608 



OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. 



to succeed Mr. Foster at tho court of St. Pe- 

 tersburg. 



Hunter, Charles F., an American merchant and 

 financier, born in Bloomingburg, N. Y., Octo- 

 ber, 1819; died in Salem, N. Y., July 19, 1884. 

 He entered mercantile life at the age of twen- 

 ty-one, and acquired a fortune. In a period 

 of great depression he became President of the 

 People's Bank, New York, a post that he filled 

 for twenty-seven years with eminent success. 

 During the civil war he did good service as a 

 member of the Clearing-House, and in the panic 

 of 1873 he was chairman of the Loan Commit- 

 tee. He was also occupied in various kindred 

 duties as director, trustee, and executive. 



Ivison, Henry, an American publisher, born in 

 Glasgow, Scotland, Dec. 25, 1808 ; died in New 

 York, Nov. 26, 1884. He came to the United 

 States when twelve years old, and learned the 

 book business, chiefly in Utica, N. Y. He was 

 for several years head of a bookstore in Au- 

 burn, N. Y., and removed to New York city 

 in 1846. He there entered into partnership 

 with M. H, Newman, a successful school-book 

 publisher. Thenceforward Mr. Ivison devoted 

 himself entirely to the specialty of educational 

 works. After Mr. Newman's death, in 1 853, 

 Mr. Ivison associated with himself Mr. H. F. 

 Phinney, of Cooperstown, and on Mr. Phin- 

 ney's retirement in 1866, the firm was enlarged 

 to the present style, Ivison, Blakeman, Taylor 

 & Co. Mr. Ivison retired from active partici- 

 pation in business in 1882. 



Johnson, Alvin Jewett, an American publisher, 

 born in Wallingford, Vt., Sept. 28, 1827 ; died 

 in New York city, April 22, 1884. When a 

 boy he worked on a farm, and having acquired 

 a fair education he went to Virginia to teach 

 school. In 1853 he settled in New York city, 

 and became agent for " Colton's Atlas. 1 ' Not 

 long afterward he reconstructed the work, and 

 issued it thenceforth as " Johnson's Illustrated 

 Atlas." He also engaged in preparing and 

 publishing books, including a cyclopaedia that 

 was issued under the editorial supervision of 

 President Barnard, of Columbia College. Mr. 

 Johnson was an active business man, and, ac- 

 quired a handsome fortune. 



Kinsella, Thomas, an American journalist, born 

 in Ireland in 1832; died in Brooklyn, N. Y., 

 Feb. 11, 1884. He came to the United States 

 when a boy, and entered a printing-office. 

 Some years later he was admitted into the 

 office of the "Brooklyn Eagle" and became a 

 contributor to its columns, chiefly in reporting 

 cases in the police courts of that city. In 1861, 

 the "Eagle"' having expressed unusual and 

 strong sympathy with the South, the editor 

 was displaced, and Mr. Kinsella was put in 

 charge. He held this post during the rest of 

 his life. In 1865 he supported President John- 

 son, and was made Postmaster of Brooklyn. 

 In 1868 he was appointed a member of the 

 Board of Education, and also one of the Water 

 and Sewerage Board. He was elected to Con- 

 gress in 1870, and supported the nomination 



of Horace Greeley for President of the United 

 States in 1872. He was also a supporter of 

 Gov. Tilden in 1876. In 1880 he was instru- 

 mental in securing the nomination of Gen. 

 Hancock for the presidency, and organized 

 " Jeffersonian Clubs," but with only partial 

 success. Mr. Kinsella was a ready and able 

 writer, and made the "Eagle" prosperous and 

 influential. 



Letcher, John, an American politician, born in 

 Lexington, Va., March 29, 1813; died tliere 

 Jan. 26, 1884. He was educated at Washing- 

 ton College and Randolph-Macon College, Vir- 

 ginia. He was admitted to the bar in 1839, 

 became editor of a newspaper, and was a mem- 

 ber of the Virginia Constitutional Convention 

 in 1850. He was elected to Congress on the 

 Democratic ticket four times in succession 

 1851 to 1859. At the latter date he was elect- 

 ed Governor of Virginia. The State Legisla- 

 ture passed a secession ordinance while Letcher 

 was Governor, with a provision that it be sub- 

 mitted to a- vote of the people six weeks later. 

 Without waiting for the popular decision, Gov. 

 Letcher at once turned over to the Confederate 

 authorities the entire forces of the State. Af- 

 ter the failure of the Confederacy he took no 

 prominent part in politics, but devoted himself 

 to the practice of law in his native place. 



Lovell, Mansfield, an American soldier, born in 

 Washington, D. C., in 1820 ; died in New York 

 city, June 1, 1884. He was graduated at the 

 Military Academy, West Poin't, in 1842; was 

 appointed second lieutenant in the artillery, 

 and served at various points in Maryland, Penn- 

 sylvania, and Virginia. He also took part in 

 the occupation of Texas in 1845-'46. He was 

 with his regiment in the Mexican War, and ac- 

 quired reputation at Monterey, Vera Cruz, and 

 Chapultepec. He was present at the capture 

 of the city of Mexico, where he received a 

 severe wound. For four years, 1850-'54, he 

 was in command of the recruiting depot at Fort 

 Columbus, New York. He then resigned from 

 the army, went into business in New York, 

 and in 1858-'61 was Deputy Street Commis- 

 sioner. At the outbreak of the civil war he 

 entered the service of the Confederacy. When 

 the Union cause triumphed, he retired to a rice- 

 plantation near Savannah ; but not long after 

 he came to New York again and was engaged 

 as assistant engineer under Gen. Newton. 



Lyman, DaTid Belden, an American missionary, 

 born in New Hartford, Conn., July 28, 1803; 

 died in Hilo, Hawaiian Islands, Oct. 4, 1884. He 

 was graduated at Williams College in 1828, stud- 

 ied at Andover Theological Seminary, and was 

 ordained in Hanover, N. II. He married Miss 

 Sarah Joiner, in Royalton,Vt., Nov. 3, 1831, and 

 on the next day they set out for Boston, to 

 join a company of nineteen missionaries who 

 were about to sail in the whale-ship Averick for 

 the Hawaiian Islands. This was the fifth and 

 the largest company of Protestant missionaries 

 that had yet gone out to that group. The voy- 

 age lasted from Nov. 26, 1831, to May 17, 1832, 



