April 14.--Edwin C. Morse, born in West Natick, 1817, Judge of the
Natick Police Court, died at Natick, Mass.
* * * * *
April 14.--George F. Emery, born in Portsmouth, N. H., in 1812, died in
Boston. He had been U.S. General Appraiser for New England, also
paymaster; and was treasurer of the Union Institution for Savings.
* * * * *
April 15.--Anson K. Warner, of Greenfield, died from the effects of
injuries received at the West Deerfield railroad disaster. Mr. Warner
was closely connected with the institutions of his town, and held many
offices of trust. His will bequeaths $50,000 for the education of
Greenfield boys and girls.
* * * * *
April 18.--Hon. Stephen H. Gifford, Clerk of the Massachusetts Senate,
died at his home in Duxbury. He was born in Pembroke, Mass., July 21,
1815, and while a boy earned his living on a farm. He learned the
shoemaker's trade, and still later attended the academy in Hanover, N.
H. Subsequently he became a teacher, and established a private school in
Duxbury, in which he continued until 1885, excepting a year or two in
which he was engaged in mercantile pursuits. In 1850 he was a member of
the House; in 1851 was appointed an inspector in the Boston Custom
House. During a few weeks in 1854 he was Assistant Clerk of the Senate,
and the next year he was chosen as Assistant Clerk of the House. The
Legislature of 1855 elected him as Auditor of Accounts, for which office
he was nominated by the Republicans the same year. The party was
defeated at the polls, and Mr. Gifford shared the fate of his friends.
In 1857 he was again appointed Assistant Clerk of the House. In 1858 he
was elected Clerk of the Senate, and held the office until his death. On
March 10, 1882, a complimentary dinner was tendered Mr. Gifford in
testimonial of his twenty-five years of clerkship.
* * * * *
April 19.--Hon. Charles Adams, Jr., formerly State Treasurer, died at
his home in North Brookfield. Mr. Adams was born at Antrim, N. H., Jan.
31, 1819, and his long life since has been a most busy and useful one.
In 1816 his father removed from New Hampshire to Massachusetts, settling
at Oakham, and in the district schools of this town Charles Adams
received the most of his early education. When sixteen years of age he
began business as a clerk in a country store at Petersham, and there
remained five years. He then became bookkeeper for J.B. Fairbanks &
Co., at Ware, but after a year's service in this position left it to
enter the employ of T. and E. Batcheller & Co., at North Brookfield, as
their bookkeeper. For twenty-eight years he remained with Batcheller &
Co., the last nine years being a partner in the firm. Mr. Adams was
active in State and national politics, and served seventeen years at the
State House in various capacities, as member of the Legislature, Senate,
and Council, and as State Treasurer from 1870 to 1875. He was married
May 8, 1834, and on May 8, 1884, celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of
the marriage. Of late years he has given his attention to genealogical
and historical matters connected with the town of North Brookfield. Mr.
Adams was an upright, honest man, enjoying the highest confidence of the
community in which he lived.
* * * * *
April 22.--Deacon Nathaniel Hatch, of Bradford, Mass., died suddenly of
heart disease. He was a graduate of Bowdoin, class of 1844; had been a
teacher and a business man.
* * * * *
April 23.--Hon. John Phelps, who was born in Hubbardston, Mass., in
1824, died at New Orleans. He went South at the age of twenty-two; was
one of the founders, and became President of the New Orleans Cotton
Exchange, and later President of the National Cotton Exchange.
* * * * *
April 24.--Death of Maj. Albert L. Richardson, for thirty years
postmaster of Montvale, in Woburn, Mass.
* * * * *
April 24.--Mrs. Wendell Phillips died at her home on Common Street,
Boston. She was married to the great abolitionist orator about fifty
years ago, but before that time she had espoused the antislavery cause.
* * * * *
April 25.--Hon. Edmund Wilson, of Thomaston, Me., died. He had been
prominent in the political affairs of his section, and was also for the
past ten years a member of the Democratic National Committee.
* * * * *
April 26.--Joseph Weld Morrison died at Campton Village, N. H., at the
age of sixty-nine. He was an extensive dealer in lumber.
* * * * *
April 27.--Henry H. Richardson died at his residence in Brookline,
Mass., at the age of 48. Mr. Richardson had achieved a wide reputation
as an architect, his rank in that profession being variously estimated
from that of one of the first in this country to that of the first in
the world or the age. Probably the most conspicuous example of his
genius is Trinity Church in Boston.
* * * * *
April 29.--Col. Ezra J. Trull, a well-known citizen of Boston, died at
his home in Charlestown at the age of 43. He served in the war with the
Fourth Battalion of Rifles, the 13th Massachusetts Volunteers, and the
39th Regiment. At the close of the war he joined the 5th Regiment, of
which he became colonel. In 1855 he was elected commander of the Ancient
and Honorable Artillery. He was also commander of the Boston Light
Infantry Veterans, and a member of the Loyal Legion. Col. Trull was also
connected with various societies of civil, military, and masonic
character. In civil office he served in the Boston Common Council in
1875, 1876, 1877, in the Massachusetts Senate in 1884 and 1885, and was
a Director of Public Institutions.
* * * * *
May 1.--Chas. M. Shepard, professor at Amherst College, died at
Charleston, S.C., at the age of 82.
* * * * *
May 3.--Hon. John Boynton Hill, for many years a leading lawyer in
Bangor, Me., and more recently of Mason, N. H., died at Temple, N. H.
Mr. Hill was born in Mason, Nov. 25, 1796, and was graduated at Harvard
College in 1821. Among his classmates were Governor Kent of Maine,
Charles W. Upham of Salem, Senator Barnwell of South Carolina, and Ralph
Waldo Emerson.
* * * * *
May 4.--Rev. Francis A. Foxcroft, one of the oldest Episcopal clergymen
in the State, died at Cambridge, Mass., at the age of 77.
* * * * *
May 7.--William R. Patten, of Winchester, a soldier in the Civil War,
and later, Judge-Advocate, died in Concord. He was born in 1837.
* * * * *
May 8.--Death of George W. Ray, a citizen and a manufacturer in
Springfield, Mass.