OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. 



647 



coming of age he went into business for himself, 

 and a year later removed to Worcester, where, 

 with his brother-in-law, Samuel Daniels, he was 

 soon engaged in the dry-goods trade on a com- 

 paratively large scale. In 1843 they dissolved 

 the partnership, and Horace removed to New 

 York, where the firm of Btilkley & Olaflin was 

 established, importers and jobbers of dry goods, 

 in Cedar Street. In 1851 some changes were 

 made, and the firm name became Claflin, Mel- 

 lin & Co. After further changes, in 1864 it 

 became H. B. Claflin & Co., which it has since 

 remained. This house has done an immense 

 business, extending all over the country, with 

 a financial strength that has carried it unshaken 

 through all crises save one. When the civil 

 war broke out in 1861, the sudden loss of debts 

 at the South was so great as to cause a tempo- 

 rary suspension of payment ; but by the wise 

 forbearance of Northern creditors the house 

 was permitted to continue business, and in a 

 short time all its liabilities were paid off with 

 interest, after which it entered upon a career 

 of unparalleled prosperity. For many years it 

 has occupied an enormous warehouse at West 

 Broadway and Worth Street, Mr. Claflin being 

 the active head of the establishment. In a 

 single year the sales of this firm have amount- 

 ed to $72,000,000, and since 1864 it has done 

 by far the largest mercantile business in this 

 country, or indeed in the world. Mr. Claflin 

 was a man of domestic habits and of exem- 

 plary life, fond of books and of horses, was a 

 trustee (but not a communicant) of Plymouth 

 Church, Brooklyn, and a devoted personal 

 friend of its pastor. In politics he was a 

 Whig in his early life, and afterward a Repub- 

 lican. His private acts of charity are said to 

 have been numerous. 



Coit, Thomas Winthrop, an American clergy- 

 man, born in New London, Conn., June 23, 

 1803; died in Middletown, Conn., June 21, 

 1885. He was graduated at Yale College in 

 1821, and studied for the ministry. He was, 

 for a brief period, professor in Trinity College, 

 Hartford, Conn., and President of Transylva- 

 nia University, Lexington, Ky. He became 

 rector of St. Peter's Church, Salem, Mass., in 

 1827; of Christ Church, Cambridge, Mass., in 

 1829; and of Trinity Church, New Rochelle, 

 N. Y., in 1839. A few years later he accepted 

 the rectorship of St. Paul's Church, Troy, N. 

 Y., which place he held for nearly twenty-five 

 years. He was appointed lecturer on ecclesi- 

 astical history in the Berkeley Divinity School 

 in 1854, the duties of which office he dis- 

 charged in connection with his rectorship in 

 Troy. In 1872 he resigned his church, was 

 appointed professor in the Divinity School, and 

 removed to Middletown, Conn. He contrib- 

 uted largely to the literature of the Church, 

 and his work entitled " Puritanism, or a 

 Churchman's Defense against its Aspersions, 

 by an Appeal to its own History" (1845), is 

 a shrewd turning of the tables upon the Puri- 

 tans in England and America. Dr. Coit pub- 



lished several volumes, both scholarly and use- 

 ful, and his latest work was a valuable paper 

 forming part of Bishop Perry's " History of 

 the American Protei-timt Episcopal Church." 

 His large and excellent library he gave to the 

 Berkeley Divinity School. 



Draper, John Christopher, an American physi- 

 cian, born in Virginia, March 31, 1835; died 

 in New York city, Dec. 20, 1885. He was 

 the oldest son of Prof. John W. Draper, and 

 entered the University of the City of New 

 York in 1852, but left before completing the 

 course. He then entered the medical depart- 

 ment of the university and was graduated in 

 1857. In July of that year he went to Eu- 

 rope, partly for health, partly for study. On 

 his return, in December, 1858, he was ap- 

 pointed analytical chemist in the university, 

 which place he held for thirteen years. In 

 1860 he became Professor of Chemistry in the 

 Cooper Institute, and in 1862 he served as sur- 

 geon in the United States Volunteers. In 1863 

 he was elected to the chair of Natural History 

 in the College of the City of New York, which 

 post he filled up to the time of his d^feth. He 

 became Professor of Chemistry in the medical 

 department of the University of the City of 

 New York, and was largely instrumental in 

 raising the reputation of that department. 

 Prof. Draper was the author of several books 

 in his special line of study. His earliest vol- 

 ume (1865) was on anatomy, physiology, and 

 hygiene. He contributed numerous articles 

 to the "Galaxy," from 1868 to 1871, on diet, 

 dress, and ventilation. In 1872-'73 he edited 

 " The Year-Book of Nature and Science," and 

 in 1882 published "A Practical Laboratory 

 Course in Chemistry." His last publication 

 was an advanced text-book on medical phys- 

 ics, with several hundred illustrations. He left 

 a widow, but no children. 



Elsberg, Louis, an American physician, born 

 in Iserlohn, Prussia, April 2, 1836; died in 

 New York city, Feb. 19, 1885. He emigrated 

 to Philadelphia with his parents in 1849, was 

 educated in the public schools of that city, and 

 was graduated at Jefferson Medical College in 

 1857. For six months after graduation he was 

 resident physician at Mount Sinai Hospital in 

 New York. He then studied in Europe for a 

 year, and returning, settled for practice in New 

 York. He delivered a course of lectures at 

 University Medical College in 1861, and in 

 1862 established the first public clinic for dis- 

 eases of the throat. This was his specialty, 

 and he contributed largely to the literature of 

 the subject, both by lectures and published pa- 

 pers. In 1865 a prize gold medal was awarded 

 by the American Medical Association to his 

 essay on " Laryngoscopical Surgery, illustrated 

 in the Treatment of Morbid Growths within 

 the Larynx." From 1880 to 1884 he published 

 the "Archives of Laryngology," a quarterly. 

 He was Jtye first to demonstrate and teach, in 

 America, tjie use and value of the laryngoscope 

 in diagnosis and treatment. 



