OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. (ELLIS FAIRFAX.) 



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positive convictions, but no bitterness, caring much 

 more to ascertain the real truth of the matter in hand 

 than to secure the triumph of his own opinions. As an 

 historian he rendered important service in placing 

 the early settlers of New England in their proper 

 light before modern readers, and the amount of labor 

 and research that he devoted to this cherished purpose 

 of his life was very great. His historical labors be- 

 gan in 1844 with his contribution to Sparks's "Ameri- 

 can Biography " of the life of John Mason, followed 

 in 1845 by the life of Ann Hutchinson, and in 1847 by 

 that of William Penn. His other works include 

 *' The Organ and Church Music : Two Discourses " 

 (Boston. 1852); "A Half Century of the Unitarian 

 Controversy, etc." (1857) ; Memoir of Dr. Luther V. 

 Bell" (1863); "The Aims and Purposes of the 

 Founders of Massachusetts and their Treatment of 

 Intruders and Dissentients" (1869) ; "Memoir of Ja- 

 red Sparks" (1869); "The Complete Works of Sir 

 Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford" (edited, Bos- 

 ton, 1870-'75) ; " Memoir of Sir Benjamin Thompson, 

 Count Rumford, with Notices of his Daughter " 

 (1871); "History of the Massachusetts General Hos- 

 pital " (1872) ; " History of the Battle of Bunker's 

 Hill" (1875); "Address on the Centennial of the 

 Evacuation by the British Army, with an Account of 

 the Siege of Boston" (1876); "Memoir of Charles 

 W. Upham" (1877); "Memoir of Edward Wiggles- 

 worth " (1877) ; " Memoir of Jacob Bigelow, M. D." 

 (1880) ; 3 chapters in Winsor's " Memorial History of 

 Boston" (1880-'81) "The Eoyal Governors," "The 

 Puritan Commonwealth," "The Indians of Eastern 

 Massachusetts," " The Bed Man and the White Man 

 in North America from its Discovery to the Present 

 Time " (Boston, 1882) ; "Address on the Eighty-sec- 

 ond Anniversary of the New York Historical Society " 

 (1886); "The Hudson Bay Company," and several 

 other important chapters in the " Narrative and Crit- 

 ical History of America" (1886) ; "The Puritan Age 

 and Eule in the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, 

 1629-'85" (1888). He also contributed to periodicals 

 and to the ninth editon of the " Encyclopaedia Bri- 

 tannica." 



Ellis, John Millott, educator, born near Jaffrey, 

 N. H., March 27, 1831 ; died in Chicago, 111., March 

 29,1894. In 1840 his parents removed with their 

 family to Oberlin, Ohio, where the father established 

 a planing mill, in which John worked while pre- 

 paring for college. -He was graduated at Oberlin 

 College in the class with Gen. Jacob D. Cox, in 1851 ; 

 was Professor of Languages in Mississippi College in 

 1852-'55; studied theology at Union and Oberlin 

 Theological Seminaries, being graduated at the last in 

 1857; was Professor of Greek in Oberlin College in 

 1858-'66 ; of Mental Philosophy and Rhetoric in 1866- 

 '82 ; and of Philosophy from 1882 till his death. He 

 also tilled at various times the chairs of Evidences of 

 Christianity, Political Economy, and English Litera- 

 ture. He was mayor of the village in 1861-'62 ; was 

 ordained to the ministry in 1865; associate pastor of 

 the Second Congregational Church in Oberlin in 

 1867-'74 ; and was appointed a United States com- 

 missioner to Europe in the interest of the World's 

 Columbian Exposition, visiting the capitals of Great 

 Britain, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and 

 Russia in 1891. In 1893 he was honored by Oberlin 

 College in being selected as the lirst one upon whom 

 it had ever conferred the degree of D. D. 



Ewell, Benjamin Stoddert, educator, born in Wash- 

 ington, D. C., June 10, 1810 ; died in James City,Va., 

 June 19,1894. He was a grandson of Benjamin 'Stod- 

 dert, the first Secretary of the United States Navy, 

 and a brother of Richard Stoddert Ewell, lieutenant 

 general in the Confederate army. He was graduated 

 at the United States Military Academy in 1832, and 

 remained there four years as Assistant Professor of 

 Mathematics and Assistant Professor of Natural and 

 Experimental Philosophy. He resigned in 1836, and 

 spent three years as a civil engineer in the construc- 

 tion of the Baltimore and Susquehanna Railroad. In 

 1839-'46 he was Professor of Mathematics at Hampden- 



Sidney College : in 1846-'48, Professor of Mathematics 

 and Military Science at Washington College, Lex- 

 ington, Va. ; in 1848-'49, Acting President and Pro- 

 fessor of Mathematics at William and Mary College 

 arid in 1849-'61, Professor of Mathematics and Nat-' 

 ural Science there, and from 1854 president of the 

 college. He served in the Confederate army as col- 

 onel of the 32d Virginia Volunteers in 1861-'62, and 

 afterward as adjutant general on the staff of Gen. 

 Joseph E. Johnston in the Departments of Tennessee 

 and Mississippi in 1862-'64. At the close of the war 

 he resumed the presidency of William and Mary 

 College, and held it till his death, at the same time 

 exerting himself to promote harmony between the 

 North and the Soutli. He received the degree of" 

 LL. D. from Ilobart College in 1874, and was elected 

 an honorary member of the Royal Historical Society 

 of Great Britain in 1880. 



Fair, James Graham, capitalist, born in Clogher,. 

 Tyrone County, Ireland, Dec. 3, 1831 ; died in San 

 Francisco, Cal., Dec. 28, 1894. lie came to the United 

 States with his parents in 1843, received a business- 

 and scientific education in Chicago, and in 1849 went 

 to California, where he was engaged in mining till 

 1860. In that year, attracted by the development of 

 the silver mines in Nevada, he went to Virginia City, 

 and spent five years in prospecting and working in 

 the mines. He became prominent by his general en- 

 gineering and mechanical skill, and as a designer 

 and builder of quartz mills and chlorinizing furnaces. 

 In 1865 the directors of the Ophir mine made him its 

 superintendent, and in the early part of 1867 he as- 

 sumed the management of the famous Hale and Nor- 

 cross mine. Within a few months he formed a part- 

 nership witk John W. Mackav, James C, Flood, and 

 William S. O'Brien and purchased a controlling in- 

 terest in the Hale and Norcross mine. He gave his 

 personal attention to the development of this prop - 

 erty, visiting every part of the mine daily, and within 

 a short time was convinced that it was 'advisable to 

 purchase the control of all the adjoining mines and 

 locations. These properties included the mines 

 known as the Sides, the White and Murphy, the 

 Central (Nos. 1 and 2), and the location known as the 

 Kenny ground. Control of these properties was 

 acquired, and they were combined under the name of 

 the Consolidated Virginia and California. The dis- 

 covery of the mother lode of the Comstock veins at- 

 tracted world-wide attention, and the enormous 

 amount of silver it yielded led to its being named the 

 " Big Bonanza." In three years the group of mines 

 controlled by the firm paid more than $100,000,000 in 

 dividends. In 1869 Mr. Fair began making invest- 

 ments in San Francisco in real estate and other prop- 

 erty ; in 1878 he built and equipped the South Pacific 

 Coast Railway and its ferry system, which connects 

 San Francisco and San Jose" and Santa Cruz ; and in 

 1886 he sold this property to the Southern Pacific 

 Railroad Company at aproiit of $1,000,000. In 1880 

 his assessment for taxation in the State of California 

 was on $42,000,000 worth of property. He was elected 

 United States Senator from Nevada in 1881 as a 

 Democrat, to succeed William Sharon, Republican, 

 and served till 1887, being a member of the standing 

 Committees on Agriculture and Forestry, Claims, 

 Coast Defenses, and Mines and Mining. He be- 

 queathed $50,000 for distribution among Roman 

 Catholic orphan asylums, $50,000 for Protestant asy- 

 lums, and $25,000 for Hebrew asylums, all in San 

 Francisco. 



Fairfax, Donald McNeill, naval officer, born in Vir- 

 ginia, March 10, 1821 ; died in Hagerstown, Md., Jan. 

 10, 1894. He was appointed a midshipman in the 

 United States navy, Aug. 12, 1837; was promoted 

 passed midshipman, June 29, 1843 ; master, Aug. 4, 

 1850; lieutenant, Feb. 26, 1851 ; commander, July 16, 

 1862; captain, July 25, 1866; commodore, Aug. 24, 

 1873 ; and rear admiral, July 11, 1880 ; and was retired 

 Sept. 30, 1881. During his naval career he was on 

 sea service twenty years and four months, on shore 

 or other duty sixteen years and four months, and. 



