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Rh lisher of the " Genesee Farmer " in Rochester, and in 1853 also of the " Horticulturist," issued in Al- bany. He severed his connection with these pe- riodicals in 1855 in order to embark in the novel enterprise of retailing seeds through the medium of the U. S. mails. This business grew to large proportions and found many imitators. In con- nection with it he published "Vick's Monthly Magazine " in 1878-'82, the " Flower and Vegetable Garden," and an annual " Floral Guide." He de- veloped new varieties of plants by cultivation or cross-fertilization, notably double phlox, white gladiolus, and fringed petunia. Mr. Vick was a corresponding member of the English royal horti- cultural society, and for several years secretary of the American pomological convention.

VICKERS, George, senator, b. in Chestertown, Kent co., Md., 19 Nov., 1801 : d. there, 8 Oct.. 1879. He acquired a classical education, was employed in the county clerk's office for several years, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1832, and practised in Chestertown. He was a delegate to the Whig national convention of 1852. When the civil war began he was appointed major-general of the state militia. He was a presidential elector on the McClellan ticket in 1864, and one of the vice-presi- dents of the Union convention of 1866. In 1866-'7 he was a member of the state senate. In 1868 he was elected U. S. senator for the term that ended on 3 March, 1873, in the place of Philip F. Thomas, who had been denied the seat. He took a con- spicuous part in the debate on the 15th amendment to the Federal constitution. VICO, Domingo de (ve'-co), Spanish mission- ary, b. in Ubeda, Andalusia, in 1485 ; d. in 1555. He became a Dominican in his native city, studied in Salamanca, and in 1516 came to this country with Bartolome de las Casas. He first labored among the Indians in Cuba, but later passed to New Spain, and accompanied Las Casas in his journeys through Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Peru. When the latter was appointed bishop of Chiapa in 1544, Vico became his vicar-general and sec- onded him in his zeal for the welfare of the In- dians. Later he was prior of the convents of Guatemala, Chiapa, and Coban, founded the city of San Andres, and became in 1552 the first bishop of Vera Paz. He was killed, during a journey through his diocese, by Lacandon Indians. His works include several treatises on theology in the Vera Paz, Cakchiquel, Quiche, and Lacandon dia- lects, and " Historia de los Indios, sus fabulas, su- persticiones, costumbres, etc.," which the historian Antonio Remesal says is remarkable for its pictures of Indian life, but the manuscript of which was not found when the libraries of the convents came into the possession of the state.

VICTOR, Orville James, author, b. in San- dusky, Ohio, 23 Oct., 1827. He was graduated at the seminary and theological institute in Norwalk, Ohio, in 1847. After contributing to " Graham's Magazine " and other publications for several years, he adopted journalism as a profession in 1851, becoming associate editor of the Sandusky " Daily Register," which he left in 1856 to edit the " Cosmopolitan Art Journal." Removing to New York in 1858, he assumed charge also of the " United States Journal," conducting both periodi- cals till 1860. He next edited the " Dime Bio- graphical Library," to which he contributed lives of John Paul Jones, Anthony Wayne, Ethan Allen, Israel Putnam, Winfield Scott, Abraham Lincoln, and Giuseppe Garibaldi, and wrote for newspapers and periodicals in New York city. In 1863-4 he visited England, and there published a pamphlet entitled " The American Rebellion ; its Causes and Objects : Facts for the English Peo- ple." He edited in 1866-7 "Beadle's Magazine of To - Day," in 1870-'l the weekly " Western World," and in 1872-'80 the "New York Satur- day Journal." He published during the civil war, in annual volumes, a " History of the Southern Rebellion " (4 vols., New York, 1862-'5), which for several years he has been engaged in revising for republication in two volumes. His other works are " Incidents and Anecdotes of the War " (1863), and a " History of American Conspiracies " (1864). — His wife, Metta Victoria, author, b. near Erie, Pa., 2 March, 1831 ; d. in Hohokus, IS. J.. 26 June, 1886, was educated in the female seminary at Wooster, Ohio. When thirteen years old she published a story called "The Silver Lute," and from that time till her eighteenth year was a con- tributor to the " Home Journal " under the pen- name of " Singing Sibyl " or in connection with her elder sister, Frances A. Fuller, the two being known as " The Sisters of the West." In 1856 she married Mr. Victor, and in 1859-'61 she edited the " Home Monthly Magazine." A volume of poetry by the two sisters was published under the title of " Poems of Sentiment and Imagination, with Dramatic and Descriptive Pieces" (New York, 1851). She published individually " Fresh Leaves from Western Woods" (Buffalo, 1853); " The Senator's Son : a Plea for the Maine Law " (Cleveland, 1853), which had a large circulation in England as well as in the United States; and " Two Mormon Wives: a Life-Story" (New York. 1856 ; London, 1858). She was the author of "The Gold-Hunters," "Maum Guinea," and others of Beadle and Co.'s " Dime Novels." Among her numerous contributions to the periodical press were series of humorous sketches under the signature of " Mrs. Mark Peabody," entitled, " Miss Slimmens' Window" and "Miss Slimmens' Boarding-House," which were issued in book-form (New York, 1859). The story of " Too True " was reprinted from "Putnam's Magazine " (1868). Her novels " Dead-Letter " and " Figure Eight " were issued under the pen-name of " Seeley Register " (1868). Her last novel was " Passing the Portal " (1877). She subsequently wrote humorous books entitled " The Bad Boy's Diary " (1880), " The Rasher Family " (1884), " The Naughty Girl's Diary " (1884), and "Blunders of a Bashful Man " (1885), which were issued anonymously. — Her sister, Frances A nretta, author, b. in Rome, N. Y., 23 May, 1826, was educated at the seminary in Wooster, Ohio, and spent some time in the eastern states in preparation for a literary life, but after her return to the west and her marriage in 1853 to Jackson Barrett, of Michigan, she rarely wrote for publication. In 1862 she married for her second husband Henry C. Victor, a 1st assistant engineer in the U. S. navy and a brother of Orville J. Victor, and in the following year emigrated to the Pacific coast, where novel scenes impelled her to resume literary work. She contributed to the newspapers of San Francisco and Sacramento, and to the " Overland Monthly " from its first publication. After removing to Oregon in 1865, she published "The River of the West: Life and Adventures in the Rocky Mountains and Oregon " (Hartford, 1870), which was followed by " All Over Oregon and Washington " (San Francisco, 1870). She has also published " The New Penelope, and other Stories " (1877), and furnished to Hubert H. Bancroft's " Pacific Coast Histories " chapters on Oregon and other states and territories of the northwest, besides parts of the "History of California."