OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. (PABKE PHELPS.) 



493 



German Literature (Andover, 1839) ; The Atone- 

 ment; and Preacher and Pastor; and arranged 

 with Austin Phelps and Lowell Mason the New 

 Sabbath Hymn and Tune Book. 



Parke, John Grubb, soldier, born in Chester 

 County, Pennsylvania, Sept. 22, 1827 ; died in 

 Washington, D. C., Dec. 16, 1900. He was gradu- 

 ated at West Point, July 1, 1849, and assigned 

 to the topographical en- 

 gineers as brevet second 

 lieutenant; promoted sec- 

 ond lieutenant, April 18, 

 1854; first lieutenant, July 

 1, 1856; captain, Sept. 9, 

 1861; transferred to the 

 engineer corps, March 3, 

 1863; promoted major, 

 June 17, 1864; lieutenant 

 colonel, March 4, 1879; 

 colonel, March 17, 1884; 

 and retired at his own re- 

 quest, July 2, 1889. He 

 was brevetted major gen- 

 eral, March 13, 1865. In 

 the volunteer service he was commissioned briga- 

 dier general, Nov. 23, 1861 ; major general, July 18, 

 1862 ; and mustered out of the service, Jan. 15, 

 1866. As topographical engineer he was engaged 

 in 1849-'50 in determining the starting point of 

 the boundary line between Iowa and Minnesota, 

 and later on the survey of Little Colorado river. 

 From March 2, 1857, till the beginning of the civil 

 war, he was chief astronomer and surveyor in the 

 delimitation of the northwestern boundary be- 

 tween the United States and British America. 

 Early in 1862 he accompanied Gen. Burnside's ex- 

 pedition to North Carolina, and was brevetted 

 lieutenant colonel of volunteers for services at Fort 

 Macon. He served as chief of staff of the 9th 

 Corps during the Maryland campaign, and was 

 engaged at South Mountain and Antietam, and in 

 the pursuit of the enemy to Warrenton. He took 

 part in the movement of the 9th Corps into Ken- 

 tucky, and commanded it on the march to Vicks- 

 burg. He was brevetted colonel for services at 

 Jackson, Miss. He was engaged at Blue Spring 

 i in the defense of Knoxville, Tenn., and was bre- 

 U'etted brigadier general. He served at the Wilder- 

 ness and Spottsylvania, and from Aug. 13, 1864, 

 [commanded the 9th Corps before Petersburg. 

 iHe resumed charge of the northwestern boundary 

 i survey, Sept. 28, 1866. He superintended the con- 

 struction of fortifications in Maryland in 1867-'68; 

 'June 1, 1868, he was placed in charge of a depart- 

 ment in the office of the chief of engineers in Wash- 

 ington, and served till June, 1887, when he was 

 appointed superintendent of the United States 

 Military Academy. He held this post till his re- 

 jtirement. He was the author of Government sur- 

 lier reports, and also of Compilations of Laws 

 Relating to Public Works for the Improvement of 

 Rivers and Harbors (Washington, 1877) ; Laws 

 Relating to the Construction of Bridges over Navi- 

 gable Waters (1882) ; and Compilation of Opinions 

 >f Attorneys-General Relative to Acquisition of 

 .ands, Bridges, Contracts, etc. (1882). 



Parker, Julia (Mrs. J. B. Polk), actress, born 

 n Baltimore, Md., in 1852; died there, June 20, 

 1900. She was a daughter of Joseph Parker, a 

 veil-known actor. She studied for grand opera in 

 taly, and made her debut at La Scala in 1875. 

 ihe made her first appearance in America as Vio- 

 etta in La Traviata, at Booth's Theater, Jan. 14, 

 879, under the name of Giulia Mario. At Haver- 

 y's Theater, New York, Oct. 11, 1880, she created 

 he part of Rosamond in William A.Croffut's comic 

 tpera Deseret. She was the original Bathilda in 



'pcia, 



the first production of Olivette in America, at the 

 Park Theater, New York, Jan. 17, 1881. She 

 joined her husband, who was a popular comedian, 

 in a play called Mixed Pickles, in which she played 

 Cherry Brown for the first time at the Fourteenth 

 Street Theater, New York, Aug. 17, 1885. Mr. 

 and Mrs. Polk traveled over the country for sev- 

 eral successive seasons with great financial and 

 artistic profit. Their last play was The Silent 

 Partner, produced at the Fourteenth Street Thea- 

 ter, New York, May 19, 1890, in which Mrs. Polk 

 played Tillie Coombs. 



Partridge, Mary L., missionary of the Amer- 

 ican Board, born in Stockholm, N. Y., March 27, 

 1865; killed in Taku, Shensi province, China, 

 July 31, 1900. She was educated at Mount Hoi- 

 yoke, Rollins, and Oberlin Colleges, and joined the 

 Shensi mission in Taku, Oct. 19, 1893. 



Patton, Frank Jarvis, inventor and soldier, 

 born in Bath, Me., in 1852; died in New York 

 city, Nov. 12, 1900. He was graduated at West 

 Point in 1877, and assigned to the 21st Infantry 

 as second lieutenant; promoted first lieutenant, 

 Sept. 22, 1884; and resigned, Sept. 28, 1889. He 

 served in the battles of Wounded Knee and For- 

 lorn Hope. While in the army he experimented 

 with electricity, and he left the service to pursue 

 his studies. He invented the multiplex telegraph 

 system, which was considered an improvement on 

 the Edison quadruplex system. He also invented 

 the gyroscope used on ocean vessels for giving 

 their position in mid-ocean. At the time of his 

 death he was vice-president of the Columbia Car- 

 bide Company, formed to exploit his invention for 

 the manufactui'e of carbide. 



Pennington, Samuel Hayes, physician, born 

 in Newark, N. J., Oct. 16, 1806; died there, March 

 14, 1900. He was graduated at Princeton College 

 in 1825, and attended lectures of the Rutgers 

 medical faculty of Geneva College. He began the 

 practice of medicine with his uncle, and in 1839 

 succeeded to the latter's practice. At various 

 times he served as a member of the Public School 

 Board, trustee of Princeton College, trustee of the 

 Theological Seminary, president of the New Jersey 

 State Medical Society, and president of the New 

 Jersey Historical Society. He was the oldest 

 living graduate of Princeton. 



Phelps, Edward John, diplomatist, born in 

 Middlebury,Vt.,July 11,1822; died in New Haven, 

 Conn., March 9, 1900. He was graduated at Mid- 

 dlebury College in 1840. He taught school for a 

 year in Virginia, and 

 then studied law with 

 his father. He was ad- 

 mitted to the bar in 

 1843, after spending a 

 year in the Yale Law 

 School, practiced two 

 years in Middlebury, 

 and then settled in Bur- 

 lington, where he prac- 

 ticed till 1851. Sept. 

 30, 1851, he became sec- 

 ond comptroller of the 

 Treasury, and he re- 

 tained that office till 

 the close of President Fillmore's administration. He 

 then practiced his profession several years in New 

 York city, but in 1857 again settled in Burlington, 

 which continued to be his home and the center 

 of his activities for a quarter century. Without 

 giving up his law practice, he held, from 1881 till 

 1885, the chair of Law in Yale Law School, and 

 was also lecturer on constitutional law in Boston 

 University. In 1881 he was elected president of 

 the American Bar Association. In politics he was 



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