American Biography

Marshall Solomon Snow, educator, was born in Hyannis, Mass., Aug. 17, 1842; son of the Rev. Solomon Pepper Snow and Maria Jane (Pratt) Snow; grandson of John Snow and Abiel (Pepper) Snow and of Seth Pratt and Lydia (Burt) Pratt, and a descendant of Nicholas Snow and Phineas Pratt, both of whom came from England in the Ann in 1623.

M. S. Snow was educated at Phillips Exeter academy and was graduated from Harvard university, A.B., 1865, A.M., 1868. He was sub-master of the high school at Worcester, Mass., 1865-66, and principal of the high school in Nashville, Tenn., 1866-67.

Marshall Solomon Snow was married, July 9, 1867, to Ellen Frances Jewell, daughter of Asa Jewell and Theodate (Page) Jewell of Exeter, N.H. He was professor of Latin and principal of Montgomery Bell academy, University of Nashville, 1867-70; and professor of mathematics in the university, 1867-68. In 1870 he was called to Washington university, St. Louis, Mo., where he was professor of belles lettres, 1870-74; professor of history after 1874, registrar of the college, 1871-77; dean after 1877; and acting chancellor, 1887-91. He was president of the Missouri Historical society, 1894-1900; secretary of the standing committee of the Protestant Episcopal diocese of Missouri, and a member of various societies. He was the author of: City Government of St. Louis in the fifth series of “Johns Hopkins University Studies” (1887).

Mary Noailles Murfree, author, was born at Murfreesboro, Tenn., Jan. 24, 1850; daughter of William Law Murfree and Fanny Priscilla (Dickson) Murfree; granddaughter of William Hardy Murfree and Elizabeth Mary (Maney) Murfree, and great granddaughter of Col. Hardy Murfree, an officer in the Revolutionary army.

Mary Murfree became lame in childhood, and thus debarred from active amusements, at an early age devoted herself to books, becoming a hard student, and later earnestly turned her attention to literary work. The family in 1856 moved to Nashville where she was chiefly educated, although she spent some time at school in Philadelphia. In 1872 they returned to Murfreesboro, and from there moved to St. Louis, Mo., in 1881, and back to Murfreesbero in 1890.

She spent her summers in the mountains of eastern Tennessee, and devoted herself principally to the portrayal of human character as connected with life in the Tennessee mountains. Her first story, “The Dancin’ Party at Harrison’s Cove“, appeared in the Atlantic Monthly over the signature “Charles Egbert Craddock.” Other stories and novels followed, published also in book form, and she succeeded in concealing her identity until 1885.

Mary Noailles Murfree was the author of: In the Tennessee Mountains, stories (1884); Where the Battle was Fought, a novel (1884); Down the Ravine (1885); The Prophet of the great Smoky Mountains (1885); In the Clouds (1886); The Story of Keedon Bluffs (1887); The Despot of Broomsedge Cove ( 1888 ); In the Stranger-People’s Country (1891); His Vanished Star (1894); The Mystery of Witch-face Mountain and Other Stories (1895); The Phantom of the Foot-Bridge and Other Stories (1895); The Juggler (1897); The Young Mountaineers, short stories (1897); The Story of Old Fort Loudon (1899); The Bush-whackers and Other Stories (1899); The Champion (1902); A Spectre of Power (1902), and numerous contributions to leading magazines.

Dudley G. Stone was a merchant, of Negaunee, Michigan. He was born in New York City, May 9, 1840. His parents were Isaac D. Stone and Elizabeth G. Stone. His father, while young, was a merchant in New Orleans, Louisiana and Mobile, Alabama, and in Richmond, Virginia. At the time of his marriage, teh elder Stone was with Arthur Tappen, in New York City.

When Dudley Stone was very young, he moved with his parents to Richmond, Berkshire County, Massachusetts. He received a district school and academic education, and, at the age of fifteen years, finished his studies at the Fort Plain Seminary. Two years later he went from home and engaged, first as clerk and then as book-keeper, in West Stockbridge, Massachusetts, where he remained about two years.

In 1860 Dudley G. Stone moved to Michigan and settled in the Lake Superior Country. The first two years and a half he was engaged as bookkeeper at the Collinsville Furnace, near Marquette; and the next year, was with Peter White, at that time a private banker of Marquette.

In April, 1864, Mr. Stone moved to Negaunee, bought out a general store, and began business for himself. Since then, he has continued dealing in merchandise. In 1873, in connection with his other business, he opened the Miner’s Bank, and conducted it two years.

In the fall of 1865, Dudley G. Stone received the appointment of Postmaster of Negaunee; but when Andrew Johnson became President of the United States and changed the politics, Mr. Stone was removed. He is a member of the Republican party, but is not a politician; and has never allowed his name to be used as that of a candidate for office. September 24, 1864, he married, in Richmond, Massachusetts, Mary Cook Dewey; they have two children,–one son and one daughter.

William Passmore Carlin was a soldier, born in Greene county, Ill., Nov. 24, 1829. He was graduated at West Point with the rank of brevet 2nd lieutenant of infantry in 1850, and assigned to duty at Fort Snelling, Minn. He was in active service during the Sioux expedition, and also in the Cheyenne and Utah campaigns, as 1st lieutenant, which rank he received in March, 1855.

In 1858 Carlin marched to California, where he remained in service for two years. In 1861 he received the rank of captain, and entered the volunteer service as colonel of the 38th Illinois volunteers. He was present at the defeat of Gen. Jeff Thompson at Frederickton, Mo., after which he commanded the district of southeastern Missouri. In October, 1862, he won, at Perryville, Ky., the promotion to brigadier-general of volunteers. He took part in the Tullahoma campaign, and the battles of Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge.

In November, 1863, Carlin was brevetted lieutenant-colonel for distinguished service at Chattanooga; and in February, 1864, as major of the 16th United States infantry, was engaged in the Georgia campaign and at the surrender of Atlanta. On Sept. 1, 1864, at Jonesboro, Georgia, he won the brevet of colonel in the regular army; and for his faithful and efficient service in the march to the sea, the surrender of Savannah, and the invasion of the Carolinas, he was made, in March, 1865, brevet major-general U. S. volunteers, and in the same month received the rank of brevet brigadier-general U. S. army.

At the close of the war he was brevetted major-general of the regular army. He left the volunteer service in August, 1865, and was engaged in frontier duty during the Indian troubles, and in April, 1882, was made colonel. He was retired as brigadier-general, in 1893. He died on a train in Montana, Oct. 4, 1903.

The Rev. Anson West, D.D., was the chief Methodist historian of the state. While the work of which he is the author properly relates itself to the history of Methodism in Alabama, there is much collateral history necessarily embraced within its compass which makes it a valuable contribution to the archives of the state. In its scope, his history extends from the earliest settlement of Alabama by the whites, to a period well within the last decade of the nineteenth century a span of well nigh a hundred years.

The history of a people such as the Methodists are, and have been from the fountain source of statehood, and even before, is not without immense value. Methodists have been a mighty force in Alabama, and still are, and the record of their achievements affecting all the orbits of life is a mighty stimulus, as is all history, for, as Goethe puts it, “The best thing which we derive from history is the enthusiasm that it raises in us.”

But the service rendered the state by Dr. Anson West is not to be restricted to his history of Methodism. He was a tower of strength in his generation, a man of commanding pulpit ability, a scholar of decided literary taste, and a character possessed of originality of thought and boldness of expression which challenged admiration, even though it did not always carry conviction. Not unlike most preachers, especially of the Methodist and Baptist of the period when his life dawned into manhood.

Dr. West was a typical polemicist. In those early days of ecclesiastical controversy, the man who could wield the most trenchant blade, and deal the heaviest blows, elicited the most popular applause. Dr. West was a born debater, and every antagonist found him full panoplied and never averse to vindicate lustily any cause which he might espouse. Still he was a cultured gentleman, and numbered many friends among those with whom he denominationally differed. Nor were his disputations directed alone against those of an opposite school of theology, but within the pale of his own people his sword was often brandished in the espousal of a view which he cherished. It was in the field of controversy that Dr. West was at his best. Happily, those days of controversy, often not conducted in the gentlest spirit, are well behind us, but the time was when the clash of ecclesiastical combat resounded the country through. They had the redeeming value of stimulating thought, producing much literature of a sort, and creating schools which else would not have been. Not to be a combatant in those early days, was to be a man of inertness and of narrow influence.

As has already been said, there was an independence of character in Dr. West that awoke admiration in all capable of appreciating force and worth. As firmly rooted as a mountain on its base, he was incapable of a plausibility which veers toward unstableness. No matter in what relation, there was no misunderstanding any position which was taken by Dr. West. His countenance was an index to his firmness. He was sometimes firm even to sternness, an inherent quality of his character which was doubtless strengthened by the controversial period through which much of his early life was passed. But to have known him with any degree of intimacy, was to find that beneath a somewhat rugged exterior beat the heart of a genuine man. Advancing age softened and mellowed much of that which often led to a misunderstanding of his real nature.

Among the productions from his pen was a work entitled “The State of the Dead,” which work reveals much research and profound study on a much-mooted question. In the presentation of his views on divers subjects Dr. West was not unaware of encountering opposition, sometimes on the part of those with whom he was denominationally connected, but his convictions were never bridled in the expression of the independence of thought.

Nor was the life and career of Dr. West confined to his pulpit ministrations, with an occasional excursion into the field of authorship. He was a stalwart citizen and patriot, and with the courage of an Ajax he was ever ready to pronounce his views, and to wield his battle-ax, if necessary, in the advocacy of any question for the public weal. He was a man, and whatever interested men interested Dr. West. He was a citizen as well as a minister.

Dr. West was an ardent advocate of education, and often his tongue and pen were brought into requisition in the advocacy of this great cause. He had his own views of this public interest, and to have them was to express and to defend them.

Dr. West was a devout Methodist, and from his native temperament he could be none other than an intense one, but the compass of his being was too great to circumscribe him to the boundaries of his own denomination in his relations to others. Numerous were his friends and associations beyond the pale of his own people. With the intensity and tenacity with which he clung to his church, there was not sufficient power embodied within the church to restrain him from a criticism of its policies or methods, if they happened to run counter to his own convictions. With the uniqueness of his individuality he impressed all with his earnestness and sincerity, and, much as one might oppose him, he could not withhold regard for his convictions. The sincerity of his convictions did not fail to find vent through his powerful tongue and the sharp point of his pen.

There was a wonderful blend of heroic manhood and unquestioned spirituality in the life and character of Dr. West. This served to make him impressive, and oftentimes powerful. Back of his often stern declarations lay an unquestioned spiritual force, and the combination of the two gave to Dr. West an assertiveness always to be reckoned with. His gifts and acquirements fitted him for a high sphere in the councils of his own communion, and while others differed with him, often widely, his sincerity was never a question, nor was his integrity ever challenged.

He passed through many testing periods during his eventful career, and went from the earth leaving behind him a trail of influence for good, and a vast contribution to the good of the public. He rests from his labors and his works do follow him.

Augustus Gordon Weissert was a well-known member of the Milwaukee bar, and one of Wisconsin’s bravest and most efficient soldiers during the war of the rebellion. He was born in Canton, Ohio, August 7th, 1844, the son of Michael and Magdalene Bernard Weissert.

The family moved from Ohio to Racine, Wisconsin, when Augustus was but six years of age. In that city the boy received a good education in the public schools, graduating from the high school when but seventeen years of age. On the 5th of September, 1861, when but a month past his seventeenth year, he enlisted in Company K, Eighth Wisconsin infantry, having been several times before that rejected on account of being under age and height. His regiment, known as the “Eagle regiment,” on account of its having a live eagle, which it carried all through the war, left the state on the 12th of October for St. Louis, and went thence to Pilot Knob, and a few days thereafter (October 21st) the regiment had its first experience in real war in the battle of Fredericktown, Mo.

Young Mr. Weissert was with his regiment in the expedition up the St. Francis river, to Sulphur Springs, to Cairo, where it spent the greater part of the winter. After that it joined the forces under Gen. Pope, took part in the siege of New Madrid, the pursuit of the Confederates after the siege of Island No. 10, and thence to Pittsburgh, landing just after the battle of Shiloh, thence to the rear of Corinth. After that it bore the brunt at the action at Farmington (May 28th, 1882), where it received the commendation of the commanding officer for its bravery and discipline. It was at the siege of Corinth, and afterward at the battle at that place, October 3rd and 4th, 1862, where it lost heavily. It participated in the siege and assaults at Vicksburg, was under Sherman, took part in the battle of Jackson, was in the Canton campaign and all other campaigns previous to and during the investment of Vicksburg, and in Bank’s Red river expedition, in the charge at Fort Scurry, at Fort De Russy, and the principal engagements of that ill-fated campaign, forming a portion of Sherman’s contingent under A. J. Smith.

After that the regiment was in pursuit of Price in Arkansas and Missouri, making a march of 816 miles, and participated in the battle of Nashville in December, 1864. Mr. Weissert was made sergeant-major of the regiment and captain by brevet to date from June 6th, 1864, for conspicuous bravery during the Red river expedition, and for gallantry at Lake Chicot, June 6th, and Nashville, December 15th, 1864. In this latter engagement he received a rifle ball in the leg while the regiment was preparing for a second charge upon the Confederate lines. He was carried to the rear and sent to the hospital, from which he was, when able to be removed, sent home on requisition of the governor of the state. Captain Weissert still carries the bullet in his leg and the wound has never healed. No surgeon has ever succeeded in extracting it, and he has suffered more or less from it all these years.

This rapid sketch gives only an outline of the captain’s military service, which was alike serviceable to his country and conspicuously illustrates his undaunted courage, his soldierly qualities and his patriotic devotion.

At the close of the war Captain Weissert was appointed to a cadetship at West Point, but on account of his wound he was compelled to decline it. He then went to the University of Michigan, took a course of study, then entered the law department of that institution, from which he graduated with the degree of LL. B. He had previously read law under the direction of Wm. P. Lyon, long a judge of the supreme court. He was admitted to practice in the circuit courts of the state in 1869, and in the following year to the state supreme court and to the district, circuit and supreme courts of the United States. Since then he has been in continued and successful practice in Milwaukee. He has held positions of trust and honor. For a number of years he was also a member of the city board of school commissioners, and was chairman of the high school committee in that body, and active in his efforts for the promotion of the cause of public education.

In 1886 Capt. Weissert joined the Grand Army of the Republic, and he has been a most active member ever since. He has several times represented his post in the department encampments; was a representative of the Department of Wisconsin at St. Louis in 1887, at the national encampment. He was active at Columbus in securing the encampment for Milwaukee in 1889. Also, he was chosen chairman of the citizens’ committee having in charge the arrangements for the last named encampment, and to his indefatigable efforts was largely due the success of that meeting.

Capt. Weissert has been trustee of Wolcott Post, Milwaukee, for years, and has been twice commander of the Wisconsin department. At the Milwaukee encampment he was unanimously elected senior vice-commander of the G. A. R., and in 1892 he was made commander. In all these positions Col. Weissert did efficient and thorough work and was unsparing of himself in the discharge of his duties. A good lawyer, a public-spirited and most active citizen, a genial a pleasant companion, he has many friends who rejoice in his successes and the honors that have been bestowed upon him.

Mrs. Alfred G. Duffield was born in Dundee, Scotland, daughter of George Smith and Katharine Rae. She was educated in Dundee and was married to Alfred G. Duffield, an Englishman at London.

Mrs. Duffield came to America in 1908 and since 1917 has been superintendent of the Maternity Cottage at Los Angeles. She was given this post immediately after completing her training.

The Maternity Cottage was organized March 28, 1907, by the Woman’s Alliance Maternity Cottage Association. The first cottage was dedicated May 24, 1907, the second cottage was purchased in April, 1909, the third cottage erected and dedicated June 27, 1920, and in August, 1924, the first addition was erected. This association was incorporated April 9, 1909.

The institution is conducted on a semi-charitable basis. The full fee for twelve days of confinement is twenty-nine dollars, but some of the figures for the year 1929 will illustrate to what an extent the service [p.238] is a great philanthropy. During that year 513 babies were delivered, including six sets of twins, 247 boys and 266 girls. The charges in forty of these cases were less than ten dollars, and fifty-two cases were sole charity. During the same year the hospital management made 1,851 prenatal examinations and gave away twenty-one full baby layettes.

The utmost trust has been placed in Mrs. Duffield by Mrs. William Baurhyte, the president, and the other members of the board of directors of the association. The hospital has nearly doubled its capacity during Mrs. Duffield’s management. There were only seventeen beds when she took charge and now there are thirty. Her work has constantly shown that she possesses that reliability and responsibility which are the chief requisites in such a place of trust as she occupies.

John Joseph Conroy was a Roman Catholic bishop, born in Clonaslee, County Queens, Ireland, in June, 1819. He studied at Mount St. Mary’s, Emmittsburg, Maryland. He was ordained on May 21st 1842.

Father Conroy was made vice-rector of St. John’s college, Fordham, in New York City, in 1843, under Bishop Hughes. Father Conroy was made rector there in 1844. He was then transferred to St. Joseph’s church, in Albany, N.Y. later that same year, and became vicar-general of the diocese of Albany in 1857.

John Joseph Conroy was consecrated bishop of Albany on October 15th 1865. Bishop Conroy founded St. Peter’s hospital; St. Agnes’s rural cemetery; an industrial school, and a home for the Little Sisters of the Poor. He attended the first and second councils at Baltimore and the sessions of the Vatican council. On Dec. 22, 1871, Father McNeirney was appointed his coadjutor.

Conroy resigned his bishopric on October 16th 1877, and was transferred to the titular see of Curiam, March 22nd 1878. He made his residence in New York city and died there, November 20th 1895.

Joseph Marcellus McWhorter, the first member of this family of whom we have any definite information, was born April 30, 1828, at McWhorter’s Mills, Lewis county, West Virginia, and is now [1913] living in Lewisburg, Greenbrier county, West Virginia. He is a prominent lawyer, and from 1865 to 1869 was auditor of the state of West Virginia. In 1870 he was appointed judge of the circuit court of Greenbrier county for one term, and in 1896 he was again elected to the same office, which he held until 1904.

Joseph Marcellus McWhorter married (first) Julia E. Stalnaker, who died August 26, 1869. He married (second) Julia E. Kinsley, daughter of the Rev. Hiram Kinsley, late of Geneva, Ohio. Children (seven by first marriage): Al. G., now living in Charleston, West Virginia; Artemus W., now living in Norfolk, Virginia; Louis Emory, referred to below; Maggie E., married D. W. Lewis, of Charleston, West Virginia; William B., now living in Hinton, West Virginia; Joseph C., now living in St. Louis, Missouri; Deccie L., married C. L. Carr, of Lewisburg, West Virginia; Jennie, deceased, married J. S. McWhorter, of Greenbrier county, West Virginia; Emma, married Byrne Holt, of Lewisburg, West Virginia; Charles N., of Charleston.

(II) Louis Emory McWhorter, son of Joseph Marcellus McWhorter and Julia E. (Stalnaker) McWhorter, was born in Spencer, Roane county, West Virginia, March 30, 1856. He received his early education in the public schools in Wheeling, West Virginia, and at the academy in Lewisburg, West Virginia, and later entered the law school of the University of Virginia. He continued his professional studies under Judge H. C. McWhorter and was admitted to the bar in 1886. He settled in Charleston, West Virginia, where he is now living and actively practicing his profession. He was president of the Charleston board of education from 1897 to 1903, and was a member of the lower house of the West Virginia state legislature from 1905 to 1907. He is a member of the A.U.O.W. and is also a member of the Knights of Pythias. He is a Republican in politics, and a Methodist in religion.

Louis Emory McWhorter married, June 27, 1883, Emma M. Champe, born in Charleston, West Virginia. Children: Julia, died April 17, 1904; Almeda, Lou Emma, L. Edwin, Ruth Annette.

Roswell Morse Shurttleff was an artist, born in Rindge, N.H., June 14, 1838; son of Dr. Ashael Dewey and Eliza (Morse) Shurtleff; grandson of Ashael and Sarah (Dewey) Shurtleff and of Isaac and Myriam (Spofford) Morse and a descendant of William Shurtleff, who came from Yorkshire, England, to Plymouth, Mass., in 1628, and of Anthony Morse, who immigrated to Massachusetts from England in 1635. His paternal grandfather served in the wars of 1812 and the Revolution.

After his father’s death in 1840, the family settled in Berlin, Mass., where he attended the common schools. He was graduated from Dartmouth college, B.S., 1857; served as clerk in an architect’s office at Manchester, N.H., in 1857, and removed to Buffalo, N.Y., where he worked at lithography, 1858-59. He attended the evening classes of the Lowell Institute at Boston, Mass., and was employed during the day at drawing on wood by John Andrews, a prominent engraver. He studied at the National Academy of Design, New York city, 1859, and engaged as an illustrator of periodicals, 1860-61.

Shurttleff enlisted in the 99th New York volunteers, April 16, 1861; was promoted lieutenant and adjutant in his company, and was shot and taken prisoner, July 19, 1861, being the first officer in the Union army to meet that misfortune. He was confined in the hospitals and prisons of the Confederate States for eight months, when he was released on parole and resumed magazine illustrating and wood engraving.

Roswell Morse Shurttleff married, June 14, 1867, to Clara E. Halliday, daughter of Joseph B. Halliday and Eleanor (Carrier) Halliday of Hartford, Conn.

He opened a studio in New York city in 1870, and began to make oil paintings of animals, later devoting himself to landscape in both water-color and oil. He became an associate of the National Academy of Design in 1881, an Academician in 1890, and a member of the Water Color society. His best known oil paintings include: The Wolf at the Door (1878); A Race for Life, in the Smith College Art gallery (1878); On the Alert (1879); Autumn Gold (1880); Gleams of Sunshine (1881); A Song of Summer Woods (1886); and Silent Woods, in the Metropolitan Art museum (1892); Mid-Day in Mid-Summer (1899); his watercolors, Harvest Time (1881); Basin Barber, Lake Champlain (1881); The Morning Draught (1881); and A Mountain Pasture (1882); Forest Stream (1886); Mountain Mists (1895); Near the Au Sable Lake (1896); and Edge of the Woods (1900).