



How, Mrs. MART KIRKPATRICK, widow of 

 Rev. Dr. S. B. How, died in New Brunswick, 

 N. J., aged eighty-nine years. She was the 

 eldest and last surviving child of Chief-Justice 

 Kirkpatrick, of New Jersey, whose wife was 

 Jane Bayard, a descendant of Madame Anne 



