But for the present it seems to me that the prospect of consolidation brings with it an element of uncertainty unfavorable to any movement in the direction of a permanent establishment, and that it will be wise for us to continue as yet in the path which we have heretofore pursued.

R. D. BENEDICT,

President of the New England Society in the City of Brooklyn. December 1, 1894.

The biographical sketches of members who have died during the year, which were prepared by the Historiographer, are annexed to the report, and are as follows:

AMZI BENEDICT DAVENPORT died on the 24th of August, 1894. His native place was New Caanan, Conn., where he was born in 1817. Mr. Davenport came from New Caanan to Brooklyn when he was nineteen years of age. For sixteen years he was principal of a private academy for boys and young men, afterwards engaging in the real estate business, in which he continued until the time of his death.

Mr. Davenport was a warm friend of Henry Ward Beecher and attended Plymouth Church for many years. He was one of the committee of three which took the first action towards the organization of Plymouth Church. He was also an enthusiastic student of genealogy and published a history of the Davenport family, tracing his ancestry back for eight hundred years. The founder of the family in this country was Rev. John Davenport (1636), who established the New Haven Colony and who was instrumental in establishing both Harvard and Yale Colleges.

Mr. Davenport was twice married. Two sons, John I. and Albert B. Davenport, still living, and a daughter who died in infancy, were the issue of the first marriage. His second wife was Jane Joralemon Dimon, and their children living are Henry B. Davenport, real estate lawyer of Willoughby street; James P. Davenport, clerk in the New York Court of General Sessions; William E. Davenport, New York Post Office; Dr. Charles B. Davenport, professor of Harvard University; Mrs. Charles H. Crandall, and Frances G. Davenport. Three children died in infancy.

The funeral was largely attended at 11 Garden place, the residence of the deceased. The services were conducted by the Rev. S. B. Halliday, who was formerly associated for many years with the deceased in the affairs of Plymouth Church. Mr. Halliday was assisted by Rev. Mr. Hoyt, of New Caanan, Conn.

CAMDEN CROSBY DIKE was born in Providence, R. I., September 18, 1832. He died on the 11th of October, 1894, after a brief illness, at Point Pleasant, N. J.

In February, 1849, at the age of sixteen, Mr. Dike came to Brooklyn,

residing at first on Clark street on the spot now covered by the Ovington Building. He entered the employ of Wilmerdings, Priest & Mount, auctioneers, and after a time joined with his brothers, Henry A. and James P. Dike, in the wool business, under the firm name of Dike Brothers. Their house had a large foreign and domestic trade as wool commission merchants and importers. Mr. Dike remained in the firm until he was senior partner, retiring after thirty-six years of active work. After two years and a half of travel with his family in Europe and the Holy Land he returned, and becoming interested in a number of financial enterprises, maintained an active business life up to the time of his death. He was one of the organizers and a director of the Kings County Bank and of the Hamilton Trust Company. He was a trustee of the South Brooklyn Savings Bank, the Homoeopathic Hospital and the Church of the Pilgrims. He was a member of the New York Chamber of Commerce, the Laurentian Club, and helped to organize the Apollo Club, and at his death was its president. He was also connected with other important business interests both at home and in the West.

Mr. Dike was the fourth of five brothers, who have died successively in the order of their ages. The oldest, Oscar E., was a prominent merchant; Henry A. and James P. were associated with Camden C. as partners in business; Frederick V. is a resident of Highland, Kansas. There were also two sisters, Mrs. Helen D. Stearns, of Detroit, Mich., and Mrs. Alice D. Miller, of Aurora, Ill.

Mr. Dike was married in 1857 to Miss Jeannie D. Scott, of Attica, N. Y., a granddaughter of Gen. Phineas Stanton, who was prominent in the war of 1812. Mr. and Mrs. Dike have always been prominent in social circles on the Heights. In 1860 Mr. Dike built the handsome residence at 194 Columbia Heights, which is still the home of the family. In all of his business ventures he was remarkably successful. At social gatherings he was a prominent figure. An enthusiastic Republican, he always took a lively interest in political campaigns. A man of singular activity and rigor, he was strong in his attachments and loyal to his friends. He was possessed of marked public spirit and liberality, and personally was most amiable. A son, Mr. Norman S. Dike, now Supervisor of the First Ward, and two daughters, Mrs. Murray Boocock and Miss Jessie S. Dike, with their mother, survive him.

JOHN WHIPPLE FROTHINGHAM was born in Salem, Mass., September 17, 1818, and died in Brooklyn, N. Y., January 13, 1894.

He was a lineal descendant in the seventh generation of William Frothingham, of Yorkshire, England, who settled in Charlestown, Mass., in 1630. One hundred years later Nathaniel Frothingham, of the sixth generation, removed from Charlestown to Salem, with which latter town he was prominently identified during the remainder of a long and active life. Nathaniel Frothingham was twice married, the second time in 1806, to Polly, daughter of Capt. John Whipple, of Hamilton. Of their four children (two of whom were Isaac H. and Abraham R. Frothingham, both former members of this Society), John Whipple Frothingham was the youngest.

Mr. Frothingham attended the Grammar and High Schools of his native town. At about the age of 17 he came to Boston and engaged in the ship chandlery business, in the employ of D. W. and S. H. Barnes, with whom he continued for several years. In 1841 he was married to Mary Angeline, daughter of Benjamin Thompson, one of the prominent men of Charlestown. Mrs. Frothingham lived to celebrate with her husband their golden wedding day, and died in 1892. Their four children, Benjamin Thompson, John Sewell, Mary Thompson (widow of Dr. Chauncey E. Low) and Nathaniel, survive both of them.

At about the time of his marriage Mr. Frothingham removed to Charlestown, where he was for a number of years associated with his father-in-law in the lumber business. In December, 1851, Mr. Frothingham came to Brooklyn, where he thenceforth made his home. For the first few years he lived in Hicks street, near Pierrepont; he then moved to Remsen street, and in 1864 bought the house No. 110 Remsen street, in which nearly thirty years later he died.

Immediately upon his arrival in Brooklyn he formed a partnership with Benjamin Flanders and Charles S. Baxter, under the firm name of Benjamin Flanders & Company, and engaged in the cotton duck business. The business was for many years carried on at 80 South street, in New York city, and later at 74 Broad street. After Mr. Flanders' death, in 1856, the firm name became Frothingham & Baylis; and in 1870, when two of Mr. Frothingham's sons were made partners, it became Frothingham, Baylis & Company, which it has since remained.

Mr. Frothingham was a director in the Home Life Insurance Company, and in the Seamen's Bank for Savings; but for the most part he had few interests in New York outside of his business. In Brooklyn, while rather shunning public notice, he always took an active interest in whatever concerned the real welfare of the community, and many of the charities will miss his ever-ready encouragement and support. He was an early member of the First Unitarian Society, founded by the Rev. Frederick A. Farley. In various relations he was also connected with many of the social, literary and philanthropic organizations of the city.

Mr. Frothingham was a very genuine product of the New England stock whence he came. Simplicity, uprightness, conscientiousness and steadfastness were all Puritan virtues, and they were conspicuously his. But more than for these he is likely to be long remembered for his gentleness, kindness and generosity, and for a cheerfulness of disposition and a quiet humor that not only endeared him to his friends, but kept him young in spirit even to the ripe old age at which he died.*

BENJAMIN G. HITCHINGS, who became a member of the New England Society in 1883, died at his home in Gravesend, L. I., December 9, 1893, in his eighty-first year.

*NOTE-The foregoing sketch was prepared by Mr. Theodore Frothingham, a grand nephew of the deceased.

Mr. Hitchings was born at Salem, Mass., October 22, 1813. His father was a sea captain and died in the Bermuda Islands, leaving him when seven years old to the care of his mother, a woman of energy and force of character. She removed from Bermuda to Charlestown, Mass., where her son's early education was commenced. From Charlestown they went to Andover, when the son attended Phillips' Academy, whence he graduated in 1832.

From Amherst he went to the Harvard Law School, remaining one year, and then to the New Haven Law School, after graduating from which he came to the city of New York to practice his profession. For more than fifty years he was a member of the bar, practicing in New York and Brooklyn, and had become widely known in Kings county.

About 1850 Mr. Hitchings married Miss Catharine N. Moon, of Brooklyn, and three years later he purchased a farm and dwelling at Gravesend, where he has since resided. A man of the strictest integrity, of great will power and perseverance, he gained a name in his profession as a formidable antagonist, an able and trustworthy counsellor, and a staunch friend. By nature he was incapable of insincerity, and was intense in his likes and dislikes. He was especially active in town affairs, and during his early and more vigorous life was always found on the side of the right and working for the best interests of the town. He was equally active against any scheme he considered wrong, and never hesitated to spend time and money and his best efforts for its defeat in the courts or in the Legislature But one week before his death he argued a difficult and elaborate appeal in the City Court of Brooklyn with almost his old-time warmth and animation. Mr. Hitchings was always fond of a fine horse, and was accustomed to drive to Brooklyn and back in the evening. He greatly enjoyed a brush on the road, and took great satisfaction in knowing that he was not last in the race. Over six feet tall, spare

and straight, and with perfectly white hair, he was a man to attract observation wherever he went.

The last but one of his college mates, but few members of the bar who were admitted to practice with him, survive him. Such men as he are always missed when they pass away.

LEWIS ABRAHAM PARSONS was born in 1827 and spent his early years at Ware House Point, Conn.; he died of heart failure at the Arlington Hotel, Washington, D. C., April 26th, 1893. He was an old resident of Brooklyn, having come to New York City in 1863 as a member of the firm of Wheeler, Parsons & Hayes, No. 2 Maiden Lane, manufacturers and dealers (wholesale) in watches, jewelry and gold chains. This firm soon acquired a leading position among the dealers in their line, being distinguished alike for the magnitude of their sales and their high character and reliability.

Mr. Parsons had been in delicate health for some years, yet attended regularly to his business until 1888, when he retired from the jewelry business and accepted the presidency of the Brooklyn Watch Case Co., hoping to recuperate by lessening his cares. In the winter of '91 and '92 he had an attack of the Grippe from which he never fully recovered. Early in March,

1893, he decided on a Southern trip, hoping to secure beneficial results, which were not realized, as he gradually grew weaker and died suddenly at Washington before he could reach his home.

Mr. Parsons was a member of the Union League Club of Brooklyn, the Down Town Association and the Chamber of Commerce of New York, and was connected with many of the charitable associations of both cities. For many years he attended Plymouth Church regularly and was greatly attached to Mr. Beecher. Politically he was a Republican, and he lent his personal influence whenever the cause of good government could be advanced. While he was interested in public affairs his tastes were domestic, and his highest happiness was found in promoting the welfare of his employees, by whom he was esteemed as few men are. At the time of his death he was in his 67th year. The funeral services were held at his home, 746 St. Mark's av., Brooklyn, Rev. Dr. Lyman Abbott officiating. The interment followed the next day at Windsor, Conn., in the old cemetery used as a place of burial for more than 250 years, about a mile distant from his beautiful summer residence, where in his lifetime he seemed perfectly happy and most delighted to spend the brief rests that the cares of his business permitted.

A widow and two daughters survive him. His only son, associated with him in business, was very sick at the time of his father's death, and died in the following August.

General HENRY WARNER SLOCUM died at his residence in Clinton avenue, April 14, 1894. General Slocum was born in Delphi, Onondaga County, N. Y., September 24, 1826. In early life he evinced a desire for a military career, and received an appointment from his Congressional district to the military academy at West Point in 1848. He was graduated at the United States Military Academy in 1852, appointed second lieutenant in the First Artillery, and ordered to Florida the same year. He was made first lieutenant in 1855, but resigned in October, 1856, and, returning to New York, engaged in the practice of law at Syracuse, and was a member of the Legislature in 1859. At the opening of the Civil War he tendered his services, and on May 21, 1861, was appointed colonel of the Twenty-seventh N. Y. Volunteers. He commanded this regiment at the Battle of Bull Run, on July 21, when he was severely wounded. On August 9 he was commissioned brigadier-general of volunteers and assigned to the command of a brigade in General William B. Franklin's division of the Army of the Potomac. In the Virginia peninsular campaign of 1862 he was engaged in the siege of Yorktown and the action of West Point, Va., and succeeded to the command of the division on May 15, on Franklin's assignment to the Sixth Corps. At the Battle of Gaines' Mills, June 27, he was sent with his division to reenforce General Fitz-John Porter, and rendered important service, as he did also at the Battle of Glendale and Malvern Hill, his division occupying the right of the main line in both engagements.

He was promoted to the rank of major-general of volunteers, May 4, 1862, engaged in the Second Battle of Bull Run, at South Mountain, and at