646 



OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. (PARTON PIATT.) 



tention of English specialists. Parliament appointed 

 a commission to investigate the subject of inebriety 

 and its cure, and by special invitation the American 

 association delegated Dr. Parrish and Dr. Dodge, of 

 Binghamton, N. Y., to explain the American system 

 before the commission. Ihe result of this commis- 

 sion's work was the establishment of the Dalrymple 

 Home on the general American plan. In 1872, while 

 retaining his office at Media, Dr. Parrish took tem- 

 porary charge of the Maryland Inebriate Asylum, 

 and in two years restored its effectiveness; in 1876 

 he resigned the superintendence of the sanitarium 

 and opened a private home for invalids at Burling- 

 ton ; and in 1885 he was elected President of the New 

 Jersey Medical Society. A "Memoir "on the life- 

 work of Dr. Parrish was presented to the New Jersey 

 Historical Society, by Dr. Samuel H. Pennington, on 

 May 21, 1891. 



Parton, James, author, born in Canterbury, Eng- 

 land, Feb. 9, 1822 ; died in Newburyport, Mass., Oct. 

 17, 1891. He came to the United States when five 

 years old, and was educated in the public schools of 

 New York city and in a private 

 one at White Plains, N. Y. A 

 legacy enabled him to continue 

 his studies in Europe, and on 

 his return he established a 

 high-grade school in Philadel- 

 phia. While teaching he began 

 literary work, and was soon 

 afterward induced to take a 

 place in the office of the " Home 

 Journal," New York city, with 

 which he was regularly con- 

 nected for three years, and to 



< i ~mf i which he contributed for many 



more. His success in literature 

 caused himtoabandonteaching, 

 He became a regular contribu- 

 tor to the New York " Ledger," wrote for magazines, 

 and published many books, notably biographies.. In 

 January, 1856, he married Sara Pay son Willis El- 

 dredge, sister of Nathaniel P. Willis, widow of Charles 

 II. Eldredge, who was popularly known by her pen- 

 name " Fannie Fern." She died in October. 1872, 

 and two years afterward he married Ellen W. El- 

 dredge, his wife's daughter by her first husband. This 

 marriage was shown to be illegal under the Massa- 

 chusetts law, ami Mr. Parton and his wife lived apart 

 till the Legislature, on his petition, amended the 

 law. His numerous publications include : " Life of 

 Horace Greeley " (New York, 1855 ; new edition, Bos- 

 ton, 1885) ; " Humorous Poetry of the English Lan- 

 guage, from Chaucer to Saxe " (1856) ; " The Life and 

 Times of Aaron Burr " (1857 ; new edition, 1864) ; " Life 

 of Andrew Jackson" (3 volumes, 1859-'60); "Gen. 

 Butler in New Orleans" (1863; new edition, 1882) ; 

 "Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin" (1864); 

 ' Famous Americans of Recent Times " (Boston, 1867) ; 



(New York, 1873) ; " Life of Thomas Jefferson " (Bos- 

 ton, 1874) ; " Le Parnasse Francois, a Book of French 

 Poetry from A. D. 1550 to the Present Time " (Bos- 

 ton, 1877) ; " Caricature and other Comic Art. in 

 all Times and Many Lauds" (New York, 1877); 

 "Life of Voltaire" (Boston, 1881); "Noted Women 

 of Europe and America" (Hartford, 1883) ; " Captains 

 of Industry, or Men of Business who did Something 

 besides making Money " (Boston, 1884) ; and " Cap- 

 tains of Industry " (second series, Boston, 1891). 



Pattison, Thomas, naval officer, born in Troy, N. Y., 

 Feb. 8, 1822; died in New Brighton, Staten Island, 

 N. Y., Dec 17, 1891. He entered the United States 

 navy as a midshipman March 2, 1839 ; was promoted 

 passed midshipman July 2, 1845, master Feb. 17, 

 1854, lieutenant Sept. 19 following, lieutenant com- 

 mander July 16, 1862, commander March 3, 1865, 

 captain July 8, 1870, commodore Dec. 11, 1877, and 



rear-admiral Nov. 1, 1883 ; and was retired Feb. 8, 

 1884. During his naval career he was on sea service 

 twenty years eleven months, on shore or other duty 

 fourteen years six months, and was unemployed 

 sixteen years five months. He served in the Mexi- 

 can War on the steamers "Scorpion" and " Prince- 

 ton," the frigates " Raritan " and " Cumberland," the 

 ordnance ship " Electra," and the gunboat " Referee." 

 In the civil war he was executive officer of the 

 " Perry," which captured the Confederate privateer 

 "Savannah"; commanded the "Philadelphia," the 

 heaviest-armed vessel in the Potomac flotilla, in 1861 ; 

 and commanded the naval station at Memphis from 

 1863 till March 3, 1865. He was commandant of the 

 naval station at Port Royal, S. C., in 1878-'80, and of 

 the navy yard at Washington, D. C., in 1880-'83. 



Perry, Horace Justus, diplomatist, born in Keene, N. II., 

 Jan. 23, 1824 ; died in Lisbon, Portugal, Feb. 23, 1891. 

 He was graduated at Harvard College in 1844 ; be- 

 came a volunteer aid on the staff of Gen. Shields in 

 Mexico in 1847, and was secretarv of the United 

 States legation in Spain from 1849 till 1869, excepting 

 a period of five or six years, when he was engaged in 

 telegraph construction. While in Spain he rendered 

 the United States most important service. In 1854 

 he settled satisfactorily the difficulties growing out 

 of the "Black Warrior" affair, which had seriously 

 threatened the peaceful relations of the two coun- 

 tries ; and at the same time he nearly concluded a 

 treaty for commercial reciprocity between the United 

 States and Cuba. ,In 1861 he secured from the Span- 

 ish Government a proclamation of neutrality, under 

 which the Confederate cruiser " Sumter " was allowed 

 to remain at Cadiz only twenty-four hours, and was 

 forced thereby to take refuge at Gibraltar, where she 

 was effectually blockaded by American war vessels. 

 During the civil war he discharged the duties of 

 charge d'affaires, in addition to those of secretary of 

 legation. Mr. Perry married a daughter of Don 

 Nicholas Coronado, of Badajos, in 1852, a lady widely 

 known in Spuin as a lyric poet. 



Phelan, James, lawyer, born in Aberdeen, Miss., 

 Dec. 7, 1856; died in Nassau, West Indies, Jan. 30, 

 1891. He removed to Memphis in 1867; was edu- 

 cated in the Kentucky Military Institute, the Uni- 

 versity of Leipsic, and the Gymnasium of St. Thomas ; 

 received the degree of Ph. D. in 1878, and, returning 

 to Memphis, studied law and was admitted to the bar 

 in 1881. In 1886 and 1888 he was elected to Congress 

 from the 10th Tennessee District as a Democrat, and 

 he served on the committees on Commerce and on 

 Reform in the Civil Service. He was seeking relief 

 from consumption at the time of his death. 



Piatt, Bonn, journalist, born in Cincinnati, Ohio, June 

 29, 1819 ; died in Cleveland, Ohio, Nov. 12, 1891. He 

 was educated at St. Xavier's College ; studied law, 

 and was admitted to the bar; was appointed judge of 

 the Court of Common Pleas of Hamilton County in 

 1851, and at the close of his term was appointed 

 secretary of the United States legation at Paris, un- 

 der John Y. Mason, and served during the adminis- 

 trations of Presidents Pierce and Buchanan. On the 

 death of Minister Mason, Mr. Piatt was charge, d'af- 

 faires for nearly a year. Returning to the United 

 States, he entered the presidential canvass, and, with 

 Robert E. Schenck, stumped Southern Illinois for 

 Mr. Lincoln. On the appointment of Mr. Schenck to 

 a high military command, Mr. Piatt was made a 

 member of his staff and received a colonel's commis- 

 sion. During his military service he issued an order 

 to Gen. Milroy to evacuate Winchester, Va., and fall 

 back on Harper's Ferry, which was countermanded 

 by Gen. Halleck, and three days afterward Gen. Mil- 

 roy had to cut his way through a surrounding Con- 

 federate force, which caused a loss of 2,000 men. 

 Later, in the absence of Gen. Schenck, Col. Piatt or- 

 dered Gen. Birney to recruit a negro brigade in Mary- 

 land. This order aroused the extreme indignation of 

 President Lincoln, who threatened to dismiss its au- 

 thor from the army in disgrace. He was judge-advo- 

 cate of the commission tnat investigated the charges 



