DE COSTA
DEEMS
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DE COSTA, Benjamin Franklin, clergyman,
was born in Charlestown. ^lass., July lU, 18:31;
son of Ezekiel and Elizabeth (Carver) De Costa;
grandson of Ezekiel and Rebecca (Hickling) De
Costa, and a descendant, in the fifth generation,
from Isaac and Mary (Temple) De Costa. Isaac
was a well-known
citizen of Boston, a
member of the An-
cient and honorable
artillerj- and a charter
member of St. An-
drew's lodge of
I\Iasons. The De
Costas were French,
but went into Port-
ugal, where the family
arms were acquired,
theleader distinguish-
ing himself at the
siege of Ceuta and in
voyaging on the
Atlantic. Returning
to PVance they figured as stanch Huguenots,
and after the revocation of the edict of Kantes,
passed into England and thence to Boston,
Mass. Benjamin Franklin De Costa was grad-
uated from the Biblical institute, now Boston
University, in IS.jG. He was admitted to the
diaconate of the Protestant Episcopal church in
18.jT by Bishop Carlton Chase, and to the priest-
hood in 18.58 by Bishop Manton Eastburn. He
was rector of St. John's, North Adams, Mass.,
18.57-58, and of St. Mary's, Newton Lower Falls,
Mass., 1858-60. In 1861 he joined the Union army
as chaplain of 5th Massachu-setts volunteers and
was afterward chaplain of the 18th Massachusetts
volunteers. He was with the army at Bull Run and
afterward on the Peninsula. He resigned on ac-
count of sickness, becoming editor of the Clmstian
Times, New York cit^v, in 1863, and of the Epifco-
palian in 1864. On Oct. 29, 1866, he was married to
Harriet Spencer Locke. He assumed the rector-
ship of the church of St. John the Evangelist,
New York city, in 1881. He was one of the pro-
jectors and promoters and the first secretary of
the Ciiurch temperance society, organized in
1881. In 1883-84 he organized the first branch of
the White Cross societ}' in the United States, and
was its first president, still retaining that office
in 1899. As a friend of the lalx)ring classes he
was conspicuous in all social movements looking
to their welfare and was a frequent speaker
before them on the relation of capital and labor.
He was elected a member of the order of Knights
of labor, and one of the charter members and
first president of the Church association for the
advancement of the interests of later. He was
made an honorary member of St. George's society.
the Sons of St. George, St. David's society, the
Colonial society, and other societies in America,
and corresponding member of the Lisbon geogra-
pliical society. He edited the Magazine of Amer-
ican History in 1882, and in 1883 was one of the
organizers of the Huguenot society of America.
The degree of D.D. was conferred upon him by
■\Villiam and Mary college in 1881. His published
works include: The Pre-Coliunhian Discovery of
America by the Xorthmen (1868); Scenes at Mount
Desert (18G8); Sailing Directions of Henry Hud-
son (1869); 77ie Northmen in Maine (1870): TJie
Moabite Stone (1870); Rambles in Mt. Desert
(1871); The Rector of Roxbiiry, a Xovel by Wil-
liam Hickling (1873). In verse, he published:
The Pilgrim of Old France and other pieces (1894).
He contributed to Justin "Winsor's Narrative and
Critical History of America; to Perry's History
of the Protestant Episcopal Church; edited
\Miite's Memoirs of the Protestant Episcopal
Church (1S81). In 1899 he was received into the
Roman (Jatliolic Church, and his wife died in 1901,
which made him eligible to priesthood in the Ro-
man Church.
DEEMS, Charles Force, clergyman and edu- cator, was born in Baltimore, Md., Dec. 4. 1820; son of the Rev. George W. and Mary (Roberts) Deems, and grandson, on his mother's side, of the Rev. Zachary Roberts, a Methodist minister, who lived on the eastern shore of Maryland. On his father's side he was a descendant of a „.^:&S:"~^v
Dutch family that ^ '^~
came from Holland i? »
and settled in ]\rary- land somewhere be- tween Reistertown and Baltimore. The original name, De Heems,was shortened into Deems. Charles was educated in Bal- timore in a school conducted by the Rev. V. R. Osborn, a New England clerg)-- man, and wlien thir- "
teen years old he began to make public ad- dresses on the subjects "Temperance."" and " Sunday Schools," and at the same time to con- tribute to the religious newspapers both prose and verse. In 1834 he entered the preparatory school connected with Dickinson college and was graduated at Dickin.son in 1839. He then visited New York city, where he preached as supply in prominent Methodi-st churches, 1839-40. He joined the New Jersey conference of the Meth- odist Episcopal church in 1840 and was stationed as pastor at Asbury, Warren county, N.J.,
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