Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1892, volume 3).djvu/396

366 ISHAM, Jirah. soldier, b. in Colchester, Conn., in May, 1778 ; d. in New London, Conn., 6 Oct., 1842. His father, Capt. John Isham, was a Revo- hit iouary officer, and often a member of the gen- eral assembly of the state. The son was graduated at Yale in 1797, studied law with David Daggett and John G. Brainard, and established himself in the practice of his profession in New London in 1800. He occupied many local offices of public trust, was at one time mayor of New London, state's attorney for New London county from 1838 till 1842, and from 1840 till his death was judge of probate for New London district. During the war of 1812 with Great Britain he commanded at the bombardment of Stonington.

ISLES, André (eel), Chevalier des, French ad- venturer, b. in Dieppe in 1530 ; d. in Florida in 1565. Admiral Coligny, having resolved to secure lands in America, where the French Protestants could be at liberty to enjoy their religion, gave Des Isles in 1560 two vessels, with orders to discover some convenient locality not occupied by European set- tlers. Sailing from Dieppe in May, 1560, he was driven by storms on the coast of Florida, and land- ed in July near a cape, which he named French cape and which is now known as Cape San Juan. He discovered on 5 Aug. the river Royale, built a fort, and, leaving twenty men to hold it, re- turned to France. The result of the expedition greatly pleased Admiral Coligny, but religious dis- sensions prevented him from sending another expe- dition before 1562, when he appointed Capt. Ribaut governor of the proposed colonies, and gave him three ships carrying 600 emigrants. Des Isles ac- companied the expedition, and acted as Ribaut's lieutenant. They found the fort destroyed and its garrison dead, but rebuilt it and named it Fort Royal, and Des Isles was left in command of the place with 250 men. Ribaut returned from France in the following year with a re-enforcement of 300 men, but Coligny had appointed a new commander for Fort Royal, the Count of Laudonniere, and his arrival caused trouble. Des Isles, supported by Ribaut, refused to relinquish the fort, and when he was compelled to do so established a new colony at the mouth of Toubachire. Everything prospered at first, but soon hostilities began between the ri- vals, and when Ribaut returned with re-enforce- ments in 1565, he found the French reduced to about 125 men. He pacified the captains, and went on an exploration of the coast, but during his absence the Spanish, under Menendez, attacked Fort Royal, and Laudonniere, in spite of the oppo- sition of Des Isles, signed a capitulation, which the Spaniards violated, massacring all the French.

ISOART, Louis (e-zo-ahr), Spanish mission- ary, b. in Burgundy in 1599 ; d. in San Jose, Para- guay, in 1640. He became a Jesuit in 1624, went to Buenos Ayres in the following year, and in 1627 was attached to the missions of the Caro forests, between Yuvi and Piratini rivers. He found there about 500 Indian families, which he civilized and established in a village. Five years later his superiors sent him to a larger field of labor among the Tupi and Mamelo Indians, who had never yet permitted a European to cross their country, and were reputed the most warlike Indians of those regions. Isoart went alone to their forests, and, presenting himself to the ca- cique, told him he had come to make him a Chris- tian. The courage of the missionary impressed the chief, and through his influence Isoart was enabled to establish missions. The Indians had so much confidence in him that they never recognized the laws of Spain, but lived for a century under the rule of Isoart. He left several manuscripts, which were afterward published in " Litterae annusB pro- vincial Paraguaria? Societates Jesu " (2 vols., Pome, 1646) ; " Relations et progres de la religion Chre- tienne faits au Paraguay" (1647); " Histoire, chroniques, et usages des Indiens Mamelos et Tu- pis " (1649) ; and several other works.

ISSERTIEUX, Diendonné Gabriel Yves (eess-err-tyuh), Cotnte d', French soldier, b. in Plouharnel, Brittany, in 1753 ; d. in Guiana in 1819. He served with distinction, as a volunteer, in the war of American independence from 1776 till the surrender of Yorktown in 1781, when he accom- panied the Count of Saint Simon, who carried the news to Louis XVI. He served afterward in the body-guards, and, emigrating to the United States when the guards were dissolved in 1791, he opened a French school in New Orleans. When Napoleon was proclaimed emperor he returned to France and was appointed captain of artillery. He acted as adjutant to Gen. Lagrange in the expedition to Dominica, taking part in the bombardment of Les Roseaux, the capital of the English colony, on 23-25 Feb., 1806, and was promoted major. He commanded a battalion in Cayenne in 1807, and protested when Gov. Hugues surrendered the colo- ny to the Portuguese in 1811. He remained a prisoner in Kingston, Jamaica, till 1814, when he was appointed lieutenant-colonel by Louis XVIII. and sent again to command in Guiana. He is the author of " La verite sur la capitulation du Gou- verneur Hugues " (Cayenne, 1819), and " Memoire a, Sa Majeste l'Empereur sur la situation de Cay- enne a. l'epoque de la capitulation " (Paris, 1813).

ISTHUANFI, Nicolas (iss-too-ahn'-fe), Hun- garian physician, b. in Comorn in 1742 ; d. in Paramaribo in 1806. He went to the West In- dies as soon as he was graduated in Vienna, prac- tised medicine in St. Eustache, and was ap- pointed president of the sanitary board of Dutch Gxiiana in 1773. A few years later Baron Malouet, governor of French Guiana, engaged Isthuanfi, with others, to reorganize the French sanitary system, and his timely measures checked an epi- demic of yellow fever and Asiatic cholera that broke out in Cayenne in 1781. He also thorough- ly disinfected the city, and persuading the author- ities to offer rewards for the erection of handsome residences. At the beginning of the revolution in 1789, Isthuanfi still held the office of president of the board of health, but during the ensuing troubles his advice was often ignored, and he was even imprisoned in 1793. He escaped to Paramaribo, bought an estate, and devoted the remainder of his life to agricultural experiments. He published " Traite de pharmacie moderne " (Cayenne, 1781) ; " Traite de la fievre jaune " (1786) ; " Les mala- dies de la Guyane " (1787) ; " Medicinske Voorden- bock gefolged van een Verhandling over planten voor medicinske gebroek " (Paramaribo, 1801) ; and " Les Guianes, sont-elles malsaines ? experience d'un medecin " (1801).

ITABORAHY, Joaquim José Rodrigues Torres (e-tah-bo-rah-e'), Viscount of, Brazilian statesman, b. in S. Joao de Itaborahy, 13 Dec. 1802; d. in Rio Janeiro, 8 Jan., 1873. He was graduated at the University of Coimbra in 1825, and on his return to his native country in 1826 was made professor of mathematics in the military academy of Rio Janeiro. He became secretary of the navy, 16 June, 1831, remaining at the head of his department during several administrations. On 16 July, 1833, he retired from the cabinet, and in the same year was elected to congress, taking an active part in reforming the constitution of the empire. Soon