Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 05.djvu/345

 HOLMES

HOLMES

series, The Professor at the Breakfast Table (1859), and after a long interval, appeared TJie Poet at the Breakfast Table (1872). He con- tributed to the Atlantic the serial novels: Elsie Venner (1861); The Guardian Angel (1867); A Mortal Antipathy (1885); Our Hundred Days in Europe (1887); Over the Teacups (1890). He was identified with the magazine more closely than any other person, and for a longer period. On Dec. 3, 1879, the editors gave a breakfast in his honor, he having passed his seventieth birthday, and Dr. Holmes read the poem " The Iron Gate," written for the occasion. He removed from Montgomery place to a house on Charles street, on the riverside, in 1867, and in 1870 to Beacon street, where he lived the rest of his days, making Beverly Farms his summer home. He resigned his professorship at Harvard in 1882, and was immediately made professor emeritus, a rare distinction for Harvard to confer. From that time he lived a retired life in Boston, but contin- ued his writings, '• full of the same shrewd sense, wise comment and tender thought " that charac- terized them from the stai't. He made a second visit to Europe in 1886, with his daughter, and was everywliere warmly welcomed. He spent most of the time in England and Scotland, where he received the degree of D.C.L. from Oxford university, and that of LL.D. from Edinburgh. He was often called " our poet of occasion,"' be- ing always ready when called upon to contribute a poem or an essaj', giving the best his genius af- forded. His writing never wholly weaned him from the medical profession, which he loved strongly because he loved human nature. Be- sides the works already mentioned, he prepared with Dr. Jacob Bigelow, Marshall Hall's Theory and Practice of Medicine (1839); and is the author of: Lectures on Homoeopathy and its Kin- dred Delusions (18-12); Report on Medical Litera- ture (ISiS); Currents and Countercurrents in Med- ical Science (1861); Borderland in some Provinces of Medical Science (1862); Soundings from the At- lantic (1864); Mechanismin TJwughts and Morals (1871); Memoir of John Lothrop Motley (1879); Memoir of Ralph Waldo Emerson (1884); Be- fore the Curfew (1888); poetry: Urania (1846); Astrea (1850); Songs in 3Iany Keys (1861); Songs of Many Seasons (1875); TJie L'on Gate and Other Poems (1880). His poems were subsequently collected into three volumes under the title: The Complete Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes. See Life and Letters of Oliver Wendell Holmes, by John Torrey Morse, Jr. (1896), and Life of Holmes, by Emma E. Bi'own (rev. ed., 1895). He died at 296 Beacon street, Boston, Mass. Oct. 7, 1894. The burial service, held at King's Chapel, was conducted by the Rev. E. E. Hale and he was buried at Mount Auburn.

HOLilES, Oliver Wendell, jurist, was born in Boston, Mass., March 8, 1841; son of Dr. OKver Wendell and Amelia Lee (Jackson) Holmes. He was educated in the Boston schools and was graduated at Harvard (class poet) in 1861, while a volunteer soldier in the 4th battalion of infantry at Fort Independence. He was commissioned in the 20th Massachusetts volunteers as lieuten- ant; and was severely wounded at Ball's Bluff, Va., Oct. 21, 1861; at Antietam, Md., Sept. 17, 1862, and at Marye's Heights, Va., May 3, 1863. He was promoted lieutenant-colonel in 1863, but was not mustered in, as the regiment was too much reduced to permit it. He served as aide-de- camp on the staff of Gen. Horatio G. Wright from Jan. 29, 1864, until he was mustered out, July 17, 1864, with the rank of captain. He was gradu- ated at Harvard law school, 1866, and in 1867 was admitted to the bar and began practice in Boston, Mass. He was instructor in constitutional law at Harvard law school, 1870-71; edited the American Law Review, 1870-73; lectured on common law before the Lowell Institute, 1880; was professor of law at Harvard law scliool, 1882-83; justice of the supreme court of Massachusetts, 1882-99, and became chief justice in August, 1899. He be- came a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, Dec. 4, 1902. He was married, June 17. 1872, to Fanny, daughter of Epes S. Dixuell, of Boston. He re- ceived the honorary degree of LL.D. fiom Yale in 1886 and from Harvard in 1895; and was elected a member of the Massachusetts Historical society and a fellow of the American Academj-of Arts and Sciences. He edited: Kent's Commen- taries (12th ed., 1873), and is the author of The Common Law (1881); Speeches (1891, 1896), and various articles contributed to professional journals.

HOLMES, Theophilus Hunter, soldier, was born in Clinton, N.C., Nov. 13, 1804; son of Gabriel and Mary (Hunter) Holmes. His father was governor of North Carolina, 1821-24. He was graduated at the U.S. Military academy in 1829 and assigned to the 7th U. S. infantiy. He was on frontier service, wa&a lieutenant in the Sem- inole war and in the occupation of Texas, was captain in the war with Mexico, and was bie- vetted major for gallantry at Monterey. He re- ceived promotion to the rank of major, March 3, 1855; served on the Navajo expedition of 1858-59, and in 1861 was on recruiting service at Fort Columbus, Governor's Island, New York harbor. While there he resigned from the U.S. army, April 22, 1861, and went to North Carolina, where he assisted Governor Ellis in organizing the state militia and in selecting competent officers. When North Carolina seceded, May 20, 1861, he accepted a commission as brigadier-general in the Confederate army and joined the force in Vir-