656 



OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. (SPEAR STUART.) 



Navy Yard. He was fleet-surgeon of Commodore 

 Perry's expedition to Japan in 1854, and, after serving 

 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and on the " Constella- 

 tion " in the African squadron, he had charge of the 

 Naval Hospital at New York in 1861-'65. After the 

 war he was on leave orders for several years, and in 

 1871 he was appointed medical director, with the 

 rank of commodore, and was retired. 



Spear, Samuel T., clergyman, born in Ballston Spa, 

 N. Y., March 4, 1812; died in Brooklyn, N. Y.. April 

 1, 1891. He was graduated at the College of Physi- 

 cians and Surgeons in New York city, had his atten- 

 tion drawn to the ministry soon afterward, studied 

 theology in Troy, N, Y., and was ordained in the" 

 Presbyterian Church, in 1835. He was first settled 

 over the 2d Presbyterian Church in Lansingburg, 

 N. Y. In 1843 he was called to a church in Brooklyn, 

 N. Y., and served it uninterruptedly for twenty-seven 

 years, resigning in 1870 to accept an editorial place 

 on " The Independent." Excepting occasional preach- 

 ing, he passed the remainder of his life in editorial 

 and other literary work. His publications included 

 books on " Family Power," " Bible Heroes," " Church 

 and State," and " The Federal Judiciary." Dr. Spear 

 defended the Rev. T. De Witt Talmage in the trial 

 before the Brooklyn Presbytery. 



Spinola, Francis B,, legislator, born in Stony Brook, 

 Long Island, N. Y., March 19, 1821 ; died in Wash- 

 ington, D. C., April 14, 1891. He received an aca- 

 demical education, was admitted to the bar in New 

 York city in 1844, and served five years as alderman, 

 six years as assemblyman, and four years as State 

 Senator. He was a delegate to the National Demo- 

 c'-atic Convention in Charleston in 1860. .In the 

 early part of the civil war he recruited and organized 

 the " Empire " brigade of four regiments, which he 

 accompanied to the front, and on Oct. 2, 1862, he was 

 commissioned brigadier-general of volunteers. He 

 served till the close of the war, and in leading a 

 charge at Wapping Heights, Va., he was twice 

 wounded. Returning to New York city, he engaged 

 in the banking and insurance business and resumed 

 political life. In 1886 and 1888 he was elected to 

 Congress from the 10th New York District, as a 

 Democrat, where he served as a member of the com- 

 mittees on Military Aifairs and on War Claims. 



Staples, Hamilton Barclay, jurist, bom in Mendon, 

 Mass., Feb. 14, 1829 ; died in Worcester, Mass., Aug. 

 2, 1891. He was graduated at Brown University in 

 1851, studied law with Chief- Justice Ames, of Rhode 

 Island, and Peter C. Bacon, of Worcester, and was 

 admitted to the bar in 1854. He began practicing in 

 Milford with Gen. A. P. Underwood, and in 1869 re- 

 turned to Worcester. Soon afterward he was elected 

 district-attorney for the Middle District of Massachu- 

 setts, and he held the office for eight years. He was 

 appointed a judge of the Superior Court of Massachu- 

 setts, in 1881, and held that office till his death. 



Starr, Samuel H., military officer, born in Leyden, 

 N. Y., July 31, 1810 ; died in Philadelphia, Pa., Nov. 

 25 ; 1891. He entered the United States army as a 

 private in the 4th Artillery, Oct. 27, 1832, was pro- 

 moted corporal and sergeant within two years, and, 

 after serving in the Creek and Seminole wars, was 

 discharged from the service honorably, Oct. 26, 1837. 

 At the declaration of war with Mexico he re-entered 

 the service as a private in the battalion of engineers, 

 was soon promoted corporal and sergeant, and for 

 bravery in action was brevetted 2d lieutenant 2d Dra- 

 goons, June 28, 1848. In the following month he 

 was advanced to the full rank. On Nov. 10, 1851, he 

 was promoted 1st lieutenant ; June 14, 1858, captain ; 

 . April 25, 1863, major of the 6th Cavalry; and Dec. 

 15, 1870, was retired with the rank of colonel. In the 

 civil war he was commissioned colonel of the 5th 

 New Jersey Infantry, Aug. 24, 1861 ; served with the 

 Army of the Potomac and with Sheridan in the Shen- 

 andoah valley till 1864, excepting a short period of 

 mustering duty in Ohio ; and was afterward a special 

 inspector of cavalry in the armies of the Potomac and 

 the James. He was brevetted major, lieutenant-colo- 



nel, and colonel, for services at Williamsburg and 

 Upperville, Va., and in the Gettv-sburg campaign. 



Stewart, Q-eorge W >( inventor, born in Atlanta, Ga., 

 in 1843; died in New York city, Dec. 9, 1891. He 

 had invented several useful contrivances in the line 

 of agricultural implements, and had come to New 

 York to interest capitalists in his last invention 

 the aquaphone an apparatus for signaling between 

 ships at sea. After spending a day in explaining his 

 invention to a company of interested capitalists, he 

 returned to his hotel and fell dead. 



Storer, David Humphreys, educator, born in Portland, 

 Me., in 1804 ; died in Boston, Mass., Sept. 10, 1891. 

 He was a son of Judge Woodbury Storer, and a 

 grandson of Gov. John Langdon, of New Hampshire, 

 and was graduated at Bowdoin College in 1822, and 

 at the Harvard Medical School in 1825. For twenty- 

 two years he was dean of the Harvard Medical 

 School, besides filling in it the chair of Obstetrics 

 and Legal Medicine, and he was also President of 

 the American Medical Association, a member of the 

 Massachusetts Medical Society, and of the American 

 Academy of Arts and Sciences, and author of " A 

 History of Massachusetts." For many years Dr 

 Storer was a collaborator with Prof. Agassiz in natu- 

 ral history research. 



Strong, "William E., lawyer, born in Granville, Wash- 

 ington County, N. Y., Aug. 10, 1840 ; died in Florence, 

 Italy, April 10, 1891. lie was educated in Eacine, 

 Wis., and was admitted to the bar there in 1861. At 

 the beginning of the civil war he raised a company, 

 which was incorporated in the 2d Wisconsin In- 

 fantry, and with it he went to the front as captain. 

 He took part in the battle of Bull Run, was promoted 

 major of the 12th Wisconsin Infantry, Sept. 12, 1861, 

 and during the remainder of the war served with the 

 armies in the West. In October, 1862, he was at- 

 tached to the staff of Gen. McKean as inspector- 

 general of the 6th division of the right wing of the 

 Army of the Tennessee, and two months afterward 

 he was promoted to the staff of Gen. McPherson as 

 inspector-general of the right wing of that army. 

 He was commissioned lieutenant-colonel and inspect- 

 or-general of the 17th Army Corps in February, 

 1863, and from April 20, 1864, till the close of tho 

 war he was inspector-general of the Department of 

 the Tennessee. For gallantry at Atlanta ne was pro- 

 moted colonel, to date from July 22, 1864, and for 

 meritorious conduct during the war he was brevetted 

 brigadier-general March 21, 1865. Gen. Strong was 

 inspector-general of the Freedman's Bureau from 

 May, 1865, till September, 1866, and then retired to be- 

 come secretary of the Peshtigo Lumber Company, be- 

 longing to the estate of William B. Ogden, of Chicago, 

 whose niece he had married. In 1873 he was elected 

 president of the company. 



Stuart, Alexander Hugh Holmes, lawyer, born in 

 Staunton, Va., April 2, 1807 ; died there, Feb. 13, 

 1891. He was graduated at the University of Vir- 

 ginia in 1828, and was admitted to the bar the same 

 year. In 1832 he was a delegate to the Young Men's 

 Convention in Washington, held in the political in- 

 terests of Henry Clay ; in 1836 he was elected to the 

 Virginia House of Delegates, where he was con- 

 spicuous for his advocacy of a liberal system of in- 

 ternal improvements, and where he served three 

 terms ; and in 1840 and 1842 he was elected to Con- 

 gress. He was a Clay presidential elector in 1844, 

 and a Taylor elector in 1848. In September, 1850, he 

 was appointed Secretary of the Interior, and he held 

 the office till March, 1853. From 1857 till 1861 he 

 was a member of the Virginia Senate, where he made 

 a strong fight against the secession movement, and on 

 the passage of the ordinance of secession announced 

 his retirement from public life, to which he returned 

 after the war. He was re-elected to Congress in 1865, 

 but was not admitted. In 1876-'82 and 1884-'86 he 

 was rector of the University of Virginia; in 1872 he 

 succeeded Admiral Farragut as a trustee of the Pea- 

 body Educational Fund; and for many years^was 

 President of the Virginia Historical Society. 



