vember, 1810. His father was a farmer, but he availed himself of all possible advantages for ob taining a good rudimentary education, teaching a country school in the winter months to acquire the means of paying his way through college. In his nineteenth year he entered the freshman class of Yale College, and graduated with honor. From college he passed to the High School at Elling ton, Conn., an institution devoted mainly to the preparation of boys for college, where he taught two years, and then accepted a position as tutor in Yale, which he also held for two years, in the mean time attending the lectures of the Law School. He was admitted to the bar in New Haven, Conn., in the summer of 1838. He en tered upon the practice of the law in Cincinnati in 1839. In 1865 he was appointed a Judge of the Su perior Court of Cincinnati. After that he was twice elected to the same office by popular vote; the last time, in 1869, he received the unusual honor of a unanimous vote from the people of both political parties. In 1872 Judge Taft re signed his position as Judge of the Superior Court, and entered . upon the practice of his profession with his sons, Charles P. and Peter R. Taft. In 1875 he was a candidate for the Republican nomination for governor of Ohio, being the prin cipal opponent of General Hayes. In March, 1876, Judge Taft was called into President Grant's cabinet as Secretary of War, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Gen eral Belknap, and two months later was transferred to the position of Attorney-General, in which he succeeded Edwards Pierrepont, who was made Minister to England. He was succeeded as Sec retary of War by J. Donald Cameron. In March, 1877, after his retirement from the cabinet at the end of Grant's term, Judge Taft was a candidate for the seat in the United States Senate, vacated by John Sherman on the latter's appointment to the Secretaryship of the Treasury under Hayes, but the caucus nomination went to the late Stanley Matthews on the third ballot. Judge Taft was again candidate for governor, but was defeated in the State Convention in August, 1877, by Judge William H. West, who was in turn defeated at the polls by Richard M. Bishop. At the State Con vention of May, 1879, Judge Taft was again an aspirant for the gubernatorial nomination. He was the candidate of the faction which favored

a third presidential term for Grant, while Charles Foster, the present Secretary of the Treasury, was put forward by the followers of John Sherman. Judge Taft was again defeated in convention, but by a very narrow margin, as Foster received only 280 votes to 271 for Taft. Meanwhile Judge Taft had resumed his practice at the bar, which was not again interrupted until April, 1882, when he was appointed Minister to Austria by President Arthur. From this position he was transferred, in September, 1884, to the Russian Mission. Since his return from St. Pe tersburg he had not taken an active part in public affairs. He was one of the trustees of Yale Col lege, and received from that institution the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. Judge Taft was an able lawyer, and a man of wide and general culture. He possessed a large and accurate knowledge of affairs, that well served him in protecting the interests of his country in all his diplomatic relations, while his fine character and perfect manners commanded universal respect.

Hon. Josiah G. Abbott, one of the most promi nent lawyers of the Suffolk Bar, died on June 2. Judge Abbott was born at Chelmsford, Mass., on Nov. 1, 1814. He traced his lineage back to the first settlers of this Commonwealth. The Puritan George Abbott, who came from Yorkshire, England, in 1630, and settled in Andover, was his ancestor on his father's side; while on his mother's side his English ancestor was William Fletcher, who came from Devonshire in 1640, and settled, first, in Concord, and, finally, in 1651, in Chelmsford. He was fitted for college under the instruction of Ralph Waldo Emerson. He entered Harvard Col lege at the early age of fourteen, and was graduated in 1832. After taking his degree, he studied law with Nathaniel Wright of Lowell, and was ad mitted to the bar in 1837. In 1840 he formed with Samuel A. Brown a partnership, which con tinued until he was appointed Judge of the Su perior Court. He retired from the bench in 1858, having won an enviable reputation for judicial fairness and acumen, and suavity of manner, in the trial of cases, which made him popular with the members of the bar who practised in his court. In the year following his retirement from the bench he removed his office from Lowell to Boston, prac tising in the courts not only of this Common-