OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. 



who prevailed upon him to remove to Kirkland, 

 Ohio, by alleging that he had been designated 

 by revelation for the apostles-hip and even 

 higher honor in the church. In the following 

 year Smith announced that it had been re- 

 vealed to him that Taylor and several others 

 had been chosen to constitute a quorum of the 

 twelve apostles to till vacancies, upon which 

 Taylor was sent on a mission to England, reach- 

 ing Liverpool in January, 1840. After preach- 

 ing Mormonisin in Ireland and on the Isle of 

 Man, he ma<le a brief trip to Scotland, and re- 

 turned to the new Mormon community at Nau- 

 voo, 111., in January, 1841. In the early part 

 of 1844. charges of sedition and disloyalty hav- 

 ing been made against the community, the 

 Smith brothers, John Taylor, and William Rich- 

 ards voluntarily surrendered themselves, at 

 the suggestion of Gov. Ford, to stand trial on 

 the charges. They were placed in the Car- 

 thage jail for protection against the fury of the 

 populace, but on the night of June 27 the jail 

 was attacked, the guard overpowered, and the 

 Mormons fired upon ; Joseph and Hyrum Smith 

 were killed, John Taylor was struck by four 

 bullets, and Richards made his escape. In 1846 

 Taylor was again sent to England as a mission- 

 ary, remaining less than a year, and on his re- 

 turn going direct to the new settlement in Salt 

 Lake City, Utah. He was elected one of the 

 associate judges of the Mormon state of Des- 

 eret iu March, 1849, and in the following Oc- 

 tober went on a mission to France, where he 

 translated the " Book of Mormon " into French. 

 He then went to Hamburg and had the work 

 translated into German and published, return- 

 ing to Salt Lake City in 1852. where two years 

 later he was elected a member of the legis- 

 lative council. In 1855 he began a mission in 

 New York city, published ' The Mormon," and 

 assumed charge of the Mormons in the Eastern 

 States. He was President of the Twelve Apos- 

 tles in 1877, when Brighain Young died, and 

 as such remained at the head of the church 

 till October, 1880. when he organized the first 

 presidency of the church anew, taking the chief 

 place himself. In March, 1885, he was indict- 

 ed with others by a Federal grand jury under 

 the Edmunds law, but being warned of the 

 intentions of the authorities secreted himself, 

 an'l remained in hiding till his death. 



Thwher, George Hornell. an American manu- 

 facturer, born in Hornellsville, Steuben County, 

 N. Y., June 4, 1818; died in St. Augustine, 

 Fla., Feb. 15, 1887. He was a descendant of 

 Rev. Thomas Thacher, first pastor of the old 

 South Church, Boston, and, on the maternal 

 side, of the founder of Hornellsville. He was 

 graduated at Union College, Schenectady, 

 N. Y., in 1843, and Princeton Theological 

 Seminary a few years later. As a Democrat, 

 he was elected Mayor of the city of Albany. 

 N. Y., shortly before the opening of the civil 

 war, and by re-elections served throughout 

 four terms. He was the first chief magistrate 

 to permit the Abolitionists to exercise the right 



of free speech. They had been mobbed in 

 nearly every city where they had attempted to 

 have a public hearing; but he enforced their 

 rights as citizens to free speech, at the head of 

 the entire police forces, and personally intro- 

 duced Frederick Douglass. His coolness and 

 determined preparations effectually overawed 

 the rough element that went from New York 

 to break up the meeting. Mr. Thacher was 

 vice-president of the Albany City Bank, and 

 president of the Thacher Car-Wheel Company. 

 His son, John Boyd Thacher, was Mavor of 

 Albany in 1887. 



Thorinsrton, James an American consul, born 

 in North Carolina in 1816; died in Santa Fe, 

 N. M., June 13, 1887. He removed to Iowa 

 in early life, and, after holding many political 

 trusts, was a representative in Congress from 

 1855 till 1859, and United States Consul at 

 Aspinwall from 1871 till 1883. 



Toisey, Sinclair, an American newsdealer, born 

 in New Haven, Conn., Jan. 18, 1815; died in 

 New York city June 16, 1887. He received 

 a common-school education, and up to his 

 eighteenth year was engaged in various occu- 

 pations. In 1833 he went to New York city 

 with a large quantity of quinces in which he 

 had invested his savings, and, selling them ad- 

 vantageously, became a newspaper carrier, de- 

 livering the " Evening Star " and the morning 

 " Jeffereonian " to subscribers, and later being 

 the first regular carrier of the >; Herald." In 

 1836 he was appointed general agent in all 

 the States bordering on the Mississippi for a 

 large patent-medicine concern. He resided in 

 Louisville, Ky., establishing agencies in various 

 cities, and founding the " Louisville Daily 

 Times," the first penny paper published west 

 of the Alleghany mountains. In 1840 he re- 

 turned to New York State and engaged in 

 farming till 1853, when he became a partner 

 with Messrs. Ross and Jones, wholesale news- 

 agents and booksellers, on Nassau Street. In 

 May, 1860, Mr. Tousey bought out his partners, 

 and on Feb. 1, 1864, the American News Com- 

 pany was organized. Mr. Tonsey became the 

 first president, and held the office till death. 

 He was an active anti-slavery man, one of the 

 first members of the Republican p.-irty. a fre- 

 quent writer for the press, a member of the 

 Union League Club, the Society for the Pre- 

 vention of Cruelty to Animals, and the Society 

 for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, 

 vice-president of the Hahnemann Hospital 

 Association, and for many years chairman of 

 the executive committee of the New York 

 Prison Association, devoting a large part of his 

 time to the work of the latter. 



Travers, William Prigein, an American finan- 

 cier, born in Baltimore. Md., in 1819; died in 

 Hamilton, Bermuda, March 19, 1887. When he 

 was about sixteen years old the family re- 

 moved to New York city, from which he en- 

 tered the United States Military Academy. At 

 the expiration of two years his father induced 

 him to abandon the idea of a military career, 



