Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1923-10-03
lanes Gates Percival
PoeScients Century Buried
Worth OF
His
(By William H. Pearson, 215 A St.
S. E., Washington, d. CD

ASOCS@ANAS'
| Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, d.
c., l paused at bookstore and
t glanced over some old secondhand
! books, among which were the poems
| volumes. l was at once interested,
! for, while having read some of his
poems at intervals and having read a
good deal about him. had, it seemed,
never seen an edition of his poems.
Quickly deciding to purchase the little
volumes, published in 1859, l remark
/ ed TO the dealer that they meant much
to me in view of the fact that the au-
thor's grave was il the Wisconsin
county from which l had come TO
Washington. This incident OCCASION
! ed the writing of this article.
Buried at Hazel Green.
Truly, that grave at Hazel Green
contains the remains of man once
famous. Surely, motorists with an
historic and artistic appreciation,
! travelling near Hazel Green in Grant
county, should be cognizant of the fact
! that there was buried there in 1855 a
man who was once big figure in the
literary world of this country. Some
one has said that we get comparative
| ly little out of Rome unless we take
! something to it-a well-stored mind
on Roman history. Now, Percival,
| born in 1895 in Connecticut, the son
+. of a village doctor, was a graduate of
| Yale, being a classmate of John M.
Clayton, Secretary of State under
President Taylor. He was a great
linguist, knowing ten languages; a
musician; a skilled botanist; a prac-
| teal geologist, having made surveys
of Connecticut and Wisconsin; ply
stefan, who failed in practice; and a
poet, widely known in his generation.
1t should be known, too, that he play
| ed a large part in the compilation OF
| Noah Webster's dictionary, in which
work his scientific learning and
knowledge of many languages made
his services very valuable; that he
was for a time professor of chemistry
at West Point Military Academy;
army surgeon at Boston; a tutor; a
lecturer; an editor; that he was offer
ed a professorship of languages in
Hampden4 Sidney College in Virginia;
that, being a Universalist in religion,
he thought of entering the ministry;
and that he died at Hazel Green and
was buried there while Investigating
the mineral resources OF Wisconsin,
taking sick in December, 1855, and
dying in May, 1856. His career was,
therefore, one of many-sided activity.
Disappointed in Love.
Disappointed in love, the poet never
married His lot was usually a hard
one-one of loneliness, poverty, dis
appointment, and ill-health. He was
shy, sensitive, egotistical, melancholy,
and eccentric. In fact, he made two
attempts on his life when young
man In financial matters, he was
shiftless He was also inconstant,
pursuing untiringly some line OF en-
deavor for time only to turn sudden
ly to some other subject in which he
would become equally absorbed. But
| in his geological work. taken up when
he realized that his poetry was not
source of profit to him, he was unre-
hitting in his efforts. His life was
one of marked purity and his love OF
| nature was a passion. 1t will be seen,
then, that the mans personality was
| far from simple.
So, with the thought of his dying
among strangers at the little town OF
Hazel Green and with the thought of
/ the lonely grave at that place, I'M
marked for years, have gone sympa-
| thetically through his poems and have
been amazed at the number he wrote,
the wonderful f1uency with which he
wrote, and the great learning display
ed.
Died Poor With $4,000 Library.
| 1t is said that Percival, often too
poor to buy nourishing food, left a
| library of several thousand volumes,
which sold for $4,000.
Had Influential Friends.
| The man must have had charm for
all through his life he had friends
| friends, who in spite Of his peculiar
personality, helped to get him posi-
tions; to retain his vast library; anG
to build that curious home in Connec-
ticut, significantly having no door IN
front, for himself and his books--a
home which he left in tears, it is said,
when going to Wisconsin to resume
for the last time his geological work.
We find, for instance, j. Kenmore
Cooper, the novelist, taking him into
his home in New York City for several
weeks at period when PercivaPs Ia
bors were proving unfruitful finan-
claIly. ana, aEC0T the grave dC I1dHcl
Green had been without monument
| for many a year, admirers in another
generation erected stone, bearing
this inscription:
James Gates Percival
born in
Berlin, Connecticut
September Is, 1895
Graduated at Yale College
B. A. 1915. M. d. 1920.
State Geologist
of
Connecticut, 1S33-1842.
State Geologist
of
Wisconsin, 1S54-1S56.
Died in Hazel Green
May 2, 1856.
Eminent as a Poet
Rarely Accomplished as
Linguist.
A i,,C 0;n