Quote: "Now he belongs to the ages." Was Lincoln the first?

“Now he belongs to the ages.”

The line was famously stated upon the death of Lincoln, if I’m not mistaken. It’s been repeated for lesser mortals ever since (including once to comic effect in the musical Funny Girl) up to this week’s funeral oration by President Geo. Bush for the late President Reagan.

A few questions:

Who said it about Lincoln?

Was the assasinated president, in fact, the first ever subject of the remark? ?

If Lincoln not the first subject, who was?

And who said it about that person?

My Oxford Dic. of Quotations says that it was uttered by Edwin McMasters Stanton, American lawyer and Secretary of War under Lincoln. That was cited in Tarbell’s Life of Abraham Lincoln which was published in 1900.