Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/634

600 memoir on this subject published by the United States geological survey (Washington, 1886).

CHESTER, John, soldier, b. in Wethersfield, Conn., 29 Jan., 1749; d. there, 4 Nov., 1809. He was graduated at Yale in 1766, a representative in the legislature in 1772, served with distinction as a captain at the battle of Bunker Hill, became a colonel, and continued in the Continental army until 1777. Afterward he sat in the Connecticut legislature, in which he was chosen speaker, was a member of the council in 1788-91 and 1803, supervisor of the district of Connecticut from 1791 until the accession of President Jefferson in 1801, and for some time was county judge of probate.

CHESTER, Joseph Lemuel, antiquarian, b. in Norwich, Conn., 30 April, 1821 ; d. in London, England, 28 May, 1882. He was engaged in trade in Philadelphia until 1852, and was a frequent contributor to the press, principally under pen- names, of which the best known is " Julian Cra- mer." He then became connected with the Phila- delphia press, and was some time an assistant clerk in the U. S. house of representatives. After 1858 he resided in London, where he devoted himself k) searching out the genealogy and history of the early settlers of New England. He compiled an abstract of the registers of Westminster Abbey, and collected from other sources much valuable material for local and family histories. In 1869 he assisted in forming at London the Harleian society for the publication of inedited manuscripts relat- ing to genealogy and heraldry, and was chosen a member of its council. In 1870 he was made one of the council of the historical society of Great Britain, recently organized. He published " Green- wood Cemetery and other Poems " (1843) ; " A Preliminary Treatise on the Law of Repulsion" (1853) ; " Educational Laws of Virginia, the Per- sonal Narrative of Mrs. Margaret Douglas " (1854) ; "John Rogers," with a genealogy of the family (1854), and numerous papers in historical and genealogical journals. The " Marriage, Baptismal, and Burial Registers of the Colleg-iate Church, or Abbey, of St. Peter, Westminster," with copious biographical notes by the editor, was published in London in 1876. A tablet to his memory was placed by Dean Bradley in Westminster abbey.

CHESTNUT, James, senator, b. in Camden, S. C, 18 Jan., 1815 : d. there, 1 Feb., 1885. He was graduated at Princeton. For ten years he served in the South Carolina legislature, and from 1854 till 1858 was a member of the state senate. A vacancy occurring in the U. S. senate, he was appointed to till the unexpired term, and was formally elected senator on 5 Jan., 1859. He resigned on 10 Nov., 1860, in anticipation of the secession of South Carolina; but his resignation was not accepted, and he was formally expelled, 11 July, 1861. In the mean time he had been appointed a delegate to the Confederate provisional congress. He was commissioned colonel in the Confederate army, and detailed as aide-de-camp on the staff of Jeffer- son Davis. In 1864 he was promoted brigadier- general and assigned to a command on the coast of South Carolina. In 1868 he was a member of the National democratic convention that nomi- nated Horatio Sevmour for the presidency,

CHETLAIN, Augustus Louis, soldier, b. in St. Louis, Mo., 26 Dec, 1834. His parents, of French Huguenot stock, emigrated from Neufchatel, Switzerland, in 1823, and were members of the Red river colony. He received a common-school edu- cation, became a merchant in Galena, and was the first volunteer at a meeting held in response to the president's call after the bombardment of Fort Sumter in 1861. lie was chosen captain of the com- pany when Gen. (then Captain) Grant declined, and on 16 April, 1862, was commissioned lieutenant- colonel of the 12th Illinois infantry. He was in command at Smithland, Ky., from September, 1861, till January, 1862, and then participated in Gen. Smith's campaign on the Tennessee river to Fort Henry, and led his regiment at Fort Donelson. He was engaged at Shiloh, distinguishing himself at Corinth, being left in command of that post until May, 1863, and while there organized the first colored regiment raised in the west. On 13 Dec, 1863, he was promoted brigadier-general, placed in charge of the organization of colored troops in Tennessee, and afterward in Kentucky, and by 1 Jan., 1864, had raised a force of 17,000 men, for which service he was brevetted major- general. From January to October, 1865, he com- manded the post of Memphis, and then the district of Talladega, Ala., until 5 Feb., 1866, when he was mustered out of service. He was assessor of inter- nal revenue for the district of Utah in 1867-9, then U. S. consul at Brussels, and, after his return to the United States in 1872, established himself in Chicago as a banker and stock-broker. In Sep- tember, 1886, Gen. Chetlain delivered the annual address before the society of the Army of the Tennessee, at Rock Island, 111.

CHETWOOD, John J., lawyer, b. in Elizabeth, N. J., 18 Jan., 1800 ; d. there, 18 Nov., 1861. He was for fourteen years surrogate of Essex county, first prosecutor of Union county, a member of the state council, and interested in railroad projects and in promoting educational and religious enterprises. — His ancestor, William, b. in Elizabethtown in 1769; d. there, 18 Dec, 1857, was graduated at Princeton in 1792, admitted to the bar in 1798, was aide to Gen. Lee during the whiskey rebellion, and served in congress in 1836-'7.

CHEVALIER, Michel, French political economist, b. in Limoges, 13 Jan., 1806 ; d. 28 Nov., 1879. He entered the Polytechnic school in 1824, was appointed an engineer in the department du Nord in 1828, became "a St. Simonian, assumed the editorship of the "Globe," and was condemned to twelve months' imprisonment for an article on marriage. After serving six months he was pardoned, and sent by Thiers to investigate the railroads and canals of the United States. While on that mission he travelled extensively over this country, Mexico, and Cuba in 1833-5, and published in the "Journal des Debats " a series of letters, afterward collected into a volume entitled " Lettres sur l'Amerique du Nord." In 1840 he became professor of national economy in the College of Prance. In 1848 he published replies to Louis Blanc, in 1860 became a senator, and in 1867 was charged with preparing the official report of the international exposition, and in an " Introduction aux rapports du jury international " gave a philosophical survey of modern industry. Among his other works are " Histoire et description des voies de communication aux Etats-Unis et des travaux qui en dependent" (1840-2); "Cours d'economie" (1842-50; new ed., 1866); " L'Isthme de Panama" (1844); "La liberte aux Etats-Unis" (1849); " De la baisse probable de lor" (1859); "L'expedition du Mexique " (1862) ; and " Le Mexique ancien et moderne " (1863).

CHEVERUS, Jean Louis Anne Magdeleine Lefebvre de, R. C. prelate, b. in Mayenne, France, 28 Jan.. 1768 ; d. in Bordeaux, 19 July, 1836. He received his preparatory education in Mayenne, entered the College Louis le Grand in 1780, and was ordained in 1790. After suffering imprisonment and