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.)

NECROLOGY

CLASS OF 1867

Rev. Charles Henry Merrill died December 11, 1923, in Washington, D. C., where he had gone to spend the winter. Death came suddenly from heart disease, while he was playing a game of chess.

He was born in Haverhill, N. H., June 16, 1845, the son of Abel Kimball and Abby (Leverett) Merrill. His father was a nongraduate member of the class of 1828. Two half-brothers were Dartmouth men, John L„ 1856, and Benjamin, 1858. The mothers, who were sisters, were direct descendants of Sir John Leverett, governor of Massachusetts, 1673-9. He prepared for college at Kimball Union Academy, and was a member of Psi LTpsilon and Phi Beta Kappa.

After graduation he pursued the study of theology at Andover Seminary, graduating in 1870. From 1870 to 1872 he was pastor of the Congregational church at Mankato, Minn., and from February, 1873, of the church at West Brattleboro, Vt. October 1, 1887, he left this pastorate to enter the service as field secretary of the Vermont Domestic Missionary Society, the agency of the Congregational churches of the state for performing their home missionary work within its borders. The following spring he was elected secretary of the society, and continued in that position until 1922, though since 1917 he had been gradually surrendering the active work of the position to an associate. He had been successful as a pastor, and in the position in which the great work of his life was done he displayed administrative abilities of a high order and came to be regarded as one of the ablest home missionary superintendents in the country. He was an exemplar of the finest type of the New England character, and was held in high honor and affection by all with whom he was associated. In 1901 Dartmouth conferred on him the merited degree of Doctor of Divinity.

September 6, 1870, Mr. Merrill was married to Laura Bartlett, daughter of Daniel Ford (Dartmouth 1836) and Luella Bartlett (Bell) Merrill of Washington, D. C., who survives him, with their two sons and four daughters. The sons are Josiah Leverett Merrill '93 and Walter Hibbard Merrill '94. The burial was at St. Johnsbury, Vt., where the family home has been since Dr. Merrill entered upon his state work.

For several years Dr. Merrill had served as secretary of his college class, and as such had recently prepared and sent to the surviving members notices of the death of two of the class, Goodhue and Hill.

CLASS OF 1880

Rev. Philip Maxwell Prescott died May 7, 1923, at the Knickerbocker Hospital, New York city, after an operation.

The son of Jeremiah S. and Amanda (Crandall) Prescott, he was born in Portsmouth, N. H., October 2, 1858. He prepared for college at Stuttgart, Germany, and was for two years a member of the Chandler Scientific Department. His fraternity was the Vitruvian (now Beta Theta Pi.) After leaving Dartmouth he studied for some time at Johns Hopkins University.

He studied theology at General Theological Seminary, New York, and was ordained to the ministry of the Protestant Episcopal church. No information has been received as to the churches, if any, which he served as rector. It appears, however, that after his ordination he lived for some years in Baltimore, Md., and then in Washington, D. C. During the latter years of his life he spent his winters in Europe, Florida, California, Georgia, and Bermuda, returning each summer to Narragansett Pier, R. 1., where he owned a cottage, and where he maintained his legal residence. Wherever he went, he devoted much of his time to assisting the work of local churches and to charitable work.

Mr. Prescott was a member of the Sons of the American Revolution, and of the Metropolitan, Cosmos, and Chevy Chase Clubs of Washington.

October 19, 1882, he was married to Mrs. Mary Cornick Marrow, daughter of Thomas James and Margaret (Cornick) Cornick and widow of William C. Marrow, who survives him. They have had three children, who are all living: Philip M. Prescott, Jr., of Norfolk, Va., Sherburne Prescott of Greenwich, Conn., and Marguerite C. Prescott of Rhode Island. There are also two grandchildren.

CLASS OF 1884

Dr. Chauncey Rea Burr, a member of this class during freshman year, died in Portland, Maine, December 24, 1923, after a surgical operation. The son of Dr. Charles Hartwell and Sarah Alba (Rea) Burr, he was born in Portland, October 16, 1862. After leaving Dartmouth he entered the Sheffield Scientific School at Yale, where he graduated in 1884.

He studied medicine at Harvard, graduating in 1888, and then had further study and hospital experience in Dublin and London. In 1889 he began practice at Morristown, N. J., but removed to Boston in the same year, and was connected with the Boston Dispensary and City Hospital for four years. In 1893 he removed to San Jose, Cal. In 1898, at the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, he entered th'e navy as assistant surgeon, and was junior medical officer on the Monterey at the battle of Manila. In 1901 he resigned from the navy, and established himself in practice in Portland, where he has since remained and has attained eminence in his profession.

Dr. Burr was a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society, the Medical Association of Maine, and the American Medical Association. He was actively connected with St. Luke's Episcopal church.

July 25, 1888, he was married to Frances Brewerton, daughter of Maj. Gen. James Brewerton Ricketts, U. S. A., who survives him, with two daughters.

CLASS OF 1887

Professor Joseph Moody Willard died December 10, 1923, at his home at State College, Pa., of pernicious anemia. He had for a long time been in poor health, and last June was taken to the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, where he remained for five months. The best medical skill proved unavailing, and about a month before his death he was brought back to his home.

He was born in Orford, N. H., February 1, 186S, the son of Isaac and Mary Willard and of the ninth generation in descent from Major Simon Willard, an early settler in Cambridge, Mass. He prepared for college at St. Jchnsbury Academy, and was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon and Phi Beta Kappa.

For the first three years after graduation he taught mathematics in Pinkerton Academy, Derry, N. H., and then was for three years a graduate student at Johns Hopkins, holding there successively a scholarship and a fellowship. In 1893 he was elected assistant professor of mathematics in Pennsylvania State College, and soon after succeeded to the headship of the department, resigning at the close of the last year on account of the state of his health.

A colleague has written of his work in these terms: "For thirty years he has been a moulder of men as well as an inspiring teacher of mathematics. Hundreds of Penn State men all over the nation will feel the sense of almost personal bereavement, while the college loses another link in the chain which binds the pioneer, foundational work of President Atherton and his colleagues to the present prosperity of the institution. He was a member of the American Mathematical Society and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. His special subjects of research and publication were in differential equations, mechanical and line integration. Professor Willard was a keen student of astronomy, and for many years as a labor of love has represented that most important of subjects in our curriculum. A study typical of the breadth of his interests is that of "The Origin of Free Public Libraries in New England." He was secretary of the council of administration for many years, and was always a widely conservative force for scholarship and character. He was a loyal supporter of the Y. M. C. A., and in early years did much to win it financial support and secure personal allegiance from students and friends of the college. He was an elder of the Presbyterian church of State College, a man whose character and life have ever been beacon lights in the college and community. He sought moral excellence rather than honors; he lived books rather than wrote them."

June IS, 1897, he was married to Henrietta Norris Nunn of Baltimore, Md., who survives him, with two children, Mary Louise and Edward Lawrence.

At the funeral service the address was made by his colleague on the faculty, Prof. Fred Lewis Pattee '88—an appreciation and interpretation of the man.

In 1912 Dartmouth conferred upon him the honorary degree of Master of Science.

CLASS OF 1897

Harry Harmon Blunt died suddenly at his home in Nashua, N. H., December 29, 1923. He had been' in his usual health, and the end came almost without warning.

The son of Edwin O. and Lucette (Harmon) Blunt, he was born in Nashua, August 28, 1875, and prepared for college at Nashua High School. He was a member of Alpha Delta Phi and the Sphinx.

After graduation he was engaged in business in Boston for a few years, and then returned to Nashua and started the cotton business which in 1905 was incorporated as the Wonalancet Company. The inception and constant growth of this successful company, of which he was treasurer and general manager from the beginning, is striking evidence of his remarkable initiative and executive ability. He was among the first to realize the possibilities of the use of China' and Peruvian cotton, and among his other achievements was the incorporation of the Wonolancet Company of Peru. He took special delight in editing "The Wonolancet Way," a monthly publication which gave him opportunity to express his own personality and which holds a unique position among the "house organs" of the country.

Always an enthusiastic Dartmouth man, in February, 1921, he was elected an alumni trustee to fill a vacancy, and at Commencement of that year he was chosen to serve for the term of five years. His extremely valuable service in that capacity is appreciatively treated elsewhere in the MAGAZINE. Some years since he became secretary of his class, and since that time has been among the most regular contributors to the Alumni Notes.

Mr. Blunt was a Christian Scientist, a Mason, and a member of the Nashua Country Club, the Vesper Country Club of Lowell, and the Exchange Club of Boston. He was devoted to his home in an unusual degree, and had taken great pleasure in the planning and development of his house and grounds. Everything beautiful made its appeal to him, and he found special joy in the cultivation of flowers, trees, and shrubs. Devotion to family was an outstanding characteristic. His affection for mother, wife, and children was exceptional, and left little room for other social interests. His only public office was a member of the city board of education from 1907 to 1913 and as president of this board for the latter part of the time.

His wife, who was Irene Bradbury of Quincy, Mass., survives, him, with their two daughters. His mother is also living.

CLASS OF 1905

Cecil Archibald died October 13, 1923, of pneumonia, at the Pacific Hospital, Glendale, Cal.

He was born in Ottumwa, lowa, September 27, 1881, his parents being Rev. Dr. Andrew Webster and Julia Agnes (War-ren) Archibald. The late Kenneth Archibald '02 was a brother. He prepared for college at the high schools of Hyde Park and Brockton, Mass.

He went to California after graduation, and at Madera married Miss Lysbeth B. Benham. He identified himself with a lumber firm at Santa Monica, a suburb of Los Angeles. With his wife he passed most of the year 1912 in travel abroad, to the Orient and through Europe. On his return to America he did not re-enter business on account of a serious physical handicap, and made a home in Los Angeles, at 4272 West Second St., where his widow remains. They have one son, Kenneth Warren, who was born July 31, 1914. Other surviving relatives are his father and a brother, Warren.

CLASS OF 1908

Edwin Woodbridge Darling died of tuberculosis at Saranac Lake, N. Y., December 22, 1923.

He was born in Boston, Mass., September 7, 1887, the son of Edwin Harris and Georgie Anna (Smith) Darling, and prepared for college at Boston Latin School, where he graduated at the head of his class and received the Moses Merrill scholarship. He was a member of Beta Theta Pi, and was a Rufus Choate scholar and a Phi Beta Kappa man.

Shortly after graduation he entered the employ of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company in New York city, and remained with them until the time of his death. He worked his way up to the position of assistant statistician, and was about to be made chief statistician when he was obliged to give up work and go to Saranac Lake. He contracted the "flu" during the 1918 epidemic, which left him with weak lungs. He went to Saranac for the first time in September, 1920, remaining away from his work a year. Last January he was obliged to give up work once more, and returned to Saranac, where he remained until his death.

October 7, 1913, he was married to Ruth Bradbury Merrill of Dorchester, Mass., who died September 6, 1923. They leave two daughters, Jane Bradbury, born September 28, 1914, and Elizabeth Woodbridge, born November 16, 1918. Ned Darling's mother and sister are living at 22 Fayette Place, Taunton, Mass.