Middletown transcript., 1895-06-01
DEATH OF MIR. GRESHAM.

= His sickness began May 1st, with
pleurisy, which, however, yielded to
treatment, and until relapse on last
Saturday, his recovery was believed
to be assured. He leaves wife, son
and a daughter. Walter Quintin
Gresham was soldier, judge and a
statesman, eminent and distinguished
in these three great fields of human
endeavor. He rose to the rank of
major-general of volunteers during the
civil war. He was for fourteen years
United States district Judge for In
. diana and for eight years United States
: circuit judge for Illinois and held three
cabinet portfolios: Postmaster General
and Secretary of the Treasury under
President Arthur and Secretary of
State under President Cleveland. Mr..
Gresham came from English stock.
His ancestors moved to what is now
Kent county, Md, and later to Har-
risOn county, Indiana, where he was
born on st. Patrick's Day, 1882. His
: grandfather was farmer, honest,
faithful and courageous, particularly
: noted for his piety. He was devout
Methodist, and for many years his
home was the place of worship for
Axley, Cartwright and other famous
circuit riders. lis father learned the
cabinet-making trade, which he pursued
industriously, together with farming.
His courage made him popular idol
in his neighborhood, and he became
colonel of militia. His mother, Sarah
Davis, was of Scotch Irish descent.
The house in which she lived until her
death, few years ago, and in which
her distinguished son was born, was
a humble cottage, perhaps twenty feet
wide and thirty long, story and half
In front standing on the side of hill
past which runs the old Indiana State
road. Until his mothers death Jude
Gresham often visited her there and
spent day or two in his b,yish
| hauntS.
Judge Gresham was a candidate for
the Republican nomination for Presi.
dent in both 1884 and 1888. In 1883
he received Ill votss on the first ballot;
his vote rose to 123 on the third bollot,
and then dwindled to SO on the eighth
and last.
The Peoples party in convention at
Omaha in 1892 practically offered
Judge Gresham its Presidential nomi-
nation, which he positively refused.
Judge Gresham was considered the |
IDEAL candidate by the Populists be-
cause of his lifelong opposition to
tyranny, oppression, and injustice of |
any sort.
Judge Gresham's final departure
flom the party at whose birth he had |
assisted came in the last campaign.
He announced his intention of voting
for Mr.. Cleveland in letter dated |
October 22i, 1892, and addressed TO
Major Bluford Wilson, who was Solic-
itor of the Treasury under Grant.
After Mr.. Cleveland was elected in
February, 1898, he summoned Judge
Gresham to Lakewood, N. j., where,
after IA consultation, he rendered him
the position Of Premier of the Cabinet
he WAS forming. Judge Gresham ac-
cepted and assumed the duties of Sec
retary of State on March 7th, 1898.
AS Secretary of State MI. Gresham
has had to deal with more intricate
and vexatious diplomatic questions
than have fallen to the lot of the most
of his predecessors;the Hawaiian affair,
Samoan troubles, Behring Sea matter,
being among the most notable. He
was hard worker, IA close student and
very thorough in his research for facts
on all sides of a question.
In appearances Gresham was some
what slender-in youth remarkably so
six feet tall, his black beard and hair
turI ed to an iron gray. His eyes We're
hazel, full and large with the power to
threaten and command" but soft and
amiable in familiar conversation. His
voice was pleasing and consorted well
with his habitual demeanor, which
was quiet and modest. As a man he
was kind, generous and frank.
Judge Gresham was married in 1858.
His wife was Kentuckian. They have
two children, a son, Otto Gresham,
and "a married daughter, Mrs. Andrews
Mrs. Gresham has gone into society
only as woman ofquiet and domestic
taste would 60. She was brought up in
the Presbyterian faith, and still i'll
clines to that doctrine. Her particu.
lar occupation, out of the domestic
pale, is philanthropic work.
The Judges religious convictions {
were those of a calm and temperate {
man. AT one time the story spread {
abroad that he was an atheist, That '
has been disproved. AS boy he was {
reared Ne thodist. After his mar {
riage he went with his wife to the 8
Presbyterian Church. Since he lived
in Chicago he has been follower of i
Prof. Swing. He is not an unbeliever q
and he is never offensive to church a
people. An intimate friend defines
his position thus a
"He believes in future life and in
the existence of Supreme Being, but
probably he would not wish to be put
on the stand for rigid cross-examina-
tion as to what lie believes and what ;
he disbelieves, and would find it pretty :.
difficult to make categorical state n
ment on the subject, as like many of q
his cOuntrymen. he inherits his relig-
ion from his mother and preserves it ,
through his wife,"