April 18.—Hon. Stephen H. Gifford, Clerk of the Massachusetts Senate, died at his home in Duxbury. He was born in Pembroke, Mass., July 21, 1815, and while a boy earned his living on a farm. He learned the shoemaker's trade, and still later attended the academy in Hanover, N. H. Subsequently he became a teacher, and established a private school in Duxbury, in which he continued until 1885, excepting a year or two in which he was engaged in mercantile pursuits. In 1850 he was a member of the House; in 1851 was appointed an inspector in the Boston Custom House. During a few weeks in 1854 he was Assistant Clerk of the Senate, and the next year he was chosen as Assistant Clerk of the House. The Legislature of 1855 elected him as Auditor of Accounts, for which office he was nominated by the Republicans the same year. The party was defeated at the polls, and Mr. Gifford shared the fate of his friends. In 1857 he was again appointed Assistant Clerk of the House. In 1858 he was elected Clerk of the Senate, and held the office until his death. On March 10, 1882, a complimentary dinner was tendered Mr. Gifford in testimonial of his twenty-five years of clerkship.
April 19.—Hon. Charles Adams, Jr., formerly State Treasurer, died at his home in North Brookfield. Mr. Adams was born at Antrim, N. H., Jan. 31, 1819, and his long life since has been a most busy and useful one. In 1816 his father removed from New Hampshire to Massachusetts, settling at Oakham, and in the district schools of this town Charles Adams received the most of his early education. When sixteen years of age he began business as a clerk in a country store at Petersham, and there remained five years. He then became bookkeeper for J.B. Fairbanks & Co., at Ware, but after a year's service in this position left it to enter the employ of T. and E. Batcheller & Co., at North Brookfield, as their bookkeeper. For twenty-eight years he remained with Batcheller & Co., the last nine years being a partner in the firm. Mr. Adams was active in State and national politics, and served seventeen years at the State House in various capacities, as member of the Legislature, Senate, and Council, and as State Treasurer from 1870 to 1875. He was married May 8, 1834, and on May 8, 1884, celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the marriage. Of late years he has given his attention to genealogical and historical matters connected with the town of North Brookfield. Mr. Adams was an upright, honest man, enjoying the highest confidence of the community in which he lived.
April 22.—Deacon Nathaniel Hatch, of Bradford, Mass., died suddenly of heart disease. He was a graduate of Bowdoin, class of 1844; had been a teacher and a business man.
April 23.—Hon. John Phelps, who was born in Hubbardston, Mass., in 1824, died at New Orleans. He went South at the age of twenty-two; was one of the founders, and became President of the New Orleans Cotton Exchange, and later President of the National Cotton Exchange.
April 24.—Death of Maj. Albert L. Richardson, for thirty years postmaster of Montvale, in Woburn, Mass.