604 



OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. (ANGLE BARKER.) 



spending about $60,000 in perfecting his plans and 

 making them known, and in 1863 found his reward in 

 the adoption by Congress of the present national 

 homestead law.' But his efforts impoverished him ; 

 he lost, piece by piece, all his property. He was too 

 proud to avail himself of the great result of his per- 

 sistent labors, was permitted to spend several years 

 as a common beggar, and on Sept. 30, homeless, 

 friendless, "Land-bill Allen" was sent to the Frank- 

 lin County Infirmary, where he lived scarcely two 

 months. From July 1, 1865, till June 30, 1890, the 

 number of grants of public land under the homestead 

 law aggregated 122,008,887 acres, and in the single year 

 before nis death 5,531,678 acres. 



Angle ; James Lansing, jurist, born in Henrietta, Mon- 

 roe County, N. Y., Dec. 19, 1818; died in Greece, 

 N. Y., May 4, 1891. He received an academical educa- 

 tion, stud'ied law, and was admitted to the bar in 

 Rochester, N. Y., in 1845; was clerk of the Board of 

 Supervisors of Monroe County in 1850-'ol; member 

 of the Assembly in 1854; city attorney in 1857; and 

 chairman of the Board of {Supervisors in 1863-'65. 

 On Dec. 22, 1877, he was appointed by Gov. Robinson 

 a justice of the Supreme Court of New York to till a 

 vacancy, and in 1883 he was elected for a full term, 

 and served until his retirement, on account of having 

 reached the constitutional limit of age, Jan. 1, 1889. 

 He was a Democrat in politics, and was several times 

 an unsuccessful candidate for Congress and for the 

 bench of the Supreme. Court of the State. 



Appleton, John, jurist, born in New Ipswich, N. H., 

 July 12, 1804; died in Bangor, Me., Feb. 7, 1891. He 

 was graduated at Bowdoin College in 1822, studied 

 law, and entered into partnership with Elisha Allen, 

 afterward chief justice of Hawaii and minister resi- 

 dent of that kingdom at Washington. In 1852 he 

 was appointed a" justice of the Supreme Court of 

 Maine, in 1862 was chosen chief justice, and in 1869 

 and 1876 was reappointed justice. He retired from 

 the bench in 1883, and engaged in private practice 

 till 1885, when the infirmities of age caused him to 

 retire. He was one of the most eminent jurists in the 

 State ; as reporter of decisions he compiled two vol- 

 umes of "Maine Reports" (Bangor, 1841); and he 

 was the author of "Appleton on Evidence" (1860). 

 Many important statutory changes in the laws of evi- 

 dence and other branches of jurisprudence resulted 

 from his efforts. 



Axtell, Samuel B., jurist, born in Franklin County, 

 Ohio, Oct. 14, 1819 ; died in Morristown, N. J., Aug. 

 6, 1891. He was educated at Oberlin and Western 

 Reserve Colleges, studied law, and removed to Cali- 

 fornia in 1851. Three years afterward he became 

 prosecuting attorney of Arnador County. In 1867 and 

 1869 he was electe'd to Congress from the 1st Cali- 

 fornia District as a Democrat, and served on the com- 

 mittees on Agriculture and on the Pacific Railroad. 

 Under President Grant he became Governor of Utah 

 Territory in 1874, and under President Hayes he was 

 transferred to New Mexico. In 1882 he was appointed 

 chief justice of the Supreme Court of New Mexico, 

 arc! he held the office till 1885, when he resigned and 

 engaged in practice in Santa Fe. 



Balestier, Woloott, author, born in Rochester, N. Y., 

 Dec. 13, 1861 ; died in Dresden, Germany, Dec. 6, 

 1891. He was educated at Cornell University and 

 the University of Virginia, was engaged in journal- 

 ism in Rochester for a short time, and wrote his first 

 story in 1884. After settling in New York city, he 

 became connected with the Astor Library, editor of 

 " Tkl Bits," a humorous weekly publication, the 

 name of which he changed to '' Time," and, in 1888, 

 the London agent for the Lovell publishing house. 

 In 1889 he entered the publishing business on his own 

 account as junior member of the firm of Heinemann 

 & Balestier, of London and Leipsic, publishers of 

 " The Review of Reviews " in London and of the 

 "English Library," a rival of the Tauchnitz, on the 

 Continent. He was a writer of much promise and 

 popularity. Ilia publications include "A Patent 

 Philtre" (1884); "A Fair Device" (1884); a cam- 



paign life of James G. Elaine (1884); "A Victorious 

 Defeat" (1886); "A Common Story" (1891); and, in 

 conjunction with Rudyard Kipling, a serial novel, 

 " The Naulahka," published in the " Century " maga- 

 zine (1891-'92). He had also completed a novel, 

 " Benefits forgot," and a short story, " Reffey," both 

 of which were announced for publication in the 

 "Century" during 1892. Erasmus Peshine .Smith, 

 the writer on political economy and international law, 

 was Mr. Baiestier's maternal grandfather. 



Banvard, John, painter, born in New York city, in 

 November, 114 ; died in Watertown, S. Dak., May 16, 

 1891. He showed a strong taste for drawing and paint- 

 ing at an early age, but was without means to take 

 lessons. When he was about fifteen years old his 

 father died, and he removed to Louisville, Ky., where 

 he obtained employment in a drug store. All his 

 leisure was applied to unaided art practice, and after 

 a year's service in the drug store he ventured to open 

 a studio. He worked with much care and energy, 

 producing numerous pictures of varied character, but 

 was not successful in selling them. He then deter- 

 mined to make a living by exhibiting his works, 

 and fitted up a flatboat with which to make an ait 

 voyage down the Mississippi. In this fashion he vis- 

 ited many cities and towns along the river, exhibiting 

 his paintings on his boat. While pursuing this course 

 he conceived the idea of painting in panoramic form 

 the entire Mississipi river. While preparing for this 

 work he painted a panorama of Venice without hav- 

 ing seen that city, and succesfully exhibited it in 

 the West till he lost it by the sinking of a steamboat. 

 After losing what money he had saved in the museum 

 business in St. Louis, he began, in 1840, his famous 

 panorama, projected to be the largest painting in the 

 world. He made the journey down the river in an 

 open boat, and alone. His rifle supplied him with 

 food a part of the time, and the proceeds of exhibi- 

 tions of his work as it progressed supplied the re- 

 maining necessities. A year was spent in this way, 

 and he then returned to Louisville to complete his 

 work. When finished and ready for exhibition, it 

 covered three miles of canvas. v fhe rivermen, who 

 had been his fast friends, advertised the wonderful 

 feat far and wide, and the panorama was exhibited in 

 the large cities of the United States and of Europe, 

 and privately before Queen Victoria at Windsor 

 Castle. While exhibiting he painted the striking 

 scenery of the places visited, and after completing a 

 tour of Europe ne traveled extensively in Asia and 

 Africa, and produced two other panoramas " Pict- 

 ures and Poetry of Palestine" and a series of three 

 paintings, " First Battle-field of History." ' The Siege 

 of Jerusalem and Destruction of the* Temple." and 

 " The Ruins of Edpm." Subsequently he exhibited 

 and lectured on his panoramas in Wood's Museum, 

 New York city. " The Orison," one of his paintings, 

 is said to have been the original of the first chroino 

 made in the United States. Mr. Banvard was the 

 author of many poems, wrote several dramas, of which 



grimasre to the Holy Land," " The Private Life of a 

 King," and" A Trad'ition of the Temple." He is also 

 credited with having suggested to Gen. John C. Fre 1 - 

 mont the passage of Island No. 10, in the Mississippi 

 river, during the civil war. and with preparing plans 

 to show how it could be accomplished by means of 

 a canal and certain bayous. 



Barker, Fordyce, physician, born in Wilton, Me., 

 May 2, 1818; died in New York city, May 30, 1891. 

 He was graduated at Bowdoin College in'l837, and. 

 after studying medicine with Prof. Henry I. Bowditch, 

 in Boston, at the Bowdoin Medical School in 1841, 

 and practiced in Norwich, Conn., till 1844. He spent the 

 .winter of 1844-'45 studying in Paris, and then resumed 

 practice in Norwich, making a specialty of obstetrics 

 and diseases of women. In 1846 he was elected Pro- 

 fessor of Midwifery in Bowdoin Medical School, in 

 1848 was President of the Connecticut Medical Soci- 



