696 



OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. 



Perry, Benjamin Franklin, an American lawyer, 

 born in Pendleton District, S. C., Nov. 20, 

 1805; died in Sans Souci, Greenville, S. 0., 

 Dec. 3, 1886. He was graduated at South 

 Carolina College in 1824, studied law in the 

 office of Col. James Gregg, of Columbia, and 

 was admitted to the bar in 1827. In 1832, on 

 becoming editor of the Greenville " Mountain- 

 eer," he boldly attacked the Nullification party 

 in the State, not sparing its leader, John 0. 

 Calhoun. His action excited bitter enmity, 

 and strong influences were employed to induce 

 him to abandon his Union proclivities, but in 

 vain. He was a Union man at heart ; the 

 sturdy defense of his principles, and the per- 

 sistent warfare upon his political enemies, led 

 to the building up of a Union party in the 

 State, and when, in 1832, a Union Convention 

 was held, he was its leading spirit. The 

 strength of the Union party was put to a test 

 in 1834, when Mr. Perry received its nomina- 

 tion for Congress; and, although he was de- 

 feated, the majority against him was so small 

 as to be a matter of encouragement to his fol- 

 lowers. In 1836 he was elected to the Legis- 

 lature, where he served until 1844, when he 

 went to the State Senate, and there, too, he 

 labored earnestly for the Union cause. Recog- 

 nizing the growing spirit of secession, he es- 

 tablished, in 1850, a Union newspaper at Green- 

 ville, and in the State Convention of the follow- 

 ing year he delivered stirring appeals to the 

 honor and loyalty of its members. But the 

 tide was beyond his strength. When the State 

 seceded in 1860, he informed Gov. Means that, 

 while he had tried for thirty years to prevent 

 the act, honor and patriotism required him to 

 stand by his State, right or wrong. Under the 

 Confederacy he held the offices of District 

 Attorney and District Judge, and at the close 

 of the war he was appointed Provisional Gov- 

 ernor by President Johnson. He was subse- 

 quently elected United States Senator, but was 

 not permitted to take his seat. 



Phelps, John Smith, an American lawyer, born 

 in Simsbury, Hartford County, Conn., Dec. 22, 

 1814; died in St. Louis, Mo., Nov. 20, 1886. 

 'He was educated at Washington (now Trinity) 

 College, Hartford, Conn. ; studied law in the 

 office of his father, Elisha Phelps; practiced 

 for a short time in his native State, and set- 

 tled in Springfield, Greene County, Mo., in 

 1837. In 1840 he was elected to the Legisla- 

 ture; in 1841 was appointed brigade-inspector 

 of militia; and in 1844 was elected to Con- 

 gress, serving continuously till the close of the 

 Thirty-sixth Congress, and being a member of 

 the Select Committee of Thirty-three on the 

 Rebellious States. During his congressional 

 service he was chairman of the Committee of 

 Ways and Means for seven terms. He was re- 

 elected to the Thirty-seventh Congress, but 

 resigned and entered the army as a colonel of 

 volunteers under an appointment by President 

 Lincoln. In 1862 he was appointed by Presi- 

 dent Lincoln Military Governor of Arkansas. 



In 1866 he was a delegate to the National 

 Union Convention in Philadelphia; in 1867 

 was appointed a commissioner to settle the war 

 claims of Indiana; and in 1876 he was elected 

 Governor of Missouri as a Democrat, serving 

 four years. This proved to be his last public 

 service, as his sufferings from rheumatism pre- 

 vented his acceptance of any additional honors. 



Philbrick, John Dudley, an American educator, 

 born in Deerfield, N. H., May 27, 1818 ; died 

 in Danvers, Mass., Feb. 2, 1886. He was 

 graduated at Dartmouth College in 1842, and 

 began teaching in the Roxbury Latin School. 

 Two years later he was appointed a teacher in 

 the English High-School, Boston, where he 

 gradually introduced some notable ideas of his 

 own in the methods of instruction. His sys- 

 tem in practical results was so far in advance 

 of the prevailing one as to attract the atten- 

 tion of leading educators, and met with such 

 approbation that in 1847 he was requested to 

 organize a school upon his own plans. The 

 Quincy Grammar-School was the result, and 

 this became the basis of the new school system 

 throughout Boston. The distinctive features 

 of " the Quincy system " soon excited a pro- 

 found discussion throughout this country and 

 in England. In 1852 Prof. Philbrick was ap- 

 pointed Principal of the Connecticut State Nor- 

 mal School, resigning the next year to accept 

 the State superintendency of schools. He was 

 recalled to Boston in 1857, and elected Superin- 

 tendent of Schools in that city, which office he 

 retained until 1874, when he resigned ; but in 

 1876 he was re-elected and served two years 

 longer. In 1873 he was the Educational Com- 

 missioner of Massachusetts to the Vienna Ex- 

 hibition, in 1876 to the Centennial at Philadel- 

 phia, and in 1878 to the Universal at Paris, 

 and for his eminent services at the latter was 

 created a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. 

 He received the degree of Ph. D. from Dart- 

 mouth College, that of LL. D. from Bates Col- 

 lege, and that of D. C. L. from the University 

 of St. Andrews, Edinburgh, Scotland. Prof. 

 Philbrick was President of the Teachers' Asso- 

 ciations of Massachusetts and Connecticut, of 

 the American Institute of Instruction, and of 

 the National Education Association ; was edi- 

 tor of the "Massachusetts Teacher" and the 

 " Connecticut Common-School Journal " ; was 

 a member of the Massachusetts State Board of 

 Education for ten years, and of the govern- 

 ment of the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- 

 nology. He was a popular lecturer, a volumi- 

 nous writer on education, and author of sev- 

 eral valuable text-books. 



Pike, Austin Franklin, an American lawyer, 

 born in Hebron, N. H., Oct. 16, 1819; died on 

 his farm, in Franklin, N. II., Oct. 8, 1886. Mr. 

 Pike was bred to farm-life, and in his native 

 town began his education under a predecessor, 

 the late U. S. Senator George G. Fogg, and 

 continued it at Holmes Academy, Plymouth. 

 After completing his academic studies at the 

 age of twenty-two years, he entered upon the 



