Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/336

308 W. Whistler&rdquo; (1887); and &ldquo;Bridge Disasters in America: the Cause and the Remedy&rdquo; (1887).

'''VOSE. Joseph''', soldier, b. in Milton, Mass., 26 Nov., 1738 ; d. there, 22 May, 1816. He was chosen colonel of militia in 1774, in 1776 went to Canada, and in 1777, as colonel of the 1st Massachusetts regiment, joined the main army in New Jersey, serving at Monmouth and in Gen. John Sullivan's campaign in Rhode Island. He closed his services in Lafayette's corps at Yorktown, when he was brevetted brigadier-general. His brothers, Elijah, Moses, and William, also served through the Revolutionary war. — His son, Col. Josiah Howe, rendered important service in the war of 1812 at Portsmouth, at Sackett's Harbor, and in Canada.

VOSTEY, or YOTEY, Gabriel Henry (vo-tay), Count de, Haytian historian, b. in Cape Francais about 1768 ; d. there in 1831. He was a mulatto, son of a French officer, and was first known under the name of Gabriel Henry. After receiving his education in France, he returned to Hayti and be- came lieutenant in the colonial militia, but subse- quently he joined the national army and fought under Jean Francois and Toussaint l'Ouverture. The latter gave him his father's estates in 1800, after which he took the name of Count de Vostey. In 1802 he was among the first to submit to Gen. Victor Leclerc, but afterward he joined Dessa- lines with a regiment that he raised among his laborers, and assisted in the campaign that ter- minated in November, 1804. Afterward quarrelling with Dessalines, he took refuge in the Spanish part of the island till the elevation of Henry Christophe, when he returned to Hayti and became a courtier and the historian of the negro king. He published " Essai sur l'invasion Francaise de 1802 " (2 vols., Cape Francais, 1811); "Le systeme colonial de- voile " (1814) ; " Reflexions politiques sur l'etat {>resent des noirs e,t des blancs " (1817) ; " Essai sur es causes des revolutions de Hayti " (2 vols.. 1819) ; and " Memoires pour servir a 1'administration de Toussaint l'Ouverture " (2 vols., 1824).

VOTAN, founder of the empire of Xibalbay. He lived, according to Ramon de Ordoflez y Aguiar, in his manuscript " Historia del cielo y de la tierra," about 955 b. c, or, according to Francisco Nunez de la Vega, in his " Constituciones Diocesanos para el Obispado de Chiapas" (Rome, 1702), about 600 B. c. Votan appears to have been a generic name for sovereigns of the valley of Chiapas. According to Ordofiez, Votan sailed from Cuba with his peo- ple, and, after coasting Yucatan, entered the La- guna de Terminos, went up Usumasinta river, and on one of its branches, the Chacamas, founded the city of Nachan or Culhuacan, near the present site of the ruins of Palenque. He conquered the coun- try with little difficulty, and became its legislator, building at Nachan a temple, where he deposited the archives of the nation, which were guarded by priests and nuns, and established also religious mysteries, which were celebrated with great pomp and splendor in the spring and autumn. Votan founded also the cities of Zacatlan or Ciudad Real, Matlan or Quiche, and Huehuetlan or Soconusco. It is also asserted that he promulgated a code of laws for his empire, which attained great prosper- ity, but it is generally conceded that the legislator of Xibalbay was Balum-Votan, who lived about four centuries after the founder of the empire. He is said to have written the national code of the Quiches. " Popol-Vuh," the original of the " Teo- maxtli," or divine book of the Toltecs. The " Po- pol-Vuh " was first translated into Spanish about 1650 by Friar Francisco Ximenes {q. v.), and Bras- seur de Bourbourg published the original text and French translations (Paris, 1861). The traditions of the Tzendales in regard to the Votans are con- firmed by Francisco de Burgoa, in his " Palestra Historical 6 Historia de la provincia de San Hipo- lito de Guaxaca" (Mexico, 1670); by Bernardino de Sahagun, in his " Historia de las cosas de la Nueva Esparto": by an anonymous Mexican author of Cuahutitlan, a contemporary of Montezuma II., in " Historia de los reynos de Culhuacan y Mexico," a manuscript in the Nahuatl language, "which was discovered in 1850 by Brasseur de Bourbourg in the library of the convent of San Gregorio ; and by many other authors. Ordonez asserts that he pos- sessed a manuscript history of the reign of Balum- Votan in the original language; but it is now lost.

VREDENBURGH, Peter, jurist, b. in Read- ington, N. J., 31 Oct., 1805 ; d. in St. Augustine, Fla., 24 March. 1873. He was graduated at Rut- gers in 1828, admitted to the bar as counsellor in 1832, and began practice in Freehold, N. J. Sub- sequently he was a member of the legislative coun- cil under the old state constitution. In 1837-'52 he was prosecuting attorney of Monmouth county, and in 1855-'69 he was associate justice of the su- preme court of New Jersey. The degree of LL. D. was conferred on him in 1866 by Rutgers, of which he was a trustee for twenty-four years. Judge Vredenburgh's opinions are contained in the New Jersey reports between 1855 and 1870. One of the most notable was delivered in the case of Proprie- tors of Bridges vs. the Hoboken land company.

VROOM, Peter Dumont, governor of New Jersey, b. in Hillsborough township, N. J., 12 Dec, 1791 ; d. in Trenton, N. J., 18 Nov., 1873. He was the son of Col. Peter D. Vroom. a Revolutionary officer. He was graduated at Columbia in 1808, admitted to the bar in 1813, and practised in various counties of New Jersey. He was a member of the legislature in 1826-'9, and in the latter year was elected governor of New Jersey as a Jackson Democrat by joint ballot of the two houses, which was the method of election at that time. He was re-elected in 1830-'l and 1833-'6, and in 1837 was appointed by President Van Buren a commissioner to adjust the claims of the Indians in Mississippi, was a member of congress in 1839-'41, having been chosen as a Democrat, and a member of the State constitutional convention in 1844. In 1852 he was a presidential elector, and in 1853-'7 was minister to Prussia. He was appointed reporter of the supreme court of New Jersey in 1865, and in 1868 was again a presidential elector. The degree of LL. D. was conferred on him by Columbia in 1837 and by Princeton in 1850. He published " Reports of the Supreme Court of New Jersey " (6 vols., Trenton, 1866-'73).— His son, Peter Dumont, soldier, b. in Trenton, N. J., 18 April, 1842, was graduated at Rensselaer polytechnic institute, Troy, N. Y., in 1862. He served in the civil war, being wounded at South Mountain, was promoted major of the 2d New Jersey cavalry in 1863, and brevetted lieutenant-colonel and colonel of volunteers for meritorious services during the war. He became 1st lieutenant in the 3d U. S. cavalry in July, 1866. — Another son, Garret Dorset Wall, lawyer, b. in Trenton, N. J., 17 Dec, 1843, was graduated at Rutgers in 1862, admitted to the bar in 1865, appointed district attorney in 1870, and reporter of the supreme court of New Jersey in 1873. He was elected mayor of Trenton in 1881, and re-elected for the two succeeding terms. Mr. Vroom possesses one of the finest libraries in New Jersey, and is an authority on questions of national and state political history. He has published " Supreme Court Reports " (15 vols., Trenton, N. J., 1873-88).