OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. (FLAGLERFORCE.) 



601 



months, and Grace Church, Brooklyn, N. Y., eight 

 years. In 1804 he withdrew from the ministry 

 permanently, and afterward applied himself whol- 

 ly to painting. His portraits include those of 

 Chief-Justice Church and several of the judges 

 of the New York Court of Appeals, now in the 

 State Capitol; a life size of William M. Evarts, 

 also in the Capitol; and several of Commodore 

 Vanderbilt. He received the degree of S. T. D. 

 from Columbia College in 1803. Dr. Flagg also 

 painted Holy Thoughts and Paul before Felix, 

 and was author of The Life and Letters of Wash- 

 ington Allston. 



Flagler, Daniel Webster, military officer, 

 born in Lockport, N. Y., June 24, 1835; died in 

 Newport News, Va., March 29, 1899. He was 

 graduated at West Point in 1801 ; was commis- 

 sioned a brevet and full second lieutenant of ord- 

 nance, June 24 of that year; promoted first lieu- 

 tenant, Aug. 3 following; captain, March 3, 1803; 

 major, June 23, 1874; lieutenant colonel, Aug. 

 23, 1881; colonel, Sept. 15, 1890; and brigadier 

 general and chief of ordnance, Jan. 23, 1891. 

 During the civil war he was first employed in 

 drilling volunteers in Washington; was then aid- 

 de-camp to Gen. McDowell, charged with the de- 

 fense of the national capital; and afterward 

 served as chief of ordnance with Gen. Burnside's 

 expedition to North Carolina, was with the Army 

 of the Potomac in the Maryland campaign, and 

 was on special inspection and ordnance duty. 

 He took part in the battles of Bull Run, Roanoke 

 Island, Newbern, Fort Macon, South Mountain, 

 Antietam, Frederick sburg, Chancellorsville, and 

 Gettysburg, and won brevets for gallantry at 

 Antietam and Fort Macon and for distinguished 

 services in the field and in the ordnance depart- 

 ment throughout the war. After the war he 

 was on duty at various arsenals till promoted 

 to chief of ordnance, and thereafter he was sta- 

 tioned at Washington. The importance and value 

 of his services during the war with Spain are 

 best attested by the report of the commission 

 that investigated the conduct of the War Depart- 

 ment : " The testimony before the investigating 

 commission shows that the ordnance department 

 was untiring in its work, both before and during 

 the war, and that every effort was made by its 

 officers properly to arm and equip the troops. 

 The delays that occurred were none of them of 

 serious import, and it was beyond the power of 

 the department to prevent them." 



Fletcher, Thomas Clement, lawyer, born in 

 Herculaneum, Mo., Jan. 21, 1827; died in Wash- 

 ington, D. C., March 25, 1899. His father was a 

 merchant and a large slaveholder, but the son 

 became an abolitionist in early youth. He re- 

 ceived a common-school education, and from 1849 

 till 1850 held county clerkships by appointment 

 and election. In the last year he removed to 

 St. Louis, where he was admitted to the bar in 

 1857. He was commissioned colonel of the 31st 

 Missouri Volunteers in the National army in 

 1802 and of the 47th Volunteers in 1804, and in 

 the last year was also brevetted brigadier gen- 

 eral of volunteers. During a part of 1803 he was 

 confined in Libby Prison. He was Governor of 

 Missouri in 18G5-'G8. In 1809 he resumed law 

 practice, dividing his time between St. Louis and 

 Washington till about ten years ago, when he 

 settled permanently in Washington. 



Flower, Bosweil Pettibone, banker, born in 

 Jefferson County, New York, Aug. 7, 1835; died 

 in Eastport, Long Island, N. Y., May 12, 1899. 

 He was one of nine children of Nathan M. Flower, 

 a wool carder and cloth manufacturer, on whose 

 death his widow undertook to carry on the busi- 



ness with the aid of her sons. Roswell worked 

 in the mill and on the farm, attending a district 

 school till he was fourteen years old, and then 

 became clerk in a local store. At the age of 

 sixteen he was graduated at the village high 

 school, and, after spending two years in teach- 

 ing, went to work in a dry-goods store in Phila- 

 delphia, and soon afterward in a hardware store 

 in Watertown, N. Y. A month after taking hi* 

 last place he was appointed assistant postmaster, 

 and during his six years' service he saved $1,000 

 out of his salary of $50 a month. With this 

 capital he bought an interest in a jewelry store. 

 Two years later he bought out his' partner, and 

 on an enlarged scale continued the business till 

 1809. In that year he removed to New York 

 city to manage the interests of his brother-in- 

 law, Henry Keep, who at his death had large 

 railroad holdings and responsibilities. Flower 

 proved himself an able financier, and acquired 

 wealth rapidly. Before leaving Watertown he 

 had organized the Jefferson County Democratic 

 Committee. His success in politics attracted the 

 attention of Samuel J. Tilden, whom he induced 

 to promote the extension of the Jefferson County 

 plan to the other county organizations. In 1877 

 Mr. Flower, as chairman of the Democratic State 

 Committee, successfully managed the campaign. 

 Four years later he and William W. Astor were 

 candidates for Congress in a strongly Republican 

 district, and Mr. Flower was elected. He declined 

 a renomination. He was appointed president of 

 the Subway Commission in 1880, and was re- 

 elected to Congress in 1888 and 1890. In 1891 

 he was elected Governor of New York. From 

 the close of his term till his death he applied him- 

 self to the interests of a large banking house 

 that he had established and to a systematic course 

 of philanthropy. His fortune was estimated at 

 his death at about $25,000,000, and in the last 

 year of his life he was known to have given 

 away $1,000,000. With his brother Anson he 

 erected a new edifice for Trinity Church, Water- 

 town, at a cost of $100,000; with his wife he 

 presented St. Thomas's Church, New York city, 

 with a combined Sunday school, industrial school, 

 and library building that cost $50,000. To the 

 Homo3opathic College of Physicians he gave the 

 commodious and thoroughly equipped Flower 

 Hospital. Mr. Flower received the degree of 

 LL. D. from Lawrence University in 1893. (See 

 GIFTS AND BEQUESTS.) 



Follett, David Lyman, jurist, born in Sher- 

 burne, N. Y., July 17, 1830; died in Norwich, 

 N. Y., July 5, 1899. He was educated at Oneida. 

 Conference Seminary, studied law, and was ad- 

 mitted to the bar in 1858. From March, 1807, 

 till May, 1873, when the office was abolished, he 

 was assessor of internal revenue for the 19th 

 District of New York. In 1874 he was nominated 

 by the Republicans for justice of the Supreme 

 Court, and was elected without opposition. He 

 was similarly elected in 1888. In 1887 he was 

 appointed a commissioner, with David Dudley 

 Field and William Rumsey, to revise a proposed 

 Code of Evidence; in 1892 he was designated an 

 associate justice of the General Term of the 1st 

 department; and in 1895 was appointed an asso- 

 ciate justice of the 4th appellate division of the 

 Supreme Court for the Gth Judicial District, which 

 office he held at the time of his death. After 

 his service in the 4th department of the General 

 Term he was appointed an associate justice of the 

 Court of Appeals to organize a second division, 

 and by this court he was chosen Chief Justice. 



Force. Manning Ferguson, lawyer, born in 

 Washington, D. C., Dec. 17, 1824; died near San- 



