

OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. (PULSIFER ROBINSON.) 



constructively arrested and imprisoned, but death 

 (aim: before the New Jersey Court of Chancery had 

 reached a decision on the last phase of his case. 



Pnlsifer, David, editor, born in Ipswich, Mass., 

 Sept. 2, 1802 ; died in Augusta, Me., Aug. 9, 1894. He 

 received a private and a district school education; 

 was apprenticed to the bookbinder's trade in Salem 

 when lifteen years old ; and entered the office of Icha- 

 bod Tucker, clerk of the Essex County courts, before 

 he was twenty-one. He remained there about eight 

 years ; became bookkeeper in a Boston publishing 

 house in 1841 ; and subsequently received an appoint- 

 ment in the office of the clerk of the courts and regis- 

 try of deeds of Middlesex County. In the last office 

 he became familiar with early handwriting and skill- 

 ful in deciphering it, and transcribed several of the 

 old books of records. He also made copies ot the 

 records of old Norfolk County, which included a part 

 of New Hampshire, and for the American Antiquarian 

 Society the first volume of the u Massachusetts Colony 

 Records." In 1853 the State undertook the publica- 

 tion of the colonial records, under the editorship of 

 Kphraim M. Wright and Nathaniel B. Shurtletf, and 

 with Mr. Pulsifef as copyist. Soon afterward Mr. 

 I'ulsifer was appointed editor of the " Plymouth Colo- 

 ny Records," of whic ' 





hich he compiled volumes ix-xv. 

 New England Historical and Genealogical 

 Register" for July, 1885, contains a record of Mr. 

 I'ulsifcr's work in connection with the Massachusetts 

 and Plymouth records. Mr. Pulsifer was a clerk in 

 the office of the Secretary of State of Massachusetts 

 for several years ; a former librarian and secretary 

 of the New England Historical and Genealogical 

 Society ; and a frequent contributor to the early 

 volumes of its " Register." He was author of " In- 

 scriptions from the Burying grounds of Salem, Mass." 

 (Boston, 1837) ; "A Guide to Boston and Vicinity" 

 (1860); and an "Account of the Battle of Bunker 

 Hill, with Gen. John Burgoyne's Account" (1872); 

 and editor of Nathaniel Ward's " The Simple Cob- 

 bler of Agawam" (1843); W barton's "A Political 

 Epistle to George Washington" (1881); and an 

 eighteenth century manuscript by an unknown 

 author entitled " The Christian's A, B, C " (1883). 



Baynolds, William P., military officer, born in Canton, 

 Ohio, March 17, 1820 ; died in Detroit, Mich., Oct. 18, 

 1894. He was graduated at West Point in 1843, en- 

 tered the army as brevet 2d lieutenant, 5th Infantry, 

 and in a few days was transferred to the corps of topo- 

 graphical engineers. In the regular army he was pro- 

 moted 2d lieutenant, March 3,1847; 1st lieutenant, 

 March 3, 1853; captain, July 1, 1857; major of engi- 

 neers, March 3, 186*3 ; lieutenant colonel, March 7, 1867 ; 

 and colonel, Jan. 2, 1881 ; and was retired March 17, 

 1884. In the volunteer army he held the rank of 

 colonel and aid-de-camp from March 31, 1862, till 

 May 31, 1866. For his services during the civil war 

 he received the brevets of lieutenant colonel, colonel, 

 and brigadier general in the regular army, all on 

 March 13, 1865. Gen. Kaynolds served through the 

 Mexican War; had charge of the Government ex- 

 plorations of Missouri and Yellowstone rivers in 1859- 

 '60; was chief topographical engineer of the Depart- 

 ment of Virginia in 1861 ; chief engineer of the Mid- 

 dle Department and of the 8th Army Corps from Jan- 

 uary, 1863, till April, 1864; chief engineer of the 

 defenses of Baltimore ; and superintending engineer 

 <>f the North and Northwestern lakes, engineer of 

 lighthouses on the Northern lakes, and in charge of 

 harbor improvements in the entire lake region in 

 1864-'70. Subsequently he was in charge of improve- 

 ments of Western rivers and of the harbor of Mobile, 

 and was engineer of the 4th lighthouse district. He 

 bequeathed his entire estate, estimated from $50,000 

 to $100,000, to the Church Erection Board of the Pres- 

 byterian General Assemby. 



Eice, Henry M., pioneer, bom in Vermont, Nov. 29, 

 1816 ; died in San Antonio, Texas, Jan. 15.1894. He 

 emigrated to Michigan when it was a Territory ; lived 

 for sometime in Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota; 

 spent many years among the Indian tribes of the 



IS'prthwest, and in 1840 became a sutler in the army 

 His familiarity with the Indians enabled him, a* "la 

 special commissioner, to negotiate for the Government 

 many important treaties with the Indians. In 1849 

 he removed from Mendota, Minn., to what wa 

 known as Upper Town, a portion of the present 

 city of St. Paul, where he established fur-trading 

 headquarters, in competition with Charles W. Borup, 

 then agent for the American Fur Company. Soon 

 afterward Alexander Ramsey went from Harrisburg, 

 Pa., to Minnesota as first Governor of the Terri- 

 tory, and some years later Henry II. Sibley removed 

 from Mendota to St. Paul. The place was divided 

 territorially and politically into Upper Town and 

 Lower Town, and in time Messrs. Borup and Rice 

 became the leaders of the opposing interests. Mr. 

 Sibley was elected the first Delegate to Congress, 

 and was considered the political representative of Mr. 

 Borup, and Mr. Rice was Mr. Sibley 's political rival. 

 All were Democrats, while Gov. Ramsey was a Whig. 

 In 1853 Mr. Rice succeeded Mr. Sibley as delegate to 

 Congress. In his first term he secured the passage of 

 an act authorizing the people of Minnesota to form a 

 State Constitution. He was re-elected in 1855, and 

 two years afterward was chosen the first United States 

 Senator from the State of Minnesota. He served on 

 the Committees on Indian Affairs and Post Offices and 

 Post Roads. Through his efforts the State secured 

 from Congress a large land grant on which was based 

 its present comprehensive system of railways. 



Robinson, Charles, governor,' born in Hardwick, Mass., 

 July 21, 1818; died near Lawrence, Kan., Aug. 17, 

 1894. He was educated at Amherst College, was 

 graduated at Berkshire Medical College in 1843, arid 

 spent six years in practice. In 1849 he made the 

 overland trip to California, and settled in Sacramento. 

 In 1850 he was editor of a daily paper,. " The 

 Settlers' and Miners' Tribune," in which he cham- 

 pioned the claims of the squatters. During the riots 

 of that year the mayor of the city was killed and Dr. 

 Eobinson was shot through the body. The " Specu- 

 " confined him on a prison ship, but during this 



lators 



imprisonment, under charges of conspiracy and mur- 

 der, he was elected to the Legislature, and his captors 

 were compelled to surrender him. Subsequently he 

 was discharged in court without a trial. In 1852 he 

 removed to Fitchburg, Mass., where he edited the 

 " News," a weekly paper, till 1854, and then returned 

 to Kansas as agent of the New England Emigrants' 

 Aid Society. Settling in Lawrence, he became the 

 leader of the Free State party, chairman of its execu- 

 tive commitee, and commander in chief of the Kansas, 

 Volunteers. In 1855 he was a member of the Topeka 

 convention, and in the following year was elected the 

 first Governor of the State under it. For attempt- 

 ing to administer the office he was charged with 

 treason and usurpation, but was acquitted by the 

 jury. He served as Governor the full term, and was 

 re-elected in 1858 and 1859, the third time being 

 chosen under the Wyandotte Constitution, and begin- 

 ning his term of two years in 1861, when Kansas was 

 admitted to the Union. During his last term he 

 organized most of the Kansas regiments for the Na- 

 tional service, and afterward he was a Representative 

 and Senator in the State Legislature, an unsuccessful 

 candidate for Governor in 1882, and for several years, 

 from 1887, superintendent of the Haskell Institute in 

 Lawrence. The State University occupies land pre- 

 sented by him. 



Eobinson, Ezekiel Oilman, theologian, born in Attle- 

 bbrough, Mass., March 13, 1815 ; died in Boston, June 

 13, 1894. He was graduated at Brown University in 

 1838, and at Newton Theological Institution in 1842. 

 From 1842 to 1845 he was pastor of a Baptist church 

 in Norfolk, Va. During eight months of this time he 

 served as chaplain of the University of Virginia. 

 After a brief -pastorate in Cambridge, Mass., he be- 

 came, in 1846, Professor of Hebrew and Biblical Inter- 

 pretation in the Western Theological Seminary at 

 Covington, Ky., and in 1850 he accepted a call to 

 the Ninth Street Baptist Church in Cincinnati, where 



