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OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. (NEAFIE PACKARD.) 



sional career he particularly distinguished himself 

 in equity cases. He also became an expert on laws 

 affecting religious corporations. Mr. Nash was a 

 trustee of Columbia University and of the General 

 Theological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal 

 Church, a former president of the New York Law 

 Institute and of the Association of the Bar of New 

 York city. 



Neaiie, Jacob G., manufacturer, born in Mon- 

 mouth County, N. J., Dec. 25, 1815; died in Phila- 

 delphia, Pa., Jan. 16, 1898. In early life he went to 

 New York city, where lie acquired his education and 

 business training. At the time of his death he was 

 president of the Neafie and Levy Ship and Engine 

 Building Company. Despite his age he continued 

 to direct his extensive business till within a few 

 days of his death. The firm operates a large plant 

 on Delaware river, in Philadelphia, which was es- 

 tablished in 1844 as the Penn Iron Works. Dur- 

 ing the Mexican War the firm built vessels for the 

 Government, and during the civil war it constructed 

 the engines for 120 naval vessels, some of them the 

 largest in the service. (See GIFTS AND BEQUESTS.) 



Newton, George Baxter, benefactor, born in 

 West Hartford, Vt,, Sept. 10, 1833 ; died in Tarry- 

 town, N. Y., Feb. 11, 1898. In his infancy he was 

 taken by his parents to Norwich, Vt., where he ac- 

 quired his early education and began working. In 

 1851 he settled in Mauch Chunk, Pa., and engaged in 

 coal mining. Two years afterward he removed to 

 Philadelphia, and he continued in the anthracite 

 coal business for thirty-six years, a large part of the 

 time in association with the late Asa Packer. After 

 retiring from business he established an elegant es- 

 tate in Tarrytown. Among all the charitable and 

 philanthropic objects of his aid his largest interest 

 was in the Tarrytown Public Hospital, which he 

 founded several years ago, and of which he was 

 president. Every day he went to the hospital, vis- 

 ited each ward, and personally looked after the 

 comfort of the inmates. 



Northrop, Birdsey Grant, educator, born in 

 Kent, Conn., July 18, 1817; died in Clinton, Conn., 

 April 27, 1898. He was graduated at Yale in 1841, 

 and at its divinity school four years later, and was 

 ordained in the Congregational Church in Saxon- 

 ville, Mass., in 1847. In 1857 he became agent of 

 the Massachusetts State Board of Education, and 

 in I860 secretary of the Board of Education of 

 Connecticut. While holding the last office he was 

 intimately connected with the movement for fur- 

 nishing an American education to Chinese and Jap- 

 anese youth who were sent to the United States. 

 When seventy-eight years old he went to Japan, 

 where he was received with special honor and wit- 

 nessed the outgrowth of his efforts. During the 

 last years of his secretaryship he gave much time to 

 village improvement and ornamental tree planting, 

 and after his retirement from the office in 1882 he 

 applied himself with enthusiasm to the promotion 

 of these interests throughout the country. He 

 originated and introduced the observance of Arbor 

 Day in the schools, and was widely known as the 

 " Father of Village Improvement Societies." In 

 1863-'64 he was a member of the Board of Visitors 

 to the United States Military Academy; in 1864- 

 '06 was president of the American Institute of In- 

 struction : in 1866, president of the National Asso- 

 ciation of School Superintendents; mid in 1873, 

 president of the National Education*] Association. 

 It was also through his efforts that the late Daniel 

 Hand, of Guilford, Conn., gave the American Mis- 

 sionary Association $1,500,000 for the benefit of 

 the freedmen. Williams College gave him the de- 

 gree of LL. D. in 1872. 



O'Brien, Veronica (Mother IIiKuoNYMo). l><>rn in 

 Washington, D. C., April 19, 1819; died in Roches- 



ter, N. Y., Jan. 30, 1898. She entered the order of 

 the Sisters of Charity at Emmittsburg, Md., at the 

 age of twenty-two. In 1843 she began mission work 

 in Pittsburg,"was later sent on a mission to Norfolk, 

 W. Va., and went to Buffalo, N. Y., to care for vic- 

 tims of the ship fever in 1856. She went to Roch- 

 ester, N. Y r ., in 1857 and opened a hospital in a two- 

 room cottage, caring for many cases of typhoid 

 fever. When the civil war began the quarters 

 were enlarged, and 700 soldiers were there at a 

 time, thousands in all receiving her care. From 

 this grew the present St. Mary's Hospital, which 

 was completed in 1865. Mother Hieronymo was 

 sent on a mission to New Orleans in 1870, in 1871 

 returned to Rochester to Nazareth Convent, and soon 

 afterward became Superior of St. Patrick's Orphan 

 Girl's Asylum, where she remained till June, 1873. 

 With the help of generous friends she established in 

 that city a Home of Industry for young girls, where 

 they might learn housework and receive a good 

 Catholic education, and through her efforts a well- 

 appointed building was erected for this purpose in 

 1888. Here she established an employment bureau, 

 where no fee was charged those applying for situa- 

 tions, and all who were sent out had received care- 

 ful training. Many young women working in tho 

 city whose homes were out of town boarded at the 

 home, where their welfare and their pleasures wen; 

 alike looked after. Mother Hieronymo was widely 

 known and beloved by those of every creed. It was 

 said that her only fault was that she gave credenco 

 to any who told of misery or want. A large com- 

 pany of those who had received benefits or admired 

 her disinterested philanthropy assembled at her ! 

 funeral. 



Osborn, Thomas A., diplomatist, born in Mead- 

 ville, Pa,., Oct. 26, 1836 : died there, Feb. 4, 1898. 

 He received a common-school education, learned 

 the printer's trade, studied law, and was ad- 

 mitted to the bar at Pontiac, Mich., in 1857. Re- 

 moving to Topeka, Kan., to practice, he was 

 elected attorney of Doniphan County in 1858, 

 State Senator in 1859, President of the Senate and 

 Lieutenant Governor of the State in 1862, and 

 Governor in 1872 and 1874. He was also United 

 States Marshal in 1864-'66. In May. 1877, he was 

 appointed United States minister to Chili, where 

 he served four years and conducted important ne- 

 gotiations between various South American gov- 

 ernments. On the expiration of his term he was 

 appointed minister to Brazil, and he served there 

 another four years. For special services to the em- 

 pire, he received from the Emperor the highest 

 honor that could be conferred on a foreigner, tho 

 Grand Cross of the Order of the Rose. 



Packard, Silas Sadler, educator, born in Cum- 

 mington, Mass., April 28, 1826; died in New York 

 city, Oct. 10, 1898. In 1833 he removed with his 

 father to Ohio, and at the age of twelve he began to 

 teach, first in Ohio and then in Kentucky. A part 

 of his work was the painting of portraits. In 184&- 

 '51 he was a teacher of penmanship in Cincinnati. 

 He taught writing, bookkeeping, and drawing in 

 Lockport, N. Y.,in 1851-'53. In the latter year ha 

 founded the "Niagara River Pilot," in Tonawanda, 

 N. Y., and conducted it till 1856, when he became 

 associated with the business college of Bryant & 

 Si ration in Buffalo. After a brief engagement in 

 Chicago he began his work in New York city in 

 1858, by establishing a business college in connec- 

 tion with Bryant & Stratton. In 1859-'60 he pre- 

 pared a series of text-books on bookkeeping, whic i 

 were considered standard works. More recently 

 he published " The Packard Manual of Bookkeep- 

 ing and Correspondence " and "The Packard Arith- 

 metic." His scheme of instruction was copied by 

 the business schools in Paris, Rouen, and Antwerp. 



