Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 09.djvu/490

 STEARNS

STEARNS

of the foundersof "Wateitowu. Mass.. beingadmit- ted fieeinaii in 1G31. Oliver Stearns was brought up on a farm ; attended the district schools and the academy at New Ipswicii. Mass.. having in the meantime studied under private instruction ; earned his college tuition by teaching, and was graduated from Harvard, A.B., 1826, A.M., 1829, B.D., 1830. He was usher in a private school at Jamaica Plain, Mass., 1827 ; tutor in mathematics at Harvard. 1827-29 ; pastor of the Second (Uni- tarian) church, Northampton. Mass., 1831-39, and of the Third church, Hingham. Mass., 1839-56. He was president of the :Meadville (Pa.) Theolo- gical school, 1850-03 : Parkman professor of pulpit eloquence and the pastoral care, and lec- turer on Christian theology at Harvard college, 1863-69 ; Parkman professor of theology, 1869- 78. and dean of the Divinity school, 1870-78. Professor Stearns was twice married : first, in 1832, to Mary Blood Sterling ; and secondly, 1872. to Mrs. Augusta Hannali Bayley. The honorary degree of D.D. was conferred upon him by Harvard in 1857. Dr. Stearns died in Cam- bridge. Mass., July 18, 1885.

STEARNS, Onslow, governor of New Hamp- shire, was born in Billerica. Mass., Aug. 30, 1810; Bon of John and Mary (Lane) Stearns ; grandson of Isaac and Sarah (Abbot) Stearns, great-grand- son of Obed Abbot, and a descendant of Isaac and Mary Stearns, who came to America in the ship Arbella with Governor Winthrop, Sir Richard Saltonstall and others. They landed in Salem. Mass., June 12, 1630. and soon after settled in Watertown, Mass. Onslow Stearns attended the local academy ; removed to Boston in 1827, and to Virginia in 1830. With his brother he was employed in building the Chesapeake and Oliio canal, and in 1833, forming a partnership, contracted to build several large railways. He removed to New Hampshire in 1837. and was married, June 26, 1845, to Mary Abbot, daughter of Adin and Polly (Warren) Holbrook of Lowell, Mass., who died in Concord, N.H., in 1895. He was president of the Northern railroad, 1852-78, and (»f tlie Concord and Old Colony railroads ; a Republican state senator, 1862-64, serving as president of the senate during his last term ; was a delegate to the Republican national convention in Baltimore in 1864, and was governor of New Hampshire. 1809-71. H.,- died at Concord, N.H., Dec. 29, 1878.

STEARNS, Ozora Pierson, .soldier, senator and jurist, was born in De Kalb, N.Y,, Jan. 15. 1831 ; son of Asaph and Lovisa (Smith) Stearns : grandson of Abraham and Esther (Warren) Steams, and a dt-scendant of Charles Stearns. who arrived at Watertown, Mass., 1046. He was graduatfd from the University of Michigan. B..S. 1858, LL.B. 1860, became prosecuting attorney

for Olmstead county, Minn., and in August, 1863, enlisted as 1st lieutenant in tlie 9ti» Minnesota volunteers. On Feb. 18, 1863, he was married to Saraii Burger, then a teaclier, and leader in seek- ing the higlier education of women. He was commissioned colonel of the 39th U.S. colored in- fantry in April, 1864, and served under Burnside at Petersburg, losing heavily at the Crater ; was with Gen. Terry when Fort Fisher capitulated, and mustered out in tiie North Carolina district. He was again county attorney, and register in bank- ruptcy, and was U.S. senator, completing the unexpired term of Daniel S. Norton, who died, July 13, 1870. serving from Jan. 18 to March 3, 1871. In April, 1872, he removed to Duluth, and was judge of the 11th judicial district from Jan- uary, 1874, to January, 1894. He died in San Diego. Cal., June 2, 1890.

STEARNS, Sarah Burger, reformer, was born in New York city, Nov. 30, 1836 ; daugliter of Edward Gale and Susan (Vanderhoof ) Burger ; granddaughter of John and Elizabeth (Gale) Burger, and of Mathew and Elizabeth Vanderhoof. She was graduated from the Normal school at Ypsilanti, Mich., and in 1858 induced a class of young women to apply with her for admission to the University of Michigan. This was the first movement of the sort, and the agitation was con- tinued until successful in 1869. She was mar- ried, Feb. 18, 1803, to Ozora Pierson Stearns (q. v.), and devoted herself to home-making, to literaiy, pliilanthropic, and social purity work, to woman's enfranchisement, and other reforms.

STEARNS, William Augustus, educator, was born in Bedford, Mass., March 17, 1805 ; son of the Rev. Samuel Stearns, pastor of the Congrega- tional church in Bedford, for forty years. He attended Piiilips academy, Andover, ]\lass ; was graduated from Harvard, A.B., 1827, A.M., 1830, and from Andover Theological seminary in 1831. He was ordained to the Congregational ministry, Dec. 14, 1831 ; was pastor of the Prospect Street church, Cambridgeport, Mass., 1831-54, and was chosen president of Amlierst college in 1854, to succeed the Rev. Edward Hitchcock, resigned, administering the affairs of the college until his death. He was an overseer of Harvard col- lege, 1848-54 ; a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a member of the Massa- chusetts Historical society. The honorary degree of S.T.D. was conferred upon him by Harvard in 1853, and that of LL.D. by the College of New Jersey in 1862. He is the author of : Infant Church Memhcrship (1844) ; Ivf ant Church Mem- bers' Guide (1845); Life and Select Disconises of the Rev. Samuel H. Stea)')is (1846) ; Discourses and Addresses (1855); and .1 Plea for the Xation, posthumous (1876). He died in Amiierst, Mass., June 8, 1876.