Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 82.djvu/454

450 of separate biographical articles, those close of kin being his father, one nephew and one son.

James Kent, the celebrated jurist, was the father of William Kent, judge of the United States Circuit Court of New York, a lawyer who gained a high reputation.

Henry Ward Beecher was a son of the noted Rev. Lyman Beecher and was one of five distinguished brothers and sisters, among others, Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," herself an elect of the Hall of Fame as of first choice of the electors of 1910.

Joseph Story was called "the most extraordinary jurist of his age." His son, William Wetmore Story, gained most of his laurels in a very different channel. He is considered one of the few great American sculptors.

John Adams, second president of the United States, a member of one of the most notable families that America has produced, claims many distinguished relatives, if distant kinsmen be included. Samuel Adams was his second cousin. Dr. Zabdiel Boylston, noted physician, who was the first to introduce inoculation for smallpox in America, was his great-uncle. If only the close of kin be reckoned, then John Adams counts two in son and grandson.

John Quincy Adams, himself in the inner shrine of fame (elected in 1905), tallies as many as five of the "eminent" class. His position on the pedigree is at the center of the Adams group. With mother as well as father internationally famous, with a son, Charles Francis Adams, the bulwark, during our Civil War, of the rights of the United States in England; and with two grandsons reaching distinction in literature, John Quincy Adams rivals Beecher, Edwards and Lowell in the profusion of his lustrious kinships.

James Fenimore Cooper is not particularly affiliated to others of exceptional gifts. Still, his daughter, Susan Fenimore Cooper, became known as an author and philanthropist. She is in the group of 3,500.

James Russell Lowell had eight eminent close relations. His grandfather, Judge John Lowell, was a member of the convention which framed the constitution of Massachusetts, secured the insertion of the clause "all men are born free and equal" in the Massachusetts Bill of Eights. It is indeed rather ironical that this phrase should be coined by a Lowell. The poet's uncle, John Lowell, was an "able lawyer and political writer." Another uncle, Francis Cabot Lowell, was one of the principal founders of the city of Lowell, to which he

gave his name. He was a merchant and manufacturer. The father of J. R. Lowell' was Rev. Charles Lowell. Rev. Robert T. S. Lowell, brother of the famous poet, is also noticed in Lippincott's "Biographical Dictionary" as an author. Mary Lowell Putnam, "a distinguished polyglot linguist," was his sister. Her son, W. L. Putnam,