Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 08.djvu/159

 ORTOX

OSBON

Dec. 28, 1864. James Orton was graduated at Williams in 1855, and at Andover Theological seminary in 1858. He was married in 1859 to Ellen E. Foote of AVilliamstown, Mass. He traveled in Europe, 1859-60; was ordained pastor of the Presbyterian church, Greene, N.Y., July 11, 18G0; was pastor at Thomaston, Maine, 1861- 63, and at Brighton, N.Y., 1863-69. He developed a strong interest in natural history, and while in college successfully conducted a students' expedi- tion to Labrador. He was instructor in natural history at the University of Rochester, N.Y., 1866-69; conducted a scientific expedition to South America under the auspices of Williams college in 1867, and was professor of natural hist- ory in Vassar college, Poughkeepsie, N.Y., 1869- 77. He made a second expedition to South Amer- ica in 1873, crossing the continent from Para to Lima by Lake Titicaca, and in 1876, owing to pulmonary trouble, returned to the high plateau regions of Peru and Bolivia, and in the spring of 1877 undertook the exploration of the Beni river, a large tributary of the Amazon. He had in view a preliminary survey for a railroad to con- nect the navigable waters of the Amazons with the railroad that had been already built from the Pacific coast to La Paz, Bolivia. He was forced, however, to turn back, reaching the eastern shore of Lake Titicaca on Sept. 24, 1877, and died while crossing to the other side. He brought to the United States the first fossils ever reported from the stratified rocks of the Amazon valley, and became one of the highest authorities on the central region of South America. He was a member of numerous scientific societies in the United States and Europe, and his discoveries were second only to those of Alexander Von Humbolt. He contributed articles on the natural history of Soutli America to scientific journals and to the transactions of societies, and is the author of: Miners' Guide and Metallurgists' Directory (1849): 77ie Proverhalist and the Poet (1852): The Andes and the Amazon (1870); Un- derground Treasures and How to Find Tlierii (1872); The Liberal Education ofWomen (1873), and Comparative Zoology (1875). He died on Lake Titicaca, Peru, Sept. 25, 1877, and was buried on an island in the lake.

ORTON, William, publisher and financier, was born in Cuba, N.Y., June 14, 1826; son of Horatio and Sarah (Carson) Orton; grandson of John and Ruth (Norton) Orton; great-grandson of Samuel and Ruth (Mason) Orton, and a descen- dant of Thomas and Margaret (Pratt) Orton. William Orton was graduated at the State Nonnal school, Albany, N.Y., in 1847, and engaged in teaching school until 1850, when he was married to Agnes J. Gillespie of Buffalo. N.Y., and entered the employ of George Derby & Co., VIII. — 10

publishers, taking charge of the business in Geneva, N.Y. On the death of George Derby in 1852, the firm became Derby, Orton & Co. In 1856 the business, as Miller, Orton & Co., was transferred to New York city and in 1857 went into liquidation. Mr. Orton subsequently became managing clerk for J. G. Gregory & Co., publish- ers; was appointed collector of internal revenue for the sixth district of New York by President Lincoln in 1862, and U.S. commissioner of internal revenue, with headquarters at Washington. D.C., in 1865. He resigned this office after a few months, to accept the presidency of the United States Telegraph company, and after the consoli- dation of that corporation with the Western Union Telegraph company in 1866. was vice- president, 1866-67, and president from 1867 up to the time of his death. He established the Jour- nal of Telegrajjhy in 1867, and secured for the Western Union Telegraph company a monopoly of telegraph lines in the United States, making the earnings of the company very large. He died in New York city, April 22. 1878.

OSBON, Bradley Sillick, naval officer, was born in Rye, N.Y., Aug. 16, 1828; eldest son of the Rev. Abiathar Mann and Elizabeth Esmond (Sillick) Osbon; grandson of William and Han- nah (Mann) Osbon and of the Rev. Bradley and Mary (Pattison) Sillick, and a descendant of the Osbournes, who came from Normandy to England in the time of William the Conqueror. Four Osborne brothers came to America shortly after the arrival of the Mayfloiver, and settled in Massachusetts. His father (1808-1882) was a Methodist clergyman. The son went to sea on a merchant vessel in 1838; visited a majority of the ports and islands of the globe and nearly all the islands in the Pacific ocean; spent one sum- mer in the Antarctic and two winters in the Arctic ocean; served in the Chinese navy as cox- swain, and in the Argentine navy as commander under Commodore Coe. He also served through- out the Argentine war, returning at its close to the merchant service. Upon the outbreak of the civil war, he joined the Harriet Lane under Capt. John Faunce; served as aide and signal officer; was at the faU of Fort Sumter. S.C.; was temporarily attached to the fiag-sliip Wahash, North Atlantic squadron, under Dupont, and took part in the battle of Port Royal, S.C. He was appointed clerk and fleet signal officer to Farragut; served on the flag-ship Hartford dur- ing the capture of the forts below New Orleans, and was personally commended for gallantry. He was sent north on the gunboat Cayuga as bearer of dispatches, arriving at Hampton Roads during the fight between the Monitor and the Merrimac, and acted as signal officer to President Lincoln, and as aide and signal officer to Com-