736 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



forcible speaker, a fine classical scholar, and of high 

 standing socially. He has a wife and two daughters, 

 both of whom are married. 



WILSON SHANNON BISSELL was born in Rome, N. Y., 

 Dec. 31, 1847, and removed with his parents to Buffalo, 

 N. Y., when about six years old. His father, John 

 Bissell, was for many years a forwarding merchant 

 in Buffalo, and his brother, Arthur D., was appointed 

 collector of that port during Mr. Cleveland's first ad- 

 ministration. Shannon attended the public schools 

 in Buffalo and Hopkins Grammar School in New 

 Haven, and was graduated at Yale College in 1869. 

 He then studied law in the office of A. P. Lanning, 

 in Buffalo, and in 1872, having been admitted to the 

 bar, became the partner of Lyman K. Bass. In 1874 

 Mr. Cleveland joined the firm, which became Bass, 

 Cleveland & Bissell. Mr. Bissell has been active in 

 politics since his chief received the nomination for 

 Governor, and has always remained his close per- 

 sonal and political friend. He declined to accept 

 office during President Cleveland's first term, pre- 



"~~ x 



Cleveland's nomination, and succeeded in giving hjm 

 the solid vote of the Georgia delegation. Mr. Smith 

 is regarded as one of the ablest lawyers in the South, 



HOKE SMITH. 



and derives a large income from his practice. He is 

 the controlling owner of the Atlanta " Journal," a 

 Cleveland and tariff-reform organ, and at the time of 

 his appointment as Secretary of the Interior had been 

 for two years President of tne Atlanta Board of Edu- 

 cation. 



JrLius STERLING MORTON was born in Adams, 

 Jefferson County, N. Y., April 22, 1832. His parents 

 removed during his infancy to Ann Arbor, Mich., 

 where he attended the public schools. He returned 

 with his parents to his native State, and graduated at 

 Union College. Soon after, and at the age of twenty- 

 two, he married Miss Caroline Joy French, and the 

 young couple settled in Bellevue, Neb. They sub- 



WILSON SHANNON BISSELL. 



ferring, as he said, to be a friend of the Administra- 

 tion on the outside. Mr. Bissell is an able railroad 

 lawyer, and his present firm enjoys a large practice. 

 He married in 1890 Miss Louisa Fowler Sturges, of 

 Geneva, N. Y., and they have one child. 



HOKE SMITH comes of a Revolutionary family from 

 New Hampshire. His great grandfather was an officer 

 in Gen. Washington's army, and his grandfather was 

 one of the shrewdest politicians of New Hampshire. 

 Hoke Smith's father went South to take a professor- 

 ship in the University of North Carolina, and there 

 met and married a sister of Gen. Iloke. Hoke Smith 

 was born in 1855, was given a good education, and 

 went to Georgia at the age of sixteen. There he be- 

 gan teaching, and in his leisure hours studied law. 

 After his admission to the bar his ability was quickly 

 recognized, and he soon had a good practice, being 

 retained by railroad companies and municipal bodies 

 to conduct intricate negotiations. He entered politics 

 when twenty years old, and soon after was made 

 chairman of the Democratic Executive Committee of 

 Atlanta. He was chairman of the State convention 

 that nominated Gov. Northen, and from that time 

 has been recognized as the tariff-reform leader of the 

 State. He first met President Cleveland during the 

 Piedmont Exposition in 1889, and formed a strong 

 personal attachment for him, and afterward they 

 were in frequent correspondence. At the Democratic 

 National Convention in 1892 he worked hard for Mr. 



JULIUS STERLING MORTON. 



sequcntly removed to Nebraska City, where Mr. Mor- 

 ton took editorial charge of the " News " for several 

 years. He was twice a member of the Territorial 



