OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. (DURFEE EGBERT.) 



597 



Augusta, Me., but practiced very little. He taught 

 for short periods in the Hallowell High School, 

 Bath High School, and Lincoln Academy, and 

 for seven years was principal of Bath High School. 

 On April 1, 1867, he became submaster of the 

 Lawrence School, Boston, and in 1808 was made 

 master. In 1872 he was elected master of the 

 Boston Normal School, which office he held till 

 Sept. 1, 1899, when he resigned. He received the 

 degree of LL. D. from Colby University in 1880. 

 Dr. Dunton edited a memorial volume of Dr. John 

 D. Philbrick, and published several text-books, 

 among them The Normal Course in Spelling, The 

 Young Folks' Library, Stories of Child Life, and 

 The World and its People Series of geographical 

 readings. 



Durfee, William Franklin, civil engineer, 

 born in New Bedford, Mass., Nov. 15, 1833; died 

 in Middletown, N. Y., Nov. 14, 1899. After a 

 practical mechanical training at home, he took 

 a special course of study at the Lawrence Scien- 

 tific School of Harvard University. In 1853 he 

 became an engineer and architect in New Bed- 

 ford, and for five years served as city surveyor. 

 In 1861 he was elected to the Massachusetts 

 Legislature. He introduced a resolution which 

 is believed to have been the first formal proposi- 

 tion for arming negro troops in the civil war. 

 In June, 1862, he went to Lake Superior to test 

 the suitability of the iron ore for the manufac- 

 ture of steel by a method invented by William 

 Kelley, and he succeeded in producing some ingots 

 of steel from which, May 25, 1865, were rolled 

 the first steel rails made in the United States. 

 He established at Wyandotte, Mich., an analytical 

 laboratory for the purpose of studying the Besse- 

 mer process. In 1876 he was one of the judges 

 of machine tools at the Centennial Exposition. 

 He afterward built at Ansonia, Conn., the first 

 successful furnaces for refining copper by the use 

 of gaseous fuel. In 1886 he became general man- 

 ager of a company that controlled patents for 

 the production of wrought iron and steel castings. 

 Earle, George, lawyer, born in Maryland, 

 Sept. 10, 1821; died in Washington, D. C., May 

 10, 1899. For several years he was a law partner 

 of John A. J. Creswell, who became Postmaster- 

 General under President Grant. In 1864 he was 

 a member of the Judiciary Committee of the con- 

 vention that revised the State Constitution and 

 abolished slavery in the State, and, although a 

 slaveholder, he urged immediate emancipation. 

 In 1869 he was appointed First Assistant Post- 

 master-General, and under his direction the postal 

 service was fully restored in the Southern States. 

 After completing this work he resigned and prac- 

 ticed law in Washington. In recent years he had 

 applied himself to literary work relating to his 

 native State and the proceedings of the Conti- 

 nental Congress. 



Eastwood, Benjamin, clergyman, born in 

 Clitheroe, England, July 4, 1825; died in Paw- 

 tucket, R. I., Jan. 26, 1899. He was ordained 

 in the Church of England, Aug. 19, 1846, soon 

 afterward espoused the Wesleyan movement, and 

 returned to his first Church some years before 

 corning to the United States. After holding rec- 

 torships in Plymouth and Torrington, Conn., he 

 went to the Church of the Good Shepherd, in 

 Pawtucket, more than twenty-five years ago, and 

 remained there as active and emeritus rector till 

 his death. He was a warm friend of Horace 

 Greeley and a frequent contributor to his Tribune. 

 He published Trials and Triumphs among the 

 Lowly and Cranberry Culture. 



Eberhart, Wilford Avery Power, engineer, 

 born in Beaver, Pa., Sept. 12, 1819; died in Cedar 



Rapids, Iowa, Feb. 14, 1899. He was educated at 

 Beaver Academy, and when twenty years old 

 joined his uncle, Gen. Thomas J. Power, and had 

 several years' practical training with the corps 

 of engineers that made the preliminary surveys 

 for the present Philadelphia and Eric Railroad. 

 For several years afterward he was resident en- 

 gineer of the Northern Central Pennsylvania 

 Railroad, and he had special charge of the con- 

 struction of the long bridge across the Susque- 

 hanna, near the mouth of the Juniata. When 

 his uncle became president of the Erie and Pitts- 

 burg Railroad Mr. Eberhart was placed in charge 

 of the construction of the northern division of 

 the road. In 1856 Mr. Eberhart entered the 

 Methodist ministry, joining the Erie Conference. 

 He was commissioned chaplain of the 1st Penn- 

 sylvania Light Artillery in September, 1861, and 

 served with it till July 21, 1862, when he was 

 compelled to resign because of a wound received 

 in the battle of Williamsburg. In 1871 he re- 

 moved to Union, Hardin County, Iowa, where he 

 served as county surveyor eight years, and then 

 in pastoral work till within a week of his death. 



Edgar, George (George Edgar Biddle), actor, 

 born in New York city in 1841; died there, Feb. 

 25, 1899. His grandfather, John Hogg (1770- 

 1813), was for several years an important member 

 of the Park Theater company, New York. Mr. 

 Edgar's earlier years were spent in commercial 

 pursuits. His long-continued studies of the 

 classic drama led him to assume the manage- 

 ment of the old Broadway Theater in partnership 

 with Chandos Fulton in 1878. His first appear- 

 ance as an actor was in this theater in the char- 

 acter of King Lear, Jan. 27, 1879. He achieved 

 considerable success, and on Feb. 10 following he 

 played Othello. He was distinctly successful in 

 the latter part. In 1882 he established a fine 

 stock company in Chicago, with which he played 

 for a time Othello, Lear, Macbeth, and Richelieu. 

 The venture was not financially successful, and 

 Mr. Edgar returned to New York, where he played 

 an engagement as Othello at the Fourteenth 

 Street Theater, beginning Sept. 10, 1883. He then 

 established himself in New York as a teacher 

 of dramatic art, making occasional short tours. 

 During one of these tours Margaret Mather made 

 her first appearance on the stage as one of Mr. 

 Edgar's pupils. On Aug. 16, 1890, he began a 

 short engagement in a play called The Banker 

 at the Windsor Theater, New York. His last 

 appearance was in Jim the Penman, with the 

 Madison Square Theater company. 



Egbert, Harry C., military officer, born in 

 Pennsylvania, Jan. 3, 1839; died in front of Ma- 

 linta, Philippine Islands, March 26, 1899. He was 

 appointed from civil life first lieutenant in the 

 12th United States Infantry, Sept. 23, 1861; was 

 promoted captain, April 1, 1865; major of the 

 17th Infantry, April 23, 1890; lieutenant colonel, 

 6th Infantry, May 18, 1893; and colonel, 22d In- 

 fantry, July 1, 1898. In the volunteer service he 

 was commissioned a brigadier general, Oct. 1, 

 1898, and was honorably discharged on Dec. 1 

 following. He took part in the battles of Gaines's 

 Mills, Malvern Hill, Cedar Mountain, Bethesda 

 Church, North Anna, and Gettysburg in the civil 

 war, was captured at Cedar Mountain and Get- 

 tysburg, and was severely wounded at Bethesda 

 Church. After the war he took part in the Nez 

 Percys Indian campaign of 1877 and that against 

 the hostile Sioux in 1890-'91. At the beginning 

 of the war against Spain he was lieutenant colo- 

 nel of the 6th Infantry. This regiment he com- 

 manded in the Santiago campaign till shot 

 through the body while leading a charge against 



