January 19.--Death, at Springfield, Mass., of Benjamin Weaver, one of the founders of the _Springfield Union_. He was the most active and influential Democrat in that city.
January 21.--The Hon. Samuel Metcalf Wheeler, a prominent citizen of Dover, N.H., died after a protracted illness. He was born in Newport, N.H., May 11, 1823; educated in the seminary at Claremont, N.H., the military academy at Windsor, Vt., and the Newbury Seminary; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1847; soon after moved to Dover, and became a partner with ex-Congressman Hall. In 1858 the partnership was dissolved. He represented Dover in the Legislature for five years; was a member of the Constitutional Convention, Speaker of the House; was a candidate for Congress in the Republican Convention in the First District, twice being defeated by only one vote, and he received the honorary degree of M.A. from Dartmouth. He was at one time president of the Dover National Bank.
January 23.--Death at Chester, Vt., of Deacon A. B. Martin, well-known and much respected through that region. He was aged sixty-three. He was formerly a member of the State Legislature, and had held a number of offices of trust.
January 28.--Death in New York of Henry P. Kidder, the Boston banker. He was born in Boston, in 1821. During his youth he received the common-school education of those days, displaying in his studies much of the keen sagacity and clearness of intellect which characterized his future business career. Although never a college student, he was always what may justly be termed a well-read man, and, indeed, a learned one. At fifteen years of age he went a mere boy into the wholesale grocery house of Coolidge & Haskell, a firm well-known to many of Boston's older residents. In his capacity as clerk he displayed a marked ability, and won for himself the commendation of his employers. In 1842 Charles Head obtained for him a position in the banking-house of John E. Thayer & Brother. In twelve years he became a partner, and so continued until 1865, when a new firm was started, under the present name of Kidder, Peabody, & Co. Twenty years of unexampled prosperity have placed it in the foremost rank of America's banking establishments.