598 



OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. (SEELY SHEDD.) 



Medical Journal." His publications include : " Dis- 

 eases of Women " (1858) ; " The Principles of Medi- 

 cine" (1867); "Specific Medication" (1871); and 

 "The Reproductive Organs and Venereal Diseases" 

 and "Specific Diagnosis'" (1874). 



Seely, Edward Howard, author, born in New York 

 city, Oct. 25, 1856 ; died in Brooklyn, N. Y., June 23, 

 1894. His early education was received at the Brook- 

 lyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute, where he 

 was graduated in 1874 to enter Yale College in the 

 class of 1878. He was graduated at Yale with high 

 scholastic honors, besides having been a member of 

 the famous u Skull and Bones " and an editor of " The 

 Yale Literary Magazine " ; entered Columbia Law- 

 School ; was graduated in 1880 ; and was admitted to 

 the bar of the State of New York. After practicing 

 about a year, he went to Texas and engaged in sheep 

 ranching, returning to Brooklyn in 1882. He then 

 began to write for periodicals. His first book, " A 

 Lone Star Bo-peep and other Tales of Texan Kanch 

 Life," was published .in 1885. " A Ranchman's Sto- 

 ries " followed in 1886 ; " A Nymph of the West" in 

 1888; "The Jonah of Lucky Valley and other Sto- 

 ries " in 1892 ; and " A Border Leander " in 1893. In 

 1893 he became one of the associate editors of "The 

 New Peterson's Magazine." In person he was tall 

 and well built, with blue-gray eyes and light-brown 

 hair. His features, regular and delicate, bore witness 

 to the innate refinement of his nature. His manners 

 were frank and courteous, his conversation lively and 

 entertaining, and his consideration for others never 

 laid aside or forgotten. A stanch and loyal friend 

 and a charming companion, this briefly sums up his 

 social attributes. His literary work was for the most 

 part confined to stories and sketches of frontier life 

 on the Texan ranches. These are deeply interesting, 

 and often not lacking in high dramatic power. He 

 was thoroughly conversant with the scenes and life 

 of which he wrote, and his delightful personality was 

 reflected in his style, which is at once easy, fluent, 

 and finished. In some of his earlier writing certain 

 descriptive passages are perhaps open to criticism as 

 being overornate^but experience soon toned this down 

 to a graceful and elegant expression of his love of 

 Nature and her kinsfolk. The humor in his work is 

 pointed and true to the life, and the trial scene in 

 " A Nymph of the West " is unsurpassed in its de- 

 lineation of frontier humor and character. 



Seligman, Jesse, banker, born in Baiersdorf, Bavaria, 

 in 18545 ; died in Coronado Beach, Cal., April 23, 1894. 

 He was the fourth of eight brothers, the eldest of 



whom, Joseph, came to the United States in 1837, and 

 became cashier in Asa Packer's bank in Nesquehon- 



ing, Pa. As soon as he had saved enough money for 

 their passage he sent for two of his brothers, William 

 and James, and with them opened a clothing store in 

 Lancaster, Pa. Their success led them to send for 

 Jesse, who landed in New York city on July 6, 1840, and 

 joined his brothers. In 1841 the brothers closed their 

 Lancaster store, and with their joint capital of $800 

 established a general store in'Selma, Ala., when- 

 Joseph took charge of the store and William, James, 

 and Jesse went on the road, peddling. In 1848 the 

 brothers returned to the North, and Jesse and a fifth 

 brother, Henry, opened a clothing store in Watertown, 

 N. Y. The discovery of gold induced Jesse to invest 

 all his capital in merchandise and remove in 1849 to 

 San Francisco, where he became one of the wealthiest 

 citizens. In 1857 he returned to the East; was en- 

 gaged with his brothers in the importing and whole- 

 sale clothing business during the civil war; and 

 joined them in establishing a banking house in New 

 York city. By the time the war closed each of the 

 eight brothers had come to the United States and 

 been admitted to the banking firm. Immediately after 

 the war the brothers joined a syndicate to place the 

 bonds of the United States in' the foreign markets. 

 They established branch houses in nearly every large 

 city "in Europe, and for many years were the fiscal 

 agents of the United States abroad. Joseph remained 

 at the head of the main house in New York city till 

 his death, when Jesse took his place. During his 

 career as a financier Jesse promoted many large enter- 

 prises, especially the financial measures of the Federal 

 Government. He was a vice-president of the Union 

 League Club, a founder of the Hebrew Orphan Asy- 

 lum and of the Montefiore Home, a trustee of the 

 Metropolitan Museum of Art and of the American 

 Museum of Natural History, and a liberal patron of 

 many charitable organizations. His fortune was esti- 

 mated from $20,000,000 to $30,000,000, and in his will 

 he named 45 charitable institutions Hebrew, Roman 

 Catholic, Protestant, and nonsectarian as legatees. 



Shafer, Helen Almira, educator, born in Newark, N. J., 

 Sept. 23, 1839 ; died in Wellesley, Mass., Jan. 20, 1894. 

 She was the daughter of a Congregational clergyman, 

 who removed to Oberlin, Ohio, when Helen was a 

 child. In 1863 she was graduated at Oberlin, and 

 immediately began teaching. For ten years she had 

 charge of the department ot mathematics in the Cen- 

 tral High School of St. Louis. In 1877 she was called 

 to Wellesley College as Professor of Mathematics, and 

 and in 1887 she was elected president. She received 

 the degree of A. M. from Oberlin College in 1878, and 

 that of" LL. D. in 1893, the latter being the second doc- 

 torate of law that has been conferred by an American 

 college on an American woman. 



Shedd, William Greenough Thayer, theologian, born in 

 Acton, Mass., June 21, 1820; died in New York city, 

 Nov. 17, 1894. He was graduated at the University 

 of Vermont in 1839, and at Auburn Theological Semi- 

 nary in 1843; ordained 

 pastor of the Congre- 

 gational Church at 

 Brandon, Vt., in 1844; 

 Professor of English 

 Literature in the Uni- 

 versity of Vermont in 

 1845-1852, of Sacred 

 Rhetoric in Auburn 

 Theological Seminary 

 in 1852, and of Church 

 History in Andovcr 

 Seminary in 1854 ; and 

 associate pastor or the 

 Brick Church, New 

 York city, in 1862-'63. 

 In the latter year he ac- 

 cepted thechairof Bib- 

 lical Literature in the 



Union Theological Seminary, which he held till 1874, 

 and was afterward Professor of Systematic Theology 

 there till 1890. He translated the " Gospel of Mark " 

 in Lange's "Commentary," and wrote "Eloquence 



