574 



OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. (SHAFTEB SHUFELDT.) 



Shafter, James MoMillin, jurist, born in Athens, 

 Windharn County, Vt., May 27, 1816; died in San 

 Francisco, Cal., Aug. 29, 1892. He was graduated at 

 Wesley an University. Middletown, in 1837; studied 

 law in the Cambridge Law School, and was admitted 

 to the bar in 1840. In 1850 he removed to California, 

 where, till 1889, he was engaged in practice. He was 

 elected State Senator in 1862, presided over the High 

 Court of Impeachment that removed Judge James H. 

 Hardy from the bench, and was a member of the 

 convention that framed the present Constitution of 

 California. On June 12. 1892, he was appointed 

 judge of the Superior Court of the City and County 

 of San Francisco. He was a regent of Leland Stan- 

 ford, Jr., University from its incorporation, and left 

 an estate valued at $1,000,000. 



Sharp, Jacob) military officer, born in Kingston, 

 N. Y., in 1835 ; died in Detroit, Mich., April 27, 1892. 

 He studied two years at the United States Military 

 Academy, and was graduated at the Chandler School 

 of Science and Arts of Dartmouth College in 1856. 

 On May 11, 1861, he entered the national service as 

 1st lieutenant in the 20th New York Volunteers ; 

 Sept. 13, 1862, was commissioned major of the 56th 

 New York Infantry, and the same day promoted lieu- 

 tenant-colonel ; March 28^ 1863, was commissioned 

 colonel of the 156th New \ ork Infantry ; and Nov. 6, 

 1865, was mustered out of the service with the rank 

 of brevet brigadier-general of volunteers. He took 

 part in the battles of Williamsburg, Fair Oaks, the 

 Peninsula, Port Hudson, La., the Red River campaign, 

 the Shenandoah Valley, Cedar Creek, and Winches- 

 ter, and during the last two years of the war com- 

 manded the 2d brigade, 3d division, 19th Army Corps. 

 For several years before his death he was Governor 

 of the Soldiers' Home at Milwaukee, Wis. His death 

 was caused by paralysis resulting from a wound re- 

 ceived at Winchester. 



Sharpstein, John Bi, jurist, born in Richmond, N. Y., 

 May 23, 1823 ; died in San Francisco, Cal., Dec. 28, 

 1892. He was admitted to the bar in 1847, began 

 practice in Sheboygan, Wis., and in 1853 was ap- 

 pointed District Attorney for Wisconsin. From the 

 expiration of his term till 1862 he owned and edited 

 the Milwaukee "News." During this period he 

 served two terms in the State Legislature. In 1864 

 he removed to California, and after serving two years 

 on the bench of the 12th District court he was elected 

 justice of the Supreme Court (1866), and at the end 

 of his term was re-elected, and held the office at the 

 time of his death, being the only Democratic justice 

 in that court. 



Shea, John Dawson GHlmary, historian, born in New 

 York city, July 22, 1824; died in Elizabeth, N. J., 

 Feb. 22, 1892. He was a son of James Shea, princi- 

 pal of the grammar school of Columbia College, was 

 baptized John Dawson, and added the name Gilmary 

 ("servant of Mary") while a youth. At an early age 

 he became a clerk in the office of a Spanish merchant, 

 where he learned to write and speak Spanish fluently ; 

 subsequently he studied law, and was admitted to the 

 bar in 1846. A brief experience in practice, combined 

 with a natural taste for literary work and research, 

 led him to abandon the profession of law for that of 

 letters, and in this occupation, to him the most de- 

 lightful of all employments, he passed the remainder 

 of his life. His attention was called to the early 

 Catholic missions among the American Indians while 

 he was studying Spanish, and his first endeavor, after 

 deciding to follow literature, was to collect the fullest 

 possible material for a general history of the Catholic 

 Church in the United States. He was a most indus- 

 trious author and translator, an active member of the 

 New York Historical Society from 1845, an honorary 

 member of nearly every historical society in the 

 United States and of many in Europe, and was the 

 first President of the Catholic Historical Society of 

 the United States. As an evidence of the esteem in 

 which he was generally held it is noted that, while on 

 his death-bed and still conscious, he received by tele- 

 graph a special blessing from Pope Leo XIII. In 1883 



the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, gave him the 

 Loatare medal, as being the most distinguished Catho- 

 lic layman in the United States. For many years prior 

 to 18b8 he held an editorial place in Frank Leslie's 

 publishing house, and latterly he was editor of the 

 New York "Catholic News." His publications in- 

 clude : " The Discovery and Exploration of the Missis- 

 sippi Valley" (New York, 1853); "History of the 

 French and Spanish Missions among the Indian 

 Tribes of the United States" (1854) ;" Early Voy- 

 ages up and down the Mississippi" (1862) ; ""Novum 

 Belgium : An Account of New Motherland in 1643-'44" 

 (1862) ; " The Operations of the French Fleet under 

 Count de Grasse" (1864); a translation of Charle- 

 voix's " History and General Description of New 

 France," with numerous notes (6 vols., 1866-'72); 

 Heunepin's "Description of Louisiana"; Le Clercq's 



bearing on 



early history of the French-American colonies(24 vols., 

 1857-'68) ; '" Washington's Private Diary " (1861) ; 

 Colden's " History of the Five Indian Nations," 1727 

 edition (1866) ; and Alsop's " Maryland " (1869). His 

 latest works included " The Catholic Church in Colo- 

 nial Da^s" (1883) ; "The Story of a Great Nation"; 

 the "Life of Father Isaac Jogues" (1885); " The Hier- 

 archy of the Catholic Church in the United States" 

 (1886); "Life and Times of Archbishop Carroll" 

 (1888); and three volumes out of five projected on " The 

 History of the Catholic Church in the United States." 

 Of the last work, which he regarded as the crowning 

 effort of his life, and for which he had been prepar- 

 ing since early youth, he saw the fourth volume in 

 press, and had the material for the last one nearly 

 completed. Besides these works, Dr. Shea had com- 

 piled many school histories and text-books, had pub- 

 lished a series of grammars and dictionaries of the 

 Indian language, entitled "Library of American Lin- 

 guistics," and had written the articles on the various 

 Indian tribes in the " American Cyclopaedia." lie was 

 a man of marvelous memory, ready wit, and strong 

 friendships ; and after an intimate association of more 

 than twenty years, it is a gratification to testify here 

 to the unsel'fishness, the helpfulness, and the uninter- 

 rupted cordiality of his nature. 



Shnfeldt, Mason Ahercromhie, naval officer, born in 

 New York city, Nov. 8, 1852 ; died in Cape Town, 

 Africa, in February, 1892. He was graduated at the 

 United States Naval Academy, May 31, 1872; was 

 promoted ensign in 1874, master in 1880, lieutenant, 

 junior grade, in 1885, and lieutenant in 1886, and re- 

 signed on June 30, 1890. While attached to the 

 " Enterprise," in 1881-'84, he received permission to 

 land on Madagascar for the purpose of exploring that 

 island. He was received with distinction by the 

 Queen and the Prime Minister at the capital, and fur- 

 nished with an escort with which he crossed the 

 island, encountering many hardships in a journey of 

 several months. From Morandava, on the western 

 coast, he made a journey of 700 miles in an open boat 

 to Delagoa Bay. In 1889-'90, while attached to the 

 " Yantic," of the North Atlantic squadron, he experi- 

 enced his second severe cyclone. The vessel was cast 

 on her beam ends by the force of the wind, and Lieut 

 Shufeldt risked his life in cutting away her must. 

 His conduct during this emergency was so gallant 

 that on the arrival of the ship in port both the offi- 

 cers and the crew united in commending him, and a 

 letter commemorating the event was signed by every 

 officer and enlisted man on board ship. After resign- 

 ing from the navy he was appointed a World's lair 

 commissioner to Africa. After visiting Zanzibar he 

 went to Cape Town, South Africa, thence made 

 journeys to the diamond mines at Kimberly, to the 

 Orange Free State, and to the copper mines at Port 

 Nolloth, on the western coast, and, returning to Cape 

 Town, was prostrated with diseases incidental to Af- 

 rica. He had a passion for travel and adventure, and 

 one of his motives in seeking his last official appoint- 

 ment was to enable him to continue his early explor- 



