Deaths

This is a listing of deaths of which word has been received since the last issue. Full notices, which are usually written by the class secretaries, may appear in this issue or a later one.

CLASS OF 1857

Edwin Ruthven Perkins died at his home in Cleveland, Ohio, on the 21st day of April, 1915.

The decedent was born in Chocorua, N. H., February 20, 1833. His father was a man of the highest character, a leader in his church and prominent in local civil affairs.

Mr. Perkins took his preparatory course for college at Phillips-Exeter Academy, and entered Dartmouth College in September, 1854, a member of the sophomore class, having completed the studies of the freshman year at Exeter. He was a good student, maintained a high rank of scholarship throughout his college course, was a good debater, took a lively interest in college politics, and was an acknowledged leader of his party in all college controversies.

He was a member of the Kappa Kappa Kappa fraternity, and since his graduation has taken an active interest in its affairs and contributed liberally to its support. At his graduation he was elected to membership in the Phi Beta Kappa society.

At all times during his college course he had the confidence and respect of his classmates and of the faculty. He had great respect for all his teachers, and especially love and reverence for President Lord. He was a loyal son of Dartmouth, and his love for the college increased as the years went by. He responded cheerfully and liberally to all requests for aid in behalf of every enterprise which would help in providing better homes at college for students or furnish better equipment for their use.

Immediately after his graduation he located in Cleveland, Ohio, and for a time was a teacher in the public schools of that city. Later he became a member of the Cleveland Board of Education, and from 1868 to 1874 was its president and most influential member. He had much to do in shaping the policy of the public schools of that time, the benefits of which have in a measure continued to the present. He commenced the study of law while teaching, and for two years after his resignation as teacher he continued his studies in the office of Otis and Adams, at that time one of the leading law firms of the city. He was admitted to the bar in 1863, but soon after was asked to fill the place of an employee of the Commercial National Bank during his vacation, and remained with the bank, and in 1865 became its assistant cashier, continuing as such for five years. In 1870 Selah Chamberlain, A. S. Gorham, and Mr. Perkins organized the banking house of Chamberlain, Gorham and Perkins, which for eight years, largely Under his management, did a very successful business. In 1878 Mr. Perkins withdrew from the firm and became cashier of the Merchants National Bank of Cleveland. He assisted in the organization of the Mercantile National Bank, which succeeded to the business of the Merchants Bank, and was its vice-president from 1884 to 1891; when he became its president. He retired from the presidency of the bank in January, 1902, but continued to be a director of it and its successor, the National Commercial Bank, to the time of his death. As a banker he enjoyed the confidence and esteem of the patrons of the bank as well as of his associates, and acquired a reputation as a financier equaled only by a few.

He assisted in the organization of the Cleveland, Lorain, and Wheeling Railroad Company, and was its president from 1890 to 1893. In 1904 he became president of the Cleveland and Mahoning Valley Railway Company, which office he held at the time of his death.

In connection with his business as a banker large trust estates were committed to his care and management. His former partner, Selah Chamberlain, by will left to him a very large estate in trust to be held and managed at his sole discretion for the term of fifteen years, expressly stipulating that no bond should be required and no accounting to any court.

During the many years of his business activity he was a director in many large corporations, including leading banks of the city, as well as several large mining, railroad, and industrial companies. In all these his services were highly appreciated.

As a trustee Mr. Perkins served Western Reserve University for many years, and in 1906 received the degree of Doctor of Laws from it. Of the decedent's life President Charles F. Thwing of the University said:

"Mr. Perkins was a trustee whose judgment was greatly trusted. He was a man of keen intellectual insight, a classical scholar of a type largely passed away. He read his Cicero for his own pleasure. His power as a scholar and thinker was shown in his writings and speaking. Though his life was largely spent in business, he maintained interest in all scholarly concerns. Entrusted with affairs of great importance, Mr. Perkins performed every trust with scrupulous fidelity."

Mr. Perkins was a member of the Second Presbyterian Church for fifty-six years, and at the time of his' death was senior elder. He was one of Cleveland's prominent business men and one of its best citizens. He was ever ready by his means and his influence to aid in any enterprise which he deemed for the good of the city. He was a rare man; of great intellectual attainments, with great executive ability, giving him a commanding influence with his associates in business affairs, in education, and in the church, in all of which he has left his impress. He will be missed by a host of friends who deeply regret his death.

In 1858 Mr. Perkins married Miss Harriet Pelton, who survives him. Four children were born to them, three of whom are living, Mary Witt, True, and Edwin R. Perkins, Jr., all residents of Cleveland. The fourth, Harriet Pelton Perkins, died in 1890 at the age of twenty-one years. He was singularly blessed in the happiness of his home life, and it can be truly said that no kinder, more thoughtful husband and father ever lived. He had many friends, and gave to his intimates a wealth of affection rarely met with.

CLASS OF 1861

Charles Albert Fiske died in the Milbank Hospital, Greenwich, Conn., May 13, after an operation for appendicitis.

Mr. Fiske was a son of Rev. Albert William and Mary (Davis) Fiske, and was born in Alfred, Maine, January 12, 1837. He came to College from Penacook, N. H., where his father was pastor of the Congregational church. He took the course of the Chandler Scientific Department, and was a member of the Phi Zeta Mu fraternity, now Sigma Chi.

For some time after graduation he was employed as a draftsman in the office of TheScientific American in New York, but soon began to study drawing and painting, and established himself as a landscape and cattle painter in the Metropolis. His paintings were frequently hung in the Academy of Design, and were highly commended. For many years he had made his home in Greenwich, where for some time he added farming to his artistic pursuits.

June 24, 1872, Mr. Fiske was married to Sarah 8., daughter of William Smith of Greenwich, who died about four years since. A daughter, Alice B. Fiske, and a son, William S. M. Fiske, survive their parents.

Mr. Fiske was of a quiet, retiring disposition, but was greatly loved and respected by all who knew him. He was a very entertaining conversationalist.

CLASS OF 1869

Dr. Seth Wight Kelley died at his home in Woburn, Mass., May 15, from a paralytic stroke received the day before. He had been in failing health from diabetes for a long time, and had been compelled some time since to give up the active practice of his profession.

Dr. Kelley was born in Oxford, Me., June 26, 1848, his parents being Dr. Cyrus Kingsbury and Mary Moore (Wight) Kelley. His home from his early years was at Plymouth, N. H., and his college preparation was obtained at Kimball Union Academy. In College he became a member of Psi Upsilon and Phi Beta Kappa.

For a year after graduation he was principal of Haverhill (N. H.) Academy, and then began the study of medicine with his father, completing it at the Harvard Medical School, where he received his degree in 1874. In 1872-3 he was assistant in the Boston Dispensary, and in 1873-4 interne in the United States Marine Hospital at Chelsea. He then began practice with his father, then living in East Cambridge, Mass., and in April, 1875, removed to Woburn, which was ever after his home.

Dr. Kelley had been chairman of the Woburn board of health, and member of the school board. He was the first president of the Woburn Medical Association and also of the Choate Memorial Hospital board. He was from 1884 to 1886 president of the Eastern Middlesex Medical Association, and for many years a councilor of the Massachusetts Medical Society. He was a member of the Handel and Haydn Society of Boston, and of Mt. Horeb Lodge, F. and A. M. For forty years he was prominently identified with the equal suffrage movement, and was vice-president of the Woburn Equal Suffrage League.

In 1883 Dr. Kelley was married to Emma Amanda, daughter of William R. Putnam of Woburn, who died in 1890, leaving a daughter, Christine Putnam Kelley, who now resides in Woburn. In 1898 he was again married to Clara L., daughter of Benjamin H. Nichols of Woburn, who survives him.

He is thus characterized by a local paper: "During his life as a student, teacher, physician, and friend, he came into contact with many of the famous people of New England, and his vivid memory of times and events, together with a graphic power of description and an unfailing sense of humor, combined to make him a most interesting talker and charming companion. He was a gentleman of the old school in ideals, and a true New Englander of the finest type."

CLASS OF 1887

William Chapman Kinney died April 27 in the Muhlenberg Hospital, Plainfield, N. J., after a surgical operation.

He was the son of William H. and (Fisk) Kinney, and was born in Plainfield, Vt., October 29, 1864. Soon after graduation he became connected with the banking firm of Harvey Fisk and Sons, New York, and continued with them, holding the position of manager at the time of his death. During nearly all this period he had made his home in Plainfield. He had been in ill health for a long time.

December 10, 1890, Mr. Kinney was married to a Miss George of East Hardwick, Vt., who survives him, with one son.

Mr. Kinney was for three terms president of the board of" managers of Muhlenberg Hospital, and served for three years on the city board of health. He was a man of retiring disposition, but was keenly interested in local affairs, particularly of the philanthropic kind, and was always ready to lend his aid to any enterprise of public service. He never sought or accepted political preferment.

In College he was a member of the Kappa Kappa Kappa fraternity.

James Monohon, a member of this class during sophomore and junior years, died of acute indigestion at Limington, Maine, April 19.

He was a son of John Thomas and Nancy (Lyons) Monohon, and was born in Cherryfield, Maine, April 6, 1863. He prepared for college at Coburn Institute, Waterville, Maine.

He had followed the profession of teaching nearly all the time since he left College, and was very successful, both in instruction and discipline. He was principal of Colebrook (N. H.) Academy, 1891-1903, and taught in Rutland, Vt., one year; in West Dennis, Mass., four or five years; in Barre, Mass., two years; in South Royalton, Vt., 1910-13; in Hinsdale, N. H., 1913-14; and finally in Limington, Maine.

Mr. Monohon was a Mason, having taken all the degrees of that order but one. He was never married.

CLASS OF 1893

Tragic fate continues to attend the members of the class of 1893. The seventh death among its members since graduation, and the fourth by suicide, was that of Colonel Charles Carpenter Goss of Dover, N. H., who cut his throat at his home on May 3 and was dead when found by his wife, by whom and by one son twelve years of age, he is survived. Colonel Goss was born in Epsom, N. H-, February 9, 1871, and was the son of John A. and Electa A. (Carpenter) Goss. He prepared in the public schools, at Phillips Exeter Academy, and with private tutors for college, where he was a member of Phi Zeta Mu, now the Dartmouth chapter of the Sigma Chi fraternity, and was manager of the first dramatic club in the history of the College. After graduation he was employed in the Shawmut National Bank of Boston, and then succeeded his father as cashier of the Pittsfield National Bank. In 1900 he went to Dover and organized there the Merchants' National Bank and later the Merchants' Savings Bank, being president of the former and treasurer of the latter institution. He also was president of the Pittsfield bank and of the Lothrops-Farnham Company of Dover and a director in the New Boston Railroad. He was a Republican in politics, served on the staff of Governor Henry B. Quinby with the rank of colonel, and was treasurer of Strafford county at the time of his death. He was a Mason and Knight of Pythias, and prominent in the social life of his city and state. June 26, 1895. he married Miss Winifred Lane of Pittsfield. Colonel Goss had been in ill health for some time, and it was the progress of disease and consequent depression which brought about the mental state in which he took his own life. At the request of the mayor of Dover, all business in that city was suspended during the hour of his funeral.

CLASS OF 1911

Frederick Alfred Martin died May 20 at the Stillman Infirmary in Cambridge, Mass., of rheumatic pleuritis, after an illness of fifteen weeks. He would have graduated in June from Harvard Law School.

The deceased was born in Manchester, Vt., September 7, 1889, and fitted for college at Burr and Burton Seminary in that town. His father, Andrew E. Martin, is' the proprietor of the Equinox House, a well-known summer hotel in Manchester. In College, he was a member of Phi Gamma Delta and the Sphinx.

Fred Martin had a national reputation as a golf player. From boyhood he played on the grounds of the Ekwanok Country Club at Manchester. Three times he won the amateur championship of Vermont, and was known as one of the best players who ever came from Northern New England. Last year he won the Ekwanok tournament that preceded the national championship contest, and qualified in the national and won in the first round of match play, as he had done on three previous occasions. In 1912 he was the victor in the midwinter invitation tournament at Pinehurst, N. C. He was captain of the Dartmouth Golf Club in his senior year, and was a member of the Braeburn Country Club of Boston.

He is survived by his parents, a brother, and a sister.