616 



OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. (CROSBY DAY.) 



Crosby, Howard, clergyman, born in New York city, 

 Feb. 27, 1826.; died there, March 29, 1891. He was a 

 grandson of Dr. Ebenezer Crosby, who served as a 

 surgeon in the Revolutionary War, and a son of Will- 

 iam B. Crosby, the philanthropist. Howard was 

 graduated at the University of New York in 1844, 

 and seven years later was made Professor of Greek in 

 that institution. In 1859 he was called to the Greek 

 chair in Eutgers Col- 

 lege, New Brunswick, 

 NT J., and in 1861 he en- 

 tered the ministry, but 

 still retained his pro- 

 fessorship. This, how- 

 ever, he gave up in 1863, 

 on becoming pastor of 

 the Fourth Avenue Pres- 

 byterian Church in New 

 York. He held the pas- 

 torship till the end of 

 his life, and, in addition, 

 from 1870 till 1881 he 

 was Chancellor of the 

 University of New York. 

 He was many times a 

 delegate to the General 

 Assembly of the Pres- 

 byterian Church, and in 1873 was its moderator. 

 In 1877 he was a delegate to the first Presby- 

 terian General Council, in Edinburgh, Scotland. In 

 the same year he was one of the founders of the 

 Society for the Prevention of Crime, and was chosen 

 its president, which office he held as long as he 

 lived. He received the degree of D. D. from Har- 

 vard College in 1859, and that of LL. D. from Co- 

 lumbia in 1871. Dr. Crosby was for several years 

 more active, perhaps, than any other citizen of New 

 York in efforts for the prevention of intemperance 

 and the suppression of crime. He was an advocate 

 of temperance, but not of total abstinence. His 

 work was not done alone through the societies with 

 which he was connected ; many entertaining stories 

 are told of his personal adventures and unflinching 

 courage in behalf of the poor and the wronged. In 

 one instance, seeing a malicious hack-driver pur- 

 posely run into and break a swill cart to which a 

 large dog was attached, while the child owner was 

 in a neighboring area, Dr. Crosby made a note 

 of the hack's number, and then told the child to 

 take it to the nearest wagon shop and have it re- 

 paired and send the bill to him. When this was 

 done, he presented the bill to. the livery company 

 that owned the hack, and demanded payment. Be- 

 ing met with a refusal, the doctor said, " If you don't 

 send the money to my house before six o'clock I 

 shall put the case into the hands of a lawyer," and 

 the money was sent in an hour. This is a fair sam- 

 ple of the sort of thing that he was doing at every 

 opportunity. He was one of the revisers of the New 

 Testament, was one of the best Greek scholars in the 

 United States, was an agreeable speaker, a forcible 

 writer, and in every respect a model American citi- 

 zen. He published " Lands of the Moslem" (New 

 York, 1851); "Scholia on the New Testament" 

 (1861); "Social Hints" (1866); "Life of Jesus" 

 (1870); "Bible Companion" (1870); "A Healthy 

 Christian" (1871); "Thoughts on the Pentateuch" 

 (1873) ; " Notes on Joshua " (1875) ; " Commentary 

 on Nehemiah " (1876) ; " The Christian Preacher " 

 (1879) ; " The Humanity of Christ " (1880) ; and a 

 " Commentary on the New Testament" (1885). 



Curtis, Benjamin Bobbins, Jurist, born in Boston, 

 Mass., in 1855' died there, Jan. 25, 1891. He was a 

 son of Judge Benjamin E. Curtis, was graduated at 

 Harvard in 1875, 'studied in the Cambridge Law 

 School, and was admitted to the bar in 1879. In 

 1881 he was appointed a lecturer in Harvard Uni- 

 versity ; in 1886 was appointed judge of the Munici- 

 pal Court of Boston, which office he held until death. 

 Judge Curtis edited " The Life and Writings of Ben- 

 jamin R. Curtis" (1879); "The Jurisdiction, Prac- 



tice, and Peculiar Jurisprudence of the Courts of the 

 United States" (1880); and the second volume of 

 Myer's "Federal Decisions in Courts" (1885). 



Curtis, William Baker, military officer, born in 

 Sharpsburg, Md., April 18, 1821 ; died in West Lib- 

 erty, Ohio County, W. Va., Aug. 25, 1891. The fam- 

 ily removed to West Liberty in 1832, where, after 

 learning the cabinetmaker's trade, he established 

 himself in business in 1837. From 1848 till 1862 he 

 kept a country store and was also a justice of the 

 peace. In 1861 he was a member of the Wheeling 

 convention to organize a State Government for West 

 Virginia. Early in 1862 he raised a company, which 

 was incorporatecl in the 12th West Virginia Infantry, 

 and was chosen captain. In June, 1863, lie was pro- 

 moted major ; in January, 1864, colonel ; and in Oc- 

 tober following was placed in command of a brigade. 

 This was reorganized in December, and in the same 

 month he was transferred to the Army of the James, 

 and placed at the head of the 2d Brigade, independ- 

 ent division, 24th Army Corps. As commander of 

 this brigade he took part in the siege of Eichmond, 

 and on April 2, 1865, he captured Fort Gregg, near 

 Petersburg. For his gallantry on that occasion he- 

 was promoted brigadier-general, and his old regiment, 

 was presented by Gen. John Gibbon, the corps com- 

 mander, with a costly bronze eagle. After the war 

 he served a term in the State Legislature, and was 

 superintendent of the Penitentiary in 1870 and 1871. 



Darling, Henry, educator, born in Ecading, Pa., 

 Dec. 27, 1823 ; died in Clinton, N. Y., April 20, 1891. 

 lie was graduated at Amherst College in 1842 

 studied theology at the Union Theological Seminary 

 in 1842-'43, and at the Auburn Theological Seminary 

 in 1843-'45 ; was ordained Dec. 30, 1847 ; and installed 

 pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Hudson. In 

 1852 he went to the Clinton Street Church, Philadel- 

 phia, where he officiated till 1861, resigning on ac- 

 count of failing health. In 1863 he accepted a call to 

 the Fourth Presbyterian Church in Albany, N. Y., 

 and held this pastorate till 1881, when he was elected 

 Moderator of the General Assembly and President ot 

 Hamilton College, Clinton, N. Y. He held the office 

 of president of the college till his death. President 

 Darling's publications comprised sermons, addresses- 

 on special occasions, contri out! ons to religious peri- 

 odicals, and "The Closer Walk" (1862) ;" Slavery 

 and the War" (1863); "Conformity to the World'" 

 (1873) ; and "Not Doing, but Eeceiving" (1875). 



Davenport, Fanny Elizabeth, actress, born in London, 

 England, July 6, 1829 ; died in Canton, Pa., July 20,. 

 1891. She was a daughter of Frederick Vining, 

 the manager of tjie Haymarket Theatre, Londonl 

 She made her first appearance on the stage when 

 three years old, and her first appearance as an actress 

 in 1847, in the part of Juliet in " Eomeo and Juliet." 1 

 For two years she played in the Haymarket and 

 Drury Lane Theatres, supporting her father, G. V. 

 Brookes, Charles Kean, William C. Macready, and 

 other popular actors. On Jan. 8, 1849, she married 

 Edward L. Davenport, the American actor, then play- 

 ing a successful engagement throughout England, 

 and temporarily retired from the stage. She accom- 

 panied him to the United States, and when he mad& 

 his first appearance, after an absence of seven years, 

 in the ola Broadway Theatre, New_ York, on Sept. 11, 

 1854, as Othello, she supported him as Desdemona. 

 On March 22, 1855, she appeared at a benefit tendered 

 him as Margaret Elmore in " Love's Sacrifice," and 

 from that time till his death, on Sept. 1, 1877, she sup- 

 ported her husband in all his important engagements. 

 She was the mother of Fanny, Florence, Edgar, and 

 Henry Davenport, and of Mrs. William Seymour. 



Day, Hannibal, military officer, born in Montpelier, 

 Vt., in 1804; died in Morristown, N. J., March 26, 

 1891. He was a son of Sylvester Day, M. D., assistant 

 surgeon, United States army, and was graduated at 

 th'e United States Military Acadefmy and appointed 

 second lieutenant in the "Second United States In- 

 fantry in 1823. On April 4, 1832, he was promoted 

 first lieutenant ; July 7, 1838, captain ; Feb. 23, 1852, 



