586 



OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. 



He had entered college with the intention of 

 preparing for the ministry, but while a student 

 he became interested in the system of mental 

 philosophy expounded by Spurzheim and 

 Combe, and put its principles to practice. His 

 success, in class-room lectures and in examin- 

 ing the heads of his fellow-students, led him 

 to pursue phrenology as a profession. Taking 

 his brother Lorenzo in partnership, he re- 

 moved to New York city, established an office 

 in old Clinton Hall, on Nassau Street, and 

 began the publication of " The Phrenological 

 Journal " in 1838. lie wrote books rapidly, 

 was active in works of reform and progress, 

 an opponent of slavery, intemperance, and 

 other evils, and became the recognized founder 

 of practical phrenology in the United States. 

 In 1843 the' Fowler brothers admitted Samuel 

 R. Wells into the firm, which then took the 

 name of Fowler & Wells. Orson Fowler re- 

 mained with the firm, lecturing, writing books, 

 and editing "The Phrenological Journal," till 

 1865, when he withdrew to devote himself to 

 lectures and examinations exclusively. From 

 that time till within a month of his death he 

 spent ten months of the year in lecture-tours 

 through the United States. His most impor- 

 tant books are : " Memory and Intellectual Im- 

 provement " ; " Self-Culture and Perfection of 

 Character " ; " Physiology, Mental and Ani- 

 mal"; "Matrimony"; " Hereditary Descent "; 

 " Phrenology Proved, Illustrated, and Ap- 

 plied " ; and " Self-Instructor in Phrenology." 



Francis, Charles Stephen, an American pub- 

 lisher, born in Boston, Mass., June 9, 1805 ; 

 died in Tarry to wn, N. Y., Dec. 1, 1887. He 

 was a son of David Francis, of the Boston 

 book-publishing house of Monroe & Francis, 

 and learned the printing-trade and book-selling 

 business under his father. When twenty-one 

 years of age he removed to New York city, 

 and engaged in book-selling on Broadway, near 

 Dey Street. In 1838 his brother, David G-. 

 Francis, entered into partnership with him, 

 and later they moved up Broadway nearly to 

 Spring Street. This partnership was kept up 

 till 1860, and Charles carried on the business 

 till about 1877, when he retired and passed the 

 remainder of his life in Tarrytown. His 

 Broadway store was headquarters for men of 

 letters and bibliophiles from all parts of the 

 country. He was the publisher of Audubon's 

 " Birds of America," and the works of William 

 Ellery Channing, William Ware, Rev. Orville 

 Dewey, Rev. Henry W. Bellows, Mrs. Kirk- 

 land, and others, and was the first publisher in 

 this country of Mrs. Browning's works. 



Geddes, James, an American agriculturist, 

 born in Camillus, Onondaga County, N. Y., 

 Nov. 10, 1831 ; died in Syracuse, N. Y., May 

 16, 1887. He was educated at Homer and 

 Cazenova academies, N. Y., and, at the age of 

 seventeen, began work as a civil engineer. 

 Having inherited his father's love of agricult- 

 ure, after the latter's death, he devoted him- 

 self more particularly to the development of 



the farming interests of the State, taking his 

 father's place in the operations of the Agricult- 

 ural Society. For many years he was a mem- 

 ber of its executive committee, and general 

 manager of its exhibitions. In 1882 he was 

 elected a member of the Legislature, and re- 

 elected the following year. During this serv- 

 ice he secured important amendments to the 

 game laws of the State, and guided all agri- 

 cultural questions that appeared before the 

 Assembly. When the New York Agricultural 

 Experimental Station was established at Ge- 

 neva, Gov. Cornell appointed Mr. Geddes to 

 be its general manager. Personally, he devel- 

 oped one of the largest and finest farms in the 

 State, contributed largely to the agricultural 

 literature of the day, and, in leisure moments, 

 acquainted himself fully with the latest ad- 

 vances in pisciculture. 



Germer, Edward, an American physician, born 

 in Altsbrisach, Baden, Germany, in 1830 ; died 

 in Erie, Pa., Aug. 22, 1887. He was graduated 

 at the Vienna University of Medicine, and, 

 having taken part in the Revolution of 1849, 

 came to the United States upon its suppression. 

 Settling in Erie, Pa., he rapidly rose to promi- 

 nence in local, State, and national medical cir- 

 cles. He served the city as health officer for 

 fifteen years, was president of the State Board 

 of Health under Gov. Pattison, and, at the time 

 of his death, was the elected representative of 

 Pennsylvania to the International Sanitary 

 Convention, held in Vienna a month later. It 

 was through Dr. Germer's efforts that the 

 grave of Gen. Anthony Wayne was discovered, 

 and marked by the State Legislature with a 

 block-house patterned after the original fort. 



GUIespie, Elvia, an American educator, born 

 in Brownsville, Pa. ; died in South Bend, Ind., 

 March 4, 1887. She was a niece of Thomas 

 Swing, Secretary of State under President 

 Harrison, and a cousin of James Gillespie 

 Blaine and of the wife of Gen. W r illiam T. Sher- 

 man. She was educated with the latter at the 

 Georgetown Convent, and during her residence 

 in the national capital was a leader in society, 

 noted for her learning. When twenty-six years 

 old she withdrew from worldly associations, 

 joined the Order of the Sisters of the Holy 

 Cross, and, removing to South Bend, Ind., 

 where the Very Rev. Father Sorin had already 

 founded the University of Notre Dame, estab- 

 lished St. Mary's Academy. Under her ad- 

 ministration this academy became one of the 

 best -known educational institutions in the 

 country. During the war she devoted most of 

 her time to establishing hospitals and oversee- 

 ing the care of sick and wounded soldiers. In 

 1870 she was appointed Mother Superior of the 

 Order of the Sisters of the Holy Cross for the 

 United States, and, as such, founded many fe- 

 male academies throughout the country. Her 

 name in religion was Mother Angelia. 



Goodall, Albert Gallatin, an American engraver, 

 born in Montgomery, Ala., Oct. 31, 1826; died 

 in New York city Feb. 19, 1887. He entered 



