V.

HENRY HOBART VAIL,   a  descendant  of Jeremiah Vail,   who was one of the

early settlers of Southold, Long Island, N. Y., was born in Pomfret, Vt., May 27,
1839. His father, Joshua Vail, was a farmer. Henry was educated at Middlebury
College, taught school for several years, and served one summer as a Union soldier in
the Civil War. In 1867, he entered the service of a publishing house in Cincinnati,
O., and later became a partner in the firm of Wilson, Hinkle & Co., publishers of
school books, and one of the partners in their successors, Van Antwerp, Bragg &
Co. This house rose to great prominence in the West. When the leading school
book publishers of the country united under the name of The American Book Co., the
Cincinnati firm joined in the enterprise. Mr. Vail is now a director and chairman of
the board in that organization, and has made his home in New York city since 1890.
He is president of the Aldine club, and a member of the Grolier, Colonial and Twilight
clubs, and The New England, Ohio, and New York Geneological and Biographical
Societies and The Society of Colonial Wars.

THEODORE NEWTON VAIL, born July 16, 1845, in Carrolton county, Ohio,
belongs to the Morris county family of Vails in New Jersey, descendants of John Vail,
a Quaker preacher, who settled in New Jersey in 1710. The family has always been
one of position and influence. Lewis Vail, civil engineer, grandfather of Theodore N.
Vail, early went to Ohio and was a pioneer in the building of canals and highways.
Stephen Vail, an uncle, founded The Speedwell Iron Works, near Morristown, N. J.,
at which was built most of the machinery for the first steamship which crossed the
Atlantic Ocean, sailing from Savannah, Ga. Here, also, Morse perfected and first
successfully operated the magnetic telegraph, Stephen Vail and his sons, George and
Alfred, supplying Morse with the money, and Alfred the mechanical ingenuity.
Alfred Vail invented the dot and dash alphabet, which has always been used in tele¬
graphing. William P. Vail of this family was a leading physician and church worker
in Northern New Jersey at Blairstown, and George Vail represented his section in
Congress and was one of the lay Judges of the New Jersey Court of Pardons.

Davis Vail, son of Lewis Vail, and father of the subject of this biography, born in
Ohio, came East at an early age, was connected with The Speedwell Iron Works, and
married Phoebe Quinby, daughter of Judge Isaac Quinby of Morris county. By this
marriage, he became related to three notable brothers in law. General Quinby, a grad¬
uate of West Point, a leading mathematician. Professor of Mathematics at the Roch¬
ester University, and general in the Civil War; Dr. William Quinby; and Dr.
Augustus Quinby, all sons of Judge Isaac Quinby. After marriage, Davis Vail went
to Ohio, remaining there several years. His son, Theodore, was born during the stay
of the family in that part of the country. When the lad was about four years old,
Davis Vail returned to the East and was again connected with The Speedwell Iron
Works.    In 1866, he removed to Iowa, where he operated a large farm.

Theodore N. Vail was educated in the old academy in Morristown, and then
studied medicine with his uncle. Dr. William Quinby, but, having learned telegraphy
at the telegraph office in Headly's drug store in Morristown, he left medicine and went