580 



OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. (VANDERBILT WATSON.) 



Mass., and in March of that year he became connected 

 with that company as electrician. To Mr. Van De- 

 poele is also due the present electric percussion drill 

 used in mining, on which he began experimenting in 

 1882. At the time of his death he was improving 

 sorneof his inventions in the line of electric reciprocat- 

 ing devices, but he will be remembered longest as 

 the " father " of the trolley system of electric railway 

 propulsion. 



vanderbilt, William Henry, student, born in New 

 York city, Dec. 21, 1870; died there, May 23, 1892. 

 He was the eldest son of Cornelius Vanderbilt, and 

 the favorite grandson of William II. Vanderbilt, who 

 bequeathed to him $1,000,000, the income to be paid 

 when he reached his majority, and the disposal of 

 the principal to pass to him when he reached his 

 thirtieth year. Besides this he had a large allowance 

 from his father. After studying at Cutler's School 

 in New York city and at St. Paul's School, Concord, 

 N. II., he entered Yale University in 188'J, becoming a 

 member of the class of '93. In his sophomore year he 

 contributed $5,000 to the building fund of the new 

 Yale gymnasium. He was an excellent horseman ; 

 the owner of the 46 foot sloop yacht " Ilderim " ; and 

 a member of the Knickerbocker, New York Yacht, 

 Seawanhaka Corinthian, Racket and Tennis, Coun- 

 try, Westchester Polo, and Biding Clubs. 



Van Nest, Abraham Rynier, clergyman, born in New 

 York city, Feb. 1, 1823 ; died there, June 2, 1892. He 

 was graduated at Rutgers College in 1841, and at the 

 New Brunswick (N. J.) Theological Seminary in 

 1847, and was licensed to preach in the Dutch Re- 

 formed Church. After holding a pastorate at New- 

 burgh, N. Y., for several years he was stationed at 

 the Dutch Reformed Church in 20th Street, New 

 York city, from 1850 till 1862, and was in charge of 

 the American chapels in Paris, Rome, and Florence 

 from 1863 till 1875. While at Florence he was a 

 founder of an orphan asylum for children of Italian 

 Protestants, and President of the Evangelization 

 Committee of the Free Church in Italy, and before 

 returning he organized the Dutch Reformed Church 

 in Geneva, Switzerland. On his return to the United 

 States he became pastor of a church in Philadelphia, 

 where he remained from 1878 till 1889. He was 

 President of the General Synod of the Dutch Re- 

 formed Church in 1870. He published, among other 

 books, " Signs of the Times," and editions of James S. 

 Cannon's " Pastoral Theology" and of George W. Be- 

 thune's " Lectures on the Heidelberg Catechism." 



Vedder, Nicholas, military officer, born in New York 

 in 1819; died in Washington, D. C., April 15, 1892. 

 He was appointed an additional paymaster in the 

 United States Volunteer Army, Sept. 5, 1861 ; bre- 

 vetted lieutenant-colonel, March 13,1865; appointed 

 major and paymaster United States Army, Jan. 17. 

 1867 ; and was retired. Sept. 2, 1882. He was brevetted 

 lieutenant-colonel of volunteers, March 13, 1865, for 

 faithful and meritorious services during the war. 

 During Gen. Sherman's march to the sea he was his 

 chief paymaster, and as such disbursed more than 

 $52,000.000 without making a mistake of a dollar. 



Voegtlin, William, scene painter, born in Basel, 

 Switzerland, in 1826; died in Boston, Mass., May 29, 

 1892. He was the son of a theatrical scene painter, 

 whom he accompanied to the United States about 

 1852, and had since been employed at scene painting 

 in the theatres and opera houses of New Orleans, 

 San Francisco, New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and 

 other cities. His most noted works were the scenery 

 for the original production of the " Black Crook " at 

 Niblo's Garden, New York ; that for the Brocken 

 scene in " Faust " ; settings for the Grand Opera 

 House, Booth's Theatre, and the Union Square Thea- 

 tre, in New York city ; and special scenery for many 

 of the theatrical and operatic traveling companies. 

 He was an extremely rapid painter, and in the case of 

 the Brocken scene liis canvas was scarcely more than 

 half finished when the curtain rose for the first act, 

 but was completed in time for its proper display, 

 though still wet. 



Warren, Orsamns George, publisher, born in Clarence, 

 Erie County, N. Y., July 21, 1846; died in Buffalo, 

 N. Y., May 6, 1892. He was a son of James D. War- 

 ren, one of the founders of the " Commercial Adver- 

 tiser" of Buffalo, and a widely known politician. In 

 1856, when his father was elected county treasurer, 

 he removed with him to Buffalo, where he received a 

 public-school education, and, after making an extended 

 tour of Europe and studying in Paris, returned to 

 Buffalo in 1867 and entered the publishing house of 

 Matthews & Warren as a bookkeeper. When his 

 father became sole proprietor of the establishment 

 Orsamus was appointed business manager, and on the 

 death of the elder Warren, in 1886, Orsamus and his 

 brother William formed the firm of James D. War- 

 ren's Sons. Orsamus retained the active management 

 of the newspaper till his death, succeeded his father 

 in various political associations, was a member of the 

 State Republican Committee, a delegate to the National 

 Republican Convention in 1888, a member for eight 

 years of the executive committee of the State Associ- 

 ated Press and its President in 1891, and at the time of 

 his death was a delegate-elect to the National Repub- 

 lican Convention. 



WatMnB, Albert Barnes, educator, born in Naples, 

 N. Y., in 1838; died in Albany, N. Y., March 18, 

 1892. He educated himself, and while teaching in 

 Fairfield Seminary, Herkimer County, N. Y., studied 

 bookkeeping, mathematics, French, and Latin. He 

 was graduated at Amherst College in 1863, was in- 

 structor in Greek in Fairfield Seminary several years, 

 and was principal of the Collegiate Institute in Ad- 

 ams, N. Y., from 1870 till 1882. During this period 

 he was a member of a committee of fifteen educators 

 appointed to secure, legislative aid for academies. In 

 1882 he was elected President of the New York State 

 Teachers' Association, and was appointed by the re- 

 gents of the university State Inspector of Teachers' 

 Classes, and in 1884 he was elected assistant secre- 

 tary of the university. He prepared a history of the 

 teachers' training classes for the regents' historical and 

 statistical record, edited the " Regents' Academic syl- 

 labus " (1888 ; revised edition, 1891), and presented at 

 the university convocations notable papers, including 

 those on " Ihe State and Higher Education" and 

 " The Teaching of Literature in Secondary Schools." 



Watson, Sereno, botanist, born in East Windsor Hill, 

 Conn., Dec. 1, 1826; died in Cambridge. Mass., March 





9, 1892. He was graduated at Yale in 1847, and there- 

 after taught in various places in New England, in 



