Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/731

Rh edgment of his "more than princely munificence," and adding a painting of herself. "The letter and portrait are both to be seen in the Peabody insti- tute at Danvers. A year later he endowed an art- school in Rome, Italy, and in 1869 he made his last visit to his native land, presenting the Peabody museum at Salem with $150,000, and giving to other objects $165,000. During his absence the Prince of Wales unveiled, 23 July, a fine bronze statue of him, by William W. Story, erected by the citizens of London on the east side of the Royal exchange. A replica of this seated statue will be erected in Baltimore during the present year (1888). Two months later Mr. Peabody returned to London, and died a few weeks afterward. His obsequies were celebrated in Westminster abbey on 13 Nov. For the first time in history the gates of Westminster abbey were opened for the burial of a private citi- zen of another country, and, although the historic building was not Mr. Peabody's final resting-place, it was only owing to his own desire to sleep by the side of his mother's grave in his native land. Where the funeral service of the English church was read over him. Mr. Peabody might have re- posed forever with the universal consent and ap- probation of the British nation. The swiftest and finest frigate in the English navy was selected to bear his body across the broad Atlantic, and it was received from the ship-of-war *' Monarch " by an American squadron commanded by Admiral Farra- gut, and buried at Danvers (now Peabody). Mr. Peabody never married, and his remaining fortune of $5,000,000 was bequeathed to his relatives. He was the most liberal philanthropist of ancient or modern times. In the words of Mr. Gladstone, he taught the world how a man may be the master of his fortune, and not its slave. It was Mr. Peabody's own testimony, and that of those most intimately acquainted with him, that his great benefactions wei'e really a triumph over a disposition naturally parsimonious, and it was from a sense of benefits conferred on him by Divine providence that he overcame the natural tendencies of his strong will in giving, till it became a delight to him to give. In the greatness of his benevolence George Peabody stands alone in history. See life, by Phebe A. Hanaford (Boston, 1882) ; and numerous addresses by Robert C. Winthrop (Boston, 1870); Severn Teackle Wallis (Annapolis. 1870), and others ; and numerous eulogies and sermons delivered at the time of his death.

PEABODY, Joseph, merchant, b. in Middle- ton, Mass., 9 Dec, 1757; d. in Salem, Mass.. 5 Jan., 1844. He was descended from Francis Peabody, who came from St. Alban's, England, in 1635, and was one of the first settlers of Topsfield, Mass. During the war of the Revolution he served as an officer on privateers, and acted with credit as sec- ond officer of the letter of marque *' Ranger." He afterward sailed as a captain of merchant vessels, and built and freighted eighty-three ships. He became wealthy and was noted for benevolence.

PEABODY, Nathaniel, soldier, b. in Topsfield, Mass., 1 March, 1741 ; d. in Exeter, N. H., 27 June, 1823. He was educated at Leominster, Mass., and, after studying medicine with his father, Dr. Jacob Peabody, was licensed and began practice in 1761 at Plaistow, N. H. He was commissioned a lieu- tenant-colonel in 1774, and was the first man in New Hampshire to resign the king's commission on account of political opinions. He was one of the captors of Fort William and Mary at New- castle, and was constantly employed in the legisla- ture, on committees, and in conventions, during the early part of the Revolutionary war, being also elected one of the committee of safety, 10 Jan., 1776, and becoming its chairman. He was ap- pointed adjutant-general of New Hampshire mi- litia, 19 July, 1777, and served in that capacity in 1779 in Rhode Island. He was a delegate to the convention at New Haven in 1779 for regulating the price of labor, produce, manufactures, and other purposes, a delegate to congress in 1779-80, a member of the convention, and chairman of the committee to form a state constitution in 1782-'3, and was again elected a delegate to the Continental congress in 1786, but did not act. He was a mem- ber of the legislature for eight years, its speaker in 1793, and major-general of militia from 1793 till 1798. He passed the latter years of his life within the debtor's limits of the jail.

PEABODY, Oliver William Bourn, author, b. in Exeter, N. H., 9 July, 1799; d. in Burlington, Vt., 5 July, 1848. He was the son of Judge Oliver Peabody, and was graduated at Harvard in 1816. He afterward studied law at Cambridge, was ad- mitted to the bar, and practised in 1819-'30 at Exeter. At the same time he edited the " Rocking- ham Gazette" and "Exeter News-Letter," and served in the legislature. He removed to Boston in 1830, assisted his brother-in-law, Alexander H. Everett, in editing the " North American Review," and was for several Years assistant editor of the Boston "Daily Advertiser." From 1836 till 1842 he was register of probate for Suffolk county, and in the latter year he became professor of English literature in Jefferson college. La. Returning to Boston in 1843. he was licensed to preach by the Unitarian association in 1845, and soon afterward was appointed pastor of a church in Burlington, Vt. He edited the works of Shakespeare (7 vols., Boston, 1844), wi'ote lives of Gen. Israel Putnam and Gen. John Sullivan in Sparks's "American Biography," and contributed to periodicals. — His twin-brother, William Bourn Oliver, clergyman, d. in Springfield, Mass., 28 May, 1847, was gradu- ated at Harvard in 1843. He was an instructor in Phillips Exeter academy in 1817, studied theology at Cambridge divinity-school, and was licensed to preach in 1819. In October, 1820. he became pastor of the Unitarian church at Springfield, Mass., where he remained during his lifetime. He was an accom- plished scholar and poet. Mr. Peabody was one of the commissioners of the Massachusetts zoological survey, for which he prepared a "Report on the Birds of the Commonwealth" (Boston, 1839). He contributed to the "North American Review," wrote, for Sparks's "American Biography," lives of Alexander Wilson, Cotton Mather, David Brainerd, and James Oglethorpe, and edited the " Springfield Collection of Hymns for Sacred Worship " (Spring- field, 1835). After his death a volume of his ser- mons was published by his brother Oliver (1849). — William's son, Everett, soldier, b. in Springfield, Mass., in 1831 ; d. near Pittsburg Landing, Tenn., 6 April. 1862, was graduated at Harvard in 1849. became a railway-engineer, was colonel of Missouri volunteers, and was killed at Shiloh. He completed the biography of his uncle Oliver, and edited the "Literary Remains" of his father (Boston, 1850).

PEALE, Charles Willson, artist, b. in Chestertown, Md., 16 April, 1741; d. in Philadelphia, Pa., 22 Feb.. 1827. He followed tor some time the trade of a saddler in Annapolis, but, having seen a portrait while visiting Norfolk, Va., he determined to attempt art, and on his return he executed a likeness of himself. His success induced him to change his vocation from saddle-making to portrait-painting. He lived in Boston in 1768-'9, where he had some instruction from John Singleton Copley, and