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724: DAYTON and of a high character. In 1872 the high school had 6 teachers and an average attend- ance of 167 pupils; grammar schools, 28 teach- ers and 836 pupils ; primary schools, 54 teach- ers and 2,580 pupils ; evening schools, 5 teach- ers and 210 pupils; total, 93 teachers and an average attendance of 3,812. The total ex- penditure for school purposes was $144,149 03, of which, $48,043 10 were for permanent im- provements, and $60,302 59 for teachers' wages. The public school library contains 10,000 vol- umes. Cooper seminary (Presbyterian), an in- stitution for the superior instruction of females, organized in 1843, in 1872 had 8 instructors, 123 students, of whom 76 were in the collegi- ate department, and a library of 1,200 volumes. There are 2 daily newspapers, 1 tri-weekly (German), 7 weekly (2 German), 3 semi- monthly and 3 monthly periodicals, and 42 churches. Dayton was settled in 1796, and in- corporated as a town in 1805, but it made little progress until the opening of the Miami canal in 1829. It received a city charter in 1841. DAYTON. L Ellas, an officer in the Ameri- can revolution, born at Elizabethtown, N. J., in 1737, died there in 1807. In 1760 he joined the British forces which were completing the conquest of Canada from the French ; and he subsequently commanded a company of militia in an expedition against the northern Indians. This corps was probably a portion of the origi- nal " Jersey blues." At the commencement of hostilities with the mother country he was appointed a member of the committee of safety for Elizabethtown, and served as colonel of a Jersey regiment till 1,783, when he was pro- moted to the command of the Jersey brigade. Soon after the battle of Bunker Hill a British transport off the coast of New Jersey sur- rendered to an expedition of armed boats under his command in conjunction with Lord Stirling. He was in active service during the whole war, taking part in the battles of Springfield, Monmouth, Brandywine, Germantown, and Yorktown, and having three horses shot under him. After the war he served several terms in the legislature, was commissioned major general of militia, was a member of the conti- nental congress, and was on intimate terms with Washington. Upon the formation of the New Jersey society of the Cincinnati, Gen. Dayton was chosen its president, and held that office until his death. II. Jonathan, an American statesman, son of the preceding, born at Elizabethtown, N. J., Oct. 16, 1760, died there, Oct. 9, 1824. At the age of 16 he graduated at the college of New Jersey, in 1778 entered the army as paymaster in his father's regiment, and held several commis- sions at. different periods of the war. After the peace of 1783 he was elected to the legisla- ture, and was chosen speaker of the house in 1790. In June, 1787, he was appointed a dele- gate to the convention at Philadelphia which framed the federal constitution. In 1791 he was elected by the federal party a representa- DEACON tive in congress, in which capacity he served for three successive terms, during the last two of which he was speaker of the house. In 1799 he was elected to the United States sen- ate. He afterward served several terms in the council, as the superior branch of the New Jersey legislature was formerly termed. He was arrested for alleged complicity with Aaron Burr in his conspiracy, but no further pro- ceedings were had in the case. III. William Lewis, an American statesman, nephew of the preceding, born at Baskingridge, N. J., Feb. 17, 1807, died in Paris, Dec. 1, 1864. He grad- uated at the college of New Jersey in 1825, and was admitted to the bar in 1830. In 1837 he was elected to the state council, or senate as it is now called, and was made chairman of the judiciary committee, and in 1838 became associate justice of the supreme court of the state. In 1842 he was appointed to fill a va- cancy in the United States senate. In 1845 his appointment was confirmed by the legisla- ture, and he was also elected for the full term. He was a free-soil whig, and maintained to the fullest extent the right of congress to legis- late for the territories, expressing that view in a speech on the treaty with Mexico in 1847. He was a friend and adviser of President Tay- lor. He opposed the fugitive slave bill, and advocated the admission of California as a free state, and the abolition of slavery in the Dis- trict of Columbia. In 1856 he was nominated by the newly formed republican party for the vice presidency, on the ticket with John C. Fremont. In March, 1857, he was appointed attorney general of the state of New Jersey, and held that office till 1861, when President Lincoln appointed him minister to France, which post he held until his death. DEACON (Gr. <Jm/covof, minister, servant), an inferior minister of the Christian church. The faithful of Jerusalem, at the request of the apostles, chose seven men, whom the latter, with laying on of hands, appointed their own assistants in the ministry. Besides the distri- bution of alms and the care of the temporal con- cerns of the infant church, they also preached and baptized (Acts vii. and viii.). Deaconship is a major order in the Latin and Greek church- es, ranking next to the priesthood. Bishops and priests are the ordinary ministers of bap- tism, while deacons are called by the canons the extraordinary or delegated ministers of it. Subdeaconship is also held by both these church- es to be a major order. Tertullian, Cyprian, and Cornelius, among others, mention subdea- cons. The deacon and subdeacon assist the bishop and priest when they celebrate solemn, mass. In the Latin church the reception of subdeaconship implies the obligation of per- petual celibacy. In the Anglican church the deacon is allowed to exercise all priestly func- tions except consecrating the eucharist and pronouncing absolution. His office is an order of the ministry and a preparation for the priest- hood. In the Methodist Episcopal church the