654 



OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. 



Prime, Rnfns, an American merchant, born in 

 New York city, in 1805 ; died in Huntington, 

 L. I., his country residence, Oct. 15, 1885. He 

 was a son of Nathaniel Prime, head of the 

 great banking-house of Prime, Ward, & King, 

 and was graduated at Yale College. He after- 

 ward engaged in business with three friends, 

 the firm being Christmas, Livingston, Prime, 

 & Costar. After his father's death, in 1843, he 

 devoted himself to the care of the large estate. 

 He was familiar with several languages, and 

 had literary tastes. 



Shaw, Henry W., an American humorist, 

 born in Lanes borough, Mass., in 1818; died in 

 Monterey, Cal., Oct. 14, 1885. At the age of 

 fifteen he went to the West to seek his fortune. 

 He was a hand on steamboats on the Ohio 

 river, then a farmer, occasionally an auc- 

 tioneer, and led a somewhat unsettled life for 

 several years. In 1858 he settled in Pough- 

 keepsie, N. Y., and went into business as an 

 auctioneer. His first contribution to current 

 literature was published in 1863, and bore the 

 pen-name of "Josh Billings," by which he was 

 ever after known. His writings are mainly in 

 the form of homely maxims, which contain a 

 great deal of shrewd sense as well as genuine 

 humor. They were made especially noticeable 

 by a quaintness imparted by phonetic spelling. 

 Most of them were produced in short install- 

 ments for a New York weekly paper. He lect- 

 ured throughout the country, and published 

 four volumes of his sketches, besides an annual 

 comic almanac. Francis S. Smith published a 

 life of him in New York in 1883. 



Smillio. James, an American engraver, born in 

 Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1807; died in New 

 York city, Dec. 5, 1885. He was apprenticed 

 at first to a silver-engraver, who soon died, 

 and afterward was placed with an engraver of 

 pictures. At the age of fourteen he emigrated 

 with his father and brothers to Quebec, and 

 worked there with them as a jeweler. Lord 

 Dalhousie was struck with his skill, and sent 

 him to London to study engraving with the 

 best masters of that art ; but he failed to make 

 an engagement there, worked for a time in 

 Edinburgh, returned to Quebec, and finally, in 

 1829, settled in New York, where he spent the 

 remainder of his life. He became a member of 

 the National Academy in 1851. He did a great 

 deal in the way of bank-note engraving, but 

 was especially eminent as a landscape-engraver, 

 being considered the best in America. He en- 



" Evening in the New York Highlands," Ken- 

 sett's " Mount Washington," Cropsey's " Amer- 

 ican Harvesting," Huntingdon's "Land of the 

 Cypress," and many other famous pictures. 

 His two sons James D. and George H. Smillie 

 are well-known artists. 



Tyng, Stephen Higginson, an American clergy- 

 man, born in Newburyport, Mass., March 1, 

 1800 ; died at Irvington-on the-Hudson, Sept. 



4, 1885. He was graduated at Harvard Col- 

 lege in 1817 t studied theology two years later, 

 and in 1821 entered the Episcopal ministry. 

 He preached for two years in Georgetown, 

 D. C., then for six years in Prince George's 

 County, Md., in 1829 became rector of St. Paul's 

 Church in Philadelphia, in 1883 of the Church 

 of the Epiphany in New York, and in 1845 of 

 St. George's Church in that city. This pasto- 

 rate he held till 1878, when he was retired as 

 pastor emeritus. His published works include 

 " Lectures on the Law and the Gospel," " Rec- 

 ollections of England," " The Captive Orphan," 

 " Forty Years in Sunday Schools," and " The 

 Feast Enjoyed." He edited for several years 

 the '' Episcopal Recorder " and the " Protestant 

 Churchman." 



Warner, Susan, an American novelist, born in 

 New York in 1818; died, March 18, 1885. 

 She was a daughter of Henry W. Warner, who 

 wrote " The Liberties of America " and other 

 works. Under the pen-name of Elizabeth 

 Wetherell, she published in 1850 her first 

 story, "The Wide, Wide World," which she 

 only intended as a juvenile, but which attained 

 great popularity and was read by all classes on 

 both sides of the Atlantic. Her subsequent 

 works include "Queechy," "The Law and 

 the Testimony," " The Hills of the Shatemuc," 

 "The Old Helmet," "Melbourne House," and 

 numerous juvenile stories, some of them writ- 

 ten in collaboration with her sister Anna. 

 Some of her works have been translated into 

 several of the Continental languages. About 

 1860 the sisters purchased Constitution Island, 

 in the Hudson, near West Point, and made 

 their home there. 



William-. William R., an American clergyman, 

 born in New York city, Oct. 14, 1804; died there, 

 April 1, 1885. He was graduated at Columbia 

 College in 1822. studied law, and practiced for 

 a short time. He then became a Baptist min- 

 ister, and in 1831 accepted the pastorate of 

 the Amity Street Church (then just founded), 

 which he retained till the end of his life. He 

 was a profound scholar, and made a remarka- 

 ble collection of books, which filled his house 

 from bottom to top. His published works in- 

 clude "Religious Progress," "Lectures on the 

 Lord's Prayer," "God's Rescues," and "Mis- 

 cellanies." 



Wright, Eliznr, an American abolitionist, born 

 in South Canaan, Conn., Feb. 12, 1804; died 

 in Medford, Mass., Nov. 22, 1885. When six 

 years of age, he removed with his family to 

 Tallmadge, O., where he remained until 1822, 

 working upon a farm and studying at an acad- 

 emy conducted by his father. Ilis home was 

 often the refuge of escaped slaves, and he ac- 

 quired strong anti-slavery opinions, contend- 

 ing for abolition upon the ground that the 

 bondage of the negro was an injustice and 

 harm to the majority of white men, and inter- 

 fered with the natural right of man to usejiis 

 hands in labor for himself. He entered Yale 

 College, paying his expenses largely by tutor- 



