lisher of the " Genesee Farmer " in Rochester, and in 1853 also of the " Horticulturist," issued in Al- bany. He severed his connection with these pe- riodicals in 1855 in order to embark in the novel enterprise of retailing seeds through the medium of the U. S. mails. This business grew to large proportions and found many imitators. In con- nection with it he published "Vick's Monthly Magazine " in 1878-'82, the " Flower and Vegetable Garden," and an annual " Floral Guide." He de- veloped new varieties of plants by cultivation or cross-fertilization, notably double phlox, white gladiolus, and fringed petunia. Mr. Vick was a corresponding member of the English royal horti- cultural society, and for several years secretary of the American pomological convention.
VICKERS, George, senator, b. in Chestertown,
Kent co., Md., 19 Nov., 1801 : d. there, 8 Oct.. 1879.
He acquired a classical education, was employed
in the county clerk's office for several years, studied
law, was admitted to the bar in 1832, and practised
in Chestertown. He was a delegate to the Whig
national convention of 1852. When the civil war
began he was appointed major-general of the state
militia. He was a presidential elector on the
McClellan ticket in 1864, and one of the vice-presi-
dents of the Union convention of 1866. In 1866-'7
he was a member of the state senate. In 1868 he
was elected U. S. senator for the term that ended
on 3 March, 1873, in the place of Philip F. Thomas,
who had been denied the seat. He took a con-
spicuous part in the debate on the 15th amendment
to the Federal constitution.
VICO, Domingo de (ve'-co), Spanish mission-
ary, b. in Ubeda, Andalusia, in 1485 ; d. in 1555.
He became a Dominican in his native city, studied
in Salamanca, and in 1516 came to this country
with Bartolome de las Casas. He first labored
among the Indians in Cuba, but later passed to
New Spain, and accompanied Las Casas in his
journeys through Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Peru.
When the latter was appointed bishop of Chiapa
in 1544, Vico became his vicar-general and sec-
onded him in his zeal for the welfare of the In-
dians. Later he was prior of the convents of
Guatemala, Chiapa, and Coban, founded the city
of San Andres, and became in 1552 the first bishop
of Vera Paz. He was killed, during a journey
through his diocese, by Lacandon Indians. His
works include several treatises on theology in the
Vera Paz, Cakchiquel, Quiche, and Lacandon dia-
lects, and " Historia de los Indios, sus fabulas, su-
persticiones, costumbres, etc.," which the historian
Antonio Remesal says is remarkable for its pictures
of Indian life, but the manuscript of which was
not found when the libraries of the convents came
into the possession of the state.
VICTOR, Orville James, author, b. in San-
dusky, Ohio, 23 Oct., 1827. He was graduated at
the seminary and theological institute in Norwalk,
Ohio, in 1847. After contributing to " Graham's
Magazine " and other publications for several
years, he adopted journalism as a profession in
1851, becoming associate editor of the Sandusky
" Daily Register," which he left in 1856 to edit
the " Cosmopolitan Art Journal." Removing to
New York in 1858, he assumed charge also of the
" United States Journal," conducting both periodi-
cals till 1860. He next edited the " Dime Bio-
graphical Library," to which he contributed lives
of John Paul Jones, Anthony Wayne, Ethan
Allen, Israel Putnam, Winfield Scott, Abraham
Lincoln, and Giuseppe Garibaldi, and wrote for
newspapers and periodicals in New York city. In
1863-4 he visited England, and there published a
pamphlet entitled " The American Rebellion ; its
Causes and Objects : Facts for the English Peo-
ple." He edited in 1866-7 "Beadle's Magazine
of To - Day," in 1870-'l the weekly " Western
World," and in 1872-'80 the "New York Satur-
day Journal." He published during the civil war,
in annual volumes, a " History of the Southern
Rebellion " (4 vols., New York, 1862-'5), which for
several years he has been engaged in revising for
republication in two volumes. His other works
are " Incidents and Anecdotes of the War " (1863),
and a " History of American Conspiracies " (1864).
— His wife, Metta Victoria, author, b. near Erie,
Pa., 2 March, 1831 ; d. in Hohokus, IS. J.. 26 June,
1886, was educated in the female seminary at
Wooster, Ohio. When thirteen years old she
published a story called "The Silver Lute," and
from that time till her eighteenth year was a con-
tributor to the " Home Journal " under the pen-
name of " Singing Sibyl " or in connection with her
elder sister, Frances A. Fuller, the two being
known as " The Sisters of the West." In 1856
she married Mr. Victor, and in 1859-'61 she edited
the " Home Monthly Magazine." A volume of
poetry by the two sisters was published under the
title of " Poems of Sentiment and Imagination,
with Dramatic and Descriptive Pieces" (New
York, 1851). She published individually " Fresh Leaves from Western Woods" (Buffalo, 1853); " The Senator's Son : a Plea for the Maine Law " (Cleveland, 1853), which had a large circulation in England as well as in the United States; and " Two Mormon Wives: a Life-Story" (New York. 1856 ; London, 1858). She was the author of "The Gold-Hunters," "Maum Guinea," and others of Beadle and Co.'s " Dime Novels." Among her numerous contributions to the periodical press were series of humorous sketches under the signature of " Mrs. Mark Peabody," entitled, " Miss Slimmens' Window" and "Miss Slimmens' Boarding-House," which were issued in book-form (New York, 1859). The story of " Too True " was reprinted from "Putnam's Magazine " (1868). Her novels " Dead-Letter " and " Figure Eight " were issued under the pen-name of " Seeley Register " (1868). Her last novel was " Passing the Portal " (1877). She subsequently wrote humorous books entitled " The Bad Boy's Diary " (1880), " The Rasher Family " (1884), " The Naughty Girl's Diary " (1884), and "Blunders of a Bashful Man " (1885), which were issued anonymously. — Her sister, Frances A nretta, author, b. in Rome, N. Y., 23 May, 1826, was educated at the seminary in Wooster, Ohio, and spent some time in the eastern states in preparation for a literary life, but after her return to the west and her marriage in 1853 to Jackson Barrett, of Michigan, she rarely wrote for publication. In 1862 she married for her second husband Henry C. Victor, a 1st assistant engineer in the U. S. navy and a brother of Orville J. Victor, and in the following year emigrated to the Pacific coast, where novel scenes impelled her to resume literary work. She contributed to the newspapers of San Francisco and Sacramento, and to the " Overland Monthly " from its first publication. After removing to Oregon in 1865, she published "The River of the West: Life and Adventures in the Rocky Mountains and Oregon " (Hartford, 1870), which was followed by " All Over Oregon and Washington " (San Francisco, 1870). She has also published " The New Penelope, and other Stories " (1877), and furnished to Hubert H. Bancroft's " Pacific Coast Histories " chapters on Oregon and other states and territories of the northwest, besides parts of the "History of California."
