Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/469

Rh his seat in March. 1867. During the lattei- part of the reconsti'uc'tion period he opposed President Johnson, and voted guilty at his impeachment trial. In 1873 Mr. Ferry was re-elected by a coalition of Independent Republicans and Democrats, but he adhered to Gen. Grant's administration and op- posed the Liberal Republican candidates at the presidential election of that year. He voted against the civil rights bill on the ground that it would prejudice the cause of public education. While in the lower house of congress Gen. Ferry served as a member of the committee on revolutionary claims, and the special committee of thirty-three on the rebellious states. While in the senate he was a member of the committees on private land claims, public buildings, and patents, and after iiis re-elec- tion in 1872 was chairman of the latter committee.

FERRY, William Montague, clergyman, b. in Graiiby, Mass., 8 Sept., 1796; d. in Grand Ha- ven, Mich., 80 Dec, 1867. He was graduated at Union college in 1817. studied theology, and went as a missionary of the Presbyterian church to Michigan in 1821. He established a school for both whites and Indians at Mackinac, and labored successfully for twelve years. His health failing, he was obliged to seek a different employment, and in 1834 purchased with others a tract of land in the Grand River valley, where he founded a settlement and went extensively into the manu- facture of lumber. He was one of the first to per- ceive the future value of the immense pine forests of Michigan, and extended his operations so that in a single year he shipped not less than fifteen mill- ion feet of lumber. At his death he left bequests for different benevolent objects, amounting to $120,000.— His son, Thomas White, senator, b. in Mackinac, Mich., 1 June, 1827; d. in Grand Ha- ven, Mich., 14 Oct., 1890. He early engaged in busi- ness pursuits ; was a member of the house of rep- resentatives of Michigan in 1850, of the state senate in 1856, and vice-president for Michigan of the Chicago Republican convention of 1860. ' He rep- resented his state on the congressional committee that accompanied the body of President Lincoln to Springfield, 111., served in congress from 4 Dec, 1865, till 8 March, 1871, and was re-elected but did not take his seat, having been chosen to the U. S. senate to succeed Jacob M. Howard. He took his seat in the senate, 4 JMarch, 1871. As chairman of the committee on rules he reported a re-classification and revision of the rules of the senate, which were unanimously adopted without amendment. He was a member of the special committee of the senate that framed the resump- tion act of 14 Jan., 1875, was chosen president pro tempore, 9 and 19 March, and again 20 Dec, 1875, and by the death of Vice-President WMlson became acting vice-president, serving as such until 4 March, 1877. While acting vice-president he was called on, in the absence of President Grant, to deliver the address and preside at theCentennial celebration in Philadelphia. 4 July, 1876, and he also presided at the impeachment trial of Sec. Belknap, and over the sixteen joint meetings of congress during the electoral count of 1876-"7. He was re-elected senator, 17 Jan., 1877, and was re-elected president pro tempore of the senate, 5 March, 1877, 26 Feb., 1878, 17 April, 1878, and 3 March. 1879. He trav- elled extensively in Europe, the Holy Land, and Egypt, during the years 1883-'6.

FERSEN, Count Axel, Swedish soldier, b. in Stockholm in 1750; d. there, 20 June. 1810. Pie was the son of Count Axel, field-marshal of the army of Sweden, was educated at the military academy of Turin, Italy, and soon afterward en- tered the Swedish army. After brief service he was appointed colonel of the regiment " Royal Suedois." Count Fersen came to the United States as a member of the staff of Roehambean, fought under Lafayette at Yorktown, and retired with the French army, after receiving from Washington the order of the Society of the Cincinnati. At the time of the treason of Benedict Arnold he wrote inter- esting letters to his father in Europe, which have been published, describing agreeably men and num- ners in the days of the Revolution. On his return to France, Count Fersen became a devoted adhe- rent of the royal family, and in their flight from Paris was the disguised coachman of the fugitives. After the execution of Ijouis XVI., Fersen returned to Sweden, where he was made grand master of the king's household, chancellor of- Upsala univer- sity, became a court favorite, although he was un- popular with the people, and was promoted grand marshal of the kingdom. The sudden death, 28 May, 1810, of the crown-prince gave rise to the sus- picion that Fersen and his sister. Countess Piper, had poisoned him, which is now acknowledged to be unfounded. At the funeral, Fersen was at- tacked by a mob with sticks and stones and killed, while the tioops looked on with indifference.

FESSENDEN, Samuel, lawyer, b. in Fryeburg, Me., 16 July, 1784; d. near Portland, Me., 13 March, 1869. His father, the Rev. William Fessenden, graduated at Harvard in 1768, was the first minister of Fryeburg, and frequently a member of the Massachusetts legislature. He also served as judge of probate. Samuel received his early education at the Fryeburg academy, and was graduated at Dartmouth in 1806. He studied law with Judge Dana, of Fryeburg, was admitted to the bar in 1809, and began practice at New Gloucester, where he rose to distinction in his profession. In 1815-'16 he was in the general court of Massachusetts, of which state Maine was then a district, and in 1818-'19 represented his district in the Massachusetts senate. For fourteen years he was major-general of the 12th division of Massachusetts militia, to which office he was elected on leaving the senate, and to which he gave much attention. He removed to Portland in 1822, and about 1828 declined the presidency of Dartmouth. He was an ardent Federalist, and one of the early members of the anti-slavery party in Maine. In 1847 he was nominated for governor and for congress by the Liberty party, receiving large votes. For forty years he stood at the head of the bar in Maine. He was an active philanthropist. He published two orations and a treatise on the institution, duties, and importance of juries. The degree of LL. D. was conferred upon him by Bowdoin in 1846. &mdash; His son, William Pitt, senator, b. in Boscawen, N. H., 16 Oct., 1806; d. in Portland, Me., 8 Sept., 1869, was graduated at Bowdoin in 1823, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1827. He practised law first in Bridgeton, a year in Bangor, and afterward in Portland, Me. He was a member of the legislature of that state in 1832, and its leading debater. He refused nominations to congress in 1831 and in 1838, and served in the legislature again in 1840, becoming chairman of the house committee to revise the statutes of the state. He was elected to congress as a Whig in 1840, serving one term, during which time he moved the repeal of the rule that excluded anti-slavery petitions, and spoke upon the loan and bankrupt bills, and the army. He gave his attention wholly to his law business till he was again in the legislature in 1845-'6. He acquired a national reputation as a lawyer and an anti-slavery Whig, and in 1849 prosecuted before