622 



OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. (FoBD FORREST.) 



entertained London audiences for a season of fifty 

 nights. Returning to New York, Mr. Florence made 

 his first decided hit in a more serious part, as Bob 

 Brierly in " The Ticket-of-leave Man," produced at 

 Winter Garden, Nov. 30, 1863, Mrs. Florence playing 

 Emily St. Evremonde. The drama ran for one hun- 

 dred and twenty -five successive nights in New York, 

 and was repeated all over the United States. On 

 Aug. 5, 1867, at the house on Broadway and Broome 

 Street, Mr. Florence produced Robertson's " Caste," 

 an almost perfect play perfectly played when he was 

 George D'A.lroy and Mrs. Florence Polly Eccles, the 

 originals in America. " Caste " was followed at the 

 same house on Sept. 26, 1868, by "No Thorough- 

 fare," when Mr Florence introduced Obenreizer to 

 the American stage. In 1875 he created Bardwell 

 Slote in B. E. Woolf s " The Mighty Dollar," one 

 of his most enduring successes. Mrs. Florence was 

 Mrs. General Gilflory. In September, 1883, Mr. 

 Florence produced George H. Jessop's " Our Gov- 

 ernor," under the title of " Facts," at the Walnut 

 Street Theatre, Philadelphia Its name was changed 

 in the following season. His part in this piece was 

 Pinto Perkins His next production was a play by 

 Mr. Woolf, entitled " Our German Professor." In the 

 season of 1888-'89. Mrs. Florence having retired from 

 the stage, her husband entered into an artistic part- 

 nership with Joseph Jefferson, which lasted until his 

 death, and afforded rare pleasure to the American 

 theatre-going public. He played Sir Lucius O'Trigger 

 to Jefferson's Bob Acres in " The Rivals," and to the 

 Dr. Pangloss of the same actor Mr. Florence made 

 his final appearance on the stage in the character of 

 Zekiel Homespun in " The Heir-at-law," at the Arch 

 Street Theatre, Philadelphia, on the night of Nov. 

 14, 1891 Mr. Florence was an actor of unusually 

 long and varied experience ; and in the whole history 

 of the drama in America few men have been so uni- 

 fonnally excellent in so wide a range of parts. He 

 was associated with some of the most prominent fig- 

 ures on the English-speaking stage. He played Rich- 

 mond and Laertes with the elder Booth, Lucullus 

 and Titus with Edwin Forrest, the Second Grave- 

 digger to the Hamlet of the younger Booth, Cap'n 

 Cuttle to Henry Irving's Dombey, and he supported 

 or was supported by Lawrence Barrett, McCullough, 

 Forrest, John T. Raymond, John L. Toole, Burton, 

 and Brougham. No dramatic contrasts can be greater 

 than those between the son of an hundred earls in 

 " Caste" and the ignorant, humble outlaw of the 

 "Ticket-of-leave Man"; between the American poli- 

 tician in the " Mighty Dollar" and the Swiss advent- 

 urer in " No Thoroughfare"; between the bluff, sim- 

 Ele, honest old sailor in the dramatization of " Dom- 

 ey and Son " and the simple, honest, modest young 

 country lad of the " Heir-at-Law " ; between the frol- 

 icking, fearless fire-laddie of the " Row at the Ly- 

 ceum " and the fire-eating coward of " The Rivals." 

 In none of these parts was Mr. Florence ever excelled, 

 and in few of them did he find an equal. William 

 Winter, in the epitaph of Mr. Florence, says : " His 

 copious and varied dramatic powers, together with 

 the abundant graces of his person, combined with 

 ample professional equipment and a temperament of 

 peculiar sensibility and charm, made him one of the 

 best and most successful actors of his time, alike in 

 comedy and serious drama. In authorship, alike of 

 plays, stories, music, and song, he was inventive, ver- 

 satile, facile, and graceful. In art admirable, in life 

 gentle ; he was widely known, and he was known 

 only to be loved." 



Ford, Gordon Lester, collector, born in Lebanon, 

 Conn., Dec. 16, 1823 ; died in Brooklyn, N. Y., Nov. 

 14, 1891. He removed to New York city and became 

 a clerk when twelve years old ; was a book-keeper in 

 H. B. Claflin & Co.'s store for two years ; studied law 

 in his leisure, and was, admitted to the bar in 1850, but 

 never practiced. In 1852 he became President of the 

 New London, Willimantic and Palmer Railroad ; in 

 1856 resigned and settled in Brooklyn, where he ever 

 afterward lived. In 1863, in association with Simeon 



B. Chittenden, he founded the Brooklyn " Union, Tr 

 and in 1869-'72 he was collector of internal revenue- 

 tor the 3d New York District. Mr. Ford became a. 

 Liberal Republican in 1872, and was a delegate to- 

 the national convention of that party in Cincinnati. 

 In 1873 he became the publisher of the New York 

 " Tribune," and he held the place till 1881. For a. 

 short time afterward he was President of the Brook- 

 lyn, Flatbush, and Coney Island Railroad, and he then 

 retired from active business. He was either a founder,, 

 director, or member of many of Brooklyn's public and 

 financial institutions, including the Art Association, 

 the Academy of Music, the Brooklyn Library, the- 

 Long Island Historical Society, the Tree-planting and 

 Fountain Society, the Hamilton Club, and the Lotos, 

 Reform, and Lawyers' Clubs in New York ctyy. Early 

 in life he began collecting books, manuscripts, and 

 autograph letters, and in later years he built a fire- 

 proof room, 50 feet square, in the rear of his dwelling. 

 where he housed his treasures. At the time of his. 

 death his library contained about 50,000 volumes, val- 

 ued at $500,000, and his autograph letters were val- 

 ued at $100,000. 



Ford, Melbourne Haddock, stenographer, born in Sa- 

 line, Mich., June 30,1849; died in Grand Rapids,. 

 Mich., April 20, 1891. He was educated at the Michi- 

 gan Agricultural College and at the United States 

 Naval Academy ; served in the navy in the latter 

 part of the civil war, studied law ana was admitted 

 to the bar in 1878, but never practiced ; and from 

 1874 was employed as official stenographer in various. 

 State courts. In 1885-'86 he was a inenibcr of the Leg- 

 islature, in 1886 was elected to Congress as a Demo- 

 crat from the 5th Michigan District, in 1888 was de 

 feated for re-election, and in 1890 was re-elected on- 

 the free-trade issue. While in Congress he was a. 

 member of the committees on Military Affairs and on 

 Territories, and chairman of the Committes on Impor- 

 tation of contract labor. 



Forrest, Catherine Norton, actress, born in England, 

 in 1818; died in New York city, June 16, 1891. She 

 was the daughter of John Sinclair, a popular vocalist, 

 and married Edwin Forrest, the American actor, in. 

 June, 1837. She accompanied him to his home in 

 New York city, but their lives were soon embittered 

 with quarrels and domestic unhappiness No open, 

 rupture occurred, however, till 1849, when her hus- 

 band found a questionable letter addressed to her by 

 an actor of low repute, and brought suit for divorce,, 

 they having then lived apart for two years. Mrs. For- 

 rest, who solemnly declared her entire innocence and 

 maintained it throughout her life, at once entered a. 

 counter-suit. Mr. Forrest retained John Van Buren 

 as his counsel, and his wife secured Charles O'Conor. 

 The trial began before Chief Justice Oakley in the^ 

 New York Supreme Court on Dec. 16, 1851, continued 

 for fourteen years, and was the most remarkable oi 

 its kind that had ever taken place in this country.. 

 A judgment was obtained in favor of Mrs. Forrest, 

 with an order for the payment of $3,000 a year ali- 

 mony. Forrest ordered his lawyer to " go on fighting- 

 as long as there was a court to which the case could 

 be appealed." He refused to pay the alimony, and,, 

 keeping out of the State for several years, fought off' 

 all .judgments till 1863, by which time the amount 

 filed against him was immense, every point in every 

 court taken by Mr. O'Conor being sustained. Dur- 

 ing the years occupied by the lawsuits Mrs. Forrest 

 supported herself by going upon the stage, appearing 

 first at the old Wal'lack Theatre, as Lady Teazle, in 

 " The School for Scandal," and next in the same role 

 at Chestnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia. She then 

 went to England, and afterward to Australia and Cali- 

 fornia, appearing again in England in September, 

 1857, where she played an engagement at Haymarket 

 Theatre, London, as Beatrice. On her return to the 

 United States she played in various cities, meeting- 

 with indifferent success. When the divorce case 

 reached the last court to which it could be appealed, 

 judgment was again rendered against Mr. Forrest, 

 and $1,000 was added to the amount of alimony. For- 



