Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 03.djvu/274

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Dl.MAN


DIMITRY


and in the latter year was elected governor of the stiite. serving one t«rni and afterward declining all public oftice. He w;us twice married; lirst to Ahby Allien, daughter of the Rev. Henry Wright, D.l).. and second to Eliziilieth Ann Lisconib. He died in Bristol. R I . Aug. 1, ISO.",.

DIMAN, Jeremiah Lewis, educator, was born in Bristol, R.I , May 1, 1831; son of Gov. Byi'on and Abby Alden ( Wright) Dimon. He was gradu- ated from Brown univei-sity in 1851, and in 1852 entered the theological .seminary at Andover, Mass., where he remained two yeai's. In 1854 he went to Euroi)e, where he studied theology, phi- losophy and liLstory at Halle, Heidelberg and Berlin, and art at Miuiich. Returning in 1856 he again entered Andover theological seminary and was graduated in the same year. He was ordained to the Congregational ministry Dec. 9, 1856, and was pastor at Fall River, Mass., 1856-60; and at the Harvard church, Brookline, Mass., 1860-64. In 1864 he accepted the chair of history and politi- cal economy in Brown univei'sity, which he held until his death. In 1873 he was elected a corre- sponding member of the Massachusetts historical society. He delivered a course of lectures on history at Johns Hopkins university in 1879, and a course on theism before the Lowell in.stitute of Boston, Mass., in 1880. He was married. May 15, 1861, to Emily G., daughter of John J. and Abby M. (Clarke) Stini.son of Providence. R.I. Brown university conferred upon him the honoraiy de- gree of D.D. in 1870. He is the author of Capture of General Richard Presc.ott by Lieutenant- Colonel William Barton (1878); Tlieistic Argument as affected by Ilocent Theories (1881); and Orations and Essays (1882) ; edited John Cotton's Ansicer to Rofjer Williams (1867). and Georrje Fox Di(/{/'d out of his Burrowes (1872); and wrote for cuiTent literature. See Memoir by Caroline Hazard (1887). He di<'d in Providence, R.I., Feb. 3, 1881.

DIMiCK, Justin, soldier, w-as born in Hartford county. Conn., Aug. 5, 1800. He was graduated at the U.S. military academy in 1819, served in garrison at New England jxwts, 1819-22, and as assistant in.structor in infantry tactics at the academy in 1822. He was then returned to gar- rison duty and was promoted 1st lieutenant in 1824 In 1827-28 he was in garrison at Fort John- son. N.C., and in 1828 was stationed at the artil- lery school for practice at Fort Monroe, Va. He then served in Virginia, North Carolina and Mary- land until 1836, was brevetted captain, May 1, 1834. and promote^l to the full rank, April 6, 1835. He servefl in the Florida war in 1836, gaining a brevet of major. May 8, 1836, for gallantry in a skirmish ne.ar Hernandez plantation, and was on recruiting service, 1837-38. In 1838-39 he was engaged in suppressing the Canada border dis- turbances at Rouse's Point, N.Y., and was as-


signed to garri-son duty in various forts until 1845-46, when he was in military occui)ation of Texa.>j at Corpus Ciiristi as acting lieutenant-colo- nel of tiie artillery battalion. He served in the battles of Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma, Contre- ras, Churubusco, and Chapultepec, being brevet- ted lieutenant colonel for gallantry at Contreras and Churubusco, and colonel for Chapultepec, where he received a wound. He was present at the assault and capture of the City of Mexico; in command of Vera Cruz, 1847-48 ; and in garrison at Fort Lafayette, N. Y. , 1848-49. He participated in the Florida hostilities against the Seminoles in 1849-50, and was promoted major, April 1, 1850. After serving on garrison duty he was again assigned to Florida in 1856-57. He was promoted lieutenant-colonel, Oct. 5, 1857, and colonel, Oct. 26, 1861. He served in the civil war in command of the depot of Confederate prisoners of war at Fort Warren, Mass., 1861-64, and was retired from active service, Aug. 1, 1863. On Jan. 14, 1864, he was appointed governor of the Soldiers' home, near Washington, D.C., and on IVIarch 13, 1865, was brevetted brigadier-general. He died at Philadelphia, Pa., Oct. 13, 1871.

DIMITRY, Alexander, educator, was born in New Orleans, La., Feb. 7, 1805; son of Andrea and Celeste (Dragon) Dimitry. His first French an- cestor in Louisiana, on the maternal side, was an officer of the infantry of the marine, who accompanied Iberville and Bienville in their first colonizing expedition to Louisiana in 1698-99. The present patronymic, Dimitry, is an American- izing by Andrea Dimitry, the first of the name in Louisiana, of Demetrios, the original Greek form of the family name, which, in its entirety, is Demetrios-Drus.saky. The father was born in the Island of Hydra, off the coast of Greece, and toward the close of the 18th centmy became a merchant in New Oideans. The son was gradu- ated at Georgetown (D.C.) college about 1829, and not long after became the first editor of the English side of the Bee, published in New Orleans. Later he accepted a profes.soi-ship in Baton Rouge college, resigning in 1834 to enter the general post-office department in Wa.shing- ton, where he remained eight years. Returning to Louisiana, he beaime princiiml of the St. Charles in.stitute. He was the first suiierintend- ent of [)ublic education in Louisiana. 1848-51, having been apix)mted by Gov. Isajic Johnson, and was one of the chief in.struments in organizing the free-.school .system of Louisiana. He was chief translator to the state depjirtment. Washington, D.C, 1856-59, iiis familiarity with eleven lan- guages, ancient and modern, qualifying him for this position. He was U.S. minister to Costa Rica and N'icaragua, 1859-61, and chief of the finance bureau in the Confederate post-office depart-