568 



OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. (POTTER RANDALL.) 



1892. He was a son of the Kev. Noah Porter, for 

 lifty years a clergyman in Farmington ; was gradu- 

 ated at Yale in 1831 ; master of Hopkins Grammar 

 School 1831-'33 ; tutor at 

 Yale in 1833-'35; pastor 

 of the Congregational 

 church in New Milford, 

 Conn., in 1836-'43, and 

 at Springfield, Mass., in 

 1843-'46 ; and was Pro- 

 fessor of Mathematics 

 and Moral Philosophy at 

 Yale in 1846-71. In the 

 latter year he was elected 

 president of the univer- 

 sity, and he held the 

 office till 1886, succeed- 

 ing the Rev. Theodore 

 D wight Woolsey, and be- 

 ing succeeded, on his res- 

 ignation because of age, 

 by the Rev. Timothy 

 Dwight. Dr. Porter was 

 author of many standard works, and was the prin- 

 cipal editor of the editions of Webster's " Unabridged 

 Dictionary" in 1864 and 1880. His most widely 

 known publications were: "Historical Discourse at 

 Farmington, Nov. 4, 1840" (Hartford, 1841); "The 

 Educational Systems of the Puritans and Jesuits 

 Compared" (New York, 1851); "The Human In- 

 tellect" (1868; 3d ed., 1876); "Books and Read- 

 ing" (1870; 6th ed., 1881); "American Colleges and 

 the American Public" (1870: 2d ed., 1878); "Ele- 

 ments of Intellectual Science" (1871; 2d ed., 1876); 

 " Sciences of Nature versus the Sciences of Man " 

 (1871); "Evangeline: The Place, the Story, and the 

 Poem" (1882); "The Elements of Moral Science, 

 Theoretical and Practical " (1885) ; " Bishop Berkeley " 

 (1885); and "Kant's Ethics: a Critical Exposition" 

 (Chicago, 1886). Under his presidency the number 

 of instructors at Yale increased from 71 to 114, and 

 the funds from $1,227,305 to $2,155,705; and on his 

 retirement he left also contingent inchoate rights to 

 property estimated at more than $2,000,000. 



Potter, Joseph Haydn, military officer, born in Con- 

 cord, N. H., Oct. 12, 1822- died in Columbus, Ohio, 

 Dec. 1, 1892. He was graduated at the United States 

 Military Academy and appointed brevet 2d lieutenant 

 1st Infantry in 1843 ; was promoted 2d lieutenant 7th 

 Infantry Oct. 21, 1845, 1st lieutenant Oct. 30, 1847, 

 captain Jan. 9, 1856, major 19th Infantry July 4, 1863, 

 lieutenant-colonel 30th Infantry July 28, 1866, trans- 

 ferred to the 4th Infantry March 15, 1869, colonel 

 24th Infantry Dec. 11, 1873, brigadier-general April 1, 

 1886, and was retired Oct. 12. He took part in the 

 MexicanWar, distinguishing himself in the expedition 

 to the Rio Grande, at the bombardment of Fort 

 Brown, Texas, at the battle of Monterey, and at the 

 storming of Fort Soldado, on Federation Hill, where 

 he was wounded ; and accompanied the expedition to 

 Utah. In the civil war he was in the Maryland and 

 Rappahannock campaigns with the Army of the Po- 

 tomac, and was present at the battles of 'Fredericks- 

 burg and Chancellorsville, and was wounded and 

 captured during the latter. He was governor of the 

 Soldiers' Home at Washington, D. C., from July, 1877, 

 till July, 1881, and at the time of his retirement was 

 in command of the Department of the Missouri. 



Prince, Henry, military officer, born in Maine in 

 1811 ; died in London, England, Aug. 19, 1892. He 

 was graduated at the United States Military Academy 

 in 1835, served through the Seminole and other In- 

 dian wars; reached the rank of major during the 

 Mexican War, and was brevetted brigadier-general 

 in the regular army in 1865, for distinguished service 

 during the civil war. He served as paymaster in Bos- 

 ton till 1869 ; chief paymaster of the Department of 

 the East till 1871 ; paymaster in New York city till 

 1875 ; was on duty on the Pacific coast till his retire- 

 ment in 1879. He committed suicide while despondent 

 on account of old age and loneliness. 



Prince, William Edgar, military officer, born in Bos- 

 ton, Mass., in 1815; died in New York city, Jan. 21, 

 1892. He was appointed from civil life 2d lieutenant 

 of the 1st United States Infantry, Aug. 1, 1838; was 

 promoted 1st lieutenant, Nov. 8, 1839 ; captain, Aug. 

 31, 1849 ; major of the 3d Infantry, Nov. 23, 1861 ; and 

 was retired, March 30, 1864, on account of disability 

 incurred in line of duty. He was brevetted captain, 

 March 16, 1848, for gallant and meritorious conduct in 

 the battle of Santa Cruz de los Resales, Mexico, and 

 lieutenant-colonel, March 13, 1865, for faithful and 

 meritorious service during the civil war. He served 

 through the Seminole War in Florida in 1838-'42 ; 

 was on Northwestern frontier duty in 1842-'46j was 

 assistant adjutant-general on the staff of Gen. Price in 

 Mexico ; and after the Mexican War spent ten years 

 on duty in Texas, where he commanded at different 

 times Forts Arbuckle and Wichita. While actively 

 engaged in the operations in Missouri and Kansas, in 

 the early part of the civil war, he was commissioned 

 a brigadier-general by the Governor of Kansas. 

 After his retirement he lived alternately at Newport 

 and New York city. 



Pronty, David, philanthropist, born in Spencer, Mass., 

 Oct. 18, 1813; died there, Sept. 13, 1892. He was 

 brought up on a farm, was apprenticed to the wire- 

 making trade, and after working at it four years pur- 

 chased the business, and conducted it till 1846, when 

 he sold it to give his time to the farm inherited from 

 his father. In 1852 he entered into partnership with 

 a manufacturer of boots and shoes, and he continued 

 in that business through various changes in the firm 

 name till 1876, when he retired from active life. He 

 presented the high-school building to his native town, 

 April 2, 1888, and bequeathed the following sums to 

 public institutions: Wesley an Academy at Wilbra- 

 ham, $15,000 ; Home Missionary Society j $5,000 ; First 

 Congregational Society, Methodist Episcopal Society, 

 Dniversalist Society, and Baptist Society, of Spencer, 

 $4,000 each ; Pine Grove Cemetery, at Spencer, $5,000 ; 

 Amherst College, $15,000; Wellesley College, $15,- 

 000; Baldwinville Hospital Cottages, $6,000; Drury 

 College, Green County, Mo., $15,000 ; and to trustees 

 for the relief of indigent citizens of Spencer, $5,000. 



Prudhomme, John F. ,, engraver, born in Santo 

 Domingo in 1801 ; died in Washington, D. C., June 

 28, 1892. He was one of the oldest engravers in the 

 United States, if not in the world; had been in the 

 Government service as an engraver for nearlv thirty 

 years ; became celebrated by engraving on steel Trum- 

 bull's painting ' The Signing of the Declaration of 

 Independence," and did a good deal of book illustra- 

 tion for George P. Moms, Nathaniel P. Willis, and 

 other authors'of their time. He was curator of the 

 National Academy of Design, and for a considerable 

 period was an instructor of the life class there. 



Fryer, James, manufacturer, born in New York city 

 in 1816 ; died there, July 28, 1892. When quite young 

 he became a clerk in a Water Street flour house, 

 where he remained till he established, with his broth- 

 ers Jasper and George, the firm of J. & J. Pryer & 

 Co., dealers in sperm and whale oil. This firm con- 

 tinued in the business under various titles till 1869. 

 Mr. Pryer was the first person to introduce the method 

 of bleaching whale oil oy steam instead of by solar 

 heat; was one of the first to press or manufacture 

 lard oil, and was also one of the first to handle men- 

 haden oil, and up to his retirement from business he 

 controlled the market in the latter commodity. He 

 was a member of the old Volunteer Fire Department, 

 a charter member of the American Institute, a director 

 of several financial institutions, and a member of the 

 New York Historical Society. 



Eandall, John Witt, naturalist, born in Boston, Mass., 

 Nov. 6, 1813 ; died there, Jan. 27, 1892. He was grad- 

 uated at Harvard in 1834, and at its medical school in 

 1839, and made a special study of entomology. He 

 was appointed zoologist in the South Sea Exploring 

 Expedition under Capt. Charles Wilkes, but resigned 

 the appointment because of delays and jealousies. He 

 wrote valuable scientific papers,- and furnished Dr. 



