Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/262

234 rations, avowedly made in the interest of u strict construction" and of "old-time Republicanism" rather than of Free-soil or National reformation, he maintained his allegiance to the party with which his fame was identified, and which he was perhaps the more unwilling to leave because of the many sacrifices he had made in its service. The biographv of Van Buren has been written by William H. Holland (Hartford, 1835); Fran- cis J. Grand (in German, 1835) ; William Emmons (Washington, 1835) ; David Crockett (Philadelphia, 1836) ; William L. Mackenzie (Boston, 1846) ; Will- iam Allen Butler (New York, 1862) ; and Edward M. Shepard (Boston, 1888). Mackenzie's book is compiled in part from surreptitious letters, shed- ding a lurid light on the " practical politics " of the times. Butler's sketch was published immedi- ately after the ex-president's death. Shepard's biography is written with adequate learning and in a philosophical spirit. — His wife, Hannah, b. in Kinderhook, N. Y., in 1782; d. in Albany, N. Y., 5 Feb., 1819, was of Dutch descent, and her maiden name was Hoes. She was educated in the schools of her native village, and was the classmate of Mr. Van Buren, whom she married in 1807. She was devoted to her domestic cares and duties, and took little in- terest in social affairs, but was greatly beloved by the poor. When she learned that she could live but a few days, she expressed a desire that her funeral be conducted with the utmost simplicity, and the money that would otherwise have been devoted to mourning emblems be given to the needy. — His brother, Lawrence, soldier, b. in Kinderhook, N. Y, in 1783 ; d. there. 1 July, 1868, served in the war of 1812— '15, in which he attained the rank of major. He was a presidential elector on the Demo- cratic ticket in 1852.— Martin's son, Abraham, soldier, b. in Kinderhook, N. Y, 27 Nov., 1807; d. in New York city, 15 March, 1873, was graduated at the IT. S. military academy in 1827, and attached to the 2d infantry as 2d lieutenant. He served for two years on the western frontier, and for the next seven years as aide-de-camp to the general-in-chief, Alexander Macomb, except during several months in 1836, when he accompanied Gen. Winfield Scott as a volunteer aide in the expedition against the Seminole Indians. He was commissioned as a captain in the 1st dragoons on 4 July, 1836, resign- ing on 3 March, 1837, to become his fathers pri- vate secretary. He brought daily reports of the proceedings of congress to President Van Buren, who was often influenced by his suggestions. At the beginning of the war with Mexico he re-entered the army as major and paymaster, his commission dating from 26 June, 1846. He served on the staff of Gen. Zacha- ry Taylor at Monte- rey, and subsequent- ly joined the staff of Gen. Scott as a volunteer, and par- ticipated in every engagement from Vera Cruz to the capture of the city of Mexico, being bre- vetted lieutenant- colonel for braverv at Contreras and Churubusco on 20 Aug., 1847. He served in the paymaster's department after the war till 1 June, 1854, when he again resigned, after which he resided for a part of the time in Columbia, S. C. (where his wife inherited a plantation), till 1859, and after- ward in New York city except during three years' absence in Europe. — Another son, John, lawyer, b. in Hudson, N. Y., 18 Feb., 1810; d. at sea, 13 Oct., 1866, was graduated at Yale in 1828, studied law with Benjamin F. Butler, and was admitted to the bar at Albany in 1830. In the following year he accompanied his father to London as an attache of the legation. In February, 1845, he was elected attorney-general of the state of New York, serving till 31 Dec, 1846. He took an active part in the political canvass of 1848 as an advocate of the ex- clusion of slavery from the territories, but did not remain with the Free-soil party in its later develop- ments. He held high rank as a lawyer, appearing in the Edwin Forrest and many other important cases, was an eloquent pleader, and an effective po- litical speaker. He died on the voyage from Liv- erpool to New York. He was popularly known as " Prince John," was tall and handsome, and of elegant manners and appearance. — Abraham's wife, Angelica, b. in Sumter district, S. C, about 1820; d. in New York city, 29 Dec, 1878, was a daughter of Richard Singleton, a planter, and a cousin of William C. Preston and of' Mi's. James Madison, who, while her kinswoman was completing her education in Phil- adelphia, present- ed her to Presi- dent Van Buren. A year later she married Maj. Van Buren, in Novem- ber, 1838, and on the follow- ing New-Year's- day she made her first appearance as mistress of the White House. With her hus- band she visited England (where her uncle, An- drew Stevenson, was U. S. minis- ter) and other countries of Europe, in the spring of 1839, returning in the au- tumn to resume her place as hostess of the presi- dential mansion. The accompanying vignette is from a portrait painted by Henry Inman.

VAN BUREN, William Holme, surgeon, b. in Philadelphia, Pa., 5 April, 1819; d. in New York city, 25 March, 1883. His grand father, Beek- man, and his great-grandfather, Abraham, who came from Holland in 1700, after studying under Boerhaave at Leyden, were physicians to the New York city almshouse. He was a student at Yale of the class of 1838 for two years, and was sub- sequently granted his degree. On leaving college, he studied medicine at the University of Pennsyl- vania and in the Paris hospitals. He received his diploma from the University of Pennsylvania in 1840, presenting an essay on " Immovable Appara- tus," which was published by the faculty, and on 15 June of that year was appointed an assistant surgeon in the U. S. army. Resigning on 31 Dec, 1845, he went to New York city to assist his father- in-law, Valentine Mott, in his surgical clinic in the medical department of the University of the city of New York. He soon took high rank both as an operative surgeon and family practitioner, also as a teacher and demonstrator of anatomy and