Preceding pages      Volume Map     Following pages  



[Page 216]
      Whittle, Francis McNeece, born in Mecklenburg county, Virginia, July 7, 1823, son of Fortescue Whittle, Esq., of county Antrim, Ireland, and Mary Davies, his wife, a daughter of Col. William Davies, aide to Washington in the revolution, and grand-daughter of Rev. Samuel Davies, president of Princeton College. He graduated at the Theological Seminary of Virginia in 1847; was ordained deacon in St. Paul's church, Alexandria, July 16, same year, and ordained priest in St. John's Church, Charleston (now West Virginia), October 8, 1848, by Bishop William Meade. He was successively rector of Kanawha parish, Kanawha county, Virginia (1847-49), St. James, Northam parish, Goochland county (1849-52), Grace, Berryville (1852-57), and St. Paul's, Louisville, Kentucky (1857-68). In 1867 he was elected assistant bishop of Virginia, and was consecrated in St. Paul's Church, Alexandria, April 30, 1868, by Bishops Johns of Virginia, Lee of Delaware, and Bedell of Ohio. He received the degree of D. D. from the Theological Seminary of Ohio in 1867, and that of LL. D. from the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia. He became bishop, April 5, 1876, on the death of Bishop Johns. In 1877 the diocese of Virginia was divided, West Virginia being erected into a separate diocese, and Bishop Whittle retaining the parent diocese. He married, May 15, 1848, Emily Cary, daughter of Wilson Miles Cary Fairfax and Lucy A. Griffith, his wife. He died in 1902.

[Page 216]
      Holcombe, William Henry, born at Lynchburg, Virginia, May 25, 1825. He was graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in the class of 1847 with the degree of Doctor of Medicine, and practiced his profession in Lynchburg, Virginia; Cincinnati, Ohio; and New Orleans, Louisiana. He was president of the American Institute of Homeopathy in 1874-75. In addition to numerous contributions to homeopathic and Swedenborgian literature, he has published: "Scientific Basis of Homeopathy," Cincinnati, 1852; "Poems," New York, 1860; "Our Children in Heaven," Philadelphia, 1868; "The Sexes Here and Hereafter," 1869; "In Both Worlds," 1870; "The Other Life," 1871; "Southern Voices," 1872; "The Lost Truths of Christianity," 1879; "The End of the World," 1881; "The New Life," 1884; and ":Letters on Spiritual Subjects," 1885.

[Pages 216-217]
      Kent, Robert Craig, born in Wythe county, Virginia, November 28, 1828, and died at Wytheville, Virginia, April 30, 1905, a son of Robert Kent and his wife, Elizabeth Craig, and a descendant of Jacob Kent, who fled to Holland from England because of religious persecution, from thence came to Virginia in 1760, settling in what is now Montgomery county. The Craigs were a prominent family of Southwest Virginia, and closely allied to the Montgomery family. Robert Kent was an extensive land owner and a farmer of Wythe county, where for a number of years he was a justice of the old county court. After a careful education in the preparatory schools in the vicinity of his home, Robert Craig Kent matriculated at Georgetown College, Washington, D. C., and from this institution he went to Princeton, from which he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He then commenced the study of law in the office of Judge Andrew Fulton, of Wytheville, and was admitted to the bar in 1853.He at once established himself in Wytheville and rapidly acquired a lucrative and extended practice. He represented Wythe county in the constitutional convention which passed the ordinance of secession for the state of Virginia; was twice commonwealth's attorney of Wythe county; was twice a member of the house of delegates of Virginia; served once as president of the electoral college of Virginia; and was in office as lieutenant-governor of the state four years. For many years he served as president of the Farmers Bank of Wytheville, Virginia. All his life he was a staunch supporter of the Democratic party, and he gave his religious support to the Presbyterian church. Gov. Kent married (first) Eliza Ann Wood, (second) Anastatia Pleasants Smith.

[Pages 217-219]
      Emmet, Thomas Addis, born at the University of Virginia, May 29, 1828, son of Dr. John Patten Emmet (q. v.). and Mary Byrd (Tucker) Emmet. He received his education at a preparatory school near the university, and in a school at Flushing, Long Island, under the charge of the Rev. Francis L. Hawks, with a partial course in the academic department of the University of Virginia. In the autumn of 1845 he entered the Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, under the supervision of Dr. Robley Dunglison, one of the original professors, graduating in 1849-50, and immediately afterwards passing a competitive examination, and receiving an appointment as resident physician to the Emigrant Refuge Hospital, Ward's Island, New York Harbor. He served in that capacity for two years, when he was appointed a visiting physician to the same institution, and served until the spring of 1855, being the junior by twenty years of the next youngest member of the medical board. Forming the acquaintance of Dr. J. Marion Sims, he began to assist him in his operations at the opening of the Woman's Hospital, in May, 1855. In the following September he received the appointment of assistant surgeon. This position he held until the resignation of Dr. Sims, in 1861, when he became surgeon-in-chief, and when the Woman's Association became merged under the charter of the Woman's Hospital of the State of New York, in 1868, he continued to hold the same position from the board of governors. Under Dr. Emmet's supervision a large proportion of the money was subscribed, and the first buildings of the Woman's Hospital were constructed under his advice, and he fully organized the medical department. The service rapidly increased, and Dr. Emmet had a number of assistants, but it became too large eventually for him to give his attention to the necessary details. It was then decided by the board of governors to place the hospital in charge of a medical board, and Dr. Emmet became visiting surgeon, and he continued on duty until his resignation in 1902, having given a continuous service of nearly forty-seven years to the institution. Dr. Emmet served as consulting surgeon or physician to the Roosevelt Hospital, St. Vincent's Hospital, the Foundling Asylum, and other institutions in the city of New York. He published in 1868 an original surgical work, "Vesico Vaginal Fistula," which was the foundation of this form of plastic surgery. His chief professional work, and one embodying the experience of a lifetime, was "The Principles and Practice of Gynaecology," issued in 1879, going through three editions in this country, and translated into German and French, of each a single edition. It has been estimated that Dr. Emmet contributed to the medical journals, at home or abroad, over seventy original monographs bearing chiefly on the surgical diseases of women, and his modes of operating and treatment have generally become the accepted practice. Many of these papers were translated abroad, and one treatise describing an original operation which has proved of incalculable value in laceration of the cervix uteri was translated and printed in Chinese characters for circulation in Japan. Dr. Emmet is the author of various essays and addresses upon subjects connected with American history. On the inception of the Irish National Federation in Ireland for gaining home rule by constitutional means, he was chosen president of that organization in America, and during his service of eight years he produced a number of papers and addresses on subjects connected with Irish history. One, "Irish Emigration During the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries," the result of considerable research, was read January 19, 1899, before the American-Irish Historical Society, and published in its "Transactions." He issued in 1899, in a limited edition, an extensive work, "The Emmet Family, and with some incidents relating to Irish History, and a Biographical Sketch of Professor John Patten Emmet, M. D., etc." octavo, pp. 411, with over one hundred portraits and other illustrations. Dr. Emmet's "Ireland Under English Rule, or a Plea for the Plaintiff," was issued by G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1903, two volumes, octavo, pp. 333 and 359. in which the political and commercial relations of Ireland are treated in detail for the past three hundred years. The title of Doctor of Laws was conferred upon Dr. Emmet by the trustees of the Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, the governing power of the Jefferson University, Pennsylvania. Dr. Emmet is a member of the principal medical societies of New York, and has been president of the New York Obstetrical Society, president of the American Gynaecological Society, twice vice-president of the Medical Society of the County of New York, a permanent member of the State Medical Society, and honorary member of the State Medical Society of New Jersey and Connecticut. He has been an honorary member of various societies in England, Scotland, Ireland, Norway, Belgium, Germany and France, and of nearly every Gynaecological society in the United States. He was the recipient of the Laetare Medal from the University of Notre Dame. As a pioneer, his chief professional work was devoted to the development of the surgery and treatment of the diseases of women as a distinct branch, and from 1861 his practice was devoted exclusively to gynaecology as a specialty. In 1903 he retired from practice, and since that time has devoted himself to literary pursuits, and particularly to the study of the Gaelic or Irish language. He acquired some knowledge of this language during his service in the Emigrant Refuge Hospital after the great Irish famine in 1849, and at which time but a small portion of the Irish peasantry was familiar with any other but their native tongue. Dr. Emmet was married in 1854 to Catherine Rebecca, daughter of John and Catherine Moffit Duncan, of Montgomery, Alabama.

[Page 219]
      Latané, James Allen, born in Essex county, Virginia, January 15, 1831, a descendant of Dr. Lewis Latané, a French Huguenot, who came to Virginia in 1700; graduated at the University of Virginia in 1852, and then studied law. In 1854 he entered the Protestant Episcopal Theological Seminary, near Alexandria, and in 1856 was ordained deacon, and in 1857 was made priest by Bishop Meade, at Millwood, Virginia. He was rector at Staunton from 1857 to 1871, then at Wheeling, West Virginia, till 1874, when he formally withdrew from the Protestant Episcopal church, and announced his adhesion to the Reformed Episcopal tenets. Returning to his early home, he founded a Reformed church in Essex county, and on in King William county. He was elected bishop in 1876, and declined the position, but accepted it when he was elected a second time, in 1879, and was assigned to the southern jurisdiction. He was unanimously elected presiding bishop in 1883. He resided in Baltimore, having charge of the Bishop Cumming Memorial church. He died in 1902.

[Page 219]
      Talley, Susan Archer, born in Hanover county, Virginia, in 1835, of Huguenot descent. When she was eight years old her father removed to Richmond, in order to educate her. At ten years of age, an attack of scarlet fever left her with impaired hearing, and she took to drawing, and then painting in water colors and oil, becoming skillful in all, and made some essays at sculpture. Her tasks, however, inclined her to poetry, and at the age of eleven she wrote creditable verse which was published in the "Southern Literary Messenger." At Richmond, and in 1859 her first volume of poems was published. She was for a time a clerk in the war department. She later became a contributor to "Harper's" and "Scribner's Magazines," and other leading periodicals and newspapers. Her poem which is of greatest note is "Ennerslie," by many held to be remindful of Tennyson's "Lady of Shalott."

[Page 219]
      Cruse, Mary Ann, born in Virginia, about 1835, and long a resident of Huntsville, Alabama. In 1866 she published "Cameron Hall," a tale of the civil war, which brought her high praise. she also wrote several Sunday school books — "The Little Episcopalian," "Bessie Melville," and "Little Grandpa."

[Pages 219-220]
      Poague, William Thomas, born in Rockbridge county, Virginia, December 20, 1835, son of John Barclay Poague and his wife, Elizabeth Stuart Paxton; and a descendant of Robert Poague, the immigrant, who came to Virginia from the north of Ireland, and purchased land in the vicinity of Staunton. William Thomas Poague was reared on his father's farm, and there obtained a practical knowledge of farm cultivation and the care of stock. He attended the Presbyterian High School at Brownsburg, Rockbridge county, then matriculated at Washington College, from which he was graduated in June, 1`857. he taught school in Georgia, 1858-59, then took up the study of law in the office of Judge Brockenbrough, at Lexington, Virginia, where he remained, 1859-60. Having been admitted to the bar, he established himself in practice at St. Joseph, Missouri, in June, 1860, but returned to Virginia at the outbreak of the civil war. he enlisted in the Confederate army in May, 1861, and served until the close of the struggle, being advanced by regular graduation from private to lieutenant-colonel. He participated in all the battles with which Stonewall Jackson was identified, and all of those commanded by Gen. Robert E. Lee in West Virginia. At the close of the war he returned to Rockbridge. His health had become impaired by the strenuous years of the war, and as his father had died in 1864, he took charge of the homestead, living there, 1866-85. In the last mentioned year, without any solicitation on his part, he was elected treasurer of the Virginia Military Institute and secretary of its board of visitors, positions of which he is still the incumbent. He served as a member of the Virginia house of delegates from Rockbridge county, 1871-72, 1872-73; a member of the board of directors of the Western State Hospital of Virginia, at Staunton, 1874; member of the board of trustees of Washington College and Washington and Lee University, 1865-85; member of the Lexington school board, 1895-1901. Politically he has always been a Democrat. He is a member of Phi Kappa Phi fraternity, and his address is Lexington, Virginia. He has been an elder of the Presbyterian church for almost half a century.

[Page 220]
      Hardinge, Belle Boyd, born at Martinsburg, Virginia, about 1835, daughter of Dr. Boyd, of that place. As a Confederate spy during the civil war, she performed valuable service, and her exploits made her famous. She was at one time captured by the Federals and imprisoned. After the war she married a former Federal officer, was divorced from him in 1868, then visited Europe, and on her return went on the stage. She published "Belle Boyd in Camp and Prison" (1865).

[Page 220]
      Cutler, Lizzie Petit, born at Milton, Albemarle county, Virginia, in 1836; was principally educated at a female seminary at Charlottesville. At the age of nineteen she wrote her first novel, "Light and Darkness," which was received with such favor that it was republished in London and translated into the French. In 1860, as "Miss Petit," she gave a series of popular readings. Her published works are: "Household Mysteries, a Romance of Southern Life" (1856); and "The Stars of the Crowd, or Men and Women of the Day." She married Mr. Cutler, of Association, in 1858.

[Pages 220-221]
      Allan, William, born at Winchester, Virginia, November 12, 1837, son of Thomas Allan, Esq., and Jane D. George, his wife. His early education was received at a private school in Winchester, Virginia, and he entered the University of Virginia. There he remained until 1861, when he joined the Confederate army, in which he served faithfully and gained distinction. His skill in mathematics attracted him to the ordnance department, and at the close of the war, after having been intimately associated with Gen. "Stonewall" Jackson and other eminent soldiers of the Army of Northern Virginia, he held the rank of lieutenant-colonel. After the war he was cashier of the National Valley Bank at Staunton, where he remained until 1866. He was that year elected professor of applied mathematics in Washington College, which was soon to become Washington and Lee University, and where he achieved great success as a teacher, and had the esteem and affection of Gen. Robert E. Lee, under whom he had so long and faithfully served as a soldier. In 1873 he became principal of the McDonough Institute in Maryland, and did much to make it one of the foremost high schools of the country. there the last years of his life were spent, devoted to the instruction of youth and at spare times to writing upon subjects connected with engineering and with the Army of Northern Virginia. Among the most faithful, interesting and useful histories of the civil war are found to be his articles on "Chancellorsville," "Jackson's Valley Campaign," and "The Army of Northern Virginia in 1862." An introduction to this last work was written by his friend and former adversary in arms, the late John Codman Ropes, the distinguished lawyer and war critic of Boston. It may be said with regard to what Col. Allan has written upon the subject of the civil war, that his work is history. He also published several engineering brochures, and a number of articles in the magazines and journals of his time. He married, May 14, 1874, Elizabeth Randolph Preston, daughter of Mrs. Margaret Preston, the well known southern poetess. His wife and five children survived him. He died September 17, 1889, at McDonough, Maryland.

[Page 221]
      Fauntleroy, Archibald Magill, born at Warrenton, Virginia, July 8, 1837, a son of Thomas Turner Fauntleroy. He was graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in the class of 1856, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine, and the following year became assistant surgeon in the United States army. However, he and his brother, a lieutenant in the navy, resigned when their father did, upon the formation of the Confederate government. He then became a surgeon in the Confederate army, and was president of the board for the admission of surgeons, and chief on the medical staff of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, serving with him until the battle of Seven Pines. He was then ordered to build and organize the hospitals at Danville, Virginia, and later had charge of the military hospital at Staunton, Virginia, until the close of the war. After the war he engaged in general practice at Staunton, and for a number of years was superintendent of the Lunatic Asylum in that city. His contributions to medical literature include papers on bromide of potassium, chloral hydrate, the use of chloroform in obstetrical practice, and a "Report upon Advance in Therapeutics," which was printed in the "Transactions" of the Virginia Medical Society. Dr. Fauntleroy died at Staunton, Virginia, June 19, 1886.

[Pages 221-222]
      Kable, William Hartman, born in Jefferson county, West Virginia, September 25, 1837, a son of John Kable, a farmer and manufacturer, and his wife, Elizabeth Hunter Johnston. The Kables have been resident in this country since 1684, when they settled in eastern Pennsylvania with William Penn, the Hartmans also living there, and both families had many members who distinguished themselves as privates and officers in the revolutionary war. There were intermarriages between these two families, hence the middle name of Mr. Kable. Attending the schools near his home for his elementary education, at the age of seventeen years he found himself dependent upon his own resources for the continuance of his education, and made the best use of his opportunities. He attended a private school, and then pursued an academic course at the University of Virginia, devoting especial attention to languages and physics. He commenced what was to be his life work as a teacher in a private school, and was assistant in Green Plain Academy, Southampton county, 1860-61. For four years, however, he was a participant in the war between the states He entered the army as a private and came out as a captain. Mr. Kable was principal of Charleston k, Jefferson county, West Virginia, from 1872 to 1883, then becoming principal of the Staunton Military Academy. The Columbian (now George Washington) University, Washington, D. C., conferred upon him the honorary degree of Master of Arts, for the eminent service he has rendered in the field of education. Mr. Kable married (first) Willie L. Gibbs, who died June 10, 1888; he married (seconde) December 29, 1903, Mrs. Margaret Holladay, of Albemarle county, Virginia.

[Page 222]
      Alfriend, Frank H., a native of Virginia, born about 1830, and educated at William and Mary College in 1859-60; was editor of the "Southern Literary Messenger," of Richmond. In 1868 he published "The Life of Jefferson Davis," a work which has been given place in the same rank with Dabney's "Defence of Virginia."

[Page 222]
      Terhune, Mary Virginia (Marion Harland), born in Amelia county, Virginia, in 1830, daughter of Samuel Pierce Hawes, a native of Massachusetts, who became a merchant in Richmond, Virginia, and Judith Smith, his wife, of Olney, Virginia. At the age of nine she began writing compositions under a governess, and when she was eleven she was reading the best English authors. At the age of fourteen she was an anonymous contributor to Richmond papers, and a few months later, as "Robert Remer," was writing for the "Central Presbyterian." She was sixteen when she wrote her first novel, "Alone," and began writing for "Godey's Lady Book." In 1856 she married Edward Payson Terhune, a young Presbyterian minister, at Charlotte Court House, and her next novel, "Ruby's Husband," was dedicated to him. Her published works are too numerous to enumerate. Of her "Common Sense in the Household,: more than 300,000 copies have been sold. "His Greater Self" she considered her best effort. Her "When Grandmamma was Fourteen" is largely autobiographical. In 1893-94 she visited Egypt and the Holy Land, and after her return wrote "The Home of the Bible." She went abroad again in 1897-98, as a delegate from the American Historical Society to the International Historical Congress at The Hague, and upon her return wrote The Haunts of Familiar Characters in History and Literature." Her son, Albert Payson Terhune, is a New York journalist, and her daughter, Mrs. Christine Herrick and Mrs. Virginia Van de Water, are both writers.

[Page 223]
      Hume, Thomas, born in Portsmouth, Virginia, October 21, 1836, son of Thomas Hume. His mother, Mary Anne Gregory, was a daughter of Dr. Richard Baynham Gregory, of Gloucester county, Virginia. On the paternal side he is descended from the Rev. Thomas Hume, a Presbyterian minister of Edinburgh, who came to Virginia and joined his uncle, the Rev. Robert Dickson, of Princess Anne county. Dr. Hume received his preparation at the Virginia Collegiate Institute in Portsmouth, Virginia, from which he came to Richmond College, where he was graduated in 1855 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, receiving afterward the degree of Master of Arts. He then entered the University of Virginia, where he remained three years, being graduated therefrom in 1859 in several schools. Upon leaving the university he taught for several years and soon entered the ministry of the Baptist church. He subsequently received the degree of Doctor of Divinity, from Richmond College, and of Doctor of Laws from Wake Forest College, North Carolina. He became a member of the Third Regiment, Virginia Infantry, of which he was made chaplain, but was transferred to Petersburg during the siege of that place. After the war he became principal of the Petersburg Classical Institute, where he took a deep interest in the teaching of English, philology and literature. He traveled abroad, and on his return home became principal of the Roanoke Female College at Danville, Virginia, and during a part of the same period was also the pastor of the First Baptist Church of that city. From 1876 until 1885 he resided in Norfolk, and was professor of English and Latin in the Norfolk College and for four years pastor of the First Baptist Church. He published articles on various topics in the press of the country, and was largely instrumental in the establishment of the professorship of English in the University of Virginia. In July, 1885, Dr. Hume was elected professor of English language and literature in the University of North Carolina, where he organized the department of English philology and literature, and did much to promote the knowledge of the modern methods of teaching English. He then became professor of English literature in that university. For four years he was lecturer on English philology and literature in the national summer school for teachers at Glens Falls, New York, and for several years gave courses of lectures before literary societies, colleges, et., on educational and literary topics. He was a member of the Washington Society of the University of Virginia, and is a member of the Modern Language Association of America. He was one of the organizers of the Young Men's Christian Association to be established, and drafted its constitution. Dr. Hume was a friend of the distinguished English scholar, Thomas R. Price, and takes great delight in his higher English work. He has written "Helps to the Study of Hamlet," and published papers on "The Moral Teachings of Shakespeare," "John Milton's Religious Opinions," "The Literature of the Bible," and has made various other notable contributions to literature. October 31, 1878, Dr. Hume married Anne Louise Whitescarver, and to them were born four children. He died July 15, 1912.

[Pages 223-224]
      Chamberlayne, John Hampden, born in Richmond, was descended from early English settlers. His early education was received in the private schools of his native place, and he entered the University of Virginia in 1855, and graduated with the degree of Master of Arts in 1858. At the outbreak of the civil war he enlisted, and rose to be a captain of artillery. He was a brilliant scholar, and at the close of the war turned his attention to journalism. He founded the "Richmond State," which, during his time, was the leading evening Democratic paper of that city, exercising a potent influence in the politics of the state. He had the faculty of binding to him a host of friends who admired his brilliant conversation, his ready with and his thorough scholarship. He represented the city of Richmond in the legislature, and was regarded, at the time of his death, as one of the foremost men of the state. Among those who were intimately associated with him in journalism were the late Richard F. Beirne, and W. W. Archer, Esq. His wife was the daughter of Rev. J. Churchill Gibson, many years a power in the Episcopal church in Virginia.

[Pages 224-225]
      Draper, Henry, was born at Hampden-Sidney, Prince Edward county, Virginia March 7, 1837, son of Dr. John William Draper. Two years after the birth of Henry his father took the chair of chemistry in New York University. He first went through the primary school connected with the university, from which he passed into the preparatory school. At the age of fifteen he entered the collegiate department, where he was distinguished for excellent scholarship. By the advice of his father he entered the medical department which his father was prominent in establishing, and passed all his examinations satisfactorily, but not being of the age necessary for graduation, his diploma was withheld, and with his brother he studied and recreated in Europe for one year, and upon his return took his medical degree in 1858. While in Europe he received an appointment upon the medical staff of Bellevue Hospital, which he held for sixteen months, but then decided to abandon practice and give himself to teaching. He was elected professor of natural science in the under graduate department in the New York University in 1860, and in 1866 became professor of physiology in the medical department, and dean of the faculty. He resigned in 1873 and taught advanced analytical chemistry in the academical department. Upon the death of his father in 1882, he was appointed to succeed as professor of chemistry, but previous to the opening of the last fall term of 1882 he severed his connection with the institution. He was taught to love science, and was early put upon the line of original investigation in which he acquired his celebrity. He inherited not only his father's genius, but his spirit and problems of research. The elder Draper was one of the founders of the recent science of photo-chemistry, and by his extensive contributions to this subject, he prepared the way for those who entered to reap the fruits of his labors in the splendid field of spectrum analysis. Henry pursued the same line of research and by his extension of it will have a permanent place among the discoverers of the period. His first important scientific investigation was made at the age of twenty, and was embodied in his graduating thesis at the medical college, on the functions of the spleen, illustrated by microscopic photography — an art then in its infancy. While in Europe he visited the observatory of Lord Rosse and studied the construction and working of his celebrated colossal reflecting telescope. On his return home he constructed a telescope of this kind of fifteen and a half inches aperture and with it took a photograph of the moon fifty inches in diameter — the largest ever made. His success spurred him on, so that he became an adept in grinding, polishing and testing reflecting mirrors. An equatorial telescope was afterwards constructed by him with an aperture of twenty-eight inches, for his observatory at Hastings-on-the-Hudson. The instrument was wholly the work of his own hands, and was designed mainly to photograph the spectra of the stars. After a long series of experiments, it was finished in 1872 and was pronounced by President Barnard as "probably the most difficult and costly experiment in celestial chemistry ever made." He was the first to obtain a photograph of the fixed lines in the spectra of stars, and he continued the work until he had obtained impressions of the spectra of more than one hundred stars. In 1874 he was appointed superintendent of the photographic department of the commission created by congress, for the purpose of observing the transit of Venus, and received from congress in recognition of his services, a gold medal bearing the inscription, "He adds lustre to ancestral glory." In 1876 he made a negative of the solar spectrum, and in the following year announced, "the discovery of oxygen in the sun by photography, and a new theory of the solar spectrum," — the most brilliant discovery ever made by an American. He was a member of the principal scientific societies in America and Europe, and in 1882 was awarded the degree of LL. D. by both the University of Virginia of New York and Wisconsin. Henry Draper died in New York City, November 20, 1882, leaving no children