In the discharge of the duties of Bank Examiner, official fidelity requires that the investigation shall be thorough and exhaustive. That during the past sixteen years but a single instance of defalcation has occurred resulting in loss among the forty-nine national banks in the state, is pretty conclusive evidence of a diligent and careful supervision. From the length of time he has held the position, he has become familiar with the indications of laxity, lenity, negligence, not to mention recklessness, which mark the first steps of danger to a banking institution; and his suggestions and warnings to bank officials have not infrequently been of advantage to the public generally as well as to stockholders, where no publicity has been gained through the press or otherwise. Personally, Mr. Dearborn is not an ostentatious, obtrusive, aggressive man. He has no fondness for newspaper notoriety, no solicitude lest he shall be overlooked by the public. In politics and religion he is liberal and tolerant, conceding to others the utmost freedom of opinion. Attending to his own duties, it is not his habit to interfere with the personal affairs of others. But when attacked without reason or provocation, no matter what his pretensions, his assailant will speedily find that he has need for a prudent husbandry of all his resources. Mr. Dearborn is a member of the Congregational church. His two children are sons. The older, John Eaton, born November, 1862, is acquiring a business education. The younger, George Van Ness, born August, 1869, is attending the public schools. His house is pleasantly situated on Main street, and is one of the desirable residences in the city. Still in the prime of life, his many friends have no reason to doubt that in the future, as in the past, he will be adequate to any responsibility which may devolve upon him. [Illustration: John Bracewell] COL. JOHN BRACEWELL, A. M. BY REV. GEO. B. SPALDING, D. D. The subject of this sketch was born June 18, 1837, in Clitheroe, England. Clitheroe is a busy cotton-manufacturing town on the Ribble, and in the greatest cotton-manufacturing district of the world, Lancashire. The father, Miles Bracewell, from his early boyhood had been engaged in printing calico, having served his apprenticeship with James Thompson & Sons, who owned and managed the Primrose Print-Works. James Thompson was a famous manufacturer, his enterprise and liberality being known throughout Europe. For many years Miles Bracewell had charge of the "color department" in the Primrose Print-Works. He afterwards went into business for himself, and at the time of his death was the senior partner and principal owner of two print-works,--one at Oakenshaw and another at Kersal Vale.