St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1898-07-06

guns in action. He knows more about
modern rifed ordnance than most naval
officers, as he was inspector of ordnance
at the Washington navy yard for three
years. He helped in the installment of
the present fine gun factory there, and
from 1898 to 1897 he was chief of the
bureau Of naval ordnance.
His being appointed president Of the
board of inquiry regarding the Maine
u1sasrer ana as successor to Admiral
Sicard in command of the north At
lantic squadron is too recent to require
more than incidental mention.
SIMPSONS Career In Brief.
A tabulated resume of the principal
events in Admiral SIMPSONS private
and public career will convey to thu
reader at glance the various stages in
his life up to the present:
lS4O-Born at Palmyra. N. Y.
lS4S-Schoar in the public schools.
lS52-Splitting wood, raking hay and doing
general chores to earn money for higher
education.
lS1-Appointed to the Naval academy at An
napolis by Congressman E. B. Morgan Of
New York.
18e0-Graduated from Annapolis with the rank
Of lieutenant and assigned to duty ON the
frigate Potomac.
1S6l-Promoted to master.
1S62-Commissioned as lieutenant July 10 and
assigned W the practice ship John Adams
lS63-4-Instruclor at the Naval academy.
lS65-Assigned to the ironclad Patapsco Of the
eli 10
executive ficer Of that vessel when she
was blown up in Charleston harbor Jan. Is,
1866
1866 Commissioned lieutenant commander on
the Colorado, flagship Of the European
squadron.
1s6S-Special service at Annapolis Naval acad-
envy for three years.
lS72-Assigned to steamship Congress Of the
European squadron.
| lS74-Commssioned as commander and assign
ed to the Alert
1S76-8-Special service at the Naval academy,
Annapolis.
1S70-S2-In command of steamship Swatara Of
the Asiatc squadron.
18S2-5-Special service at the Naval observatory
and member Of the international print
meridian and time conference in 1884.
18S6-Member Of board on Notifications and
defenses.
1887. Disappointment of Naval academy al
Annapolis; delegate from United States I'd
international maritime conference, Wash.
ington, in 1889; promoted to captain the
same year.
1S9l-Made commander of the ironclad San
Francisco.
lS92-First commander of the battleship Iowa
ls93-7-Chief Of the bureau of naval ordnance
lS9S-President of board of inquiry of the
Maine disaster and subsequently succeeded
Admiral Scard in command of the north
Atlantic squadron.
Admiral Sampson at Home.
To form an estimate of q man S real
character and his personality those facts
relating to his private life as an indi
vidual are invaluable and show the per
son as he is uninfluenced by official life
and environment, which SO often OBJ
scure the real self.
In his private as in his public charac
ter Admiral Sampson stands the tes
equally well, and in all those relation
ships attached to home life he hal
proved himself worthy not only of com
mendation, but of imitation as well.
Admiral Sampson has been twic,
married. His first wife, to whom b,
was married in 1862, was Margaret, ;
daughter of the late David S. Aldrich
one of the leading business men of Pal
myra. The admiral has many relative
still living in the vicinity of Palmyra
and he visits his old home as often q
possible. He owns the famous Mormon
Hill farm, upon which is'the hill wher
Joseph Smith dug, as he alleged tn
golden plates from which the Book O
Mormon was printed by the late Majo
Gilbert on an old hand printing press a
present owned in Rose, Wayne county
George Sampson works this Mormon
Hill farm for his brother The old bricl
house on johnson street, at the soutl
end of Prospect hill, still stands, and
was there that the future admiral wa
born.
BY his first marriage he had tw,
daughters, one of whom is m; ried t.
Lieutenant Roy @. Smith and the 9th
er to Ensign R. H. jackson. It was En-
sign jackson who while cadet servin,
at Apia led the tackles to the tops dur
ing the terrible Samoan HURRICANE an,