658 



OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. (TAYLOR TOUHGEE.) 



tenant Aug. 8, 1876; and resigned June 30, 1888. In 

 1884 lie was attached to the " Thetis " on the Greely 

 relief expedition to the polar regions, and in the fol- 

 lowing year he went to Africa, and made the passage 

 of the Congo river from its mouth to Stanley Falls. 

 It is believed that the exposures during this trip 

 affected his mind ; for in October, 1887, while serving 

 on the " Yantic," in New York harbor, he absented 

 himself from his vessel for several days, for which he 

 was tried and sentenced to be dismissed from the serv- 

 ice ; but he was allowed to resign. In December, 1888, 

 he felt strong enough to make another trip to Africa, 

 and was appointed United States consular agent at 

 Boma, where he died. 



Taylor, Alfred, naval officer, born in Fairfax County, 

 Va., May 23, 1810; died in Washington, D. C., April 

 19, 1891. He was appointed a midshipman in the 

 United States navy in 1825 ; was promoted passed 

 midshipman June 4, 1831, lieutenant Feb. 3, 1837, 

 commander Sept. 14, 1855, captain July 16, 1862, com- 

 modore Sept. 27, 1866, and rear - admiral Jan. 29, 

 1872; and was retired May 23, 1872. During his 

 naval career he was on sea service eighteen years 

 three months, on shore or other duty eighteen years 

 three months, and was unemployed twenty -nine years 

 six months. During the Mexican War he served on 

 the " Cumberland " in the blockade of Vera Cruz ; in 

 1855 he accompanied Commodore Perry on his expe- 

 dition to Japan; in 1862-'65 he was attached to the 

 navy yard at Boston; and in 1869 he was a light- 

 house inspector. 



Taylor, David, jurist, born in Carlisle, Schoharie 

 County, N. Y., March 11, 1818; died in Milwaukee, 

 Wis., April 3, 1891. He was graduated at Union Col- 

 lege in 1841, and admitted to the bar of his native 

 county in 1846. Soon afterward he removed to She- 

 boygan, Wis., and engaged in practice. He was dis- 

 trict attorney of the county one term, was a member 

 of the State Assembly in 1853 and of the State Senate 

 in 1855-'56, and was elected judge of the 4th Judicial 

 Circuit in 1857. He held this "office till 1869, and 

 just before the expiration of his second term he was 

 again elected to the State Senate, where he served in 

 1869-'70. At the close of his term he removed to 

 Fond du Lac. In 1876 he was appointed a commis- 

 sioner to revise the statutes of Wisconsin, and on 

 the enlargement of the State Supreme Court he was 

 chosen without opposition one of the additional as- 

 sociate justices in 1878, in which capacity he served 

 until his death. 



. Taylor, Julius 8., ffeologist, born in Saratoga, N. Y., 

 in 1808; died in Kankakee, 111., April 11, 1891. He 

 received a classical education in New York city, 

 spent four years as a sailor before the mast, was gracl- 

 uated at Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, in 

 1835, and, after practicing^ for three years in Cape 

 May, N. J., removed to Dayton, Ohio, whence he 

 went to Kankakee in 1864. He became successful as 

 a physician, but will doubtless be best remembered 

 because of his researches and collections in geology. 

 His many years spent in the Miami valley in Ohio 

 afforded him opportunities to gratify his scientific 

 tastes in a field then exceedingly rich and unbroken. 

 He investigated with great care and patience every 

 part of this region, and did much to establish the 

 glacial-drift theory as a geological fact. His latter 

 years were spent almost wholly in the field of palae- 

 ontology. In 1880 he gave his collection of geological 

 specimens, one of the most complete in the West, to 

 Blackburn University, Carlinville, 111., where, ar- 

 ranged by himself, it forms an important feature of 

 the museum to which his name has been given. 



Thatcher, James Kingsley, physician, born in New 

 Haven, Conn., Oct. 19, 1847 ; died there, April 20, 

 1891. He was a son of Prof. Thomas A. Thatcher, 

 was graduated at Yale College in 1868, was tutor in 

 physics and zoology there in 1871-'79, and was ap- 

 pointed Professor of 1 Physiology in the Yale Medical 

 School in 1879, and in 187 the subject of clinical 

 medicine was added to his professorship. He made 

 original investigations in comparative anatomy and 



physiology, the results of which when published in 

 1877 attracted much attention in England and Ger- 

 many, as they involved a criticism of Huxley and 

 Gearenbauer on vertebrate evolution. 



Thompson, John, financier, born in Peru, Berkshire 

 County, Mass., Nov. 27, 1802; died in New York city, 

 April 19, 1891. He was brought up on a farm, at- 

 tending school in the winter ; taught in Hampshire 

 County, Mass., when nineteen years old : and began 

 his business career in Poughkeepsie, N. Y., as agent 

 of a lottery company authorized by the Legislature 

 for the benefit of Union College. After working 

 there three years he removed to New York city with 

 a capital of $2,000 and opened a broker's office in 

 Wall Street. He soon recognized the necessity for a 

 publication that would warn the business community 

 against the counterfeit bank bills that were being 

 widely circulated, and established "Thompson's 

 Bank-note .Reporter," the pioneer in its line, which 

 at one time had a circulation of 100,000 copies a week. 

 Early in the civil war he made the acquaintance of 

 Secretary Chase, and for many years thereafter his 

 advice was frequently sought by the financial officers 

 of the Government. On June 17, 1861, he wrote to 

 President Lincoln and Secretary Chase, urging that 

 specie payments should be maintained and proposing 

 a board of currency commissioners, whose duties he 

 minutely outlined. Subsequently he proposed and 

 strongly advocated the establishment of a national 

 banking system, and, after the project had received 

 congressional sanction, he founded the First National 

 Bank of New York city in 1863. Owing to general 

 opposition to the scheme, this bank was owned by 

 the Thompson family almost exclusively; but the 

 public came to its support and it flourished. In 1878 

 he severed his connection with this bank and organ- 

 ized the Chase National Bank, of which he was vice-- 

 president till 1884, and subsequently for a short 

 period president. Mr. Thompson published a pam- 

 phlet on "Free Silver Lunatics" (New York, 1889), 

 and had nearly completed at the time of his death a 

 book on "Sixty Years in Wall Street." 



Todd, Lemuel, lawyer, born in Carlisle, Pa., July 29, 

 1817j died there, May 12, 1891. He was graduated 

 at Dickinson College in 1839, and was admitted to 

 the bar in 1841. In 1854 he was elected to Congress 

 from the 15th Pennsylvania District as a Republican- 

 in 1856 was defeated for a second term; in 1857 waa 

 defeated by David Wilmot as candidate for the 

 gubernatorial nomination ; and in the same year was 

 chairman of the Republican State Committee. He 

 was president of the State conventions in 1863, 1868, 

 and 1883 ; was major of the 1st Regiment, Pennsyl- 

 vania Volunteer Reserve Corps during a part of the 

 civil war, and was inspector-general of the State 

 under Gov. Curtin. In 1872 he was again elected to 

 Congress as one of the three Congressmcn-at-large, 

 and there served as a member of the Committee on 

 Expenditures in the Post-office Department. 



Tourgee, Eben, musical director, born in Warwick, 

 R. I., June 1, 1834; died in Boston, Mass., April 12, 

 1891. He began business life as a helper in a calico- 

 printing factory, studied in East Greenwich Academy, 

 and in 1847-'51 worked in the cotton mills at Harris- 

 ville, R. I. During the latter period he found time to 

 study music. In 1851 he opened a small music store 

 in Fall River, and in 1853 began teaching music in 

 the public schools and to private classes. Six years 

 afterward he established a musical institute at East 

 Greenwich ; in 1863 he went to Europe to study; in 

 1864 he founded a conservatory in Providence, and 

 in 1867 this school was removed to Boston and be- 

 came the New England Conservatory of Music. Wes- 

 leyan University gave him the degree of Mus. Doc. 

 In 1869 he organized the chorus of the Peace Jubilee. 

 In 1872 the College of Music of Boston University 

 was founded, and Dr. Tourgee was elected its clean. 

 He gathered nearly 20,000 singers for the chorus of 

 the World's Peace Jubilee in 1874, and organized and 

 conducted the large chorus choir of the Music Hall 

 Society in 1876. 



