642 



OBIT ARIES, AMERICAN. (MAYNARD MOEN.) 



'went'with the Wallace Piano Company, and after- 

 ward established a factory of his own. His inven- 

 tions include the first overstrung piano made in the 

 United States, the double sounding-board piano, the 

 lifting hammer rail for soft pedals, the mammoth 

 grand piano for Gilmpre's peace jubilee in Boston, 

 the orchestral equalizing scale, the little Colibri 

 which took the American Institute's highest diploma 

 in 1864, and the equiliber system of piano-forte pat- 

 ented in 1879. 



Maynard, Edward, inventor, born in Madison, N. J., 

 April 26, 1813 ; died in Washington, D. C., May 4, 

 1891. He was appointed a cadet in the United States, 

 Military Academy in 1831, but, having a naturally 

 delicate constitution, he was obliged to resign in the 

 following year. In 1835 he was graduated in dental 

 surgery, and, removing to Washington in 1836, he 

 practiced there till March, 1890. He won high rank 

 in this profession, invented many instruments now 

 used by dentists generally, and discovered the di- 

 versity in the form, situation, and capacity of the 

 maxillary autra. Emperor Nicholas I of Eussia ap- 

 pointed him court dentist, and he was for many 

 years Professor of Theory and Practice of Dentistry in 

 the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery and in the 

 dental department of the National University at 

 Washington. It was through his inventions in am- 

 munition and fire-arms that Dr. Maynard was most 

 widely known. In 1845 he patented the tape system 

 of primers, to take the place of the percussion cap ; in 

 1851 he patented a breech-loading ritte, which subse- 

 quently core his name, was widely used, and was the 

 forerunner of the metallic cartridge breech-loader of 

 to-day ; in 1860 he devised the method for convert- 

 ing muzzle-loading muskets into breech-loading 

 rifles ; in 1868 he patented a plan for joining two 

 rifle or shot barrels together by a device that would 

 allow either barrel to expand or contract endwise in- 

 dependently of the other ; and in 1886 he perfected 

 his last invention, a contrivance for indicating the 

 number of cartridges in the magazine of a repeating 

 tire-arm at any time. The'Maynard riile was adopted 

 by the United States Government, and by several 

 foreign countries, and for his inventions in the line 

 of fire-arms he received high honors from Prussia, 



Belgium, and Sweden. 



Merrill, William ,, military officer, born in Fort 

 Howard, Wis.. Get 11, 1837 ; died on a railroad train 

 near Edgetield, 111., Dec. 14, 1891. He was graduated 

 at the United States Military Academy and appointed 

 brevet 2d lieutenant of engineers in 1859 , was pro- 

 moted 2d lieutenant, Feb. 20, and 1st lieutenant, 

 Aug. 6, 1861 captain, March 3, 1863 ; major, March 

 7, 1867 ; and lieutenant-colonel, Feb. 20, 1883. In 

 the volunteer service he was colonel of the 1st United 

 States Veteran Engineers from Aug. 30, 1864, till 

 Sept. 26, 1865. During the civil war he was brevet- 

 ted captain, April 16, 1862, for gallantry in an engage- 

 ment before Yorktown ; major, Sept. 19, following, 

 for the battle of Chickamauga; and lieutenant-col- 

 onel and colonel, March 13,"l865, for the battles of 

 Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, and for 

 those of Resaca and New Hope Church. At the time 

 of his death he was United States engineer in charge 

 of work on the Ohio river and navigable tributaries. 

 Messersmith, John 8., physician, born in Lancaster, 

 Pa., in 1810 ; died there Feb. 16, 1891. He was grad- 

 uated at Jefferson Medical College, and was ap- 

 pointed an assistant surgeon in the United States 

 navy -Feb. 9, 1837. In 1839-'40 he was attached to 

 the sloop '' Fairfield," in the Brazilian squadron ; in 

 lS-i2-'43 to the brig " Dolphin," in the home squad- 

 ron: in 1845 to the steamer " Col. Harney"; during 

 the Mexican War to the bomb brig "JStna" ; and in 

 1850-'54 to the store ship "Southampton," in the 

 Pacific squadron. He was promoted surgeon, July 

 13, 1853 ; was on the steam frigate " Susquehanna," 



: in the East India squadron, in 1855 ; at the Mare 

 Island Navy Yard, Cal., in 1857-'59 ; on the steam 

 sloop " San Jacinto " in ^861 ; and on the " Constella- 

 tion," in- the Mediterranean squadron, during the 



civil war. In 1866 he was on duty at the Norfolk 

 Navv Yard ; in 1867-'68 at the Philadelphia Navy 

 Yard ; and in June, 1872, he was retired. 



Milhau, John, J., physician, born in France, Dec. 28, 

 1828 ; died in New York city, May 9, 1891. He was 

 born during a visit of his parents to southern France. 

 In 1850 he was graduated at the College of Physicians 

 and Surgeons, and in 1851 was appointed an assistant 

 surgeon in the United States army. His service 

 till the beginning of the civil war was in Cali- 

 fornia and the West, and comprised participation in 

 the expedition against the Snake Indians in 1855, 

 the Yakima expedition to Washington Territory, the 

 Red River Indian campaign, the Kansas oorder 

 troubles, and the Utah expedition in 1858. In 1861 

 he was appointed medical inspector of the Army of 

 the Potomac ; in 1862 he became medical director of 

 the 3d Army Corps, and also of the hospital at Fred- 

 erick, Md. ; and in 1863-'64 he was medical director 

 of the 5th Army Corps. In November, 1864, illness 

 compelled him to retire from field service, and he was 

 ordered on duty in New York city. He was medical 

 director of the" 3d military district. Department Of 

 the South, in 1867-'69, ana resigned his commission 

 in the army Oct. 1, 1876. During the war he was on 

 duty at Yorktown, Williamsburg, Seven Pines, the 

 seven days' peninsular fight, the second Bull Run, 

 Gettysburg, Rappahanock station, in the Mine Run 

 expedition, and at Spottsylvania and Petersburg. 

 He was brevetted lieutenant-colonel for the Rich- 

 mond campaign Dec. 2, 1864 ; colonel for gallant serv- 

 ices during the war, March 13, 1865 ; and brigadier- 

 general for special merit in alone attending the sick 

 on Hart's Island, New York, during the cholera epi- 

 demic, Sept. 28, 1866. After the war he returned to 

 New York city, where he gave the greater part of 

 his attention to the estate left by his father, and to 

 duties connected with numerous associations of which 

 he was a member. He was one of the State com- 

 missioners of charities in 1882-'90. 



Mines, John Flavel, journalist, born in Paris, France, 

 Jan. 27, 1835; died in New York city, Nov. 5, 1891. 

 He was a son of Flavel Scott Mines, D. D., and grand- 

 son of John Mines, D. D., and was graduated at 

 Trinity College, Hartford, in 1854, and at Berkeley 

 Divinity School, in 1857. Soon afterward he was 

 ordained deacon and priest in the Protestant Episco- 

 pal Church, and held pastoral charges in Bound 

 Brook, Conn., and in Bath, Me. In May, 1861, he 

 became chaplain of the 2d Maine Volunteers ; was 

 subsequently commissioned colonel of the 1st Maine 

 Volunteers, was taken prisoner and confined in Libby 

 Prison, and, after being released on parole, went to 

 Washington and engaged in journalism. After the 

 war he was employed at various times on the New 

 York " Tribune," Trov " Times," New York ; ' Com- 

 mercial Advertiser," Utica " Republican," " Frank 

 Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper," New York " World," 

 " Sunday Mercury," and " P^vening Post." A series 

 of sketches on old New York written by him and 

 published under the pen-name " Felix Oldboy" 

 attracted much attention. During the summer of 

 1891, he revived the "Felix Oldboy" sketches in 

 the " Commercial Advertiser." He published u The 

 Heroes ot the Last Luster," a poem (New York, 1858), 

 and " A Tour Around New \ ork (1888). 



Moon, Philip Louis, manufacturer, born in Wilna, 

 N. Y., Nov. 13,1824; died in Worcester, Mass., April 23, 

 1891. He became a clerk in a hardware store in New 

 York city, whose proprietors were the selling agents 

 for the wire manufactured by Ichabod Washburn, in 

 Worcester. In 1846 he married a daughter of Mr. 

 Washburn, soon afterward removed to Worcester, 

 and in 1850 entered into partnership with his father- 

 -in-law, under the firm name of I. Washburn & Moen. 

 In 1868 the firm name was changed to the corporate 

 name of the Washburn & Moen Manufacturing Com- 

 pany, and in 1870, on the death of Mr. Washburn, Mr. 

 Moen become president of the corporation. He was 

 also President of the Washburn Memorial Hospital, 

 a trustee of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and 



