63S 



OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. (SEMMES SMYTH.) 



and. returning to New York, engaged in journal- 

 ism. For four years he was dramatic editor ot 

 the Times, then took a similar place with the 

 Evening Post, and afterward was editor in chief 

 of The Round Table three years and principal 

 editor of the Commercial Advertiser two years. 

 In 18Sf>-'88 he was a member of the editorial 

 council of the Herald, and in 1891 was appointed 

 a member of the Board of Civil Service Examiners 

 for the customs district of New York. Mr. Sedley 

 published Dangerfield's Rest: A Romance (New 

 York, 1804) and Marion Rooke (18(55). 



Semmes, Thomas Jenkins, lawyer, born in 

 Georgetown, D. C., Dec. 10, 1824; died in New 

 Orleans. 1^., June 23, 1899. He was graduated 

 at Georgetown College in 1842. and at Harvard 

 University in 1845. He practiced law in Washing- 

 ton till 1850, when he removed to New Orleans. 

 He was a member of the Democratic State Com- 

 mittee in 1852, was elected to the Legislature in 

 1855 and in 1858 was appointed United States 

 District Attorney for Louisiana. In 1859 he re- 

 signed to become Attorney-General of the State. 

 In 18(51 he was a member of the Louisiana Con- 

 stitutional Convention, and, in November of that 

 year was elected to the Confederate Congress. 

 In 1808 Mr. Semmes was pardoned by President 

 Johnson, and returned to his law practice in 

 New Orleans. He was appointed Professor of 

 Civil Law in the University of Louisiana, and was 

 a member of the Constitutional Conventions of 

 1879 and 1898. In 1880 he was president of the 

 American Bar Association, and in 1890 he de- 

 livered an elaborate address on the personal char- 

 acteristics of the chief justices at the centennial 

 celebration, in New York city, of the opening of 

 the Supreme Court of the United States. 



Sexton, James Andrew, military officer, born 

 in Chicago, 111., Jan. 5, 1844; died in Washington, 

 D. C., Feb. 5, 1899. In April, 1801, he enlisted in 

 the 19th Illinois Infantry. After three months' 

 service he re-enlisted in the G7th Illinois Infantry, 

 and was made a first lieutenant. He was later 

 transferred to the 72d Illinois regiment as captain. 

 He served in Ransom's Brigade, McArthur's Divi- 

 sion of the 17th Corps, Army of the Tennessee, 

 and took part in nearly all its campaigns. In the 

 battles of Columbia, Duck River, Spring Hill, 

 Franklin, and Nashville he commanded his regi- 

 ment. He was wounded at Franklin and Nash- 

 ville, and at the capture of the Spanish fort, Mo- 

 bile, his leg was broken by a piece of shell. After 

 the war he purchased a plantation in Alabama, 

 and remained there two years. He was appointed 

 postmaster of Chicago in 1889, and resigned Jan. 

 1, 1895. 



Shepard, Elizabeth G., author, born in Bos- 

 ton, Mass.; died in Reservoir, Mass., April 4, 

 1899. She was educated at the Boston Normal 

 School. Her writings were mainly contributions 

 to newspapers, among them being a series of let- 

 ters entitled Up the Charles, published in the 

 Boston Transcript. She also wrote A Guidebook 

 to Norumbega and Vineland (Boston, 1893). 



Simmons, Henry Clay, clergyman, born in 

 Harford, N. Y., Feb. 15, 1845; died in Fargo, N. D., 

 Dec. 20, 1899. He was graduated at Beloit Col- 

 lege in 1809, and at Chicago Theological Seminary 

 in 1872. He had charges in Fond Du Lac, Wis 

 from 1872 till 1874, in Marshall, Minn., from 

 S74 till 1879, and in Walnut Grove from 1879 

 He went to Dakota in 1880 to act as 

 superintendent of home missions for that State. 

 He was instrumental in establishing Fargo Col- 

 lege, of which he w r as president from 1894. He re- 

 ceived the degree of D. D. from Chicago Theo- 

 logical Seminary in 1897. 



Slater, James H., lawyer, born in Sangamon 

 County, Illinois, Dec. 28, 1820; died in La Grande, 

 Ore., Jan. 28, 1899. He received a common-school 

 education; spent a part of 1849 in California; 

 and in 1850 settled in Oregon, where he was ad- 

 mitted to the bar in 1854. In 1853-'5G he was 

 clerk of the district court for Benton County, in 

 1857 and 1858 was elected to the Legislature, 

 and in 1800 was elected district attorney in the 

 5th Judicial District. He was a presidential 

 elector on the Democratic ticket in 1808, member 

 of Congress in 1870, and United States Senator 

 for the term beginning March 18, 1879. 



Smalley, Eugene Virgil, journalist, born in 

 Randolph, Ohio, July 18, 1841; died in St. Paul, 

 Minn., Dec. 29, 1899. He was educated at the 

 New York Central College, and during the civil 

 war served in an Ohio regiment. From 1805 to 

 l'873 he was clerk of a House committee at Wash- 

 ington as well as a correspondent for various 

 papers, and was on the staff of the New York 

 Tribune as correspondent and editor in 1871-'82. 

 He founded the Northwest Magazine at St. Paul 

 in 1884, and was its editor until his death. He 

 w r as the author of a History of the Northern Pa- 

 cific Railroad (New York, 1883) ; History of the 

 Republican Party. (1885); and Political History 

 of Minnesota. 



Smith, William Crawford, soldier, born in 

 Petersburg, Va., in 1837; died in Manila, Feb. 

 5, 1899. He removed to Nashville in early life, 

 and was an architect. At the outbreak of the 

 civil war he returned to Petersburg and enlisted 

 in the 12th Virginia Infantry. After the war 

 he returned to Nashville, where he designed 

 many important buildings, among them the Par- 

 thenon at the Centennial and the Vanderbilt 

 University. At the outbreak of the Spanish- 

 American War he was colonel of the 1st Ten- 

 nessee Regiment, and with it volunteered for 

 service. He was mustered in May 26, 1898, and 

 immediately ordered to San Francisco. His regi- 

 ment left San Francisco Oct. 28, and on its arrival 

 at Manila Col. Smith was made district com- 

 mander of Cavit6, and served on the board that 

 drafted the regulations for government of the 

 natives. The insurgents around Cavite were nu- 

 merous and hostile, but so carefully was the town 

 guarded by Col. Smith and the men under him 

 that all the night attacks came to naught. A few 

 days before the general outbreak in February, 

 with part of the 1st Tennessee Regiment, he was 

 transferred to Manila, and on Feb. 5 died of 

 apoplexy, at the head of his command on the 

 firing line. 



Smith, William H., jurist, born in Fayette 

 County, Georgia, in 1827; died in Birmingham, 

 Ala., Jan. 1, 1899. He removed to Randolph 

 County, Alabama, in boyhood, became a lawyer, 

 and was elected to the Legislature. After the 

 civil war he was elected a circuit judge, and in 

 1808, while holding that office, became Governor 

 of Alabama. He held this office for two years,, 

 and was influential in promoting reconstruction 

 measures. In 1881 he was appointed! United 

 States District Attorney for* the Northern and 

 Middle Districts of Alabama, and this office he 

 held four years. Judge Smith was a conservative 

 Republican. 



Smyth, Frederick, banker, born in Candia, 

 N. H., March 9, 1819; died in Hamilton, Bermuda, 

 April 22, 1899. He was educated at Phillips 

 Academy, Andover, and engaged in business in 

 Manchester, N. H., first as a merchant and later 

 as a banker. In 1852 he was elected mayor of 

 the city, and he held the office four terms. In 

 1857 and 1858 he served in the Legislature; in 



