Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/133

Rh of America" (1782); "Letters of Marius" (1784); " History of Sandford and Merton," his best known book (1783-'9) ; and other works.

DATAN, Charles, lawyer, b. in Amsterdam, N. Y., IG July, 1792 ; d. in Lowville, N. Y., 25 Dec, 1877. His early life was spent on a farm, and he received a public-school education and became a teacher. He studied law, was admitted to the bar, and practised at Lowville. He was a member of the state senate in 1827-'9, being president the second year ; acting lieutenant-governor in 1829, and as such was president of the court of errors. He was elected to congress from New York as a democrat, serving from 5 Dec, 1831, till 2 March, 1833. He was a member of the state house of rep- resentatives in 1835-0, and was district attorney for Lewis county from 1840 till 1845.

DAYE, Stephen, the first printer in the English- American colonies, b. in London in 1611 ; d. in Cambridge, Mass., 22 Dec, 1G68. In connection with the founding of Harvard college in 1638, the first printing-press was established in this country. Thi'ough the instrumentality of the Rev. Joseph Glover, a wealthy non-conformist minister, a press and material were shipped from England, accom- panied by Mr. Glover and Thomas Daye, whom he had engaged in London. Daye was supposed to be a descendant of John Day, one of the most emi- nent and wealthy of early English typographers. On the passage over Mr. Glover died, but Daye duly entered upon the work, set up the press, and, by direction of the magistrates and elders, in Janu- ary, 1639, printed the "Freeman's Oath," which was the first issue of the colonial press. It was claimed tiiat Daye had served an apprenticeship in London ; but his deficiencies as a compositor, indi- cated by errors of punctuation and spelling, by the division of monosyllables by a hyphen at the end of lines, and similar technical blunders, lead to the presumption that, though bred a printer, he had been chiefly accustomed to press-work, in which he was more successful. The second work printed was an almanac, made by William Pierce, mariner (1639); then the Psalms, "newly turned into metre, for the edification and comfort of the saints " (1640). He also printed a " Catechism," " Body of Liber- ties," containing one hundred laws of the colony (1641 ; 2d ed., 1648), which were ordered to be sold in quires at three shillings each. Daye was su- perseded in the management of the press, in 1649, by the appointment by the magistrates and elders, although no reason was ever given for their action, of Samuel Green as printer. The general court of Massachusetts, in October, 1641, showed a due ap- preciation of Dave's thirteen years' work by grant- ing him 300 acres of land for " being the first that sett upon printing."

DAYTON, Amos Cooper, physician and clergy- man, b. in Plainfield, N. J., 4 Sept., 1813 ; d. in Perry, Ga., 11 June, 1865. He was graduated at the Medical college of New York city in 1834, and soon removed to the south in search of health. He was at first a Presbyterian, but became dissatisfied with his church relations, and in 1852, while re- siding in Vicksburg, Miss., having adopted Bap- tist views, united with that denomination. Hence- forth he was distinguished for his controversial writings. Besides laeing associate editor of the " Tennessee Baptist," he was the author of two re- ligious novels. " Theodosia " and " The Infidel's Daughter." The first had a wide circulation.

DAYTON, Elias, Revolutionary officer, b. in Elizabethtown, N. J., in July, 1737; d. there, 22 Oct., 1807. He began his military career by joining the British forces, and fought in the "Jersey blues " under Wolfe at Quebec Subsequently he connnanded a company of militia, with which he marched on an expedition against the northern Indians. He was a member of the committee of safety at the beginning of the Revolutionary war, and in conjunction with William Alexander, Lord Stirling, connnanded a party which captured a British transport off Elizabethtown (July, 1775). He was appointed colonel of the 3d battalion, New Jersey Continental line, 9 Feb., 1776, and in the summer of 1778 until the close of the war had command of the Jersey brigade. Dayton aided in suppressing the mutiny of the New Jersey line in 1781. He was made brigadier-general in 1783, and was in active service during the entire war, taking a prominent part in the battles of Brandy- wine, Germantown, Monmouth, Springfield, and Y^orktown. He had three horses shot under him : one at Germantown, one at Crosswick's Bridge, and one at Springfield. After the war he served several times in the legislature of his native state, and was made major-general of militia, and mem- ber of the Continental congress from 1787 till 1788. Upon the formation of the New Jersey Society of the Cincinnati. Gen. Dayton was elected president, which olfice he held until his death. There was a strong resemblance between Elias Dayton and Washington. — His son, Jonathan, statesman, b. in Elizabethtown, N. J., 16 Oct., 1760: d. there, 9 Oct., 1824, was graduated at Princeton in 1776, studied law, and was admitted to the bar. He entered the Continental army, and was appointed paymaster of his father's regiment, 26 Aug., 1776 ; was an aide-de-camp to Gen. Sullivan in the expedition against the Six Nations in 1779, and was discharged at the close of the war as a captain of the 1st regi- ment in the New Jersey Continental line. In 1798 he was made a brigadier-general in the U. S. army. He was for a few years a member of the New Jersey house of representatives, and its speaker in 1790. He was a delegate from New Jersey to the conven- tion that framed the Federal constitution in 1787. He was elected to congress from New Jersey in 1791, and re-elected for three consecutive terms, being speaker during the two last congresses, and serving till 3 March, 1799. He was elected U. S.^ senator from New Jersev, and served from 2 Dec, 1799, till 3 March, 1805. He was arrested for alleged conspiracy with Aaron Burr, but was not tried. He received the degree of LL. D. from the College of New Jersey in 1798.

DAYTON, William Lewis, statesman, b. in Baskingridge, N. J., 17 Feb., 1807; d. in Paris,. France, 1 Dec, 1864. He was graduated at Prince- ton in 1825, and received the degree of LL. D. from that college in 1857. He studied law in Litchfield, Conn., and was admitted to the bar in 1830, beginning his practice in Trenton, N. J. In 1837 he M^as elected to the state council (as the senate was then called), being made chairman of the judiciary committee. He became associate judge of the supreme court of the state in 1838, and in 1842