666 



OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. 



and continued the business until 1836, when, 

 with another brother, John A. Blake, the firm 

 of Blake Brothers was established. A factory- 

 was built at Westville for the manufacture of 

 door-locks and latches, principally of their own 

 invention. Subsequently the business was ex- 

 tended so as to include casters, hinges, and 

 similar articles of hardware, most of which 

 were patented. In this branch of manufacture 

 they were among the pioneers, and they origi- 

 nated many of the characteristic forms of 

 American household hardware. In 1852 Mr. 

 Blake's attention was directed to the great 

 need of a suitable apparatus for crushing stone 

 into fragments of nearly uniform size ; and, 

 after five years of study, he produced and pat- 

 ented the Blake stone-breaker, which is now 

 used all over the world, and which for origi- 

 nality, simplicity, and effectiveness has been 

 regarded as almost unique. Mr. Blake was 

 always a student of science, and gave special 

 thought to physics and mathematics. He was 

 one of the founders of the Connecticut Acad- 

 emy of Science, and for several years its presi- 

 dent. In 1879 he received the degree of LL. D. 

 from Yale. He contributed valuable papers on 

 technical subjects to various journals, princi- 

 pally the "American Journal of Science," and 

 most of these were published under the title, 

 "Original Solutions of Several Problems in 

 Aerodynamics " (New Haven, 1882). 



Bowen, James, an American soldier, born in 

 New York city in 1808; died in Hastings-on- 

 Hudson, N. Y., Sept. 29, 1886. His father, 

 who was a successful merchant, left him an 

 ample fortune. He was a member of several 

 New York clubs, where he was the intimate 

 associate of Moses H. Grinnell, Richard M. 

 Blatcbford, James Watson Webb, and Thur- 

 low Weed, and had the reputation of being an 

 authority on literary subjects. He was also 

 intimate with Daniel Webster ; and it is re- 

 lated that at one of his dinner-parties, given 

 while he was Secretary of State, Mr. Bowen 

 said to him, " I want you to do me a favor," 

 to which Webster responded, "To the half of 

 my kingdom." Gen. Bowen was the first 

 President of the Erie Railway, continuing in 

 office several years. He was a member of the 

 Assembly in 1848-'49, and first President of 

 the Metropolitan Board of Police Commission- 

 ers, established by the law of 1855. He raised 

 several regiments at the beginning of the civil 

 war, and they were formed into a brigade, of 

 which he took command, being made brigadier- 

 general of volunteers, Oct. 11, 1862. After 

 Gen. Banks had succeeded Gen. Butler in 

 command at New Orleans, Gen. Bowen served 

 there as provost-marshal-general of the De- 

 partment of the Gulf. He resigned on July 

 27, 1864, and on March 13, 1868, was brevet- 

 ted major-general of volunteers. In the latter 

 part of his life Gen. Bowen was for many 

 years Commissioner of Charities, to which 

 office he was appointed by Mayor Havemeyer. 

 He was an intimate friend of W. H. Seward. 



Brentano, Angnst, an American bookseller, 

 born in the Austrian Tyrol in 1829; died in 

 Chicago, 111., Nov. 2, 1886. He came to the 

 United States in November, 1853, settling in 

 Brooklyn, N. Y., where he attended the pub- 

 lic schools to learn the English language. In 

 the following year he began his business ca- 

 reer by selling daily newspapers on the streets 

 of New York city. Through the interest of 

 the late Postmaster Fowler, he was permittted ' 

 to establish a news-stand at the New York 

 Hotel. Here he acquired many customers, 

 and began taking subscriptions for foreign 

 newspapers and the popular books of the day. 

 From this hotel he went to the Lafarge House, 

 and then to the Smithsonian, on Broadway and 

 Houston Street. In 1860 he took a store on 

 Broadway near Bleecker Street. During the 

 war he issued bulletins whenever news was 

 received from the front. By this time he was 

 keeping a large stock of the leading publica- 

 tions of England, France, Germany, and Amer- 

 ica, and his importations of books were becom- 

 ing very heavy. In 1870 he opened a store at 

 No. 33 Union Square, and in 1875 he went to 

 No. 39. This became a fashionable family re- 

 sort for books and papers, besides supplying 

 the clubs, foreign visitors, and professional 

 men generally. He established branch stores 

 in Washington, D. C., and Chicago, 111., and in 

 1877 disposed of his New York store to his 

 nephews, and went to Chicago to reside. 



Brickman, Arthur 0., an American clergyman, 

 born in Konigsburg, Prussia, in 1826; died in 

 Baltimore, Md., Jan. 5, 1886. He was a son 

 of Dr. Arthur Brickman, one of the most prom- 

 inent German physicians of his time, said to 

 have been related to the royal family. He 

 studied in the University of St. Petersburg, 

 Russia, but was graduated at the University 

 of Leipsic, and entered the ministry of the 

 Lutheran Church. Becoming identified with 

 the revolution of 1848, he was exiled from his 

 country, came to America, and settled in Pitts- 

 burg, Pa., where for several years he was pas- 

 tor of a Lutheran congregation. During the 

 civil war he was chaplain of the First Maryland 

 Regiment. A systematic course of reading of 

 Swedenborgian works led him to a close con- 

 nection with that denomination. For thirty 

 years he published in Baltimore, in the Ger- 

 man language, a semi-monthly called "Der 

 Bote der Neuen Kirche," devoted to Sweden- 

 borgian interests. He was an accomplished 

 linguist, reading, writing, and speaking nine 

 languages. He translated the New Testament 

 from the Chaldaic into English, and was the 

 author of several works on religious subjects. 



Britton, Winchester, an American lawyer, born 

 in North Adams, Mass., April 9, 1826 ; died 

 in Brooklyn, N. Y., Feb. 13, 1886. He attend- 

 ed the Troy (N. Y.) Conference Academy, and 

 when twenty-one years old entered Union Col- 

 lege, subsequently becoming a student in John 

 Van Buren's law-office, and taking a course 

 of lectures at the Cherry Valley Law-School. 



