[J. Thomas Scharf (1886)] At the age of twenty-one, he went to South America, and traveled exten-sively, remaining for some time in Venezuela, and afterwards passed a year in the British, Dutch and Danish West Indies. From thence he went to Cali-fornia by way of the Isthmus of Panama, and re-mained there four years. During a portion of this time, he was engaged in introducing and extending the sale of medicines, but afterwards established a life insurance agency, in which he founded a wry extensive business, and enjoyed a high degree of suc-cess. In 1 808, he returned to Sing Sing, where he be-came interested in insurance and rea' estate trans-actions, in which he was very successful, and two years later established the firm of Howland & Brandreth, which for years carried on a very extensive and profit-able business. In 1876 he disposed of his interest in the firm, and removed to New York, where he opened an oflice for the purpose of dealing.in mines and mineral lands, and in the prosecution of this business, he had ample opportunities of becoming acquainted with the mineral resources of various portions of the country,