564 



OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. (BECKWITH BLAKEMAN.) 



writing books for children, under the pen name of 

 " Aunt Fanny," in 1855, and in fifteen years she wrote 

 and published 25 books, among them " Aunt Fanny's 

 Story Book," " Six Nightcaps," " Six Popguns," 

 "Four Little Hearts," "Life among the Children," 

 " Take Heed " ; and a novel, " The Wife's Stratagem." 

 She was for a long time an officer of the New York 

 Juvenile Asylum, and through life was actively in- 

 terested in the education of children. 



Beckwith, Amos, military officer, born in Vermont, 

 Oct. 4, 1825; died in St. Louis, Mo., Oct. 26, 1894. 

 He was graduated at the United States Military Acad- 

 emy on July 1, 1850, and entered the army as brevet 

 2d lieutenant, 1st artillery. He was promoted 2d 

 lieutenant, Feb. 22, 1851 ; 1st lieutenant, Aug. 21. 1854; 

 captain and commissary of subsistence, May 10, 1861 ; 

 major, Sept. 29, following ; lieutenant colonel and as- 

 sistant commissary general, June 23, 1874 ; and colo- 

 nel, Aug. 28, 1888 ; and was retired, Oct. 4, 1889. In 

 the volunteer service he was commissioned colonel 

 and aid-de-camp, Jan. 1, 1862 ; was brevetted briga- 

 dier general, Jan. 12, 1865; and was mustered out, 

 May 31, 1866. He received regular army brevets of 

 lieutenant colonel and colonel, Sept. 1, 1864, for meri- 

 torious services in the Atlanta campaign; brigadier 

 general, March 13, 1865, for services in the campaign 

 ending with the surrender of Gen. Joseph E. Johns- 

 ton ; and major general, the same date, for faithful 

 services in the subsistence department during tho 

 war. Gen. Beckwith served against the Seminole 

 Indians in Florida in 1850-'53 ; at Forts Monroe and 

 Mcllenry in!853-'55 ; and at Fort Monroe, Key West, 

 Barrancas, and Fort Leavenworth till the beginning 

 of the civil war. In 1861-'63 he was on duty in 

 Washington, D. C., as chief commissary of subsist- 

 ence' in 1864-'65 was in the field with the Army of 

 the West, under Gen. Sherman ; and from the close 

 of the war till his retirement was on commissary duty 

 in the Western and Southern States. 



Bedle, Joseph Dorsett, jurist, born in Matawan, Mon- 

 mouth County, N. J., Jan. 5, 1831 ; died in New York 

 city, Oct. 21, 1.894. He was a son oi Judge Thomas 

 J. Bedle of the Court of Common Pleas of Monmouth 

 County ; received an academic education ; and was 

 admitted to the bar of New York in 1852, and of New 

 Jersey in 1853. In 1855 he removed to Freehold, and 

 soon acquired a lucrative practice. In 1865, after he 

 had settled in Jersey City, he was appointed a judge 

 of the Supreme Court of the State, and was assigned 

 to a circuit that has been divided since. In 1872 he 

 was reappointed judge, and he served till 1874, when 

 he was elected Governor. During this administra- 

 tion he instituted important reforms in administrative 

 and legislative methods, and was prompt and effec- 

 tive in dealing with the railway strikes in 1877. At 

 the close of his term he resumed practice and con- 

 tinued it till his death. He received the degree of 

 LL. D. from the College of New Jersey in 1875. 



Berry, Nathaniel Springer, manufacturer, born in 

 Bath, Me., Sept. 1, 1796 ; died in Bristol, N. H., April 

 27, 1894. When eleven years old he was apprenticed 

 to a shoemaker, and when sixteen to a tanner and 

 currier. In 1818 he removed to Bristol ; in 1820 en- 

 gaged in the manufacture of leather; in 1826 erected 

 the first tannery in New England for tanning with 

 hot liquors; and in 1840-'64 he carried on tanning in 

 Hebron, N. II. For two years he was colonel of the 

 34th Regiment, New Hampshire militia ; for twenty- 

 eight years was a justice of the peace; for five terms 

 was a member of the Legislature, and for two terms 

 of the State Senate; and from June, 1841, till June 

 5, 1861, he was a judge of the Court of Common Pleas. 

 In 1861 and 1862 he was elected Governor, and dur- 

 ing his terms of office he enlisted, armed, and equipped 

 14 regiments of infantry, 3 companies of sharpshoot- 

 ers, 4 companies of cavalry, and 1 company of heavy 

 artillery in all over 15,000 men. lie was a delegate 

 to the National Democratic Convention in Baltimore 

 in 1840, but the action of the convention on the slav- 

 ery question led him to leave the Democratic party, 

 and he then became an active organizer of the Free- 



soil party, and was its first candidate for Governor 

 of New Hampshire. 



Bird, Francis William, manufacturer, born in Ded- 

 ham, Mass., (Jet. 22, 1809; died in Walpole, Mass., 

 May 23, 1894. His father was one of the pioneer 

 paper manufacturers in New England, who removed 

 his business to East Walpole in 1818. Francis at- 

 tended school six months in the year, and worked in 

 the paper mill the other six. In 1831 he was gradu- 

 ated at Brown University. He began teaching, but 

 the confinement impaired his health, and in 1833 he 

 engaged in the manufacture of paper for himself, in 

 which he continued all his life. From an early age 

 he was active in politics. He was elected to the Gen- 

 eral Court in 1846, and while there affiliated with the 

 " Conscience Whig" party, and became actively inter- 

 ested in the antislavery movement and a contributor 

 to the party organ, u The Daily Whig." From the 

 association of the leaders in this party grew the fa- 

 mous political organization known as the Bird Club. 

 Mr. Bird served live terms in the Legislature, and one 

 term (1871) in the State Senate, and was conspicuous 

 for his opposition to the proiect of building the Iloosae 

 Tunnel at the expense of the State treasury. During 

 the greater part of the civil war he was a member of 

 Gov. Andrew's council, and there rendered the State 

 and nation a signal service. His political life was one 

 of extreme independence. He was a Whig till 1846, 

 a Conscience Whig till 1848, a Free-soiler till 1856, a 

 Republican till 1872 (when he was an unsuccessful 

 candidate for Governor), a Liberal Republican till 

 1874, and an Independent Democrat till his death. 

 He bequeathed $2,000 to the public library of Wal- 

 pole, and a further sum of $30,000 on the condition 

 that his estate exceeded $150,000. 



Blair, Austin, lawyer, born in Caroline, Tompkins 

 County, N. Y., Feb. 8, 1818; died in Jackson, Mich., 

 Aug. 6, 1894. He was graduated at Union College, 

 Schenectady, N. Y., in 1839 ; studied law for two 

 years in Oswego, N. Y. ; and, removing to Jackson, 

 was admitted to the bar in 1842. In the latter year 

 he was elected clerk of Eaton County, and in 1846 

 was elected to the Legislature as a Whig. His strong 

 antislavery views led him, in 1848, to refuse to sup- 

 port the Whig ticket. He attended the Buffalo Con- 

 vention, aided in nominating Van Buren and Adams, 

 and supported them in the canvass. In 1852-'54 he 

 was prosecuting attorney of Jackson County ; in 1854 

 was conspicuous in the convention in Jackson that 

 resulted in establishing the Republican party in 

 Michigan: in 1854-'56 was a State Senator; and in 

 1860 w'as a delegate to the Republican National Con- 

 vention which nominated Abraham Lincoln, and was 

 himself elected Governor of Michigan. Under his 

 inspiration the Legislature, as early as February, 1861, 

 tendered to the National Government the full military 

 power and material resources of Michigan, advising 

 that no concession nor compromise be made with the 

 seceding States. During his administration of four 

 years he sent into the field 83,347 soldiers; was un- 

 wavering in his zeal for the preservation of the Union ; 

 and was one of President Lincoln's favorite u \var 

 governors." In 1866, 1868, and 1870 he was elected 

 to Congress from the 3d Michigan District as a Re- 

 publican, and served on the committees on foreign 

 affairs, rules, militia, and land claims (chairman). 

 On the expiration of his third term he resumed pri- 

 vate practice. Subsequently he supported Horace 

 Greeley for President, was defeated as Democratic 

 candidate for Governor, returned to the Republican 

 party, and then supported the candidacy of Grover 

 Cleveland. 



Blakeman, Birdseye, publisher, born in Stratford, 

 Conn., Jan. 25, 1824; died in Stockbridge, Mass., 

 Sept. 30, 1894. lie was employed in the book trade 

 in early youth ; engaged in business for himself in 

 Bridgeport, Conn., in 1848; removed to New York 

 city in 1844; and continued in the book business till 

 within a year of his death. lie was first a member 

 of the schoolbook publishing firm of Sheldon, Blake- 

 man & Co. ; in 1863 entered the firm of Ivison, Phin- 



