OBlTUAUIKs. \MKItlCAN. 



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was brought against liim in coii-cqucnee. lie was an 

 enthusiast in hi.- studies, and was familiar with the 

 numismatic iiinl antii|iiuriu!> collections of till tin' large 

 museums in Kupipc. 



Field, Benjamin Hazard, philanthropist, )>'>rn in York- 

 tow n. N. V., Ma\ _', 1M4; died in Ni-w York city, 

 March IT, Is'.t.'t. lit- received an academical educa- 

 tion ; removed tn Ni-w York eit\. ami entered his 

 uncle's mercantile otlice in ls:;l ; MOtflM a partner in 

 the tinn in lv;-j; assumed tin- entire management in 

 1888; admitted his son, Cortlandt De I'. Field, into 



partnership in Istll ; and retired from the business 

 .-nun at'terw ard. From that time till his death he ap- 

 plied himself to philanthropic work. He was active 

 in founding the Home for Incurables in Fordham, and 

 was its president till his deatli ; was president for 

 many \ ears of the New York K\ c and Kar Intirmary, 

 of the New York Historical Society, and of the St. 

 Nicholas Society ; was Viet-.- President of the Ameri- 

 can Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, 

 of the Sheltering Arms, and of the Children 1 * Fold; 

 was a founder and for several years President of the 

 New York Free Circulating Library ; and was a trus- 

 tee or director of the Roosevelt Hospital, the Ameri- 

 can Museum of Natural History, the (iood Samaritan 

 Dispensary, the New York Institution for the Instruc- 

 tion of the Deal and Dumb, the Working Women's 

 Protective Union, and of other charitable institutions. 

 To all these institutions lie gave liberally of his time 

 and means. He also spent more than $100,000 in 

 erect inu r and maintaining a public school near his 

 birthplace. Mr. Field was a Fellow of the American 

 Geographical Society, and the senior member of the 

 New York Chamber of Commerce. 



Fischer, Gustavus. educator, born iu Berlin, Germany, 

 in .Mine, 1M.~>; died in New Brunswick, N. J., Sept. 

 16, 18'J-'5. He was educated at the Universities of Ber- 

 lin and Gottingen, making specialties of law, philoso- 

 phy, philology, and music, and in 1848. on the break- 

 ing out of the revolution, entered political life and 

 was elected to Parliament. On the dispersion of the 

 u rump " Parliament he removed to Switzerland, 

 whence he came to the United States in 1850. In 

 1858 he was appointed Professor of Modern Languages 

 in Rutgers College, and also became teacher of French 

 and German in a private seminary for young ladies in 

 New Brunswick. He held his chair in the college till 

 1869, and on resigning spent the remainder of his life 

 in musical study. 



Fish, Hamilton, statesman, born in New York city, 

 Aug. 3, 1808 ; died in Garrison's, N. Y., Sept. 7, 1893. 

 He was a son of Nicholas and Elizabeth Stuy vesant 

 Fish, received his early education at private schools, 

 was graduated at Colum- 

 bia College in 18527, and 

 was admitted to the bar 

 in 1830. In 1834 he en- 

 tered into active politi- 

 cal life by becoming the 

 Whig candidate for the 

 Legislature and meeting 

 defeat. Eight years aft- 

 erward he was elected 

 to Congress from the 6th 

 District over John Me- 

 Keon, the Democratic 

 candidate. Toward the 

 end of this term William 

 W. Campbell, who repre- 

 sented the Native Ameri- 

 can ideas, was nominated 

 by the Whigs as liis suc- 

 cessor, and Mr. Fish was persuaded by his friends 

 to stand its an independent candidate, and as such 

 he was defeated. In lS4i> he received the Whig 

 nomination for Lieutenant-Govcrnor on the ticket 

 with .John Young for Governor. Mr. Younir was 

 elected, but Mr. Fish, who had denounced the prin- 

 ciples of the antireiiters. was defeated. In the fol- 

 lowing year his successful Democratic competitor, 

 Addison Gardiner, was appointed a judge of the 



State Court of Appeal-, and, resigning the office of 

 Lieutenant -Governor. Mr. Finh wuw chosen in hi* 

 i-hice. In 1H4M he defeated .John A. Dix ami I: 

 II. Walworth for Governor, tin- former representing 

 the Van liuren and the latter the < 'an Dem- 

 and in !*.".! was elected I'nited State- Senator to HUC- 

 ceed Daniel S. Dickinson. In the Senate he acted 

 with the Republican party and opposed the repeal of 

 the Missouri Compromise. At the close of hi.- term he 

 undertook to retire from public life, and went to Ku- 

 ropc, hut returned shortly before the beginning of the 

 civil war, and took an active part in the presidential 

 campaign in favor of Abraham Lincoln, though he 

 had been know n as a supjK.rter of William II. Seward. 

 In .January, Is'!'-', Secretary Stanton appointed Bishoi> 

 A me- and Mr. Fish commissioners to relieve tJie sut- 

 fcring.- of the I'nion soldiers imprisoned in Richmond 

 and elsewhere, and, though the 'ont'ederate authori- 

 ties refused to allow them to pass tJie lines, tlieir mis- 

 sion was productive of great good, in that it led to a 

 system for exchanging prisoners which was observed 

 to the close of the war. In 1868 Mr. Fish was con- 

 spicuous among those who advocated the choice ot 

 Gen. Grant for the presidency, and he bore an influ- 

 ential part in the campaign. After his inauguration, 

 President Grant first appointed Elihu B. Washbum 

 his Secretary of State. A week later Mr. Washburn 

 was appointed minister to France, and, resigning the 

 portfolio of State, was succeeded by Mr. Fish. By re- 

 appointment Mr. Fish held the office till Marcn 12, 

 1877, and then retired to private life. On Fell. !, 

 1871, he was appointed one of the commissioners on 

 the part of the United States to negotiate the treaty 

 of Washington, which he signed on May h. When the 

 Geneva tribunal was arbitrating the " Alabama claims," 

 he procured the adoption by the tribunal of a rule pro- 

 viding that the United States Government should not 

 be held responsible for indirect damages arising from 

 Fenian raids or ( 'ubun filibustering expeditions. H.- 

 effected a settlement of the long-standing boundary 

 dispute with Great Britain, by which the United 

 States received the island of San Juan, and in Novem- 

 ber, 1873, negotiated with the Spanish minister in 

 Washington a settlement of the international conten- 

 tions growing out of the " Virginius " affair. He also 

 successfully resisted the effort of Great Britain to 

 change the terms of the extradition treaty. Early in 

 his career as secretary he formulated a system of ex- 

 aminations for applicants for appointment to consular 

 offices, to test their knowledge of subjects connected 

 with consular service. Mr. Fish was an original 

 trustee of the Peabody Educational Fund, President 

 of the New York Historical Society, President- General 

 of the Society of the Cincinnati, and President of the 

 Board of Trustees of Columbia College. He bequeathed 

 $50,000 to Columbia College unconditioiialh, $5,000 

 to St. Luke's Hospital, and f'J,000 to the Bellevue 

 Training School for Nurses. 



Fisher. George Jackson, physician, born in West- 

 chesti r Coimtv, N. Y.. Nov. -27, 1825; died in Sing 

 Sing, N. Y.. Fl-l>. ."., INM. He was graduated at the 

 Medical Department of the Universitv of the City of 

 New York in 1849, and had reside J in Sing Sing 

 since 1851. In 1874 lie was elected President of tin- 

 State Medical Society, and in 1^71; was a delegate 

 from the society to the International Medical Con- 

 gress in Philadelphia. He had served several times 

 as a volunteer surgeon for the I'nited States Sanitary 

 Commission during the civil war; was for more than 

 twenty years a brigade surgeon of the National Guard 

 of New 'York, and a Tinted States examining surgeon 

 in the Pension Bureau ; and had collected a library and 

 private museum which were widely known in medical 

 and surgical circles. Dr. Fisher was author of many 

 works, including " Biographical Sketches of D> 

 Physicians of Westohester County." "Animal Sub- 

 stances employed a.- Medicines by the Ancients." 

 u A Brief History of the Discovery of the Circulation 

 of the Blood," "Teratology," and "History of Sur- 

 gery.'' He died from blood poisoning following a 

 surgical operation. 



