OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. (DAHLGREN DAVIS.) 



535 



Diihlgren, Madeleine Vintoii, author, born in " Faint Heart ne'er Won Fair Lady," at Xi 

 Gallipolis, Ohio, about 1835; died in Washington, Garden, New York city, Feb. 14, 1862. Sin- 



D. C., May 28, 1898. She was a daughter of Sam- 

 uel F. Vinton, a former member of Congress from 

 Ohio. She first married, early in life, Daniel C. 

 Goddard, of Zanesville, and, on being left a widow, 

 married Rear-Admiral John A. Dahlgren in 1865. 

 From her youth she was identified with the life of 

 the national capital. Possessing large wealth, she 

 maintained residences in Washington and South 

 Mountain, Md. During the winter season she en- 

 tertained with great liberality, and at South Moun- 

 tain she was known as " Lady Bountiful." In 1859 

 she began publishing sketches and poems under the 

 pen name of Corinne, and later she wrote under 

 that of Cornelia. She was strongly opposed to 

 the woman-suffrage movement, and for two years 

 published a weekly paper against it, besides draw- 

 ing up a petition to Congress, to which she obtained 

 many signatures, asking that the elective franchise 

 should not be extended to women. Mrs. Dahlgren 

 was a founder and vice-president of the Literary 

 Society of Washington, which met at her house for 

 several years, and a former president of the Ladies' 

 Catholic Missionary Society of Washington. She 

 had a large estate at South Mountain "which she 

 maintained in medieval style. She erected two 

 churches, established schools and a library, gave a 

 number of the brightest boys a complete college 

 education, and personally taught music and the 

 languages to classes of girls. Her publications in- 

 clude " Idealities " (Philadelphia, 1859) : " Thoughts 

 on Female Suffrage " (Washington, 1871) ; " South 

 Sea Sketches" (Boston, 1881) ; "Etiquette of Social 

 Life in Washington " (Philadelphia, 1881) ; " South 

 Mountain Magic" (1882) ; "A Washington Winter" 

 and " Memoirs of John A. Dahlgren " (1882) ; " The 

 Lost Name " and " Lights and Shadows of a Life " 

 (Boston, 1886) ; and translations from the French 

 Montalembert's " Pius IX " and De Chambrun's 

 ''Kxeeutive Power," the last with preface by James 

 A. Gin-field (Lancaster, 1874), and from the Span- 

 ish Donoso Cortes's "Catholicism, Liberalism, and 

 Socialism." For her various services to the Roman 

 Catholic Church she several times received the 

 thanks of Popes Pius IX and Leo XIII. 



Uiiiiii, James Jensen, soldier, born in Waltham, 

 Mass., April 9, 1821 ; died in Keene, N. H., Sept, 15, 

 1898. He was graduated at the United States 

 Military Academy, June 18, 1855, and entered the 

 army as 2d lieutenant in the 4th Artillery, was pro- 

 moted 1st lieutenant, Jan. 10, 1857 ; captain in the 

 quartermaster's department, Aug. 3, 1861 ; major, 

 Jan. 18, 1867 ; lieutenant colonel in the department 

 of the quartermaster general, Feb. 13, 1882 ; and was 

 retired April 9, 1885. In the volunteer service he 

 was commissioned a lieutenant colonel in the quar- 

 ter muster's department, Jan. 1, 1863; promoted 

 colonel, Aug. 2, 1864 ; and brevetted brigadier gen- 

 eral, March 13, 1865. After the civil war he served 

 in New Mexico, Arizona, and Nebraska till his re- 

 tirement. 



Davenport, Fanny Lily Gipsy, actress, born in 

 London, England, April 10, 1850 ; died in Duxbury, 

 Mass., Sept. 26, 1898. She was the eldest child of 

 I'M ward L. Davenport and Fanny Vining Daven- 

 port, well-known players. She made her first ap- 

 pearance on the stage as a child, Feb. 23, 1857, at 

 the Chambers Street Theater, New York city (for- 

 merly Burton's), which was then under her father's' 

 management. She was named in the bill of the 

 night as Miss Fanny, and sang a verse from " The 

 Star-Spangled Banner." While E. L. Davenport 

 was the manager of the Howard Athemeum, Boston, 

 she again played a child's part, in John Brougham's 

 burlesque of " Metamora," Aug. 12, 1857. Her first 

 peaking part was King Charles I in the comedy 



Niblo'a 



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then engaged for the stock company of Maeuuley's 

 Theater, Louisville, Ky., where she made her first 

 appearance in a leading part as Arline in "The 

 Black Crook." While in this theater she first played 

 Nancy Sikes in the dramatization of " Oliver Twist," 

 and gave evidence of 

 the tragic power for 

 which she subsequently 

 became famous. Leav- 

 ing Louisville, she went 

 to Mrs. John Drew's 

 Arch Street Theater, 

 Philadelphia, where she 



occupied the position of 

 soubrette. While play- 



ing with Mrs. Drew she 

 attracted the attention 

 of Augustin Daly, who 

 engaged her for his 

 theater, the Fifth Ave- 

 nue, in New York city. She made an immediate suc- 

 cess as Lady Gay Spanker in " London Assurance." 

 Her father was the Sir Harcourt Courtley. She was 

 the principal attraction at the Fifth Avenue Thea- 

 ter from 1869 to 1873, and played a long line of 

 exacting parts. She then became a " star," and for 

 several years traveled throughout the United States 

 with great success, playing Shakesperean heroines 

 principally. In 1882 she went to London and be- 

 gan an engagement at Toole's Theater in an Eng- 

 lish version of " Diane de Lys." While abroad she 

 made the acquaintance of Victorien Sardou, and 

 obtained from him the American rights for his play 

 of " Fedora," which was then being played by 

 Sarah Bernhardt in Paris. She produced " Fedora " 

 for the first time in the United States at the Four- 

 teenth Street Theater, New York city, Oct. 1, 1883, 

 and this occasion was the beginning of a series of 

 triumphs for her in the works of the French drama- 

 tist. She produced in succession and with great 

 financial and artistic results " La Tosca," " Cleo- 

 patra," and "Gismonda." She married, July 30, 

 1879, at her mother's home in Canton, Pa., Edwin 

 F. Price, an actor. On June 8, 1888, she was di- 

 vorced from Mr. Price, and on May 19, 1889, she 

 married Willet Melbourne MacDowell, also an actor, 

 who was playing in her supporting company as her 

 leading man. She continued the arduous work of 

 her profession, traveling everywhere in the United 

 States and Canada up to the moment of the illness 

 that caused her death. In October, 1897, she pro- 

 duced in Boston an elaborate and expensive ren- 

 dering of " The Soldier of France," an English 

 adaptation of " Jeanne d'Arc." .The venture was a 

 failure and occasioned Miss Davenport much regret 

 and anxiety. She finally succumbed to a perilous 

 impairment of the action of the heart, and was 

 obliged suddenly to close her dramatic season at 

 Chicago, March 25, 1898, her last appearance on the 

 stage having been the night before at the Grand 

 Opera House in that city. 



Davis, Marg'aret Ellen O'Brien, author, born 

 in Montgomery, Ala., Nov. 19, 1870 ; died in Bir- 

 mingham, Ala., April 1, 1898. She was the daugh- 

 ter of Frank P. O Brien, journalist and artist, and 

 was educated in Loretto Convent, Marion County, 

 Ky. After being graduated she returned home and 

 began writing poems, short stories, and book reviews 

 for the " Daily Herald." Her work attracted fa- 

 vorable attention, particularly through the South, 

 and led to a contributing connection with several 

 periodicals. The publication of "Judith, the Daugh- 

 ter of Judas " (Philadelphia, 1889), a novel, proved 

 a success. During the time her father controlled 

 the " Age-Herald," of Birmingham, she aided him 



