CLASS OF 1860

Ralph Izard Middleton died of paralysis at his home in Summerville, S. C., July 12, after an illness of ten days. He was the son of Ralph Izard and Charlotte Georgina (Izard) Middleton, and was born in Charleston, S. C., January 16, 1840. On both sides he was connected with some of the oldest and most distinguished families of the state. He fitted in the school of Mr. Sachleben and under private tutors, and entered Dartmouth at the beginning of sophomore year. In college he became connected, with Alpha Delta Phi and Phi Beta Kappa. For the first year after graduation he remained at home, and then taught for two years, with some interruptions, at Aiken and Athens, Ga., and Camden, S. C. In 1861-2 he served four or five months in the North Santee Mounted Riflemen, and from November, 1863, to April, 1865, was a private in the Marion Artillery, being included in Johnston's surrender.

For a few months in the latter part of 1865 he was a clerk in the Treasury Department at Washington, and then studied law, for a short time in Washington and Charleston. Ill health caused a suspension of his studies. In 1870-2 he was engaged in rice planting in the vicinity of Georgetown, S. C., and from 1872 to 1877 assistant treasurer of the Charleston Gas Company. From 1880 to 1886 he taught in Charleston, as vice-principal of the Bennett and Crafts Schools, and from 1889 to 1896 in Summerville, S. C. From 1898 to 1902 he was clerk in the Yards and Docks Department of the Port Royal Naval Station. In 1902 he retired from active life, and resided in Charleston until his removal to Summerville in 1911.

Mr. Middleton was a gifted musician, and served for many years as organist and choirmaster in the leading churches of Charleston, especially St. Michael's and St. Paul's (Episcopal). He was also a man of high literary attainments, and the author of several pamphlets, of which that on "Classical Education" is the best known. He was of a kindly disposition, self-denying, and generous to a fault.

Mr. Middleton was married in Charleston, December 17, 1867, to Sarah Virginia, daughter of Hon. C. G. and Mary (Wilkinson) Memminger, Mr. Memminger having been secretary of the treasury of the Confederate States in 1861-3. She died June 14, 1895. They had nine children, of whom four survive.