Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/689

Rh was elected in 1829 president of Georgetown col- lege, Ky. He died in Washington, while on his way to this new field of service, lie was probably the most eloquent Baptist minister of his time in this country. He received from Princeton the de- gree of D. D. in 1801. Besides a volume of poems, which he issued when he was seventeen years old, his publications consisted of a few occasional ser- mons and discourses, among them Kulogium on Dr. Benjamin Rush" (1S13). See a "Memoir" by Rev. S. W. Lynd (Boston, 1834).

STAUNTON, William, clergyman, b. in Ches- ter, England, 20 April, 1803 ; d. 29 Sept., 1889. At the age of fifteen he came to the United States, and received a good English and classical training under one of the professors in Hobart college. He stud- ied theology under Rev. Dr. (afterward Bishop) Whitehousein Rochester, N. Y., from 1830 till 1833, was ordained deacon in Oneida Castle, N. Y., 9 June, 1833, by Bishop Benjamin T. Onderdonk, and priest in ion church. Palmyra, N. Y., 7 Sept., 1834, by the same bishop. During his diaconate he served as missionary in Palmyra and Lyons, N. Y. He was rector of St. James's church, Rox- bury, Mass., in 1835-'7, and of St. Peter's church, Morristown, N. J., in 1840-'7, founded St. Peter's church, Brooklyn, X. Y., and was its first rector in 1848-51, and was rector of Trinity church, Pots- dam. N. Y., in 1852-'9. Afterward, having given up active parochial work, he had resided in Xew York city, and been engaged in literary and other occupations. He received the degree of D. D. from Hobart in 1856. Dr. Staunton had published " Dic- tionary of the Church," which was subsequently revised and enlarged under the title of " Ecclesias"- tieal Dictionary" (New York. 1844-'61) ; "The Catechist's Manual" (1850); "Songs and Prayers for the Family Altar" (1860); "Book of Common Praise" (1860); a prize "Te Deum " and original " Voluntaries for the Organ " ; and " Episodes in Clerical and Parish Life " (1887). In 1878 he took charge of the musical science department in a new cyclopaedia, and wrote nearly all the articles on that subject. He had also contributed freely to church literature in magazines and reviews.

STEARNS, Asahel, educator, b. in Lunenburg, Mass., 17 .Tune, 1T74; d. in Cambridge, Mass., 5 Feb., 1839. His ancestor, Isaac Stearns, came to this country from England in 1030, and was among the first settlers of Watertown. Mass. Asahel was graduated at Harvard in 1797, studied law, was ad- mitted to the bar, and began practice at Chelmsford, Mass. He was for several years county attorney for Middlesex, a member of congress in 1815-'17, and professor of law at Harvard in 1817-'29. He was a member of the American academy of arts and sciences, and was one of the commissioners for revising the statutes of Massachusetts, which was his last labor. He published "Summary of the Law and Practice of Real Actions, with an Ap- pendix of Practical Forms" (Hallowell, 1824). and, with Lemuel Shaw. "General Laws, 1780-1822," edited by Theron Metcalf (Boston, 1823).

STEARNS, Charles, clergyman, b. in Leomin- ster, Mass.. 19 July, 1753 ; d. in Lincoln, Mass., 20 July, 1820. He was graduated at Harvard in 1773, afterward taught school, and studied theol- ogy, and in 1780-'! was a tutor at Cambridge. In 1781 he was ordained pastor of the Unitarian church at Lincoln, where he remained till his death. He received the degree of D. D. from Harvard in 1810. He published " The Ladies' Philosophy of Love, a Poem in Four Cantos" (1797); Princi- ples of Morality and Religion" (1798); and ser- mons and other works.

STEARNS, Charles Woodward, physician, b. in Springfield. Mass.. in 1S1X; d. in Longmeadow, Mass., X Sept.. 1887. He was graduated at Yale in 1837, and took his medical degree at the Univer- sity i if Pennsylvania in 1840. After practising for some time he entered the army as a surgeon, subse- quently travelled and studied in Europe, and at the opening of the civil war re-entered the service as surgeon of the 3d New York regiment. He was on service at Fort McHenry, Baltimore. Suffolk. Va., Fortress Monroe, and in the field. Dr. Stearns was widely known as an enthusiastic Shakespeare- an student and writer. His principal works are " Shakespeare's Medical Knowledge " (New York, 1805) : "The Shakespeare Treasury of Wisdom and Knowledge " (1869) ; and " Concordance of the Con- stitution of the United States" (1872).

STEARNS, George Luther, merchant, b. in Medford, Mass., 8 Jan., 1809 ; d. in New York, 9 April. 1867. His father. Luther, was a teacher of reputation. In early life his son engaged in the business of ship-chandlery, and after a prosperous career undertook the manufacture of sheet- and pipe-lead, doing business in Boston and residing in Medford. He identified himself with the anti- slavery cause, became a Free-soiler in 1848. aided John Brown in Kansas, and supported him till his death. Soon after the opening of the civil war Mr. Stearns advocated the enlistment of negroes in the National army. The 54th and 55th Massachusetts regiments, and the 5th cavalry (colored), were largely recruited through his instrumentality. He was commissioned major through the recommenda- tion of Sec. Stanton, and was of great service to the National cause by enlisting negroes for the volunteer service in Pennsylvania. Maryland, and Tennessee. He was the founder of the " Common- wealth " and " Right of Way " newspapers for the dissemination of his ideas.

STEARNS, John, physician, b. in Wilbraham, Mass., 16 May, 1770; d. in New York city, 18 March. 1848. He was graduated at Yale in '1789, and at the College of physicians and surgeons, Xew York, in 1812. He settled at Waterford, N. Y., in 1793, was in the New York senate in 1809-'13, in 1810 removed to Albany, and in 1819 went to New York city, where he remained till his death. He originated the Saratoga county medical society, and in 1807 the Medical society of the state of New York, and in 1846 was the first president of the New York academy of medicine. He was also a founder of the American tract society. He con- tributed valuable medical discoveries to the Xew York " Medical Repository," and published nu- merous addresses (1818-'47).

STEARNS, John Glazier, author, b. in Ack- worth, Cheshire co., N. H., 22 Nov., 1795; d. in Clinton, N. Y., 16 Jan., 1874. He was graduated in the first class at Hamilton literary ancl theologi- cal institution (now Madison university) in 1822, and was ordained a minister of the Baptist church, He was for fifty years a preacher in central New York, and published, among other works, "Dia- logue on the Means of separating Masonry from the Church of Christ " (Utica. 1828) ; " Inquiry into the Natuiv and Tendency of Freemasonry" (1829); " An Antidote for the Doctrine of Universal Sal- vation " (1829); "Essays on the Influence of the Spirit and the Word in Regeneration " ; " The Primitive Church" (1853); "The Sovereignty of God and Moral Agency " (1856) ; " Letters on Free- masonry " (I860) ; and several smaller works.

'''STEARNS. John Newton,''' editor, b. in New Ipswich, N. H., 24 May, 1829; d. in Brooklyn, N. Y., 21 April, 1895. He was carefully prepared