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VINTON, John Rogers, soldier, born in Providence, Rhode Island, 16 June, 1801; died near Vera Cruz, Mexico, 22 March, 1847. He was graduated at the United States military academy in 1817, served in Florida and Mexico, and was killed by the windage of a cannon-ball, at the siege of Vera Cruz. He had become captain in the 3d artillery on 28 December, 1835. He was brevetted major on 23 September, 1846, for gallantry at Monterey, and the degree of A. M. was given him by Brown in 1837.--His brother, David Hammond, soldier, born in Providence, Rhode Island, 4 May, 1803; died in Stamford, Connecticut, 21 February, 1873, was graduated at the United States military academy in 1822, was commissioned to the 4th artillery, and in 1823 transferred to the infantry. After a term of garrison and special duty, he was sent to Florida in 1836, where he was employed on quartermaster duty, and in 1837 was made quartermaster-general of Florida. He continued in this service until 1846, in which year he was made chief quartermaster on the staff of General John E. Wool, with the rank of major, and served in Mexico. He was chief quartermaster of the Department of the West in 1852-'6, of the Department of Texas in 1857-'61, and was taken prisoner upon the surrender of General Twiggs to the Confederates in February, 1861. Being exchanged after a few months, in August, 1861, he was made deputy quartermaster-general and chief quartermaster at New York, where until 1866 he rendered valuable services. In 1864 he was brevetted, for faithful and meritorious services, colonel and brigadier-general. In 1866 he became assistant quartermaster-general, and in the same year was placed upon the retired list.--Another brother, Alexander Hamilton, clergyman, born in Providence, Rhode Island, 2 May, 1807; died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 26 April, 1881, studied at Brown and was graduated at the medical department of Yale in 1828. He settled in Pomfret, Connecticut, and there practised his profession for three years. Then entering the General theological seminary of the Protestant Episcopal church he was graduated in 1835 and ordained deacon on 28 June, 1835, by Bishop Benjamin T. Onderdonk. He had charge of St. Paul's in Portland, Maine, in 1835, and was made priest by Bishop Griswold on 5 October, 1836. His successive parishes thereafter were Grace church, Providence, Rhode Island (1836-'42) ; St. Paul's, Boston (1842-'58) ; Holy Trinity, Philadelphia (1858-'61); St. Mark's, New York city (1861-'9) ; and Emmanuel church, Boston (1869-'77). Returning to Pomfret, where he had retained his home, he continued during the winters to lecture on systematic divinity at the Episcopal divinity-school in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The degree of S. T. D. was conferred on him by the University of the city of New York in 1843, and by Harvard in 1853. Dr. Vinton was a candidate for the bishopric of Pennsylvania in 1845, but was defeated by Alonzo Potter. He was among the most active of the "low church" party of the Protestant Episcopal church Dr. Vinton was the author of a volume of "Sermens" (Philadelphia, 1855); "Lectures on Evidences of Christianity" (1855) ; and "Sermons" (Boston, 1867); besides which he published single sermons and contributed to reviews and magazines. -Another brother, Francis, soldier and clergyman, born in Providence, Rhode Island, 29 August, 1809; died in Brooklyn, New York, 29 September, 1872, was graduated at the United States military academy in 1830, and commissioned 2d lieutenant in the 3d artillery. Shortly afterward he was placed in charge of a detachment of troops destined to form part of the garrison of Fort Shelling, Minnesota, near where the city of St Paul now stands. He served against the Indians in Georgia and Alabama, receiving with other officers the thanks of congress and a grant of land in Indiana. He was next stationed at Fort Independence, Boston harbor, occupied his leisure in studying at the Cambridge law-school, and was admitted to the bar at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in 1834 In 1836 he resigned from the army and entered the General theological seminary of the Protestant Episcopal church. On 30 September, 1838, he was ordained deacon, and on 8 March, 1839, priest, by Bishop Griswold. The chief churches of which he was successively in charge were St. Stephen's, Providence, Rhode Island (1840-'2); Trinity, Newport, Rhode Island (1842-'4); Emanuel, and Grace, Brooklyn, New York (1844-'6); and Trinity, New York city (1855-'72). (See accompanying illustration.) He was repeatedly called to other parishes, and in 1848 was elected bishop of Indiana ; but to none of these invitations did he yield assent. In 1852 he was candidate for al bishopric of New York, but was defeated by one vote. In 1869 he was elected professor of ecclesiastical law and polity in the General theological seminary. In all the parishes of which lie had charge his oratory attracted large congregations. He was also widely known as a lecturer, and during the civil war was a frequent public speaker. He received the degree of S. T. D. from Columbia in 1848, that of D. C. L. from William and Mary in 1869. Dr. Vinton published "Arthur Tremaine, or Annals of Cadet Life" (New York, 1830); "Evidences of Christianity" (Philadelphia, 1855) ; "Oration on the Annals of Rhode Island and Providence Plantation" (New York, 1863); "Manual Commentary on the General Canon Law of the Protestant Episcopal Church" (New York, 1870); and many pamphlets and sermons.--Francis's son, Arthur Dudley, lawyer, born in Brooklyn, New York, 23 December, 1852, was educated at the Brooklyn polytechnic institute, was graduated at Columbia college law-school in 1873, and entered the law-office of Evarts, Southmayd and Choate, where he remained six years. In 1879 he formed a law partnership with Perry Belmont and George G. Frelinghuysen, under the firm-name of Vinton, Belmont and Frelinghuysen. In 1881 Mr. Frelinghuysen withdrew and in 1884 Mr. Belmont was elected to congress, and Mr. Vinton retired with fortune; but he had become an investor in railroads, which proved insolvent, and for which he had indorsed largely. He is now assistant to the editor of the "North American Review," and has published two novels, "The Pomfret Mystery" (New York, 1886), and "The Unpardonable Sin" (1888).--John Rogers's son, Francis Laurens, engineer, born in Fort Preble, Maine, 1 June, 1835; died in Leadville, Colonel, 6 October, 1879, was graduated at the United States military academy in 1856, and assigned to the 1st cavalry, but did not join his regiment, and on the expiration of his graduating leave of absence resigned on 30 September, and entered the Ecole des mines at Paris, where he received the degree of engineer of mines in 1860. He was then an instructor in Cooper union, New York city, and afterward in charge of explorations in Honduras till 5 August, 1861, when he was commissioned captain in the 16th infantry. On 31 October he became colonel of the 43d New York regiment, with which he served in the peninsular campaign, and after a month's leave of absence he took command of a brigade on 25 September, 1862, having been commissioned brigadier-general of volunteers on the 19th, and led it in the Maryland and Rappahannock campaigns till the battle of Fredericksburg, 13 December, 1862, where, his men being reluctant to advance, he himself headed the charge, and received a disabling wound that forced him to resign from the army on 5 May, 1863. His appointment as brigadier-general had expired on 3 March, 1863, but had been renewed ten days later. On 14 September, 1864, on the organization of Columbia school of mines, General Vinton became professor of mining engineering there, and in 1870 the duties of his chair were extended so as to include civil engineering; but he was retired on 15 August, 1877, and from that time till his death acted as a consulting mining engineer at Denver, Colorado He was not only an accomplished mathematician, but a good draughtsman and musician. Many of his contributions to mining journals, notably those to the "Engineering and Mining Journal," of which he was staff correspondent after he went to the west, , and his professional reports, were illustrated by his own hand. He was the author of "The Guardian," a poem (New York, 1869); also "Lectures on Machines," lithographed from notes (1869) ; and " Theory of the Strength of Materials" (1874).
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