Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/238

216 Madison Cutts, of Washington, D. C, who is now the wife of Gen. Robert Williams, U. S. A. The spot on the banlv of Lake Michigan in Chicago that Mr. Douglas had reserved for his future home was bought from his widow by the state, and there his remains lie under a magnificent monument begun by private subscriptions and completed by the state of Illinois. It is surmounted by a statue exe- cuted by Leonard Volk. His life was written by James VV. Sheehan (New York, 180), and by Henry M. Flint (Philadelphia, IbGO).

DOUGLAS, William, soldier, b. in Plainfield, Conn., 17 Jan., 1742; d. in Northford, Conn., 28 May, 1777. At sixteen years of age he enlisted among the troops furnished by Connecticut to serve in the French war. He was present at the taking of Quebec, and by 1763 had attained the rank of sergeant. He then removed to New Haven, be- came a sailor, and in a few years was master of a West India merchantman. Before the Revolution he had made a fortune. After the battle of Lex- ington he raised a company, became its captain, and joined Montgomery's expedition against Cana- da. He did good service at the capture of St. John's and Chambly, in command of the flotilla on Lake Champlain, and on his return to New Haven was made major of one of the eight regi- ments raised by Connecticut early in 1776. He was commissioned colonel in June of that year, and iook a prominent part in the disastrous campaign that ended with the evacuation of New York, dis- tinguishing himself at the battles of Long Island and Harlem Plains. At the latter place his horse was shot under him, his clothes were riddled with bullets, and he received wounds that forced him to I'etire to a farm in Northford, where he died from their effects. — His brother, John, was commis- sioned lieutenant-colonel early in the war, rose to the rank of colonel, and finally to that of general, and served with distinction throughout the war. — William's grandson, Beiiiamiii, numufacturer, b. in Northford, Conn.. 3 April, 1816: d. in Middle- town, Conn., 13 Aug., 18U5. He left school at sixteen, when he became apprentice to his elder brother, William, a machinist, at Middletown. They formed a partnership in 1839, and in 1842 patented a revolving cistern stand-pump. Since that time over one hundred new patents on pumps have been granted to the brothers in this country and Europe. William Douglas died in 1858, and in 1859 a company was formed of which Benjamin became president. The company manufacture over twelve hundred styles of pumps, besides other hy- draulic apparatus. They were awarded medals at Paris in 1867 and Vienna in 1873. Mr. Douglas was mayor of Middletown for several years, a re- publican presidential elector in 1860. and lieuten- ant-governor of the state in 1861-'2. He was for twenty years a trustee of Wesleyan university.

DOUGLASS, David, actor, b. in England about 1720; d. m Kingston, Jamaica, W. I. Mr. Douglass was a gentleman by birth and fortune, who had emigrated to Jamaica about 1750. Hither Lewis Plallam had transported his company after he found that the colonies could not yield a suf- ficient harvest in return for his labor, and here he formed a partnership with Mr. Douglass, who, after the death of Lewis Haliam, married his widow, and with her and the rest of the company visited the continent in 1758, where he established theatres successively in New York, Philadelphia, Newport, Perth Amboy, and Charleston, S. C, and between these localities he continued to travel, acting and superintending his company till congress closed the theatres by an act passed 24 Oct., 1774. After this he returned to Jamaica, and was appointed a judge. In early life he had been a printer, and on his return he became a partner in a thriving pi-int- ing establishment, and received a valuable contract from the government. He accumulated a fortune of £25,000. — His wife, an actress, b. in England ; d. in Philadelphia, Pa., in 1773. In her own coun- try Mrs. Douglass had been an eminent actress at Goodman's Field's Theatre, London, as Mrs. Hal- lam, and was the leading actress of that threatre at the time of Garrick's first success. She came to America with her first husband, Lewis Haliam, in 1752, and made her first American appearance at Williamsburg, Va., 5 Sept., 1752, as Portia in the " Merchant of V^enice." She first appeared in New York at the theatre in Nassau street, 17 Sept., 1753, as Lucinda in "The Conscious Lovers." She had fine talents, and her favorite parts were the pathetic. Mr. Dunlap says: "In his youth he had heard the old ladies of Perth Amboy speak almost in rapt- ures of her beauty and grace, and especially of her pathos in her representation of Jane Shore." She retired from the stage in 1769.

DOUGLASS, David Bates, civil engineer, b. in Pompton, N. J., 21 March, 1790; d. in Geneva, N. Y., 19 Oct., 1849. He was graduated at Yale in 1813, in the same year was appointed a 2d lieu- tenant in the corps of engineers, U. S. army, entered upon duty at West Point as commander of sappers and miners, and later was superintendent of the post. In the war with Great Britain he command- ed his company in 1814 on the northern frontier, participated in the battle of Niagara, joined Gen. Brown in that year, took part in the battle of Lundy's Lane, repaired Port Erie under the giins of the enemy, and at its assault commanded a bat- tery with such skill and gallantry that he was pro- moted 1st lieutenant and brevetted captain. On the extreme right of the American encampment, and near tlie lake shore, a strong work had been erected, and two guns en barbette. It was called Douglass battery, in honor of Lieut. David B. Douglass, of the engineer corps, under whose su- perintendence it was built. He was assistant pro- fessor of natural and experimental philosophy at West Point in 1819-'20. with the rank of captain. As astronomical surveyor he fulfilled several im- portant commissions ; later he became professor of mathematics, and in 1823 of civil and military engineering. In 1831 he resigned his professor- ship and Jiis commission in the army, and became chief engineer of the Morris canal. His intro- duction of inclined planes in place of locks for canal navigation proved a success on the completion of the canal in 1832. Subsequent to this he held the professorship of natural philosophy and civil architecture in the University of the city of New York, and designed its collegiate building. In 1833 he began his surveys for supplying New York with water, and, in his first report, showed how to obtain it from the Croton river. He became the chief engineer in this work in 1835, but was super- seded, after which he planned and laid out in 1838 Greenwood cemetery, resigning its superintendence in 1841 to accept the presidency of Kenyon college, Ohio. There he remained four years, when he re- turned to New York and laid out the Catholic cemetery in Albany, and the Protestant cemetery in Quebec. He also designed the supporting wall for Brooklyn Heights, and the supplying of that city with water. In 1848 he became professor of mathematics in Ilobart college, Geneva. N. Y., which office he retained during the remainder of his life, at intervals delivering lectures on various subjects in colleges. He received the degree of