1901-1902 Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale University
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OBITUARY RECORD GRADUATES OF YALE UNIVERSITY Deceased during the Academical Year ending in JUNE, 19O2, INCLUDING THE RECORD OF A FEW WHO DIED PREVIOUSLY, HITHERTO UNREPORTED [Presented at the meeting at the Alumni, June 24th, 1902] [No 2 of the Fifth Printed Series, and No 61 of the whole Record] OBITUARY RECORD OP GKADTIATES OF YALE UNIVEESITY Deceased during the Academical year ending in JUNE, 1902, Including the Record of a few who died previously, hitherto unreported [PRESENTED AT THE MEETING OF THE ALUMNI, JUNE 24TH, 1902] [No. 2 of the Fifth Printed Series, and No. 61 of the whole Record] YALE COLLEGE (ACADEMICAL DEPARTMENT) 1829 SAMUEL PORTER, eldest of the seven children of Rev. Dr. Noah Porter (Yale 1803) and Hetty (Meigs) Poiter, and elder brother of President Noah Porter and of Rev. Giles M. Porter (Yale 1836), was born at Farmington, Conn., on January 12, 1810. After graduation he taught a short time m the family of a Virginia planter, and from 1832 to 1836 in the American Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb in Hartford, Conn. For two years he was a student in the Yale Theological Seminary, but increasing deafness led him to abandon the idea of entering the ministry. From 1840 to 1842 he was associate editor of the Congregational Observer in Hartford, then until 1846 instructor in the New York Institute for the Deaf and Dumb, and for the next twenty years in his former position at Hartford. From 1854 to 1860 he was editor of the American Annals of the Deaf and Dumb. On the formation of the National Deaf Mute College, now Gallaudet College, at Washington, D C, he was appointed Professor of Mental Science and English Philology, and held the chair from 1866 to 1884, when he was made professor emeritus, continuing 116 to reside at Kendall Green, in the suburbs of Washington. He earned within his recollection almost the entire history of the movement for the education of the deaf in this country During his whole life he was a student of language, and he contributed many articles on linguistic subjects to the New JEng- lander, Princeton Review^ and othei periodicals In 1867 he published "Vowel Elements in Speech, a Phonological and Philological Essay," and in 1861 "Is Thought Possible with- out Language " appeared in the Princeton Review He was the author of the " Guide to Pronunciation," prefaced to Webster's "International Dictionary " He was a member of the American Philological Association from 1869. Professor Poitei died at the home of his sister, and in the house in which he was born, in Farmington, on September 3, 1901, at the age of 91 vears He was ne^er mamed. He was the last survivor ol his class, and outlived all the members of the follow- ing class; He letained to a remarkable decree to the close of his life hi* poweis of body and mind. 1831 MILO NORTH MILES, second son of Captain Joseph and Lucy Lavima (Noith) Miles, and nephew of Milo Linus North, M.D. (Yale 1813), was born on March 24, 1807, at Ellsworth, in the town of Sharon, Litchfield County, Conn. He woiked on the farm until his eighteenth year, attending school as he had oppor- tunity, and entered Yale in the fall of 1826. During his Fresh- man yeai senous illness interrupted his course, and he did not graduate till 1831 He was converted through the influence of a classmate, and united with the church in 1827. After sjitiduation he taught in Virginia, and the next year entered Pnnceton Theological Seminary, but did not complete the course, owing to furthei ill health. He was licensed to preach by the Litchfield (Conn.) North Association, in May, 18 34, immediately began work in western New York, and was ordained by the Buffalo Presbytery, February 11, 1835 He seivetl the church in Mayville, on Chautauqua Lake, from 1834 to 1837, and othei home missionary chuiches in the vicinity until 1841, when he accepted a call to Pontiac, Mich After two years he icmoved to Illinois, wheie his parents and other relatives were then living, making the journey by horse and buggy across the prairies For three years he preached in Farmington in that 117 state, and for over twenty years worked in the neighboring home missionary field, planting and aiding several churches. In 1869 he started a church in Nebraska, where one of his sons had taken a homestead, but the next year, on the death of his son-in-law, Major George J. North, removed with his daughter to Des Momes, la. Becoming interested in work among the Scandinavians there, he organized a class in the Swedish Lutheran church, which he met every Sunday afternoon for ten years. In 1882 he changed his residence to Iowa City, and while there assisted his daughter, Mrs. North, in her work as State Librarian. Ten years later he returned to Des Moines, and resided there until his death from acute gastritis, on July 4, 1901, at the age of 94 years and three months. At his decease he was the oldest living graduate of the University in actual age, although Professor Samuel Porter, who survived him, graduated two years earlier (1829). On March 21, 1897, the Sunday before lie was ninety years of age, he preached in Iowa City, an unwritten sermon three-quarters of an hour in length, contrasting home life, educational advantages, morals and Christian activity ninety years ago with the present, and held the attention of the large congregation to the end. Mr. Miles married, on May 9, 1836, Rosanna, sister of Alvan Talcott, MD. (Yale 1824), daughter of Alvan and Philomela (Root) Talcott. She died in 1839, and her two children also died in early life. He afterward married Mary Kidder, daughter of Major Royal Keyes, a native of Newfane, Vt., and then living in Chautauqua County, N. Y. Of their four sons and three daugh- ters, three sons only survive him. 1832 SAMUEL MILES HOPKINS, son of Hon. Samuel Miles Hopkins, LL.D. (Yale 1791) and Sarah Elizabeth (Rogers) Hopkins, was born on August 8, 1813, in Geneseo, Livingston County, N. Y. He was prepared for college at Albany (N. Y ) Academy, and Round Hill School, Northampton, Mass. Entering the Freshman class in 1828, he left Yale before the close of Sophomore year, and a few months later joined the Junior class at Amherst College, from which he was graduated in 1832. In 1835 he was also enrolled with his class at Yale. Upon graduation he declined a tutorship at Amherst College and accepted a similar offer at Hobart College in Geneva, N. Y, which was at that time the family home. A year later he entered 118 Auburn Theological Seminary, and took his Senior studies at Princeton Seminary. He was licensed to preach by the Presby- tery of Geneva and began his ministry at Corning, Steuben County, N Y , where he was ordained on September 23, 1840. From 1842 to 1845 he was pastor at Fredonia, Chautauqua County, and the next two years at Avon, Livingston County. In 18^7 he was called to the chair of Ecclesiastical History and Church Polity in Auburn Theological Seminary, with which he was connected for fifty-four years, and during the more than forty-five veais of his active woik therein he exerted a most help- ful and stimulating influence upon many since eminent in the min- istry and upon the life of the church. He was constantly writing new lectuies for his classes, and giving them the results of fresh study and vigorous thought In 1866 he was Moderator of the Piesbyterian General Assem- bly in St.Loms He published two volumes, a "Manual of Church Polity," 1878, and a "Liturgy and Book of Common Prayer for the Presbytenan Church," 1883, 2d edition 1886; also wrote occasional articles in magazines and delivered addresses on many public occasions. He retained his youthful vigor and the healthful use of all his powers to the close of his life, and died at home from the grip on October 29, 1901, at the age of 88 years. He married on May 15, 1838, Mary Jane Hanson, daughter of Reuben Bostwick Heacock, a merchant of Buffalo, N". Y., and sister of Rev Giosvenor Williams Heacock, D. D. (W. Reserve 1840) Of his four sons (graduates of Hamilton College respect- ively in 1863, 1866, 1871 and 1872) three survive, together with a daughter, who married Rev. Myron Adams (Hamilton College 1863) Mrs. Hopkins died in January, 1885 1835 JOSIAH ABBOTT, third son and fifth of the eleven children of Josiah and Ruth (Estabrook) Abbott, was born in Frammgham, Ma.ss , on May 22, 1811 He was prepared for college at the academies in Exeter, N. H, and Amherst, Mass., and joined the class of 1834 at the beginning of Sophomore year, but was soon obligtMl to leave owing to ill health. The following year he re- sumed his studies m the class of 1835. After graduation, he spent a year teaching in Bridgeport, Conn , and two years as a student in Yale Theological Seminary. 119 He was licensed to preach, and occasionally supplied pulpits, but was never ordained. He attended two courses of lectures in the Yale Medical School, and completed his medical studies at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of the Western District of New York, located in Fairfield, N. Y., receiving his degree in January, 1840. He then spent a few months in the hospitals of Boston. His brother-in-law was Rev. Benjamin Schneider, D.D. (Amherst 1830), missionary at Broosa and Aintab, Turkey, and he had himself planned to be a medical missionary, but relinquished his purpose and began practice in Marlborough, Mass.