Deaths
(This is a listing of deaths of which word hasbeen 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 1864
John Tyler Gibson died April 23, 1923, at the City Hospital, St. Petersburg, Fla., of heart disease, after. an illness of but little over twenty-four hours.
The son of. Appleton and Lydia (Stone) Gibson, he was born at Hopkinton, Mass., August 31, 1841, and fitted for college at the high school of his native town. He was a member of Alpha Delta Phi and Phi Beta Kappa.
His entire active life was spent in educational work. He taught in the State Reform School at Westboro, Mass., from August, 1864, to April, 1865, and then was principal of the high school at Hudson, Mass., to the following September. For the next two years he was principal of the high school at Southboro, Mass., and then at Exeter, N. H., until January, 1870. He then went to Peru, 111., as superintendent of schools, but returned to the high school of Exeter in July, remaining there until March, 1872. From that date to the following July he was submaster of the Winthrop School in Charlestown, Mass. In August, 1872, he was elected master of the Central, later known as the Agassiz School, in the Jamaica Plain district of Boston. From this position and from active teaching he retired in June, 1912. For the next two years he made his home in Southboro, Mass., and then, seeking a milder climate, he lived for five years in Pasadena, Cal. Since that time he has spent his winters in St. Petersburg, Fla., and his summers in Massachusetts.
January 1, 1873, he was married to Ella S. King of Southboro, Mass., who died in the winter of 1901. They had two daughters, Ruth, who died at the age of seven years, and Alice, who lived only a few years after her graduation from Smith College. September 13, 1905, he was married to Mrs. Mary Cleaves of Southboro, who died in January, 1923.
Mr. Gibson was a modest, unassuming man of sterling worth, successful as a teacher, and highly esteemed by all who knew him.
CLASS OF 1873
Rev. Alexander Wiswall died at his home in Uxbridge, Mass., March 25, 1923.
He was born in Glasgow, Scotland, August 1, 1846, and came to this country in his boyhood.
In the summer of 1873 he taught in the Massachusetts Reform School, and in the following winter in a grammar school in Westminster, Mass. In the spring of 1874 he became principal of Conant High School, Jaffrey, N. H., and remained there for a. year, being compelled in May to give up his work on account of illness. In the fall of that year he taught at Franklin, N. H., and for the rest of the school year at Scituate, Mass.
In 1876 he entered Bangor Theological Seminary, from which he graduated in 1879. He was then pastor of Congregational churches, as follows; Benton, Me., 1879-81; Norway, Me., 1881-7; Skowhegan, Me., 1887-8; Pittsfield, N. H., 1889-90; Sturbridge, Mass., 1891-2; Upton, Mass., 1892-1903; Uxbridge, Mass., 1904 until a short time before his death.
February 13, 1875, Mr. Wiswall was married to Lottie F. Haynes of Hanover. They had two daughters, the elder of whom died in in fancy.
He was a member of the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity.
CLASS OF 1875
By a printer's error which the editor overlooked in the proof—hence the printer and the editor must divide the blame—in the Necrology in the May MAGAZINE Rev. Newton I. Jones was credited to the class of 1874 instead of the class of 1875, to which he rightfully belongs.
CLASS OF 1876
Homer Hine Stuart died of valvular heart disease on March 13, 1923, at Tarpon Springs, Ha., where he had been spending the winter.
The son of Homer Hine and Margaret Elizabeth (Dunbar) Stuart, he was born at Willow Tree, Long Island, N. Y., January 30, 1855. He prepared for the Chandler Scientific Department at a private school in New York city. He was a member of the Vitruvian fraternity, now Beta Theta Pi.
At the end of junior year he left college and engaged in business in New York city with a concern manufacturing cream »of tartar. He became general manager, and had charge of the factory. In 1883 he went to Florida, and had a plantation of the St. Lucie River, about 250 miles south of Jacksonville. The place was named Stuart by the Florida East Coast Railway, and is now a town of note. In 1890 he went to Philadelphia to become manager for the Fairbanks Company, scale manufacturers, of their office there. He remained there until 1910, when he retired from business and purchased a place at Fishkill Landing, N. Y., now the city of Beacon. There he made his home for the rest of his life.
He was appointed a member of the school board by the mayor in 1913," and became president of the board. During his presidency the present admirable high school building was erected, and it is worthy of note that it was completed within the appropriation. He declined a re-appointment to the school board. When the Selective Service (military) was brought into action, he was chosen to act as register for the Fourth Ward of Beacon. This was the last public position held by him. He continued, however, as a member of the board of trustees of the local savings bank, and was active in committee work for the bank he went South for the winter. He was a Republican in politics, but resolutely declined to be a candidate for any political office.
October 3, 1888, Mr. Stuart was married to Margaret Beckwdth, daughter of Leander and Ellen (Howland) Kenney of Athens, N. Y., who survives him. Their only child, Homer Howland Stuart, attended Lehigh University for three years, and is a mechanical engineer.
CLASS OF 1885
Ernest Thomas Critchett died at his home in Minneapolis, Minn., March 25, 1923.
He was born in Concord, N. H., July 30, 1863, and was the son of Moses B. and Emily J. (Yeaton) Critchett.
He prepared for college at the high school in Concord, and took his full college course at Dartmouth with the class of 1885. He was a member of the Kappa Kappa Kappa fraternity and Phi Beta Kappa.
His life after graduation was continuously and earnestly devoted to teaching and educational work in the state of Minnesota, first as principal in Mankato for three years; then principal of Duluth High School for four years; and superintendent of schools at New Ulm for sixteen years.
In 1910 he became a member of the department of education of the state of Minnesota as an inspector of the graded schools of the state. Since 1913 he was a director of the Employment Bureau of the department, and since 1915 he was secretary of the Teachers' Retirement Fund Association of the state.
During the war he was personal officer of the Federal Board of Vocational Education at Washington.
He held a continuous membership for thirtyeight years in the Minnesota Education Association, and for nearly twenty-five years he was a member of the National Education Association. "
He was a very active and loyal member of various lodges of the A.F. and A.M., and for many years had been a member and officer in the First Congregational church of Minneapolis.
His death was caused from heart trouble, which developed at the time of his service in Washington during the war, already referred to,—his final sickness covering a period of about five months.
His funeral services were held in the First Congregational church of Minneapolis, with James M. McConnell, state commissioner of education in charge for Cataract Lodge, A. F. and A. M., of which Mr. Critchett was a member.
He was married to Helen M. Crooker on June 15, 1887, and is survived by his wife and two sons, Francis Ernest Critchett, superintendent of schools of New Prague, Minn., and Edward Fowler Critchett, instructor in the South High School of Minneapolis.
CLASS OF 1886
Frank Verner Johnson died at his apartments at 200 West 58th St., New York city, April 4, 1923, after a long illness following a serious abdominal operation.
The son of Thomas and Harriet (Avery) Johnson, he was born in Corinth, Vt., March 12, 1863. His parents early removed to Bradford, Vt., where he prepared for college. He was a member of Alpha Delta Phi.
For three years after graduation he taught mathematics in Bryant and Stratton Commercial School, Boston, meanwhile studying law in the office of Josiah H. Benton. He then removed to New York, teaching for a year in Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, and continuing his law studies at Columbia Law School. In 1890 he was admitted to the bar, and was at first attorney in the office of the American Casualty Company, remaining with that company until it went into receivership, after which he was employed by the receiver in the settlement of its affairs. In 1894 he became attorney for the Travelers Insurance Company, remaining in that capacity until 1911, when he resigned and entered into private and general practice. He built up an enviable reputation as a trial lawyer, and was one of the ablest and best known lawyers in the city in that branch of the profession, becoming a leading authority in the law of negligence and eminently successful in representing the defence in that line of practice.
In his social relations, Mr. Johnson was the center of a group of cultured men and women, by whom he was held in marked appreciation and esteem. With a forceful personality, singularly engaging, sympathetic, and considerate, he made and maintained a wide circle of warm and sincere admirers. He maintained the family home at Bradford, Vt., as a summer residence, and developed it into one of the finest farms in the Connecticut valley.
He was a member of the Bar Association of the City of New York, the New York County Lawyers Association, and the Bar Association of the State of New York. He was a member of the University Club and the Sons of the American Revolution, and a communicant of All Angels' Episcopal church.
April 19, 1893, Mr. Johnson was married in New York city to Evelyn, daughter of Christopher Allen and Julia Evelyn (Cooper) Webber of Rochester, Vt., who survives him, with their daughter Evelyn. The burial was at Bradford.
On the same day, April 4, 1923, George Washington Ransom died at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, after an illness of some ten months and three major operations.
He was born in Durham, N. H., January 1, 1858, the son of Alonzo and Isabelle (Hooke) Ransom, and prepared for college at Dover High School and New Hampton Institute. He was a member of Kappa Kappa Kappa.
His whole life since graduation has been devoted to teaching. For the first year he was principal of Walpole (N.H.) High School, and then of Pepperell (Mass.) High School from 1887 to 1892, and of Simonds Free High School, Warner, N. H., 1892-3. In 1893 he went to Boston, and was for a year assistant in the Henry L. Pierce School. In 1894 he became submaster of the Martin School, and in 1901 submaster of the Pierce School. In 1906 he was appointed master of the Brimmer School, and in 1910 of the Abraham Lincoln School, where he remained for the rest of his life.
In June, 1893, he was married to Eliza May Taylor of New York, who survives him, with two daughters, Ruth, a student at Jackson College, and Eleanor, a student at Radcliffe.
Funeral services were held at his residence, 231 Bay State Road, at which his class was represented by Botsford, Hatch, Newton, Snow, Whitehill, and Wood. The burial was at Exeter, N. H.
The "Old Man" will be mourned by all who knew him. His pupils have idolized him, their parents have respected him, having implicit trust in his judgment, and his classmates—par-ticularly those privileged to attend with him the class reunion of 1921—will carry memories always of his undying charm.
CLASS OF 1904
Albert Ruyter Hatch dropped dead on the afternoon of April 4 at Portsmouth, N. H. He had just finished a game of hand ball, when he died instantly from heart disease.
He was born in Greenland, N. H., August 10, 1882, the son of John and Alice Caroline (Benton) Hatch. His father and grandfather were both lawyers of prominence in New Hampshire. He fitted at Portsmouth High School.
The first three years after graduation he studied at Harvard Law School, from which he graduated in 1907. He was then admitted to the bar and became associated in practice at Portsmouth with John W. Kelley '88. After the death of the latter in 1913 he assumed the practice of the firm, and has been highly successful, being the local attorney for the Boston and Maine Railroad and other corporations. In 1915 he was county solicitor.
In college he played baseball and football, and has since kept up his athletic pursuits. He was a Mason and a Shriner, an Elk, and a member of the Portsmouth Country Club and the Warwick and Portsmouth Athletic Clubs.
January 10, 1905, he was married to Rosalie Littlefield of Greenland, N. H., who survives him, with two sons, Harris and Francis.
CLASS OF 1908
William Hidden Woodman died of tuberculosis at a sanitorium in El Paso, Texas, February 4, 1923.
He was born in Haverhill, Mass., May 21, 1886, his parents being S. Frank and Lucretia (Drew) Woodman, and prepared for college in the Haverhill public schools and at a private school in Plainfield, N. J. He was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity.
For the first year after graduation he was employed in the Mumford Chemical Works in Philadelphia. He then went to Washington, D. C., and entered the office of Lacey and Lacey, patent attorneys. For two years during his connection with this firm, 1910-12, he studied at the Law School of George Washington University. After ten years in Washington, he went to Pittsburgh, Pa., as attorney for the Westinghouse Electric Company, in 1919. In 1921 he went to Akron, Ohio, as attorney for the Goodyear Rubber Company. Shortly after going to Akron he suffered from a severe case of influenza, which developed into tuberculosis. He went at first to the Winyah Sanitorium, Asheville, N. C., from which he went to El Paso a few months before his death.
He had not married. The surviving members of his family are a brother, Paul D. Woodman '18, and a sister, Elizabeth Woodman.
He was a member of the Washington Country Club and the Clover Club of Pittsburgh, and at both he played in golf tournaments.
CLASS OF 1922
Leonard James Orth died of diabetic coma at his home in Wilmette, Ill., March 22, 1923.
He was born in Milwaukee Wis., September 24, 1899, his parents being James J. B. and Frieda (Lotter) Orth. The first three years of his preparation for college was obtained at Evanston Academy, Evanston, Ill., and the last year at Lake Forest Academy, Lake Forest, Ill.
Since graduation he has been connected with a well, known real estate firm of Chicago, and had already achieved a large success.
A classmate has thus written about his college life: "During his college course 'Pop' was active in every organization that stood for a better Dartmouth. From the first he will be remembered in connection with any movement which aimed at a fuller expression of 100% Dartmouth spirit. 'Pop' was a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, 52 sophomore society, Dragon senior society, D. O. G., Rake and Roll, Inter fraternity Council, The Arts, and The Players. In the first semester of his senior year he was treasurer of his class and president of Delta Kappa Epsilon. As an organizer and director of class activities 'Pop' stood high. His spirit was indomitable, inspiring, and forceful, as witnessed in the signal success of such enterprises as the 1922 class barbecue and the 1922 elections, the innovation of the senior eating club, and the idea of class moving pictures. In these movements 'Pop' was the dominating influence. At Commencement he was the sachem orator. He attended Tuck School during his last year, and was graduated with a B. S. degree from the College with high honors."
