in the Mediterranean, and from 1833 to 1834 the squadron in the Pacific. On his way to his station he attacked (6 Feb., 1832) and nearly destroyed Quallah Batoo, on the coast of Sumatra, where an outrage had been committed on an American vessel. His sea service terminated with his cruise. From 1837 till 1842, and from 1850 till 1852, he commanded the navy-yard at Boston.—His son. John A., naval officer, b. in Massachusetts, 25 Aug., 1822; d. in New Orleans, 20 Sept., 1865, entered the navy on 4 Sept., 1837; became passed midshipman in 1843, lieutenant in 1851, and a commander in 1862. During the civil war he commanded the iron-clad “Nahant” at the bombardment of Fort McAlister, 3 March, 1863, and in the first attack upon Fort Sumter, 7 April, 1863. In the report of Rear-Admiral Dupont he is mentioned as one of those “who did everything that the utmost gallantry and skill could accomplish in the management of their untried vessels.” He aided in the capture of the Confederate iron-clad “Atlanta.” He was on special duty at Boston a short time, and was then given command of the Gulf squadron, in which service he died.
DOWNEY, John, educator, b. in Germantown, Pa., in 1770; d. in Harrisburg, 21 July, 1827. He received a classical education in the old academy at Germantown, and in 1795 opened a Latin and grammar school in Harrisburg. At this time he proposed, in a letter to Gov. Thomas Mifflin, a plan of education that foreshadows the present public-school system, which placed him in the front rank of early American educators. This plan was pronounced by Henry Barnard, of Connecticut, far in advance of the age in which he lived. He was the first cashier in the Harrisburg bank, was one of the corporators of the Harrisburg and Middletown turnpike company, and was largely instrumental in the erection of the bridge over the Susquehanna. In 1817 he was a member of the Pennsylvania legislature. He wrote frequently for the press, and was the author of a series of humorous sketches under the signature of “Simon the Wagoner.” He compiled a work entitled “The Justice's Assistant.”
DOWNIE, George, British naval officer, b. in Ross, Ireland; d. near Plattsburg, N. Y., 11 Sept., 1814. He was the son of a clergyman, and entered the navy at an early age. He was engaged in the battle of Camperdown, served in the West Indies, and in 1813 was placed in command of the British fleet on the lakes of Canada. He commanded the squadron in the battle of Plattsburg, and was killed while gallantly fighting the American fleet under Commodore Macdonough.
DOWNING, Andrew Jackson, horticulturist,
b. in Newburgh, N. Y., 20 Oct., 1815; drowned in
the Hudson, near Yonkers, 28 July, 1852. From
an early age his tastes were directed to horticulture,
botany, and the natural sciences, which
the occupation of his father, a nurseryman, gave
him opportunities to cultivate. His education
was acquired chiefly in the academy of the neighboring
town of Montgomery. At the age of sixteen
he joined his brother in the management of
the nursery, and began a course of self-education.
He soon formed the acquaintance of Baron de
Liderer, the Austrian consul-general, and other
men, whose fine estates he visited, cultivating his
taste for landscape-gardening, and writing descriptions
of the scenery for the New York “Mirror”
and other journals. In June, 1838, he married the
daughter of John Peter de Wint, and in that year
built an elegant mansion upon his estate, in the
Elizabethan style, which was his first practical
illustration of what an American rural home might
be. His career as an author began with the
publication of the “Treatise and Practise of Landscape-gardening”
(New York, 1841), which was highly
successful, orders for the construction of houses
and decorations of grounds following the orders
for copies of the book to his publishers. His
“Cottage Residences” (1842) was received with
equal favor, and established him as the chief American
authority on
rural art. “Fruit
and Fruit-trees
of America” was
printed simultaneously
in London and New
York in 1845,
and a second
edition with colored
plates in 1850. In
1846, Mr. Downing
became editor
of the Albany
“Horticulturist,” for which
he wrote an
essay each month
until his death.
In 1849 he
wrote “Additional
Notes and Hints to persons about Building in the
Country,” for an American reprint of Wightwick's
“Hints to Young Architects.” The summer of
1850 he spent in England, visiting the great
country-seats, of which he wrote descriptions, and
in that year published his “Architecture of Country
Houses, including Designs for Cottages, Farmhouses, and Villas.” His remaining work is an
edition of Mrs. Loudon's “Landscape-gardening
for Ladies.” In 1851 he was commissioned to lay
out and plant the public grounds of the Capitol,
the White House, and the Smithsonian buildings.
He was employed in these and other professional
labors, when he set out for Newport, leaving Newburgh
on 28 July, 1852, in the steamer “Henry
Clay.” The boat entered into a contest with the
“Armenia,” and when near Yonkers was discovered
to be on fire. Mr. Downing perished in his efforts
to save other passengers. His “Rural Essays”
were collected and published in 1853, with a
memoir by George William Curtis, and a “Letter
to his Friends” by Frederika Bremer, who was
Mr. Downing's guest during a portion of her visit
to the United States, and an enthusiastic admirer
of the man and his works.
DOWNING, Colonel, chief of the Cherokee Nation. After the death of his Indian wife he married, in 1871, Miss Ayers, a wealthy lady of Philadelphia, who removed with him to Talequah, devoting her life and fortune to the education of the Cherokees. She made her permanent home among the Indians, and adopted the son of the chief, Lewis Downing, for whom she built a handsome residence overlooking the village.
DOWNING, Fanny Murdangh, poet, b. in Portsmouth, Va., in 1835; d. there, 6 May, 1894. She was a daughter of John W. Murdaugh, a lawyer of Virginia. In 1851 she married Charles W. Downing, who was then secretary of the state of Florida. Her novels include “Nameless” (Raleigh, 1865); “Perfect through Suffering”; and “Florida,” published in the “Southern Home Journal.” Her best-known poems are “Pluto, the Origin of Mint Julep, being the Sad and Lamentable Fate of the Fair Minthe” (1867); “The Legend of Catawba”;
