USSELL
SAGE, one of the financial giants of the present century and for
more than an average generation one of the most conspicuous and
celebrated of Americans, was born in a frontier hamlet in central
New York in August, 1816. While Russell was still a boy an elder
brother, Henry Risley Sage, established a small grocery store at
Troy, New York, and here Russell found his first employment, as
errand boy. He served a five-years apprenticeship, and then joined
another brother, Elisha M. Sage, in a new venture in the same
line, which proved profitable, at least for Russell, who soon
became its sole owner. Next he formed the partnership of Sage
& Bates, and greatly extended his field of operations. At
twenty-five he had, by his own exertions, amassed what was, in
those days, a considerable fortune, being worth about seventy-five
thousand dollars. He had acquired an influence in local politics,
and four years later his party, the Whigs, elected him to the
aldermanic board of Troy and to the treasuryship of Rensselaer
county. In 1848 he was a prominent member of the New York
delegation to the Whig convention at Philadelphia, casting his
first votes for Henry Clay, but joining the "stampede" which
nominated Zachary Taylor. In 1850 the Whigs of Troy nominated him
for congress, but he was not elected ---a failure which he
retrieved two years later, and in 1854 he was re-elected by a
sweeping majority. At Washington he ranked high in influence and
ability. Fame as a speaker and as a political leader was within
his grasp, when he gave up public life, declined a renomination to
congress, and went back to Troy to devote himself to his private
business. Six years later, in 1863, he removed to New York and
plunged into the arena of Wall street. A man of tireless
pertinacity. boundless energy and with wonderful judgment of men
and things, he soon took his place as a king in finance, and, it
is said, during the latter part of his life he controlled more
ready money than any other single individual on this
continent.
OGER
QUARLES MILLS, a noted United States senator and famous as the
father of the '' Mills tariff bill," was born in Todd county,
Kentucky, March 30, 1832. He received a liberal education in the
common schools, and removed to Palestine, Texas, in 1849. He took
up the study of law, and supported himself by serving as an
assistant in the post-office, and in the offices of the court
clerks. In 1850 he was elected engrossing clerk of the Texas house
of representatives, and in 1852 was admitted to the bar, while
still a minor, by special act of the legislature. He then settled
at Corsicana, Texas. and began the active practice of his
profession. He was elected to the state legislature in 1859, and
in 1872 he was elected to congress from the state at large, as a
Democrat. After his first election he was continuously returned to
congress until he resigned to accept the position of United States
senator, to which he
AZEN
S. PINGREE, the celebrated Michigan political leader, was born in
Maine in 1842. Up to fourteen years of age he worked hard on the
stony ground of his father's small farm. Attending school in the
winter, he gained a fair education, and when not laboring on the
farm, he found employment in the cotton mills in the vicinity. He
resolved to find more steady work, and accordingly went to
Hopkinton, Massachusetts, where he entered a shoe factory, but on
the outbreak of the war he enlisted at once and was enrolled in
the First Massachusetts Heavy Artillery. He participated in the
battle of Bull Run, which was his initial fight, and served
creditably his early term of service, at the expiration of which
he re-enlisted. He fought in the battles of Fredricksburg, Harris
Farm, Spottsylvania Court House and Cold Harbor. In 1864 he was
captured by Mosby, and spent five months at Andersonville,
Georgia, as a prisoner, but escaped at the end of that time. He
re-entered the service and participated in the battles of Fort
Fisher, Boyden, and Sailor's Creek. He was honorably mustered out
of service, and in 1866 went to Detroit, Michigan, where he made
use of his former experience in a shoe factory, and found work.
Later he formed a partnership with another workman and started a
small factory, which has since become a large establishment. Mr.
Pingree made his entrance into politics in 1889, in which year he
was elected by a surprisingly large majority as a Republican to
the mayoralty of Detroit, in which office he was the incumbent
during four consecutive terms. In November, 1896, he was elected
governor of the state of Michigan. While mayor of Detroit, Mr.
Pingree originated and put into execution the idea of allowing the
poor people of the city the use of vacant city lands and lots for
the purpose of raising potatoes. The idea was enthusiastically
adopted by thousands of poor families, attracted wide attention,
and gave its author a national reputation as "Potato-patch
Pingree." 
HOMAS
ANDREW HENDRICKS, an eminent American statesman and a Democratic
politician of national fame, was born in Muskingum county, Ohio,
September 7, 1819. In 1822 he removed, with his father, to Shelby
county, Indiana. He graduated from the South Hanover College in
1841, and two years later was admitted to the bar. In 1851 he was
chosen a member of the state constitutional convention, and took a
leading part in the deliberations of that body. He was elected to
congress in 1851, and after serving two terms was appointed
commissioner of the United States general land-office. In 1863 he
was elected to the United States senate, where his distinguished
services commanded the respect of all parties. He was elected
governor of Indiana in 1872, serving four years, and in
ARRETT
A. HOBART, one of the many able men who have held the high office
of vice-president of the United States, was born June 3, 1844, in
Monmouth county, New Jersey, and in 1860 entered the sophomore
class at Rutgers College, from which he graduated in 1863 at the
age of nineteen. He then taught school until he entered the law
office of Socrates Tuttle, of Paterson, New Jersey, with whom he
studied law, and in 1869 was admitted to the bar. He immediately
began the active practice of his profession in the office of the
above named gentleman. He became interested in political life, and
espoused the cause of the Republican party, and in 1865 held his
first office, serving as clerk for the grand jury. He was also
city counsel of Paterson in 1871, and in May, 1872, was elected
counsel for the board of chosen freeholders. He entered the state
legislature in 1873, and was re-elected to the assembly in 1874.
Mr. Hobart was made speaker of the assembly in 1876, and in 1879
was elected to the state senate. After serving three years in the
same, he was elected president of that body in 1881, and the
following year was re-elected to that office. He was a
delegate-at-large to the Republican national convention in 1876
and 1880, and was elected a member of the national committee in
1884, which position he occupied continuously until 1896. He was
then nominated for vice-president by the Republican national
convention, and was elected to that office in the fall of 1896, on
the ticket with William McKinley. 
ILLIAM
MORRIS STEWART, noted as a political leader and senator, was born
in Lyons, Wayne county, New York, August 9, 1827, and removed with
his parents while still a small child to Mesopotamia township,
Trumbull county, Ohio. He attended the Lyons Union school and
Farmington Academy, where he obtained his education. Later he
taught mathematics in the former school, while yet a pupil, and
with the little money thus earned and the assistance of James C.
Smith, one of the judges of the supreme court of New York, he
entered Yale College. He remained there until the winter of
1849-50, when, attracted by the gold discoveries in California he
wended his way thither. He arrived at San Francisco in May, 1850,
and later engaged in mining with pick and shovel in Nevada county.
In this way he accumulated some money, and in the spring of 1852
he took up the study of law under John R. McConnell. The following
December he was appointed district attorney, to which office he
was chosen at the general election of the next year. In 1854 he
was appointed attorney-general of California, and in 1860 he
removed to Virginia City, Nevada, where he largely engaged in
early mining litigation. Mr. Stewart was also interested in the
development of the "Comstack lode," and in 1861 was chosen a
SHAM
G. HARRIS, famous as Confederate war governor of Tennessee, and
distinguished by his twenty years of service in the senate of the
United States, was born in Franklin county, Tennessee, and
educated at the Academy of Winchester. He then took up the study
of law, was admitted to the bar, and commenced practice at Paris,
Tennessee, in 1841. He was elected to the state legislature in
1847, was a candidate for presidential elector on the Democratic
ticket in 1848, and the next year was elected to congress from his
district, and re-elected in 1851. In 1853 he was re-nominated by
the Democrats of his
ELSON
DINGLEY, JR., for nearly a quarter of a century one of the leaders
in congress and framer of the famous "Dingley tariff bill," was
born in Durham, Maine, in 1832. His father as well as all his
ancestors, were farmers, merchants and mechanics and of English
descent. Young Dingley was given the advantages first of the
common schools and in vacations helped his father in the store and
on the farm. When twelve years of age he attended high school and
at seventeen was teaching in a country school district and
preparing himself for college. The following year he entered
Waterville Academy and in 1851 entered Colby University. After a
year and a half in this institution he entered Dartmouth College
and was graduated in 1855 with high rank as a scholar, debater and
writer. He next studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1856.
But instead of practicing his profession he purchased the
"Lewistown (Me.) Journal," which became famous throughout the New
England states as a leader in the advocacy of Republican
principles. About the same time Mr. Dingley began his political
career, although ever after continuing at the head of the
newspaper. He was soon elected to the state legislature and
afterward to the lower house of congress, where he became a
prominent national character. He also served two terms as governor
of Maine. 
LIVER
PERRY MORTON, a distinguished American statesman, was born in
Wayne county, Indiana, August 4, 1823. His early education was by
private teaching and a course at the Wayne County Seminary. At the
age of twenty years he entered the Miami University at Oxford,
Ohio, and at the end of two years quit the college, began the
study of law in the office of John Newman, of Centerville,
Indiana, and was admitted to the bar in 1847.
OHN
B. GORDON, a brilliant Confederate officer and noted senator of
the United States, was born in Upson county, Georgia, February 6,
1832. He graduated from the State University, studied law, and
took up the practice of his profession. At the beginning of the
war he entered the Confederate service as captain of infantry, and
rapidly
TEPHEN
JOHNSON FIELD, an illustrious associate justice of the supreme
court of the United States, was born at Fladdam, Connecticut,
November 4, 1816, being one of the noted sons of Rev. D. D. Field.
He graduated from Williams College in 1837. took up the study of
law with his brother, David Dudley Field, becoming his partner
upon admission to the bar. He went to California in 1849, and at
once began to take an active interest in the political affairs of
that state. He was elected alcalde of Marvsville, in 1850, and in
the autumn of the same year was elected to the state legislature.
In 1857 he was elected judge of the supreme court of the state,
and two years afterwards became its chief justice. In 1863 he was
appointed by President Lincoln as associate justice of the supreme
court of the United States. During his incumbency, in 1873, he was
appointed by the governor of California one of a commission to
examine the codes of the state and for the preparation of
amendments to the same for submission to the legislature.
INCINNATUS
HEINE MILLER, known in the literary world as Joaquin Miller, "the
poet of the Sierras," was born at Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1841. When
only about thirteen years of age he ran away from home and went to
the mining regions in California and along the Pacific coast. Some
time afterward he was taken prisoner by the Modoc Indians and
lived with them for five years. He learned their language and
gained great influence with them, fighting in their wars, and in
all modes of living became as one of them. In 1858 he left the
Indians and went to San Francisco, where he studied law, and in
1860 was admitted to the bar in Oregon. In 1866 he was elected a
county judge in Oregon and served four years. Early in the
seventies he began devoting a good deal of time to literary
pursuits, and about 1874 he settled in Washington, D. C. He wrote
many poems and dramas that attracted considerable attention and
won him an extended reputation. Among his productions may be
mentioned "Pacific Poems," "Songs of the Sierras," ''Songs of the
Sun Lands," "Ships in the Desert," "Adrianne, a Dream of Italy,"
"Danites," ''Unwritten History," "First Families of the Sierras
"(a novel), "One Fair Woman" (a novel), "Songs of Italy,"
''Shadows of Shasta," "The Gold-Seekers of the Sierras," and a
number of others.
