REMINISCENCES. 
By DAVID-PARSONS7 HOLTON, M.D. 
Read before tbe New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, 27 May, 1874. The regular sessions 
of this society are held the second and fourth Wednesday of each month at 64 Madison avenue in the Mott 
Memorial Hall. 
About 8 o’clock Saturday morning, May 10, 1834, I called at the Ameri- 
can Bible House, 115 Nassau street, New York, to see Rev. John C. Brig- 
ham, the Corresponding Secretary of the American Bible Society, whose 
nephew had been for the two years preceding a pupil of mine in the Academy 
at Southwick, Hampden Co., Mass. The man in charge informed me that I 
was some two hours in advance of the time to find the reverend Secretary. 
This led me to feel for my watch, which I soon remembered to have left 
under the pillow, at Holt’s Hotel, where I had taken lodgings on my arrival 
by the Connecticut River steamboat, the night previous. Hastening to my 
sleeping-room, I found that the bed was made and that the watch had dis- 
appeared. The erection of this house (now, 1874, known as the United 
States Hotel), on Fulton, Pearl and Water streets, had, throughout the Union, 
been counted the great event of 1832-3. 
The Astor House was commenced a few weeks after my arrival. Well do 
I remember how my previous notions of economy were all at sea, in view of 
the demolition of large brick stores on the west-side of Broadway from Vesey 
to Barclay street. However, learning that John Jacob Astor was then and 
there about to erect a house to eclipse Holt’s Hotel, as a gift to his son, 
William B., my financial views were somewhat modified. 
Returning from my failure to find the watch, the Rev. John C. Brigham 
graciously showed to the Preceptor of his nephew, the extensive printing 
and binding establishments of the Bible Society, which subsequently in their 
new location on Fourth avenue and Eighth street were much enlarged. 
For many years, and until his death, I occasionally counseled with this 
reverend gentleman, as with a father.. 
The second call made was at the temperance rooms in the Mercantile 
Library building, known as Clinton Hall, corner of Nassau and Beekman 
streets. There I found Mr. R. M. Hartley, the efficient Secretary in the 
temperance cause, with whom I formed a friendship which has continued 
vigorous and edifying these forty years. 
This building was during many years the principal center of numerous literary and benevolent associations and was the place, for scientific and 
popular lectures; for Mr. ITale, proprietor of the Journal of Commerce, Mr. 
William Green and their associates, had not then erected, near Leonard 
street, the celebrated Broadway Tabernacle. 
In Clinton Hall were commenced the instructions of the University of 
the City of Hew York, Bey. Dr. J. M. Mathews being Chancellor. At a 
later date, the building of the Mechanics’ Institute on Chambers street be- 
tween Centre and Chatham streets, was occupied for these instructions till 
the University on Washington square was completed. 
To this University my attention had been somewhat turned as my future 
Alma Mater; and at my first visit to Clinton Hall, some conversation was 
had with Mr. Hartley about my purpose to complete my collegiate course in 
that Institution. 
Subsequently I called upon Bev. Dr. Mathews at his residence in Liberty 
street. The Chancellor welcomed the new comer, as a Green Mountain can- 
didate for University honors, and with words of encouragement spoke of 
the various ways by which a young man of sound principles and correct 
habits, with industry and perseverance, could pursue collegiate studies and 
financially sustain himself in the great metropolis. 
At that time, the locations most sought for private homes, were in the 
neighborhood of the Battery, on Broadway to Eighth street and westward to 
include St. John’s Park, on East Broadway and southward to Monroe street 
extending eastward to the Butger’s mansion, on Bond street, St. Mark’s place, 
Leroy place, La Fayette place and Washington square, of which last-only 
about one-fourth was bordered by dwelling houses. 
It was subsequent to this, if my memory serves me right, that the first 
two houses on Fifth avenue were built by the Misses Green for their School 
for Young Ladies—No. 1 being the present residence of the Comptroller, 
Andrew H. Green. 
At the interview of which I was speaking, Chancellor Mathews spoke of 
the fact, that many wealthy citizens of New York had given, each, fifteen 
hundred dollars towards founding the University, they, severally, becoming 
thereby perpetually entitled to place and keep one student in the occupancy 
of a scholarship, i. e. in the regular University course, without the additional 
payment of tuition fees. These facts and conditions-I reported to Bev. Mr. 
Brigham, who subsequently saw Bev. Elihu W. Baldwin, pastor of the 
Seventh Presbyterian Church, Broome street, corner of Bidge, who had, 
through the gift of one of his parishioners, the disposal of one scholar- 
ship, and he assured Mr. Brigham that it should he at the service of the 
Vermonter. 
After my interview with Mr. Hartley as aforesaid, I met Bev. Jeremiah 
Bridges, Elder of the Baptist Church in Southwick, the place which I had 
left the Thursday previous, the 8th of May, 1834. He introduced me to 
Bev. Jonathan Going, D. D., Editor of the principal Baptist paper in America, 
2 
REMINISCENCES. REMINISCENCES. 
3 
whose office was also in Clinton Hall. To him I told the story of my lost 
watch, and solicited that he would favor me by becoming my banker—for 
at this time I possessed just thirty-six dollars, and whatever goods and chat- 
tels were contained in my trunk and valise, the same being only ordinary 
Avearing apparel. 
My available assets, the said thirty-six dollars, I divided into two portions, 
handing to my banker twenty-four, and retaining in my wallet twelve; 
promising myself and Rev. Dr. Going, that I would find some remunerative 
employment, before I should have exhausted the latter portion. After this 
I met, in Broadway, Mr. Charles Jessup, of Mass., who had married a sister 
of one of my Southwick pupils. He invited me to accompany him the next 
day to the Sunday-school exercises at the House of Refuge, he having pre- 
viously taken into his employ, at Westfield, one of the inmates of that Insti- 
tution. The next day, my first Sunday in New York city, at the appointed 
hour, Mr. Jessup introduced me to Mr. N. C. Hart, Superintendent of the 
House of Refuge, then located far out of toion, some distance north of Mr. 
Hogg’s garden, on the Bloomingdale road. 
In a geographical review, it is difficult to believe that remote place to be 
identical with our present Madison Square. 
Mr. Hart loved his work, and devoted himself to the boys apd girls en- 
trusted to his charge. He loved to see the working of means to an end, and 
labored in faith with the hardest cases. After this introductory visit, I was 
kindly permitted to call during the school hours of any day; and of this 
privilege I subsequently availed myself for many years. His interest in any 
youth once under his charge, continued, like that of a parent, when the 
child had left for a new home. His book of letters showed, in those who 
had left the institution, a filial affection toward him, which to me seemed 
wonderful, nor have I seen the like in any other instance. 
The character of Mr. Hart has ever since those years appeared to me a 
living force, elevating my purposes as a teacher. 
On Monday, the third day of my New York residence, true to my pur- 
pose to find employment before spending the twelve dollars, I resolved to 
offer myself as a teacher in some department of any school in the city. 
Wi,th this in view I bought a small guide-book entitled, “NEW YORK as 
it is IN' 1833,” containing a map of the city, and a list of all its public and 
private schools. 
With this book and map, and a pocket full of testimonials from places 
where I had kept school, in Westminster and Bellows Falls, Vt., Cornish and 
Limerick in York county, Me., Effingham, Carroll county, N. H., and for 
the last two yeajs at Southwick, Mass., I commenced at the Battery, and 
thence in geographical order presented my at every private school. 
Many teachers assured me that they knew of no opening; others encourag- 
ingly said, it being May, they could make no changes in my favor before 
the fall term. 4 
REMINISCENCES. 
In parting, I assured each one that some opening for me would, surely, 
soon be found. 
During that week I visited all the schools in the city, known through the 
printed page and through all channels of personal inquiry open to me. 
No vacancy was found. Then I spent Monday of the second week in Pearl 
street, in applications as a clerk or salesman. All responses were negatives. 
The most hopeful answers for the future were from Arthur Tappan and 
from Messrs. Bailey, Keeler & Remson. 
Next, I passed a day among the law offices; but found no olive-leaves. 
The very numerous acquaintances formed during these two days among 
merchants and lawyers, proved a source of happiness and benefit in after 
years. The Wednesday of the second week I resolved to revisit every school 
which I had previously found—sure that I should gain an opening. 
Near the close of the first day of this repetition of my applications, I 
found that in the Lafayette Institute on Broadway, corner of Ninth street, 
near the limit of the city built in that direction (a section which then had 
recently been occupied as the Sailors’ Snug Harbor), the sickness of one of 
the teachers had providentially opened for me a situation, yielding me, be- 
sides a good home, $80 up to the approaching vacation. 
Having settled my board bill at 68 Dey street, I had remaining from 
the $12, seventy-five cents, exactly the sum necessary to pay a coachman for 
taking me and my baggage to my newly-found home, the Lafayette Insti- 
tute, Thursday, 22d May, at the same hour of the day on which, fourteen 
days before, I had left Southwick, Mass. 
At that time the region northwestward from the corner of Broadway and 
Ninth street was unbuilt upon, and Eighth street was the northern terminus 
of the omnibus route—Brower’s line having precedence over any others in 
the city. 
At the close of the summer vacation, I entered as a student in the Uni- 
versity, then located, as already said, in Chambers street, near Chatham, 
occupying the scholarship placed temporarily to my credit by the Rev. Elihu 
W. Baldwin, who soon left New York as President of Wabash College, 
Indiana. He was succeeded in the pastorate of the Seventh Presbyterian 
Church by Rev. Edwin P. Hatfield, then recently from his field of eminent 
success in St. Louis, Mo. 
During my first week in New York, in the course of my applications, I 
met, in Mr. Sherwood’s school in Albion place, which whs a part of Fourth 
street, eastward from the Bowery, Mr. J. J. Greenough, recently a student 
in Andover Theological Seminary, with whom I formed an acquaintance 
which ripened into strongest friendship. 
Having completed mjfengagement at the Lafayette Institute, I matricu- 
lated as student in the University, and subsequently shared with Mr. 
Greenough a lodging-room in the Fifth'Ward, at 42 Hudson street, where 
he had, at the special solicitation of A. R. Wetmore, A. P. Halsey, B. REMINISCENCES. 
5 
Strong, and a few other associate patrons, opened a private school for 
boys. 
Here I pursued my University studies, and by uniting with several 
benevolent and reformatory associations already at work, learned of the per- 
sonal labors and liberal contributions of citizens of Hew York for various ob- 
jects of charity. I was profoundly impressed with the personal sacrifices and 
devotion of Mr. A. E. Wetmore in meeting the physical and moral needs of 
the city, and particularly in the Fifth Ward—for then my estimate of the 
gifts of people in their lifetime was upon a small scale compared with what 
the munificence of later years has established. Girard in his will had pro- 
vided millions for the endowment of an asylum; but no Peter Cooper 
had then taught the beauty of one’s personal administration on hun- 
dreds of thousands of dollars of his own estate for the general good of 
humanity. 
With Mr. Greenough, I had the pleasure to unite with the Committee, for 
tract distribution and visitations of charity, under Mr. Wetmore, in the 
Fifth Ward., Mr. Wetmore still lives, and I have yet to learn that he wearies 
in well doing. Mr. Greenough for many years, and till his death, continued 
his excellent school for boys. , 
After a few months in my University course, having in the meantime 
nearly exhausted the $24 left with my banker, the Kev. Dr. Going, and the 
$80 which I received as teacher of mathematics in the Lafayette Institute, 
I read in the New York Observer, some five days after publication, that a 
private tutor was wanted in a family residing in the vicinity of the city, 
applicants being referred to Anthony P. Halsey, Esq., cashier of the Bank 
of New York. 
I called upon Mr. Halsey at his residence, 16 Jay street. He said I wras 
the forty-ninth applicant, and that among the number were graduates from 
colleges and some graduates of Theological Seminaries, and although he 
read from my pile of New England testimonial?, he gave me no encourage- 
ment. I reported matters to Mr. Brigham, who hastened to the Bank in 
Wall street, corner of William, and spoke good words for the preceptor of 
his nephew, immediately turning the ‘scale in my favor. 
The teacher sought was for the family of P. Van Brugh Livingston, at 
Dobbs Ferry, on the east bank of the Hudson, north of Yonkers, with 
whom I remained one year, receiving as salary $500. 
During this time I occasionally visited the University, as I was endeavor- 
ing to pursue alone the regular studies of my class. After the close of this 
engagement I returned to the city, and, with much hesitation, reluctantly 
resigned my scholarship in the University, and as student of medicine entered 
the office of Dr. Ansel W. Ives, 367 Broadway, opposite the residence of Dr. 
John Kearny Eodgers, the students of the two offices being united for recita- 
tion, interchangeably, before each of the two doctors. With what remained 
of my $500, received from Mr. Livingston, I entered upon a course of 6 
REMINISCENCES. 
medical lectures in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Nos. 1 and 3 
Barclay street. 
On the death of my preceptor, Dr. Ives, I entered the office of Dr. Alfred 
C. Post, No. 4 Leroy place, the College having been removed from Barclay 
to 67 Crosby street, where, on the 9th of March, 1839, I was graduated as 
Doctor of Medicine. 
Previous to my study of medicine in the office of Dr. Ansel W. Ives, I 
had read medical books and had attended some lectures on medical sub- 
jects, chiefly with a view to understanding the effects of alcoholic drinks 
on the human system. The scientific study of these effects was not neces- 
sary to convince me of the inexpediency of using intoxicating beverages, 
as my convictions Avere strong, resting upon my observations from early 
youth. Before I could intelligently read, my mother impressed me with tho 
truth that strong drink is raging, and that he who is deceived thereby is 
not wise. Her words were confirmed by Avhat I could almost daily see; 
and from that seeing and hearing I knew, as well as I could know any- 
thing, that total abstinence from all intoxicating drinks Avas the only safe 
and Avise course. 
Having this conviction, on my tenth anniversary birthday, the 18th 
June, 1822, I invited some boys to accompany me to-the top of a hill on my 
father’s farm in Westminster, Vt., where we pledged to each other never 
more to use the destroying drinks. I did not then know of any temperance 
society, and I have not yet learned that any total abstinence society had 
been formed previous to this date, 18th June, 1822. 
The first tAvo days of my being a medical student in the office of Dr. 
Hes Avere Avholly devoted to the Avriting of tAvelve letters to as many friends 
in different places in New England, announcing my determination, and 
bespeaking, in advance, their charitable interpretation of my probable future 
course, when, having obtained my diploma as doctor of medicine, and 
having some knoAvledge of practice, my energies, my experience, and my 
acquirements should all be tifrned to the practical solution of problems for 
the prevention of the evils of inteprperance. 
In these tAvelva letters I also bespoke a charitable construction upon my 
future probable course in abandoning the medical practice, trusting that by 
the appropriate use of manikins, skeletons, and prepared specimens of 
human and comparative anatomy, I should be enabled to be a better teacher, 
thus being furnished Avith apparatus and natural means for object teaching, 
in which I had been indoctrinated by reading the publications of Josiah 
Holbrook, of Boston, about the time of my first essay at school-teaching, 
when fifteen years of age (1827), in my native toAvn, Avhere I had the honor 
to introduce the blackboard—doubtless the first in any district school in 
the State of Vermont. 
Subsequently I read the scientific tracts and other publications upon the 
same subject, by Dr. J. V. C. Smith, afterward Mayor of Boston, and now, REMINISCENCES. 
7 
1874, Professor of Anatomy in the New York Free Medical College for Wom- 
en, 51 St. Mark’s place, New York city; iii which college I have the 
honor to occupy the chair of Comparative Physiology, a chair closely allied 
to that of my former Boston friend. 
In 1833, by special permission of the Trustees of the South wick Academy, 
I prolonged a vacation in order to pass a few weeks in Boston in witnessing 
the practical object-teaching system, as developed by Mr. Holbrook, aided 
by Drs. Alcott and Smith; and in attending the sessions of the American 
Institute of Instruction, in which W. C. Woodbridge, S. E. Hall and others, 
whose names are cherished as promoters of progressive steps in improved 
methods of teaching and discipline, were then active members. 
I came to New York fully persuaded that, as means in educational devel- 
opments, a little of actuality was better than much of artificiality. 
These twelve letters were also apologetic in view of my anticipated turn- 
ing aside from the practice of the medical profession in order to combat a 
false prejudice against the colored race, grounded upon peculiarities in the. 
formation of their skeleton, their hair, their skin, and other tissues of the body. 
I do not remember the time when I first realized the great wrong of stealing, 
buying, selling, or holding a human being in slavery ; but an incident, in 
1826, gave character, form, and expression to my most positive convictions 
on this subject. 
My brother, nine years my senior, had occasion to visit Montreal, Canada. 
After one week of his absence, my sister Miriam came running to the saw- 
mill, to inform my father that the chest of the absent brother had been 
rilled of a new suit of clothes, and two rolls of valuable cloth. 
We all hastened to the house to learn the details, and to consult as to the 
probabilities relating to the theft. Suspicion soon rested upon one William 
Williams, a traveling laborer, who, after having worked two weeks on the 
farm, had some four days previous left for parts unknown. Having myself 
worked with him in the field, and having heard him speak much of Old 
Springfield, Mass., and of his intention to go there on some raft of lumber 
moving down the Connecticut River, it seemed probable that he had gone in 
that direction. I plead with my parents to allow me, then fourteen years of 
age, to go in pursuit of the thief—at least in search of the stolen goods. 
With much reluctance they consented. 
With ten or twelve dollars in my pocket, and unincumbered with luggage, 
I started, saying that if Williams went a-foot, I would walk; if he rode, I 
would take the stage; if he went by raft, I would do the same. Of course, 
I commenced on foot, southward bound,. inquiring of every man, woman, 
aud child whom I met on the road, or in the houses by the wayside, describ- 
ing minutely the man whom I was seeking. 
After having gone about five miles, I heard of his having passed three 
days before, empty-handed, or with a small package, southward; and that 
on the following morning the same man was seen, walking in the same di- 8 
REMINISCENCES. 
rection with a large package on his back. Having learned this I walked with 
increased speed, making inquiries of every person whom I met. 
Soon I heard that, at the next house the man had sold some undergar- 
ments. Going to the house, I recognized the articles as belonging to my 
brother. 1 promptly declared that they belonged to him, Mr. Erastus A. 
Ilolton, son of Joel Holton, the clothier and sawyer of Westminster, Ver- 
mont; that in the absence of my brother, Mr. Williams, the hired man, had 
stolen the articles. The purchaser of the stolen goods believed my story, and, 
recognizing that his claim to stolen property was void, notwithstanding he 
had paid money for the same, readily surrendered the garments. Passing 
onward another mile, I found under similar circumstances other of the 
missing garments. Hear by, in like manner, I received all the remainder 
of the goods, except the two rolls of cloth; and of the sale of these I heard 
as being to a trader on the river bank in Putney, Vt. The man who last sur- 
rendered the stolen property, finding this just act had strengthened his moral 
powers, befriended the boy, and proffered his personal aid in a visit to said 
store. Entering, he inquired for cloth, as though contemplating a purchase, 
and one of the missing rolls was shown to him. My sympathizer then asked 
for some of a different color, when both of the stolen rolls were opened upon 
the counter, and were seen and identified by me. . . . An explanation 
followed, which resulted, after considerable delay .and hesitation, in the de- 
livery of the cloth. 
All the lost goods thus recovered were taken to the hotel in Putney, where 
I remained till the northward going stage, the next morning, carried me 
towards Westminster, where at the post-office was gathered an unusual crowd, 
planning what should be done to find and restore, not the thief and the 
missing goods, but the presumptuous boy for whose safety great anxiety be- 
gan to be felt through the village and neighboring districts. To their sur- 
prise, this boy, about whom they were wondering and conjecturing, stepped 
down from the open stage-door with his great pack.—Never since have I been 
lionized as then. 
The quick surrender of the stolen goods, notwithstanding the holders 
had in good faith paid cash for the same, impressed me anew with a whole- 
some doctrine, that the negro, stolen in the place of his nativity or his home, 
and sold by the slave-dealer, does not become the property of any pur- 
chaser. 
While in bed at the hotel in Putney, this truth took possession of all that 
could be called myself; and, if subsequently it acquired no new force, it is 
certain its hold upon me has never changed—has never diminished. 
Though, in my sleeping apartment then and there, I may have rejoiced 
over'the success in recovering the stolen articles; yet I chiefly valued the 
new light, and the new conviction which was forced upon me as a living 
actuality, that it was my duty to do my best for restoring the slave to free- 
dom. This impression came to me in this form: REMINISCENCES. 
9 
If a person buying clothes stolen from my brother has no right in them, 
notwithstanding he paid money for the same; then, the negro stolen from 
himself does not become the property of the thief or purchaser. 
During the first two days in the office of Dr. Ives, while writing the twelve 
letters as stated, I recognized my obligations to work in either or all of these 
three directions —in the interest of temperance, education, and freedom. 
These duties were present in my vision as having, or as probably being about 
to have upon me, greater claims than the practice of medicine; nevertheless 
it appeared to me expedient to obtain a medical education, as a means to 
one or more of these ends. 
Up to that date I had been firmly convinced that no person had a right 
to select a profession, a trade, or any kind of business or employment, 
chiefly in view of its financial remuneration to him or herself [himerself ].* 
I most firmly believed it to be the duty of every one to do that, and that 
only, which would add most to the happiness of mankind; trusting that 
of the many and various fields of usefulness, one might be found suited 
to each person, in which individual and public benefits would harmonize. 
My views on this subject have not since changed. 
While a student in the office of Dr. Ives, at my earnest solicitation, my 
sister Miriam, who had for some years been a school-teacher in Vermont, 
Massachusetts, and Connecticut, left New .England to open a school in 
New York. 
As a preliminary step to success in a city establishment, she taught awhile, 
in 1836, at Mrs. Starr’s school for young ladies, 96 Madison street, and the 
next spring, without special patronage or promise from any one, she opened 
a school at 18 Amity street, beginning with one pupil. At the close of the 
first week she had six, and the number rapidly increased, until at the 
August vacation she had about thirty. ' 
On commencing her fall term, she found her rooms too small, and one 
morning she and her brother were gratified to see, diagonally across the 
way, a bill on No. 11 Amity street, “ To Let.” Thither her school was 
forthwith removed to more ample quarters, and there, for six years, were 
accommodated from 60 to 125 boarding and day scholars. 
During these years I gave my attention about equally to the medical pro- 
fession and school-teaching, at all times co-operating with my sister in pro- 
viding for the varied requirements of the school, sustaining a regular and 
progressive course of lectures in the natural sciences, especially in human 
and comparative physiology. 
Selected topics in anatomy and physiology had been the subjects of my 
lectures, by the kind permission of Mr. N. (J. Hart, at the House of Refuge 
before named; also, in the ppblic schools and orphan asylums, in sundry 
private schools and other educational institutions, including the Deaf and 
* A new pronoun for the English language ; 
one word being used as equivalent to three. 
Nominative, hesh (he or she) 
Possessive, hizer (his or her) 
Objective, himer (him or her) 
5 Let the e in hesh be 
( pronounced long, as 
) in he. 10 
REMINISCENCES. 
Dumb Institution, favored by the presence and interpretation of Mr. Peet, 
or some one of the professors. 
These subjects had not previously been introduced into the schools of 
New York, for the senior Dr. Griscom, father of Dr. John H. Griscom, 
had not then commenced his lectures upon them in the schools of the 
city. 
My sister and myself had great cause of gratitude to Mr. Thomas Hastings, 
for his efficient aid in sustaining, in our Amity street school, the depart- 
ment of vocal music. His published works have comforted and edified 
millions of persons and thousands of congregations. 'At the commencement 
of our school Mr. Hastings was chorister in the Dutch Reformed Church, 
of which Chancellor Mathews and Rev. M. S, Hutton were pastors, wor- 
shiping in the newly-erected University on Washington square. Before 
the great fire, their house of worship had been on Garden- street, near the 
Battery. Perhaps no person in America did more than Mr. Hastings to 
popularize music in schools, and to convince parents and teachers that all 
youth, with a few exceptions, may be trained to sing, beneficially to themselves 
and acceptably to others. 
During the last year of my pupilage as a medical student, I was most of 
the time an assistant at Bellevue Hospital, having for my associate assistant 
P. W. Ellsworth, of Hartford, Conn. 
After my graduation, 9th March, 1839, I immediately became one of the 
physicians of the Eastern Dispensary, located on Essex street; and my dis- 
trict embraced the region around the Seventh Presbyterian Church, which 
locality I selected in proof of my gratitude for the University scholarship 
formerly given me by its pastor, Rev. Elihu W. Baldwin, whose pulpit was 
then occupied by Rev. Edwin F. Hatfield, who for many years addressed 
crowded audiences, from which multitudes were forced to turn away for want 
of seats or even standing places. 
This house, for years continuously overcrowded, was relieved only by the several colo- 
nists sent forth, as organized churches, into the eastern half of the city. Prominent 
among the off-shoots were the Memorial Presbyterian Church, at first located at the cor- 
ner of Avenue C and Fourth street, then removed to Fifty-fifth street, near Lexington 
avenue, and now occupying the noble edifice on the corner of Madison avenue and Fifty- 
third street, of which Rev. C. S. Robinson, D. D., is pastor. 
In this section of the city was the Brainard Church, Rivington street, to whose pasto- 
rate Rev. Asa D. Smith was called. The same was subsequently transplanted to -Second 
avenue, corner of Fourteenth street, whence the reverend pastor was invited to the presi- 
dency of Dartmouth College, his alma mater. 
It was while Mr. Smith was preceptor of the Academy at Limerick, Me., that my sister 
Miriam there completed her studies, preparatory to teaching ; and in this fact was found 
an additional cause of my selecting, as the field of my labors for two years, the dispensary 
district named—thus rendering a compliment to the preceptor of my beloved sister. 
Soon after the commencement of my duties as a physician, I received one 
of New England’s greatest gifts, confirmed at Philadelphia, Sunday, 12th 
May, 1839, by Rev. Albert Barnes, in my marriage to Miss Frances K. For- REMINISCENCES. 
11 
ward, of Southwick, Mass., who seven years before had been one of my 
pupils in the academy of her native town, and who has proved to be a help- 
meet in word and in deed.. 
During the course of my medical studies, in addition to my labors in con- 
nection with my sister’s school at 11 Amity street, I found many opportunities 
to join with others in pushing forward the objects named in the twelve 
letters written during my first two days in the office of Dr. Ansel W. Ives. 
I particularly enjoyed my labors to advance the temperance cause, being 
honored with the presidency of the temperance society organized in the 
College of Physicians and Surgeons in Barclay street, which is believed to 
be the first medical temperance society anywhere formed. 
While memory lasts, it will never cease to be a cause of gratitude, that, 
with the able speakers invited at sundry times to address the College 
Medical Temperance Society, the Rev. Dr. James M. Mathews, the then 
Chancellor of the University, was ever ready to render hearty co-operation. 
After my graduation at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of the 
State of New York, then located at 67 Crosby street, I was for four years 
very active in the practice of the medical profession, appropriating time to 
my part of the duties connected with the Eastern Dispensary and the 
Marion street Lying-in-Asylum, and to the calls of a small private practice. 
In 1843, being iii correspondence with a friend, Dr. Evander W. Ranney, 
son of Dr. Waitstill Ranney, of Townsend, in my native county, Windham, 
Vt., who had at that time an extensive practice at Westport, Essex county, 
N. Y., I made an arrangement with him for an exchange of property. 
He removed to New York, and soon invited one of his brothers to locate 
in the same city, then another and another, till the metropolis was favored 
with the active services of six live physicians of the name—a respectable 
delegation from the Green Mountain State. Surely no one can accuse me 
of deserting my post unsupplied. 
In the exchange I received a neat brick house, with garden, orchard and 
outbuildings, pleasantly located on the western shore of Lake Champlain, 
nearly westward from Vergennes. The ride included Westport and portions 
of Moriah, Elizabethtown, Essex, and Lewis. In a visit to me, my father 
was gratified at seeing my location and success in practice; but in paternal 
kindness expressed his fears that my interest in the Academy and in the 
public schools—for he found me active as town Superintendent of Public 
Schools—would occupy my attention too much for eminent success in 
medical practice. 
Subsequently, I was surprised one morning by finding a beautiful, fleet, 
and strong horse, saddled and bridled, standing at the post in front of my 
house, labeled “For Dr. Holton, Westport, Essex Co., N. Y.” To the 
saddle was attached a letter from my brother, Mr. Erastus A. Holton, of 
Westminster, Vt.,.containing a condition, that said horse should be used by 
Dr. Holton in the practice of his profession—eating, not post-meat at the 12 
REMINISCENCES. 
school-houses, hut hay and oats in his own barn. And here I trust a con- 
fession may relieve a conscience not fully at ease; for it did happen that the 
doctor, as by instinct—or the horse in obedience to an instinct of the master 
—would, in his tour, sometimes halt before a school-house, when in an under- 
tone the horse was told that he must not eat “post-meat,” but might have 
free range^over the grass on the school grounds, while a short visit was being 
made to the school. This matter was finally settled to the mutual satisfac- 
tion of all concerned, by the act of the Board of Supervisors, appointing 
me to the office of County Superintendent of Common Schools, and by the 
subsequent consent of my father and brother, that the horse might carry 
his master to the house of the sick, or officially leave him at any of the one 
hundred and sixty-nine schools of Essex County. Thus accredited in full 
faith, and with no compunctions, the horse and his master enjoyed new 
liberty, and for two years left no school district unvisited in their semi- 
annual tour. 
Having arranged with a young physician to attend to my medical duties, 
I devoted myself fully to work for the improvement of schools, laboring not 
only during the usual school-hours, but inviting parents, teachers, and pupils 
to assemble in the evening. I held extra sessions alternately in the several 
school-houses of the entire county, averaging more than five evenings a 
week for the two years ; and the length of the sessions often exceeded three 
hours an eveninq. I made very free use of a globe and some select charts, 
diagrams, and apparatus, which I usually transported with me for the illus- 
tration of various departments of school studies, making frequent use of 
the blackboard, then found in most of the schools. 
Referring to my diary of that period, I find that in every school-house in 
the county, I thus lectured, at least once, in many from two to four times, 
and in each of thirty-nine districts five times. All of this extra labor was 
entirely gratuitous to the recipients and to the county. 
Among the exercises which occupied me during a part of these evening 
sessions, was that of analyzing and classifying the sounds of spoken language, 
and practicing in concert the pronunciation of the vocal elements, thus 
enunciating the several steps of progression in the speaking of a word or of 
a sentence. This exercise of the voice, as a help to clear enunciation in 
reading, was, before this, unheard of in the schools of the county. We also 
paid some attention to the phonetic letters which might be used in ordinary 
script and print to symbolize unmistakably to the reader these elemental 
movements of the voice. From about that date, 1843-47, these exercises 
have gradually increased in the schools of the Union. 
These vocal elements thus enunciated by the youth of this generation, and 
through their agency recognized, individualized, and practiced upon by the 
iqasses of the people, will create a demand for the phonetic letters of some 
form, having uses analogous to the ends sought by Pitman, Comstock, 
Leigh, and others engaged in this department of progress. REMINISCENCES. 
13 
In celebrating the seventy-first anniversary of American Independence, 
Saturday, 3d of July, 184.7, it was my privilege to accompany several school- 
teachers to the top of Whiteface, a mountain in the western section of Essex 
Co., N. Y., and there to engrave the symbols of these elementary sounds, 
giving on that occasion an address upon the “Aid which Phonotypes will 
be in translating the Bible into the languages of the heathen.” A copy of 
this address may be seen, commencing on page 34 of the Phonetic Maga- 
zine, printed that year in Philadelphia. 
One month later, August 3d, similar exercises were had at the school dis- 
trict of the Adirondack Iron Works, and on Tahawus (Mount Marcy), 
August 4th and 5th; and on the thirty-first anniversary of that occasion, 
August 5th, 1878, I hope to meet some teachers and promoters of educa- 
tional progress on the same Tahawian heights. I here reproduce a copy from 
the Westport paper of September 9th, 1847, of my last official circular. It 
may be suggestive of some of the many topics which will be before us at 
the proposed thirty-first anniversary commencing the first Monday evening 
of August, 1878, and continuing the remainder of that week. 
ESSEX COUNTY TEACHEES’ INSTITUTE. 
The Teachers’ Institute will be in session in the Court House at Elizabeth- 
town, on Monday, 18th October, and continue two weeks. 
The organization and exercises will be after the plan adopted last session ; 
though I hope to secure an order admitting a more extended course on 
Physiology. 
Those Teachers in the county who have executed District Maps, Histories 
of School Districts, Historical Trees, Books of Grammar Trees, or Books of 
Diagrams, illustrating arithmetical and geometrical principles, are invited 
to bring them for practical use, for exchange, or for gratuitous distribu- 
tion. Teachers will also bring such minerals as they may wish to exhibit 
or exchange; also samples of all kinds of school-books they may have, 
either in the new or old type. Slates, Dictionaries and Bibles are indis- 
pensable. 
Board, exclusive of washing and lights, $1.50 per week. There is no 
charge to the members for tuition. 
All persons who have taught or who design to teach are invited to at- 
tend. 
As my professional arrangements lead me to decline being a candidate for 
reappointment, I shall be happy to have a full attendance of Teachers of 
Essex County, who generally manifest a laudable zeal in adopting the best 
modes for developing, transplanting, and cultivating living TRUTH. 
DAVID P. HOLTON. 
County Superintendent of Common Schools. 
Westport, Essex Co., N. Y., September 9th, 1847. 14 
REMINISCENCES. 
At the close of this session of the Teachers’ Institute, I sold out my inter- 
est at Westport, and returned to New York city, continuing my educational 
reformatory and medical labors there; and making lecture tours in New 
England and other States, including Wisconsin and Minnesota, till 1853, 
thus realizing to my friends the purposes announced in the twelve letters 
written fourteen years before, during the first two days of my studies in the 
office of my medical preceptor, Dr. Ansel W. Ives. 
During the fall of 1849, the dysentery prevailed very extensively in the 
valley of the Connecticut, with which my brother, Erastus Alexander, died 
at Westminster, Vermont; a sister of my wife at Southampton, Mass.; and 
my first-born son at Southwick, Mass., where be had been visiting his grand- 
mother. 
In 1853, in compliance with my sister Miriam’s advice, I left for a visit to 
Europe, accompanied by my son, then a lad of eleven years, leaving my 
daughter with her mother in New York, where they remained until the en- 
suing summer, when the family were reunited in France. 
For over three years I attended the best lectures in Paris, Berlin, and Vi- 
enna, being much of the time accompanied by my wife and son to the pub- 
lic courses given in the College of France, at the Garden of Plants, and at 
other institutions in Paris This son, born in New York, 
August 8th, 1842, to our great affliction died in Paris, the 23d of June, 1856. 
His body was embalmed, and, at the cemetery of Mont Martre, placed in 
the family vault of Professor Lenormant of the College of France, who had 
manifested great interest in the young American, his proficient student in 
archaeological investigations as pursued in the College course. In the Koman 
Catholic professor’s vault remained the body of his favorite Protestant pupil, 
till it was removed, on our return some sixteen months later, to Southwick, 
Massachusetts. 
In connection with his memory and that of my sister and her Amity street 
school, stands associated that of Mr. Josiah Holbrook and Mr. Alexander 
Vattemare, whose labors were analogous and reciprocal. About the time of 
the last visit of the Marquis, the General La Fayette, to America, now fifty 
years since, Mr. Holbrook, in Massachusetts, commenced a system of school 
exchanges of specimens of nature and art. Many collections, now large, in 
America and in foreign lands, date their origin from the miniature cabinets 
of minerals, plants, insects or handiwork of children, presented by the pupils 
of some primary school, incited by Mr. Holbrook to give to others of such 
specimens as they found in their locality, or made by their industry. These 
cabinets were sent not only throughout our Union, but also to Canada, Mex- 
ico, and other places on this continent and beyond the Atlantic, meeting the 
concurrent approbation of educationists on both hemispheres. 
Having prosecuted his system of exchanges for fourteen years in Boston, 
Mr. Holbrook visited New York, and one morning, having read of his arrival 
at the Astor House, I hastened to see him, as one whose system of labors REMINISCENCES. 
15 
was highly appreciated, one with whom it had been my privilege to work in 
Boston, during a prolonged vacation in the Southwick Academy in 1833. 
This interview gave me groat joy, and at the urgent solicitations of sister 
and myself, he remained our guest at 11 Amity street for two years ; while 
he prosecuted in New York his educational plans, as, aforetime, he had done 
in Boston. 
Mr. Vattemare, who had long been distinguished on both sides of the 
Atlantic as an eminent ventriloquist, appreciated the labors of Mr. Holbrook. 
They became frequent correspondents and Mr. Vattemare devoted the remain- 
ing portion of his life to amplifying and developing his system. Thus they 
labored harmoniously ; Mr. Holbrook chiefly with educational institutions ; 
Mr. Vattemare with municipal corporations, republics, kingdoms, and em- 
pires; the one in exchanging specimens, forming small cabinets; the 
other in exchanging books, forming libraries. The American Library in the 
spacious alcoves of the Hotel de Ville, Paris, free to the reading public, was 
the result of Mr. Vattemare’s labors. 
During our stay in Paris, it was often my privilege to visit his rooms on 
Rue Clichy, with my son. His habit was to labor, from 4 A.m. till noon, 
in correspondence, in receiving and forwarding books between near and re- 
mote nationalities. The numerous boxes of various sizes, containing books, 
recently received or about to be sent away, often gave to his depository an 
appearance like that of a wholesale mercantile house. These eight hours of 
work daily, with the duties of social life, might be counted sufficient; but 
he was also active in organizing and visiting evening schools for the labor- 
ing classes in Paris. In this respect his character resembled that of his 
friend Josiali Holbrook, who was very efficient in evening schools, particularly 
in those for the education of the colored youth of Boston, in which it was 
’my privilege to be an humble participant. It was in 1855, that I read, 
in Paris, the announcement of the death of Josiah Holbrook, who, with 
hammer in hand, gathering geological specimens at Lynchburg, Va., slipped 
from a ledge and was drowned in the James River. I hastened to Rue Clichy 
to communicate the intelligence. Mr. Vattemare was deeply affected, and 
taking his file of American letters, read one recently received from Mr. Hol- 
brook, containing the utterance of grateful emotions in view of the multi- 
plication of school apparatuses and cabinets, and State geological surveys, 
for which he had been striving; a letter full of hope for the triumph of the 
principles which they had been mutually seeking to advance nearly twenty 
years before, while guests in Amity street. 
The earthly labors of Holbrook and Vattemare, as also those of my sister, 
are terminated, but living, acting principles remain ; and, as in the vegeta- 
ble and animal kingdoms, vital forces—themselves created and continued 
by the omnipotent God—developed in material elements, give forms adher- 
ing to types, modified by external agencies, resulting in great diversity, yet 
in harmony with the eternal purposes of the Creator and upholder of the 16 
REMINISCENCES. 
universe; so may tve hope that the principle of benevolent reciprocities 
manifest in the life of these co-workers, may assume such modified forms of 
manifestation as will best secure the true progress of mankind; and that 
the spirits of these philanthropists may be found in Heaven under circum- 
stances securing their perfect development. 
Let us cherish their associated memories and imitate their virtues. 
At a stated meeting of the American Institute, held 5th May, 1864, at the 
Cooper Institute, New York, the President, William Hall, Esq., having an- 
nounced the death of an honorary member, M. Alexandre Yattemare, the 
following preamble and resolution were offered by Thomas McElrath, Esq,: 
Whereas, Since our last regular meeting, information has been received of the death 
of Monsieur Alexandre Vattemare, a distinguished philanthropist, and an honorary mem- 
ber of this Institute ; and, 
Whereas, The labors of our deceased member were for many years directed to the ex- 
tension and improvement of the Public Libraries of the United States, many of which 
were enriched by the valuable contributions effected through his instrumentality ; and, 
Whereas, The Library of the American Institute contains several hundred volumes, 
embracing a wide range of literature, and many of them particularly rich in statistics and 
the .practical sciences, which were contributed mainly through his system of international 
exchanges and without expense to the Institute ; therefore, 
Resolved, That, as a testimony of the appreciation of the enlightened and eminently 
useful services of this noble-hearted and generous-minded French citizen, the Trustees 
of this Institute are directed to procure a portrait of the late Alexandre Vattemare, and 
that the same be suitably framed and hung in the rooms of the Library. 
David-P. Holton, M. D., in seconding the motion said : "To those acquainted with 
the earlier career of Alexandre Vattemare, and with the circumstances which established 
his character, will belong the duty of presenting the biography of an active philanthro- 
pist, whose benefactions reached most of the nations of the earth, through a system of 
International Reciprocities. 
We now speak of liis labors for the last thirty years of his life ; during which period 
the system of international exchanges has been so happily developed. For a quarter of 
a century the American Institute has participated in the benefits of this system in con- 
nection with works of literature, science, and art. 
As the tourist, having reached an eminence, delights to look back and trace the course 
of his route accomplished, and that which is before him ; so in contemplating the life of 
Alexandre Yattemare, we may select a prominent point for retrospective and prospective 
views. 
The stand-point best presenting my personal knowledge of the labors of M. Vatte- 
mare, is the period, when, after twenty years of strong faith, ardent zeal, and indefati- 
gable works, he had the pleasure to receive from the Institute of France, nine years ago, 
the high commendations of his system. 
In the center of the hall of the Institute of France, Feb. 22,1855, were arranged series 
of tables on which were piled numerous publications, as contributions, through the offi- 
ces of M. Vattemare, to the city of Paris. 
To M. Guizot was assigned the privilege of stating, to members and invited guests, 
the principles of the system, and the development it had assumed among the various na- 
tions entering into co-operation. It was a day of triumph—a triumph in the peaceful 
walks of social and national progress—one in which I was deeply interested. 
As M. Guizot presented the principle, the system and the results, I noticed the noble 
and benign countenance of M. Yattemare, bespeaking a high and pure joy of which REMINISCENCES. 
17 
croakers and misers are ignorant. The commendations of M. Guizot were followed by 
those of MM. Dupin, Naudet, Michel Chevalier, Cousin, and Yilleme. 
The occasion was highly complimentary to America, as holding, in the estimation of 
the learned historian of “ Civilization,” a high rank, not only in material progress, but 
also in the department of literature. 
It was characteristic of M. Vattemare that, on this occasion, he chose Washington’s 
Birthday Anniversary for the crowning of his system, and presented to the Institute 
chiefly American books. A Frenchman, true to his native country, he had the magna- 
nimity to credit the paternity of his system to the United States, which he was ever 
pleased to count as the land of his adoption. The portraits of Washington and Lafayette, 
with the Declaration of the American Independence, formed the central ornaments of his 
studio in Rue Clicliy. 
On the 18th June, 1857, we met at London, by appointment, my sister 
and her husband, Dr. Henry-Smith Brown, they having been married at 
Sumpterville, S. 0., 10th March, 1855, and having planned to make the tour 
of Europe with us, commencing on my forty-fifth anniversary birth- 
day. 
From London we visited Scotland and Ireland, and then the Continent. 
In Switzerland, at Altorf (Altdorf), a village celebrated as the place where, 
five hundred years before, in the time of William Tell, the rights of man 
were boldly declared and vindicated, my wife and daughter left the others 
of the party for rest and quiet study in Italy. By stage she passed over 
the Alps at St. Gothard, and down the valley of the Ticino to Bellinzona 
and Magadino, and thence by steamer on Lake Maggiore to Locano, where, 
finding a temporary home, she added to her formerly acquired knowledge 
of the Italian, a sufficient familiarity with the language to enable herself and 
frierds, about to make the tour of Italy, to do so with the freedom which 
thos ; speaking the language of the country visited can alone enjoy. 
The others of the party went by the way of the Danube, and after visiting the 
Carpathian Mountains in Hungary, returned byway of Vienna, and crossed 
the Illyrian Alps to Trieste on the Adriatic, thence by steamer to Venice. 
This division of the tourists, having also visited lakes Como and Lugano, and 
the regions thereabout, arrived at Locano on Lake Maggiore, where meeting 
the Italian students, the said mother and daughter, the company was re- 
united. 
After visiting Milan, Genoa, Pisa, Lucca, Florence, Leghorn, and other 
places in the north of Italy, we reached Rome, October 18th. On the 23d, 
in celebrating the fifth anniversary birthday of our daughter, we ascended 
to the highest accessible point in the ball above the lantern and dome of 
St. Peter’s for a view of the city, the surrounding Campagna, and the distant 
hills and mountains of this classic region. 
Our subsequent tour included Naples, and other places in the south of 
Italy. We made the ascent of Mount Vesuvius 31st October, thus celebrat- 
ing the fiftieth -anniversary birthday of my sister Miriam, Mrs. Dr. Brown. 
One week had been passed in examining the antiquities and modern 18 
REMINISCENCES. 
structures of Rome, when on Sunday, 25th October, 1857, my sister Miriam, 
accompanied by her husband, her brother, and his wife and daughter, sought 
the silence and seclusion of the Protestant burial ground, situated near the 
Gate of St. Paul (Porta di S. Paolo), close to the Pyramid of Cains Cestius. 
The inscriptions in this cemetery tell the English and American travelers, 
in their native tongue, of those who have fotfnd their last resting-place be- 
neath the bright Italian skies. The place has an air of romantic beauty, 
which forms a striking contrast with the tombs of the ancients, and with 
the massive city walls and towers which overlook it. 
Among those who are buried here are the poets Shelley and Keats, Richard 
Wyatt the sculptor, and John Bell the celebrated surgeon. By far the 
greater number of monuments bear the names of Englishmen; the other 
Protestants interred here are chiefly Americans, Germans and Swiss. 
It was a melancholy interest which drew us, especially my sister, to this 
spot, where had been interred the body of one of the beloved pupils of her 
Amity street school in New York city, one of the first three, who was the 
youngest of the girls in the first months of the school, which circumstance 
may have additionally contributed to secure for her an abiding place in the 
affections of her teacher. This visit in Rome to the burial-place of Mary 
(Ludlum) Cass, who twenty years before had been her affectionate pupil in 
America, gave rise to stirring reflections and deep emotions, and the broad 
waters ceased for a time to separate the Tiber and the Hudson. 
She was a daughter of Nicholas Ludlum, of New York, and her husband, the 
son of General Lewis Cass, at the time of her death was representing at 
Rome the Government of the United States. Her death was very sudden, 
occurring while in the act of taking an ordinary bath. She was interred at 
Rome, but her remains were subsequently transported to New York. Mary 
commenced her school studies with my sister. All her words and acts fully 
secured the affection of those about her, and being for some time the 
youngest member of the school, it was very pardonable in her teacher that 
ties of unusual force and endurance should be formed. 
Mrs. Ludlum and Mrs. R. W. Martin, of Fourth street, and Mrs. Thomas 
McKie of Mercer street,' all residing on the same block where my sister’s 
school was located, were its first three patrons; and their enduring friend- 
ship tended to increase her prosperity and usefulness. 
To the three patrons above named were soon added Mr. Thomas Law- 
rence, an honored Alderman of the Fifteenth Ward, Mr. S. Y. S. Wilder 
and Mr. Thomas Denny, eminent bankers; Mr. Gideon Lee, then the late 
Mayor of the city; Mr. Henry Starkweather, whose daughter is the wife 
of Governor Hoffman; Drs. Ansel W. Ives, J. W. Francis and Alfred C. Post; 
Chancellor Mathews, Messrs. Frederick W. Steinbrenner, Jacob Brandegee, 
T. B. Bleecker, J. II. Ransom, Elisha Bloomer, Cornelius Bogert, Rev. John- 
Lindsey, John Bodine, Augustine Averill, E. H. Herrick, Benjamin .D. 
Breclc, George II. Homan, James Van Norden, Lavielle Duberceau, Anthony REMINISCENCES. 
19 
Civill, A. Brower, Edward McLean, Frederick A. Gay, Popham, 
Tiletson Cushing, Myron Beardsley, Henry Greenwood, Elias H. Kimball, 
Cyrus Price, Nathaniel Thurston, William R^Allen, Peter See, Wm. Blacket, 
Nathaniel Gray, Morgan L. Livingston, William Constable, James Connor, 
and other honorable‘citizens. 
The friendly co-operation of the above added much to the happiness of 
my sister, and the success of her school. 
Having returned to America, I resumed my lectures on Physiology until 
the commencement of the war of the rebellion; these being addressed chiefly 
to the children of orphan asylums in New England, also in New York, Wis- 
consin, and Minnesota, including places en route. 
Having in my own right, and also in company witli my sister, some real 
estate at Waterville, in Waukesha county, Wisconsin, I there devoted some 
of my time to farming and to the erection of buildings, purposing to employ 
the remainder in lecturing in schools and orphan asylums east and west, 
and in places between the Connecticut and the Mississippi. 
During these years I sought to apply some of the principles previously 
suggested in the series of articles under the title of “ Caen Stone Dreams,” 
written in 1853, with the compound purpose of advancing the cause of Agri- 
culture, and the welfare of Orphans. 
In 1859. at the Wisconsin State Fair, I was favored in hearing a very valu- 
able discourse by Hon. Abraham Lincoln, of Springfield, Illinois. 
His theme was the dignity of labor, the high order and variety of talent 
brought into requisition in agricultural pursuits and mechanic arts of the 
present day. ‘ He dwelt particularly on recent improvements in the imple- 
ments and machinery of the farm, and the workshops. 
In this address the practical workings of his powerful genius were dis- 
tinctly shown. 
Jlis comprehensive view of the relations of the laboring classes, as con- 
nected with the elevated and progressive interests of our republic, established 
in the minds of his hearers the importance of institutions where should be 
combined the science and practice of agricultural and mechanical occupa- 
tions. It was his clear perception, and his lucid presentation of the right, 
that gained for him the respect and confidence of his fellow-citizens. 
The practical good sense exhibited in this address did much to prepare 
the way for his election to the Presidency. 
In the meantime my energies were chiefly devoted to the orphan cause, 
and the following letters show the tenacity with which the compound pur- 
pose, manifest in the Caen Stone series of former years, was sought to he 
realized. 
From the 18th April, 1861, some four days after the bombardment of 
Fort Sumter, till the 18th June, 1862, letters were repeatedly sent to every 
Senator and Kepresentative in Congress, and many of them were personally 
addressed in the spirit manifest in the following: 20 
REMINISCENCES. 
To Hon. 
Dear Sir :—Assuming you appreciate the importance of donating lands 
for Agricultural Colleges in the several States of the Union, I respectfully invite your 
attention to the objects of the Institute of Reward, as stated in the accompanying Circu- 
lar, dated June 18th, 1861. 
Can you aid us in securing an appropriation of land to sustain, in the several States, 
an “ Agricultural College,” and an “ Experimental Farm,” associated with which 
shall be the Home of the Patriot Orphan ? 
I am dear sir, 
Very respectfully yours. 
At the rooms of the New York Young Men’s Christian Association, 31 
Bible House, June 18, 1862, on occasion of the first anniversary meeting of 
the “ Institute of Reward,” it was a cause of great satisfaction to read in 
the Tribune, of that morning, the telegraphic announcement of the passage, 
through both Houses of Congress, of the bill for which we had labored so hope- 
fully, then wanting only the approval of the President to become a law ; and 
while, from the precedents of Mr. Lincoln, no doubts were entertained of his 
approval, the following letter tvas the next day written both as an acknowl- 
edgment of the President’s interest and influence in what had already been 
accomplished, and as an exponent of the progressive series toward the realiza- 
tion of which his past favors were counted as an earnest of future aid. 
New York, June 19th, 1862. 
To the President of the United States : 
Honored and Beloved Sir :—By the accompanying Report of the First Anniversary 
of the Institute of Reward, it is seen that thus far its efforts have been directed to awaken 
public sentiment to the necessity and justice of establishing “ Homes for Patriot Or- 
phans,” and particularly in connection with “ Experimental Farms ” and “ Agricul- 
tural Schools.” 
The Government has generously given farms to its Patriots’ Orphans, and surely is 
wise enough to train them rightly to cultivate the same. 
At the Agricultural State Fair in Wisconsin, it was my privilege to profit from the 
advocacy of the application of science to farming in an address from one, wise to choose 
the proper means and times to effect the best ends, as has been demonstrated since he has 
been called to preside over our nation, whose sore trials prove a means of strength and 
progress. 
The Senate Bill for Agricultural Colleges, which passed the House on the 17th inst., 
being an echo of his views spoken in Milwaukee, is assumed to be sure of the President’s 
approval; and thus will be nationalized one of the objects in the series contemplated by 
the Institute of Reward. 
Now, there presents a distinct line of progressive action, embracing—First. Applica- 
tion to each State Legislature to utilize this national bounty, by attaching to its Agricul- 
tural College an Experimental Farm, which, in addition to the practical solution of 
ordinary problems of culture, shall become the field for acclimating foreign plants and 
animals, in order to develop by progressive experimentation the valuable treasures in 
reserve for this nation, and reciprocally for Others. [Plants and animals, both native and exotic, 
heretofore unused, being modified by unaccustomed influences on the experimental farm, there may be returned to the 
place of their origin, new varieties of species as valued contributions, amplifying the resources of human progress.] REMINISCENCES. 
21 
Second. Application to State Legislatures to establish Orphan Homes on the experimen- 
tal farms, Homes whose scope and spirit, harmonizing with philanthropic deeds, may be 
developed in modes of REWARD rather than those of Almsgiving; thus testifying a 
grateful appreciation of the defenders of our nation, and thus rearing a monument to 
their memory ; also, through the scientific and practical knowledge thus imparted to their 
orphans, greatly increasing the resources and wealth of the country. 
I have the honor to be, 
To His Excellency, Very respectfully, yours. 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President. 
The signature of the President to this bill, July 2, 1862, assured our suc- 
cess, and concluded the first division of our labors. 
The Second Division 
embraced our labors with the several State Legislatures, together with the 
circulation and presentation of a petition, of which soon after the grant was 
obtained, six thousand were furnished by the liberality of the 
Chicago Tribune, as captions to rolls for signatures in the loyal States. 
The grant from Congress to the several States was land, in quantity equal 
to thirty thousand acres for each Senator and each Eepresentative in the 
National Government, making for New York thirty-three times thirty thou- 
sand, online hundred and ninety thousand acres of said lands, worth to this 
State over one million dollars. 
On the basis of the funds arising from this Congressional grant, it is with 
gratitude we refer to the patriot orphan privileges secured at Ithaca, in 
Tompkins county, New York, through tlje munificent co-operation of Hon. 
Ezra Cornell of that place, and to those secured in several other of the Agri- 
cultural Colleges of the Union. 
We invite special attention to the ninth section of the Act of Incorpora- 
tion of the Cornell University, which is the Agricultural College of the 
State of New York, in which provision is made for one hundred and twenty- 
eight “State Students;” and in the annual selection of these one hundred 
and twenty-eight occupants of the State Scholarships, it is made imperative 
that preference shall be given to patriot orphans, where other qualifications 
are equal. 
The State Students presenting themselves at the Cornell University, with 
a certificate of selection in due form, will be admitted to any department or 
course for which they are fitted, and continue four years, or as long as they 
shall profitably employ their time in the University, free from all matricu- 
lation fees, term taxes, or any other payment for tuition. 
It is contemplated that our patriot orphan State Students will labdl* on 
the Experimental Farm, and in the workshops of the University, to defray 
the larger part of their expenses for board and clothes. What remains for this 
Institute now to supplement, is to aid each of these orphans there admitted 22 
REMINISCENCES. 
to meet the said excess of bills for board and clothes, above their earnings 
from this manual labor. 
The circumstances and conditions above recited are essentially the same as 
those applicable to our patriot orphan students in' the Sheffield Scientific 
School, a department of Yale College; in the Industrial University at Urbana, 
in Champaign county, Illinois; in Brown University, Rhode Island; in the 
State University at Madison, Wisconsin ; and in the other Agricultural Col- 
leges, in which the patriot orphan claim has been recognized, as contem- 
plated by this Institute of Reward, in its labors with Congress, before the 
grant was obtained as the basis of our memorial work in all future time. 
In the Literary and Scientific Colleges and other institutions, in which 
we have scholarships, a supplementary work analogous to that for our stu- 
dents in the Agricultural colleges is requisite. 
A comparatively small amouut of additional aid remains to be provided; 
and it is earnestly hoped that the requisite contributions of board and 
money will be abundantly supplied from the wealth of those who dwell in 
peace and prosperity, purchased by the sacrifice of the fathers of these 
orphans. 
Only in connection with the Experimental farms based on the grant from 
Congress,did we originally propose to found new homes for orphans; except 
when the necessity for their formation was very apparent. 
It may not be amiss here to add that my personal expenses in the many 
visitations to Congress, and to State Legislatures, were principally met by 
money derived from the sale or mortgage of some portions of my real estate. 
In this way I gradually encroached upon my lands; commencing by a mortgage 
upon the northern forty acres of my Waterville farm in Waukesha Co., Wis- 
consin; subsequently selling the northern eighty, then the eighty southward, 
and so on, till all but forty acres of that large and excellent farm are sold. 
Only a small portion of my time was passed at either my New York or 
Waterville residence. 
The most of my library was removed to my farm house, some rods from 
which, under the shade of three oaks, I erected a square structure, for re- 
tirement or for social gatherings. It was supported by cedar posts, and be- 
low the upper‘platform was a room, walled by narrow, perpendicular slats, 
between each of which was an open space about the width of one. 
This open room I designed for my daughter and for the children of the 
school located on the Waukesha road, about twenty rods eastward, at the 
cornering of four towns—Summit, Ottawa, Genesee, and Delafield. Into this 
open room, it was my purpose t§ invite the school children to bring speci- 
mens of whatever .stones were to be found near their several homes, and in 
their more distant walks, and here they were to have full freedom to hammer 
the same to sizes suited to small cabinets, such as Josiah Holbrook had for- 
merly prepared in Boston and New York for exchange with schools near and 
distant. Here, also, I hoped the youth would arrange their school herbariums, REMINISCENCES 
23 
and here, with wooden blocks of various forms, sizes and proportions (pre- 
pared with geometrical exactness), construct their little castles, each accord- 
ing to their several models or devices. 
This structure I named the Minerva study, in compliment to my eldest 
sister Minerva, who loved me and guided mein my infancy, and with whom, 
afterwards, were passed many hours in South Berwick, Maine, which I count 
among the happiest of my life. She was there, attending a young ladies’ 
school, while I was a pupil in the Academy. Though we boarded about a 
mile apart, I sought every available opportunity to be with her; and now 
look back to those delightful visits with unalloyed satisfaction. She mar- 
ried, 31st December, 1829, Charles-Grandison Gilchrist; and they now 
reside, 1874, at Hillsgrove, McDonough county, Illinois, having in that and 
in an adjoining county numerous descendants honored and prosperous. 
. . . * .... A few months after this study was completed, before 
my daughter had seen it, she died of diphtheria at our residence in New 
York City, 20th May, 1859, aged six years, six months and seven days.. . . 
The charm of the Minerva study vanished. The father 
and mother, thus bereft of children, concluded henceforth to w'ork for others. 
For my acts subsequent to 14th April, 1861, reference is here made to the 
serial numbers of the Journal of the Institute of Reward for Orphans of 
Patriots, of which the last number was printed March, 1874, containing 
the Twelfth Annual Report of the Board of Directors, dated 31st December, 
1873. To give, from one of the standpoints, a bird’s-eye view of a part of the 
workings of the Institute, an extract is made from said report: 
“GENEALOGIES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF OUR PATRIOT DEAD. 
“ At a session of the Executive Committee of the I. E. O. P., held. January 16,1871, 
attention was drawn to the fact that in the formation of the Institute, the primary pur- 
pose was the organization of Historic Committees in the loyal towns and villages of the 
nation, to secure and perpetuate biographical sketches of those fathers who might die in 
the service of our Union, hoping thereby to incite American citizens gratefully to pro- 
vide for the orphan children of such fathers, in a liberal spirit of reward, in place of 
almsgiving. 
“ The prominence given to this Historic Department may be seen in the early circulars 
of the Society, in its former annual reports, and in the results obtained in the legislative 
acts of many States. 
“ In keeping with this primary purpose and past practice of the Institute, the various 
Historic and other Societies in the land formed at our instance, are now invited to for- 
ward to the Corresponding Secretary the desired genealogical arid biographical records of 
parents and ancestors of our patriot orphan proteges, including the full names of said 
orphans, the date and place of their birth ; full name and last residence of their parents ; 
when and where the patriot father enlisted, with name of company and regiment; where 
stationed during the war ; in what battles he took part; when and where mustered out ; 
date and place of his death, etc. If wounded, state particulars, and also any personal 
anecdotes or incidents that will prove of value to the children thus early removed from 
parental narrative, counsel, and direction. 
“ The ancestral line of the deceased patriot father is desired, as far back as correspon- 
dents m§.y be able to give it. 24 
REMINISCENCES. 
“ Ample arrangements are made for tabulating all such genealogical and biographical 
records, for their preservation, and for convenient reference thereto ; not only in honor 
of ancestors, but for the sake of posterity.* 
“ All persons interested in this important department of the Institute, or in the demon- 
stration of the Gratitude of Republics, are respectfully invited to call and examine 
the system of records adopted at the studio of the Corresponding Secretary, David-Par- 
sons7 Holton, M. D., 19 Great Jones street, New York.” 
In said last number of the Journal may also be found additional state- 
ments concerning the life and death of my sister Miriam7, especially of her 
acts in the interest of instruction by popular lectures. There, also, may be 
found a copy of her last will and testament. . 
The following letter was written at the time of her death: 
Le Claire, Scott County, Iowa. ) 
November 9th, 1865. ) 
To Horace Webster, LL.D., President of the Free Academy, New York City, and Presi- 
dent of the Institute of Reward for Orphans of Patriots : 
Dear Sir :—My dear sister Miriam, afflicted with a disease of the heart, intensified 
by malarious influences prevailing in this region, died at this place, Wednesday, Novem- 
ber 8th, aged 58 years and 8 days. 
For some weeks she had been accompanying me on a tour of visitation, in the interest 
of our Patriot Orphans, for whom she had liberally given of her means and personal 
forces. 
From the initiatory steps in the organization of the Institute, her sympathies were 
warmly enlisted in its objects. She assisted in the issue of our first Circular, April 18th, 
1861, and since then has co-operated in the generalization of the principles of the Society 
and their practical application through individual, associate, and voluntary agencies, 
and through legislative action in Congress, and in the several States of the Union. 
Recently she sought an enlargement of their application in sympathy with the proposi- 
tion to establish at Fort Gibson, or some other suitable plate, an INdian Patriot Orphan 
Home, for the children of those loyal Indians who fell in the defense of our country. 
Will her noble resolves, her personal sacrifices, and benevolent labors prove a failure ? 
I trust not. 
The Lord, in dealing with our nation, has shown that the means and agencies for effect- 
ing His wise purposes are varied, and not in the order of man’s device. 
The Lord has a unity of plan in accomplishing his purposes; though the agencies He 
employs are diverse in form and degree. 
My precious sister has left me. We who had been for so many years associated in pur- 
pose and works, are now separated. 
The Lord’s chain is not bisected in the removal of an elemental link. He maintains 
the continuity by substitutions of his own election. Let us, therefore, work while our 
day lasts, trusting in the* Lord at all times. 
Her body will, to-morrow, be interred in Fairview cemetery, on the prairies of Iowa, 
some three miles west of the Mississippi. We trust her spirit has passed to a higher 
sphere of action. 
With kind regards to your associate members of the Executive Committee, and Board 
of Directors of the Institute, 
I remain, Dear Sir, yours truly. 
* Correspondents and students in this work of family records may derive aid from the suggestions 
found on pages 30 and 31, where the references are to “Dr. Holton’s Method in Genealogy;’’ and not to 
parts of this book. REMINISCENCES. 
25 
Arrangements have been made' for the removal of her body to the cemetery 
at Westminster, Vermont; where are interred the remains of her parents 
and grand-parents. 
About the time when the memorial volume, relating to her four grand- 
parents, now in course of preparation, is ready for distribution to their 
descendants, in accordance with her last will and testament, a cenotaph at 
Le Claire, and a monument at Westminster, are to be erected. The latter is 
being prepared at the marble works of Homer M. Phelps, of Burlington, 
Vermont. 
EXTRACTS FROM THE DISCOURSE OF 
REV. E. MILLER, 
At the Funeral. Solemnities op Mrs. MIRIAM (HOLTON) BROWN, Le Claire, 
Scott County, Iowa, Nov. 10th, 1865. 
“My friends, although the circumstances that convene us to-day are very 
sad, yet they exhibit one of the happiest phases of human life, as, also, the 
marked kindness of the great Creator. 
“ That a stranger, to most of us unknown, should not only receive every 
kind office while suffering, but the most delicate attentions in death and 
burial, is an exhibit of human sympathy that goes far to relieve the turmoil 
of life, as well as to give a striking comment upon the character of Him 
who has placed us in the midst of social relations. 
“But in the present instance these kindnesses are peculiarly well placed in 
being bestowed upon one, the fruits of whose life toil and sacrifices are mainly 
consecrated to the benefit of the rising generation and the cause of helpless 
* * These facts remind me of the expression of Balaam: ‘ Let me 
die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his.’ But the 
striking contrast in these two characters constitutes the force of this sug- 
gestion. The false prophet of Mesopotamia sighed for the end of the right- 
eous, though he ran greedily after gain and loved the lascivious pleasures of 
idolatry. He desired an effect without the cause—the harvest that had 
never been sown. In the present instance, we are told of the diligent sow- 
ing, the faithful tilling, the earnest devotion to a life of labor and love. 
Shall we doubt, dare we ash as to the harvest ? If these causes modeled her 
character, no power contravenes the glorious effect. If we would have a 
peaceful and happy end, let us live lives of righteousness. 
“While it is true that whatsoever we sow shall we also reap, there are other 
than spiritual fields and future harvests. 
“ The social field in which the deceased so faithfully labored furnishes in 
this world the fruits that the indifferent and selfish cannot have. Her har- 
vests wave in the many hearts her munificence has gladdened. 26 
REMINISCENCES. 
“ The Association, ‘ The Institute of Reward for Orphans of Patriots,’ in 
which she labored, records her faithfulness and cherishes her memory. And 
the character of her enterprise, here and now, warms the hearts of stran- 
gers with its sanctity, and calls about her senseless clay their most delicate 
attentions. 
“ But as we commit this body to the grave, by one side of which a soldier’s 
orphan sleeps, by the other a dear and cherished friend, we cannot but think 
of the rigid exactness with which God honors his servants. 
“ We are reminded of Moses, whom, having resigned the crown of ‘ Old 
Egypt ’ and the pompous burial of her kings, because of devotion to his 
one great enterprise, God did not permit to be buried by the gross Israelites ; 
but himself selected the burial spot: 
“ ‘ And the angels of God upturned the sod, 
And laid the dead man there.’ 
“ So, also, she who sought homes for the stranger receives at the hands of 
strangers the last sad offices of this world. She, who resigns society of 
friends, here in this strange land finds the grave and ashes of an early and 
dear friend with whom to lie down in the last, long sleep. She, who leaves 
her home, that the soldier’s orphan may have a ‘ Home,’ here mingles her 
ashes with the soldier’s child in its last earthly home. And here this lover 
of culture and life-long educator shall sleep, asking no prouder monument 
than this prairie school-house, at once the exponent of her life and the fit- 
test emblem of Christian civilization. 
“Let us live the life of the righteous, that our last end may be like 
theirs.” 
Mrs. Brown had arranged her business in Wisconsin and elsewhere with 
a view to a long absence, intending to establish a Patriot Orphan Home in 
the Indian Territory. She had prepared a memorial to Congress which she 
had with her on her death bed; and which she was about to send to the 
Institute in New York, for their co-operation in obtaining a grant for this 
purpose.* 
* To the Honot'dble, the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America: 
Your memorialists, the officers and members of the “ Institute of Reward for Orphan* of Patriots,” 
would most respectfully show to your Honorable Bodies, that we have well and faithfully, according to 
our articles of incorporation, and according to our ability, put in operation and carried forward the plans 
to aid the orphans of patriots fallen in the service of our country in the war for the suppression of the 
late rebellion. 
We have secured from nearly all the loyal States legislation in aid of our general purposes, and have co- 
operated with other agencies in providing ways and means for supporting and educating such orphans ; 
more especially have we endeavored to furnish increased facilities for instructing these youth, now the 
pledges of a nation’s gratitude, into a practical knowledge of agriculture and the mechanic arts. 
Our original design has been faithfully pursued, which was to extend the benefits of our organization to 
every orphan of a deceased patriot throughout the Union—all of which, by reference to the record of oui 
Act of Incorporation [page 4, of the Journal of the Institute], and our proceedings and labors herewith 
jnost respectfully submitted to your Honorable Bodies, will more fully and at large appear. 
And now tour memorialists would most respectfully further show to your Honorable Bodies, that, in 
our investigations in the pursuit of our objects, it has come to our knowledge that there are many orphans REMINISCENCES. 
27 
After the death of Mrs. Brown the foregoing memorial was presented to 
Congress; but the absence of the prime mover in the work caused its post- 
ponement. It is hoped some philanthropists may yet feel impressed with a 
sense of their duty to go forward in this work. 
Since-her death I have been much occupied in my duties as Secretary and 
General Agent of the Institute of Reward for Orphans of Patriots. In the 
meantime my attention has been turned towards the completion of the wrork 
of gathering and arranging genealogical items and biographical records of 
her four grandparents, their ancestors and their descendants, a work com- 
menced by my wife, on occasion of her first visit to the homes of my rela- 
tives during our wedding tour in 1839. 
This labor has led us to collect similar records of all in America, bearing 
the patronymics of my four grandparents; and thus we have been brought 
to feel an interest in every Parsons, Winslow, Farwell, and Holton of whom 
we have any knowledge, and in their descendants, even when bearing other 
names. 
Other objects have, also, claimed my attention and co-operation, among 
which may be counted the one set forth in the following letter: 
To the Trustees of the New York Free Medical College for 
Women. 
51 St. Mark’s Place, New York. 
Through appointment by your Honorable Board, I am charged with the 
duties of presenting to the students of the New York Free Medical College 
for Women the facts and principles of Physiology and Hygieue ; also, with 
the duties of the chair of Experimental Physiology. 
Allow me to present, that in the early days of the College I consented to 
give annually some twelve lectures on General Physiology. In the progress 
of their delivery, my interest in this work increased, and I cheerfully assumed 
a greater charge. This I still should enjoy, if other duties did not press 
upon me so heavily. In justice to myself and sundry other parties, and in 
harmony with my own predilections, I now solicit a modification of the terms 
of loyal and patriotic Indians, who gave up their lives hy the side of their white brethren, in the same glo- 
rious cause, and in the same great and successful war. 
And your memorialists pray that your Honorable Bodies may enact a law, granting tracts of land or 
lands to the Society that your memorialists represent, for the purposes of carrying forward the same good 
work for the patriot Indian orphan, that we are now doing for the white. 
And your memorialists pray for such other enactments for the securing of any further aid, gift, subsidy, 
or endowments, as in the wisdom of your Honorable Bodies may seem reasonable and just; so that the 
establishment of schools, the educution, support, and instruction in agriculture and the mechanic or other 
arts, trades, or vocations may be secured to all such Patriot Indian Orphans. . 
And your memorialists further represent that we will enter upon our duties and labors in the prosecu- 
tion of all the objects of our Institute toward such Indian orphans, immediately upon the reception of 
such grants or aids as your Honorable Bodies may by enactment give—that homes and schools, and all 
the advantages proposed by our Society, may speedily be secured for the said patriot Indian orphans, and 
also for such other Indian orphans as may absolutely need such aid. 
And your memorialists would eyer pray, etc. 28 
REMINISCENCES. 
of ray appointment The Department of Physiology may 
advantageously he divided among the three chairs, viz.: 
1. Physiology. This may embrace all that is essential to graduation. 
2. Experimental Physiology and Hygiene. 
3. Comparative Physiology. 
The two divisions last named embrace subjects of study, interesting and 
important, which may profitably be pursued by undergraduates, and by physi- 
cians in the practice of their profession. 
Last year, at my solicitation, you appointed an Adjunct to the chair of 
Physiology. Now, I respectfully solicit that you transfer me to the charge 
of the duties of Professor of Comparative Physiology, leaving the first and 
the second chairs above-named to be filled by others at your discretion. 
I have the honor to remain, 
February 18, 1873. Yours truly. 
In the principal works alluded to, it has been and still continues to be 
my good fortune to be aided by the kind, discreet, and valuable co-operation 
of my wife. 
We may not always act wisely or efficiently; but of the principles forming 
the basis of our action, and of the motives which we propose to have govern 
us during the balance of life, I cannot better make a succinct statement, 
than by here copying from a Waukesha paper a report of my address at a 
public meeting, Sunday evening, 2 Nov., 1873—a union meeting of .all the 
churches for the purpose of raising funds for the relief of those in Mem- 
phis and Shreveport, suffering from the ravages of yellow fever: 
It has pleased our Heavenly Father in His revealed word to enlighten 
human beings on certain subjects of vital interest to man. The highest hu- 
man wisdom consists in, or is shown in, appreciating and applying the 
truths, precepts, rules or laws thus revealed in words adapted to human 
intellect. 
In God’s revealed word we learn that suffering is a means of checking 
pride, and notions of self-sufficiency—a means of leading us to acknowledge 
a power higher than ourselves. Man, thus brought to reflection, finds in the 
Holy Sdriptures evidence that law—even violated law—becomes a school- 
master to bring us to God. Suffering is designed as a blessing; not alone to 
the sufferer, but as a means of exercising co-dwellers on earth in its relief. 
Human sympathy, which exercises itself in the relief of suffering, is thereby 
strengthened. 
Selfish man, unexercised in relieving afflicted humanity, becomes case- 
hardened, hide-bound, and degenerated. Ilis stony heart becomes petrified. 
The man himself becomes a walking petrifaction. Or, rather, the wicked 
elements of his being thrive to the suffocation of his higher nature. 
The greater the distance of suffering relieved, the greater is the blessing 
which comes from sympathy so exercised. To relieve suffering in our very pres- REMINISCENCES. 
29 
ence may be an unmixed good to the sufferer; and the giving of the needed 
relief, in very presence, may strengthen the better powers of the giver; but 
not to so great a degree as would a similar or equal amount of sympathy for 
the sufferer more distant in space or in social ties. Suffering at home, and 
in our presence, impels us’ to give relief, if possible. 
Acting thus under a force almost allied to an instinct of our natures, we 
do not receive that high order of benefit to ourselves which comes from active 
sympathy for the sufferer far removed in location or consanguinity. Again : 
when a well-tried, true, and devoted friend is suffering, our sympathy and 
aid may, to the recipient, be of benefit equal to corresponding aid rendered 
to an enemy. That is, the friend may thus be benefited as much as the 
enemy; while, in the latter case, the development of our moral and religious 
nature is much greater than in the former. 
To any present who have personal friends or relations in Memphis, Shreve- 
port, or other places in the valley of the Mississippi or Red Rivers, where the 
fatal malady has so alarmingly prevailed, and also to any who look upon 
those places as near by, we say, give for their relief, as from the instinct of 
your natures, and from a sense of duty; while, to any present who remem- 
ber these afflicted people as lately in hostile array against our beloved nation, 
and as even now harboring bitter feelings against us, we say most confidently, 
give for the relief of suffering so located; give for the greater reflex good to 
yourselves, sure to return to you from this higher sphere of charity. Nay, verily, 
Waukesha is of the Mississippi Valley; its waters mingle with the Great River. 
When first I saw your flowing stream, now twenty-one years ago, I raised 
my hands and my voice in gratitude that I had seen—yes, was veritably see- 
ing a stream, a flowing stream, which was to be part of the mighty Missis- 
sippi, that from infancy I had almost venerated, as I also had the great valley 
and its inhabitants. 
% 
Citizens of Waukesha, even did your waters not mingle directly with 
those which flow near by your suffering fellow-beings; yea, if your waters 
flowed into the great chain of lakes which through the St. Lawrence empty 
into the Atlantic, even then, under the rule of our Heavenly Father, the 
commingling of waters from the rising mists of near and distant oceans, 
distilling alike on the just and the unjust, would teach us to exercise our 
sympathies, our charities, for the suffering of our common humanity. 
Dr. Holton is preparing “ Keminiscences of the Fifteenth Ward of the City of New York and all per- 
sons who were living there some forty years ago are invited to call at his office, bringing such memoranda 
and statistics as should appear in the book. 
Every correspondent may present facts in the form to him or her [himer] most agreeable ; but the two 
pages here next following may, to some, afford suggestions of practical utility. The Method there in part 
set forth will aid students in biography and genealogy. GENEALOGICAL NOTATION, NO. 1. 
DR. HOLTON’S METHOD IN GENEALOGY, 
Adapted to the needs of American Genealogists. 
1. Small capital “superior” letters, suffixed to Christian, or given names, indicate 
transatlantic ancestors, now living in Europe, or having died there or on the voyage to 
America—the first letter of the alphabet being for the European father of the American 
resident ; thence successive letters are applied seriately to ascending generations. 
2. A small capital “ superior ” A italicised, suffixed as above, indicates a transatlantic- 
abiding brother or sister of the father a. [gee page 26.] 
3. Small Roman numerals (enclosed in parentheses) suffixed to Christian or given 
names indicate transatlantic descendants of a brother A or sister A. [Gen. Not. No. V.] 
4. “ Superior ” figures of a lower case indicate immigrants and their descendants—the 
former having a unit figure for index, while for the latter are used indices progressively 
increasing by unity. 
5. “ Lower case superior letterssuffixed to Christian or given names, indicate Ameri- 
can generations which cannot be traced to ah immigrant. Should the American pedigree 
be subsequently determined, the “superior letters” are to be exchanged for “superior 
figures,” according to rule 4. [See Gen. Notation, No. 2, page 23.] 
6. The change of a daughter’s surname by marriage is shown by printing, in this con- 
nection, the surname of her husband in “ black letter; ” while his Christian or given 
name is in the standard type. 
7. Without special reference to the genetic index American or trans-oceanic, we fre- 
quently desire to state the. relation of a person to a given ancestor ; as son or daughter, 
grandson or granddaughter, great grandson or great granddaughter, . . . . , etc. 
For this purpose, place after the said descendant and before the said ancestor small 
Remap numerals, not included in parenthesis, symbolizing the relation of the said 
parties. [For another use of Roman numerals, see No. V.] 
Let one i symbolize one generation of descent ; and let each additional unit Roman 
numeral represent one additional descending generation. 
[In this system the small i, v and x have the force of capitals used conformably to the 
style of Roman notation.'] 
The numerals may be succeeded by s for son or d for daughter, when the writer thinks 
this will add to the perspicuity of the notation. [See Gen. Notation, No. 4, p. 25.] 
The symbols may be read by saying son or daughter of ... , when one i is used; 
grandson or granddaughter of ... , when two are used ; and for any indicated number 
more than two, by speaking the word great as many times (save two) as the small Roman 
numerals signify. 
The following examples may serve to illustrate the preceding rules—the two series, rules and examples 
being in numerical correspondence :— 
1. Hugh a Parsons, son of ThomasB, living and dying in England, had sons Hugh1 and Benjamin1, who 
removed to America. 
2. HughA. Parsons of Great Milton had brothers Thomas.*, Richard.*, and Francis*, who remained in 
England. 
3. Thomas* Parsons had 12 children, and if they remained in England, or any where in Europe, they are 
to be pedigraded thus: Thomas (i), Amy (i), Mary (i), Martha (i), Christian (i), Robert (i), John (i), 
Edmund (i), Anne (i), Francis (i), Elizabeth (i), Anne (i). 
4. Deacon Benjamin1 Parsons removed to America, and had nine children : Sarah2, Benjamin2, Mary2, 
Abigail2, Samuel2, Ebenezer2, Mary2, Hezekiah2, Joseph2. 
5. Philip* Parsons appears in Enfield, Conn., in 1697. Not knowing his ancestral line, we give him a for 
an index, to his son the index b, to his grandson Nathaniels the index c. 
6. Dea. Benjamin1 Parsons’ daughter Mary2 married Thomas3 Richards. 
7. Judge Levi7 Parsons is vi Dea. Benjamin1 Parsons of Springfield, Mass. 
In reading this last, speak the word great six (vi) times less two, i.e., four times. 
For additional illustration of the use of these symbols, see either of the volumes of the Winslow, Par- 
sons, Farwell, or Holton Memorials, at 19 Great Jones Street, New York. GENEALOGICAL NOTATION, NO. 6. 
Order of Stating Genealogical Items. 
The order of enumerating the dates, locations, and relationships, entering into an indi- 
vidual or family register, must he determined from various considerations suggested bj 
the character and scope of the chart or book in course of preparation. 
In general, it is for each writer to determine what order, logically, grammatically, and 
euphoniously, best accords with the object in view. The very diversity of the ways pos- 
sible and proper constitutes an apology for an attempt to present a method for the ar- 
rangement of the items of an ordinary record in the most compact form. 
The object of this communication is to suggest an order of record which may suit no! 
only any one writer, who pleases to adopt it, but all who seek the shortest and besi 
method of stating these several items—an order, which being uniformly adopted bi 
genealogists, having, in the cases for which this is written, a confessedly similar scope, 
may facilitate their completion, at Jhe time of the first writing; or at least, by reason oi 
the accepted and established routine, may admit of blank spaces adapted to receive what 
future researches and discoveries may supply. 
It is hoped the order of record now presented may be used, until a better formula is 
found. 
We mention a case illustrating the practical use of the order proposed, after which we 
can better define the rule for writing under this system. For example, let us take the 
third son and sixth child of Deacon Benjamin1 and Sarah (Vore) Parsons, of Springfield, 
Mass.: 
Deacon Ebenezer2 Parsons, b. 17 Nov. 1668, Springfield, Mass. ; d. 23 Sept. 1722, ee. 84, 
West Springfield, Mass.; m. Springfield, 10 Ap. 1690, Margaret Marshfield, b.3 Dec. 1670 
dau. of Samuel and Catherine (Chapin) of Spr., Mass. She d. 12 June 1758, se. 87. 
For a period exceeding fifty years, and until his death, 1752, he was deacon of the First 
Congregational Church at West Springfield', Mass., etc. 
In Genealogical works abounding in figures it tends to perspicuity and accuracy to 
have the specific numerals for day and year separated by the month. 
Thus we'write: 17 Nov. 1668 instead of placing the day and year in immediate 
proximity, Nov. 17, 1668. 
We state in close succession the dates of birth and death, that the period of earthly ex- 
istence may be readily apparent. In recording a marriage we name first, the place; 
second, the date ; third, the full name of the marital companion ; fourth, the date of 
birth of the marital companion; fifth, the place of his or her (hizer) birth ; sixth, the 
parentage of the marital companion; seventh, the residence of said parents. This ar- 
rangement, giving the place before the date of marriage, proves to be very desirable, as 
we thus avoid confounding the name of the town (in cases where the County and State 
are not given) with the individual {Marshfield may be the name of a person or of a place]. 
The date of marriage, 10 April, 1690, follows the place and precedes the name of the 
marital companion, whose date of birth, 3 Dec. 1670, is thus separated from other dates. 
Then is given parentage of the person last named, Samuel and Catharine (Chapin). The 
father’s name need not be here repeated. {The name of the wife, Catharine, is followed 
by her maiden surname enclosed by parenthesis (Chapin). Next we place the residence 
of the parents of the said marital companion, then the date and place of his or her (hizer) 
death, if that event has transpired, and such additional* facts as may call for record. 
Lastly, different places of residence in chronological order. 
In cases of extended biographical notices, deviations from these rules are sometimes 
expedient. 
To reduce to a minimum the errors of script and type, and to unify the plans of record, 
now so various, the order above stated is submitted. In compliance with the request of the Directors of the Institute of Reward 
for Orphans of Patriots, expressed in their twelfth annual report, 31 Dec., 
1873, and repeated in their proposition of 2 May, 1874, the subscriber re- 
spectfully states, that it will be consonant with his best judgment and 
most cherished wish, to labor as aforetime in the interest of patriot orphans, 
and in visiting the institutions founded directly or indirectly by the Insti- 
tute ; and in co-operation with other institutions in accord therewith; and 
especially in giving single lectures or courses of lectures, of which all finan- 
cial avails shall be appropriated; first, to the canceling of the indebtedness 
of the Institute; and second, to the increase of the funds for the progress- 
ive work of the Society. 
It is desirable that to the recipient schools, institutions, and audiences, 
these lectures should be without charge; and this can be secured only by the 
previously arranged co-operation of contributors for these specific lectures. 
Attention is respectfully invited to this field of labor, securing duplicate 
and co-incident objects: 
1st. Removing the indebtedness of the Institute. 
2d. Securing beneficial lectures before asylums, schools, and other audien- 
ces specified by the contributors, or determined by the subscriber when not 
specifically indicated by the contributors. 
DAVID-PARSONS7 HOLTON, M. D. 
Corresponding Secretary of the I. R. 0. P. 
19 Great Jones Street, New York, May 10, 1874. 
A Year of Years. 
In the interest of the Temperance Reform, implying and involving the total abstinence from intoxicating 
liquids, as beverage, the subscriber announces his purpose to lecture as opportunities present, especially 
during the coming year—the fifty-second year of his pledge to such abstinence, taken, when ten years of 
age, with other youth, at Westminster, Vermont, 18 June, 1822. . 
This pledge he has, for a year of years (fifty-two weeks a year for fifty-two years), cheerfully and bene- 
ficially kept, and he now thinks it would be unpardonable ingratitude to do less than his best to persuade 
all people to take and fulfill a similar pledge, that they may therefrom enjoy like benefits. 
DAVID-PARSONS7 HOLTON, M. D. 
19 Great Jones Street, 
New York, 18 June, 1874. 
A meeting of Directors, Members, Counselors, and friends of the Institute of Reward for Orphans of Pa- 
triots, will be held at the office of the Society, No. 19 Great Jones Street, New York, the first Saturday 
of each month, commencing at 8 p.m. 
Teachers of Public and Private Schools, Superintendents and Teachers of Sunday Schools, and Orphan 
Asylums ; Clergymen, Physicians, and all other persons, grateful for the blessings of liberty; and those 
having faith in Republics, and desirous to reward its faithful servants in both military and civil depart- 
ments, are cordially invited to attend the monthly meetings of this Institute of Reward 
DAVID PARSONS7 HOLTON, M. D., Cor. Secretary. 
19 Great Jones Street, New York. 
# 
Stated meetings of the New York Genealooical and Biographical Society are held on the even- 
ings of the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month at 64 Madison avenue, in the Mott Memorial Hall. 
The New York Genealogical and Biographical RECORD is published quarterly, at $2 per annum. Sub- 
scriptions and Communications for the Record should be sent to “ The Publication Committee,” 64 Madi- 
son avenue. 
Correction.—'The two houses named in 18th line from the bottom of second page, were built by Mr. 
James Boorman, and were afterwards occupied by Misses Green.