OBITUARIES, AMERICAN". 



667 



Too close application to study seriously im- 

 paired his health, and he sought restoration in 

 the gold-mines of California. He acquired con- 

 siderable wealth during the mining-fever, but 

 lost it in a fire in San Francisco, where he had 

 made large investments in real estate. While 

 in California he was an unsuccessful candidate 

 for the Legislature, but served San Francisco 

 one term as alderman. On the loss of his 

 property he returned to New York, resumed 

 his studies, and was admitted to the bar. In 

 1870 he removed to Brooklyn, and in the fol- 

 lowing year was elected District Attorney of 

 Kings County. He was removed from office 

 by Gov. Dix, upon charges of malfeasance, but 

 was a successful candidate for re-election at the 

 next election. He had a lucrative practice. 



Brooks, Erastns, an American journalist, born 

 in Portland, Me., Jan. 31, 1815; died in West 

 New Brighton, S. L, Nov. 25, 1886. His father 

 died when the boy was eight years old, and he 

 was sent to Boston to earn his living, and became 

 clerk for a grocer there, at the same time at- 

 tending an evening-school. He then became a 

 printer's errand-boy, and afterward published 

 a newspaper called "The Yankee " at Wiscas- 

 set, Me., serving at once as editor, publisher, 

 compositor, press-boy, and carrier. Leading 

 articles, essays, and stories were composed as 

 he set the types, without the intervention of 

 manuscript. In addition to this, he prepared 

 himself for college, entered Brown University, 

 and remained there for some time, but was 

 not graduated, and then became principal of a 

 grammar-school at Haverhill, Mass. He also 

 returned to journalism, buying part of the 

 Haverhill " Gazette." He finally sold out to 

 John G. Whittier, and in 1836 became Wash- 

 ington correspondent of the New York "Daily 

 Advertiser," and of several New England pa- 

 pers. In the same year he became joint editor 

 and proprietor of the New York " Express," 

 with his brother, James Brooks, who had just 

 established that paper. Erastus Brooks was 

 its Washington correspondent for sixteen suc- 

 cessive sessions of Congress, and in 1843 wrote 

 letters to it from abroad. He was in the New 

 York State Senate in 1853-'57, and by his sup- 

 port of the bill divesting Roman Catholic bish- 

 ops of the title to church property in real estate 

 became involved in a discussion with Arch- 

 bishop Hughes, which was afterward published 

 in two rival volumes (New York, 1855). In 

 1856 he was the unsuccessful candidate of the 

 American party for Governor of New York, 

 but led his party vote by several thousand. 

 He subsequently joined the Democratic party, 

 was a delegate to the State Constitutional Con- 

 vention in 1867, and in 1871 became one of the 

 Constitutional Commission. In 1878, 1879, and 

 1881 he was elected to the Assembly, nominated 

 by his party associates for Speaker in each year, 

 and was the leading Democratic member of the 

 Ways and Means Committee. In May, 1880, 

 Mr. Brooks became a member of the State 

 Board of Health. In April, 1886, he delivered 



before the New York Legislature, by its invi- 

 tation, a eulogy on his friend Horatio Seymour. 



Butler, George I!., an American lawyer, born 

 in New Haven, Conn., in 1809; died in New 

 York city, April 13, 1886. He came to New 

 York early in life, and in 1834 was appointed 

 Deputy Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas, 

 but retired, and formed a law - partnership 

 with Daniel Lord. On the organization of 

 the Hudson River Railroad Company, Mr. 

 Butler became its secretary and legal adviser, 

 but retired on its completion, and became as- 

 sociate editor, and then one of the proprie- 

 tors, of the "Journal of Commerce." He 

 afterward left the paper in consequence of 

 differences of opinion between himself and 

 his partners on the Missouri question. He 

 was a warm friend of Alexander T. Stewart, 

 and was his attorney from 1859 till 1871. 

 Mr. Butler was one of the earliest members 

 of the Union League Club, and was the 

 founder of the Society for the Protection of 

 American Industry, of which Gen. Grant was 

 first president. 



Campbell, John Lyle, an American chemist, 

 born in Rockbridge County, Va., Dec. 7, 

 1818; died in Lexington, Va., Feb. 2, 1886. 

 He was a grandson of Alexander Campbell, 

 one of the originators of Liberty Hall Acad- 

 emy, an institution that in time became Wash- 

 ington College, where he was graduated in 

 1843, after which he taught in the male acad- 

 emy in Staunton, and later had charge of an 

 academy in Richmond, Ky. In 1851 he was 

 called to the Robinson professorship of Chem- 

 istry and Geology in Washington University, 

 which chair he continued to fill until his 

 death. His vacations for nearly thirty years 

 were devoted to a minute and exhaustive 

 study of the mountain districts of Virginia. 

 Concerning the geology of the Appalachian 

 region, he was for years a leading authority, 

 and prepared valuable reports on the mineral 

 resources of this region. Besides articles on 

 geology, which appeared in the " American 

 Journal of Science," he published " A Manual 

 of Scientific and Practical Agriculture for the 

 School and the Farm" (Philadelphia, 1859); 

 "Geology and Mineral Resources of the James 

 River Valley, Virginia," illustrated (New York, 

 1882) ; and, with Dr. W. H. Ruffner, " A Physi- 

 cal Survey in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, 

 along the Line of the Georgia Pacific Railway," 

 illustrated (New York, 1883). 



Capen, Nahum, an American author, born in 

 Canton, Mass., April 1, 1804; died in Boston, 

 Jan. 4, 1886. He was educated in the public 

 schools of his native town. At the age of 

 twenty he went to Boston and engaged in 

 the publishing business, which he followed for 

 many years, devoting much of his time to lit- 

 erary pursuits. He was among the first to 

 memorialize Congress on the subject of an 

 international copyright, and a letter from him, 

 published by order of the U. S. Senate, led to 

 the organization of the Census Bureau at Wash- 



