Semi=weekly graphic., 1898-01-15
WAS 79 YEARS OLD AND THE OLDEST LANDMARK IN SOUTHEAST ARKAN-
 SAS.
Died at 3 O'Clock this Morning of LaGrippe.-A Biographical
 Sketch of His Life.

and his death was not a surprise. A number of the members of his family were gathered at his bedside when the end came.
 He is one of the oldest citizens of Southeast Arkansas, and has been prominent in literary. religious, po- litical and business circles for many years. His tall and straight figure gave him a commanding appearance, and his long gray beard made him look like one of the patriaehs of old.
 The arrangements for the funeral have not as yet been perfected.
 BIOGRAPHICAL.
 The following biographical sketch of Judge Bocage is taken from the Biographical and Historical Mem oirs of Central Arkansas" published in 1889:
 From the biography of every man there may be gleaned some lessons of genuine worth, for here are dis covered the secrets of his success or failure. In the history of Mir. BO- cage, one of the pioneers of the city, and one of it's most prominent men, is found much to commend. He was born on the Island of St, Lucia, May 8, 1819, and Is the son of William and Marie Ann (Lavoisier) Bocage, the mother q niece of the celebrated French chemist, Antoine Laurent Lavoisier, who was the originator of the gasometer and dlscoverer of oxygen. He was born August 26, 1743, and was guillotined on May 8, 1794, by the revolutiOnists of Paris, He was condemned on account of his wealth, and after sentence was pass ed, he asked for three days respite that he might complete a fine piece of chemical analysis, but that was denied him. The paternal grand father, Joseph Isadore Boeage, was descended from an illustrious family whose estates were in the old pro- vince, the Bocagc, now known as the La Vendee, in France. He came to the United States, in company with others, in 1795. fleeing from the French Revolution, settling in New London, Conn.,, where he married Miss Elizabeth Colt, daughter of Capt. William Colt, of Revolutionary fame. Some years after his marriage he went to the Isle Ot St. Lucia, where he purchased q sugar and cof- fee estate. He also engaged in mer- cantile and shipping business, deal ing largely in sugar and coffee, which business proved lucrative, and he be- came very wealthy. He died in ISIS. William Bocage. father of the sub ject of this skeech, was born in New London, where he received unusually good educational advantages, fin- ishing his education at an English college.
 He went to St. Lucia, married. and died there in his twenty-first year, leaving a young wife and child, the latter then only five months old, and the subject of this sketch. William Bocage was one of three sons Joseph, William and Charles. Joseph went supercargo of one of his fathers vessels, and died in Boston harbOr. 
 Charles went to France when sixteen years of age, attended military school, and became a French officer of prominence. He was killed in the Crimean War, while storming Inker- man heights. The act of the British Parliment, known as the Wilber. force and Charming act of emancipa' tion. freeing tho slaves, caused the survivors Of the family to come tC the United States. Joseph w. Bo cage was then three years of age and could speak only the French language. They made their home in New York city, where the mother died, and was buried in old Trinity church yard. His mother, while or her death-bed, gave her son to [ paternal cousin, Miss Sarah Anr Ellington, Of Wilmington, N. O., a daughter of Gen John A. Ellington of revolutionary fame, with whom he remained until sixteen years of age, attending the best schools during that time. The Lill ington family were wealthy, whicl fact enabled his foster mother to giyt him excellent opportunities for nc quiring an education.s Seeing h, could expect nothing from his St Lucia estate, and knowing he mus seek his own fort une, he decided tt venture at once, and at sixteen year of age he launched out upon tn
 troubled sea of life--his own pilot going first to Connecticut, thence t,
 Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati
 thence down the Mississippi to Vicks
 burg, remaining there some months
 In 1886, and in his eighteenth year
 he landed in Columbia, Chicot coun tv Ark whore ha remainad fn