676 



OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. 



nated William Henry Harrison for President, 

 and on his return to New Hampshire he par- 

 ticipated actively in the canvas. He was ap- 

 pointed United States District Attorney for 

 New Hampshire in 1841, and held that office 

 until the Polk Administration, when he was 

 succeeded by Franklin Pierce. He was made 

 judge of the Probate Court for Carroll County 

 in 1856, and held that office until disqualified 

 by age in 1868. He was nominated by the 

 Republicans for Congress in 1863, but was de- 

 feated by Daniel Marcy, by a plurality of eighty. 

 In 1868 he was chosen a presidential elector, 

 after which he partially retired from the active 

 duties of his profession and resided quietly in 

 his home at Cbnway. 



Eells, James, an American clergyman, born 

 in Westmoreland, N. Y., Aug. 27, 1822 ; died 

 in Cincinnati, Ohio, March 9, 1886. He was 

 graduated at Hamilton College in 1844, pur- 

 sued his theological studies at Western Reserve 

 and Auburn Seminaries, and was ordained and 

 installed as pastor at Penn Yan, N. Y., by the 

 Presbytery of G-eneva in August, 1851. He 

 was settled in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1855-'59 and 

 1870-74; in Brooklyn, N. Y., in 1860-'70; in 

 Oakland, Cal., in 1874-'79 ; and was a profess- 

 or in the San Francisco Theological Seminary 

 in 1877-'79. In the latter year he was chosen 

 Professor of Homiletics and Pastoral Theology 

 in Lane Theological Seminary. He was mod- 

 erator of the General Assembly of the Presby- 

 terian Church in the United States at Chicago, 

 111., in 1877. In 1861 he received the degree 

 of D. D. from New York University, and in 

 1881 that of LL. D. from Marietta College. 



Ellis, Snmner, an American clergyman, born 

 about 1825 ; died in Chicago, 111., Jan. 26, 1886. 

 He was installed as colleague to the Rev. Se- 

 bastian Streeter, of the First Universalist 

 Church of Boston, Mass., Nov. 11, 1851, and 

 resigned Dec. 25, 1853. In 1864, when the 

 Shawmut Avenue Universalist Church was 

 re-dedicated, he was installed as associate pas- 

 tor with the Rev. Dr. T. B. Thayer, and held 

 the place until October, 1865. He held pas- 

 torates in Lynn and Salem, Mass., Newark, 

 N. J., and Chicago, 111., first taking temporary 

 charge and afterward becoming the pastor of 

 St. Paul's Church in the latter city, succeed- 

 ing the Rev. Dr. Ryder. He was the author 

 of several works, among which are "At our 

 Best," "Hints on Preaching," and "A Life 

 of Edward H. Chapin, D. D." 



Ely, Nathan C., an American agriculturist, 

 "born in Simsbury, Conn., in 1808; died in 

 New York city, May 30, 1886. He came to 

 New York when twenty-one years old, and 

 engaged in distilling. In 1851 he abandoned 

 this, and organized the Peter Cooper Fire-In- 

 surance Company, of which he was made presi- 

 dent, holding the place until his death. In 

 1850 he was elected a member of the Common 

 Council from the Seventeenth Ward in 1854, was 

 re-elected, and in the same year was chosen 

 president of the board. He was also at one 



time President of the Board of Supervisors. 

 Mr. Ely was more generally known, however, 

 from his connection with the Farmers' Club, 

 an association of New York business men, who 

 were largely interested in agriculture, as well 

 as from his long identification with the Ameri- 

 can Institute, having been president of both 

 organizations for many years. Much of the 

 success of the annual fairs of the American In- 

 stitute was due to his skill as an organizer and 

 an executive. 



Fairbanks, Tbaddens, an American inventor, 

 born in Brom field, Mass., in 1796 ; died in St. 

 Johnsbury, Vt., April 12, 1886. He received 

 a common-school education, and was associated 

 with his father, a carpenter and miller, for 

 many years. An elder brother, Hon. Erastus 

 Fairbanks, had settled in St. Johnsbury and 

 engaged in the manufacture of stoves and 

 plows. Recognizing the natural inventive skill 

 of his brother, Erastus induced him to remove 

 thither. For a time the brothers confined 

 themselves to stoves and plows, of which 

 Thaddeus invented many styles; but the 

 "hemp-fever" of 1829-'30 turned his atten- 

 tion in another direction, and the first result 

 was the invention of the hemp-dressing ma- 

 chine. As he lived in a district where a great 

 deal of hemp was raised, the difficulty of 

 weighing it by the old-fashioned method sug- 

 gested the idea of inventing a more convenient 

 kind of scale. He at once gave his attention 

 to the subject, and produced a rude apparatus, 

 which met the approbation of the hemp-grow- 

 ers. After making various improvements, h( 

 at last hit upon the principle of leverage, upon 

 which the present platform -scale is based. 

 His invention was patented June 13, 1831, and 

 several reissues were subsequently obtained. 

 The most essential improvements were the em- 

 ployment of the levers only in the construc- 

 tion of the scale, and the use of knife-edge 

 bearings, resting upon plain, polished steel 

 surfaces. The brothers joined their inter 

 and began the manufacture of scales, making, 

 first, a style adapted to the wants of the hemp- 

 growers, then one for weighing hay, and after- 

 ward, as the new apparatus rose in popularity, 

 through more than one hundred modifications 

 of the original scale, they produced a style re- 

 quisite in every possible kind of business, from 

 the most delicate apothecary's balances to 

 weigh -lock scales having a capacity of 250 

 tons. The greater part of the machinery used 

 in the manufacture of the scales was also de- 

 signed and made by Thaddeus. The long and 

 short graduating-marks on the scale-beams are 

 made by a beautiful piece of mechanism of his 

 invention, he having discovered that the old 

 process of marking by means of a chisel and 

 mallet lengthened the beam, and therefore 

 created an inaccuracy in weighing. His in- 

 vention produced a revolution in the mode of 

 weighing throughout the world, and met a 

 practical requirement as much as any known 

 modern modern invention, of whatever char- 



