Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/253

Rh fliid chief justice of the state. He delivered a charge to the grand jury of Charleston on 22 April, in wnich he declared that the king had abdicated the government, and had no more authority over the people of South Carolina. On 15 Oct., 1776, and in October, 1777, he delivered other charges bearing on the question of independence, which had a powerful effect both in this country and Great Britain. During the absence of John Rut- ledge in 1777 the duties of president of the state devolved upon him, and in 1778 he was elected a -delegate" to the Continental congress, of which he continued an active member till his death. He strongly opposed, in a pamphlet, the propositions of conciliation presented by Lord Howe, and on 12 July, 1778, was appointed, with John Hancock and William Duer, to conduct the French minister to Philadelphia. He left a narrative of the events of the Revolution, which was edited and published by his son, Gov. John Drayton, under the title "Memoirs of the American Revolution " (2 vols., Charleston, 1821). — His only son, John, governor of South Carolina, b. in South Carolina in 1766; d. in Charleston, S. C, 22 Nov., 1822, was educated at Princeton, under Dr. Witherspoon, and in Eng- land. He was admitted to the bar, began practice in Charleston, and was elected lieutenant-governor in 1798, becoming governor by the death of Gov. Edward Rutledge, 23 Jan., 1800. He was elected to the office in December, served two years, and was again elected for the term of 1808-'10. While governor in 1801, he used his influence for the establishment of South Carolina college. On 7 May, 1812, he was appointed by President Madison U. S. judge for the district of South Carolina, and served till his death. Besides his father's memoirs. Gov. Drayton published "• Letters written during a Tour through the Northern and Eastern States " (1794), and "A View of South Carolina" (1802).

DRESSER, Horace, lawyer, d. 27 Jan., 1877. He was graduated at Union in 1828. Mr. Dresser was one of the first lawyers who spoke in the New York courts in behalf of the negro race, and his best energies were devoted to defending and assisting fugitive slaves. He wrote much on constitutional questions, and published &ldquo;The Battle Record of the American Rebellion&rdquo; (New York, 1863), and &ldquo;Internal Revenue Laws as Amended to July, 1860&rdquo; (New York, 1866).

DREUILLETTES, Gabriel, Jesuit, b. m France in 1593 ; d. in Quebec in 1681. He came to this country in August, 1643, and was sent the next year to winter among the Algonquins. Here he lest his sight, which he recovered in an extraor- -dinary manner — miraculously, as he supposed. In 1650 he was sent to Boston to propose a per- petual alliance between the French and English -colonies independent of any wars between the sovereigns of England and France. From some of the writings of Father Dreuillettes it would appear that a proposal to this effect had come from the elder Winthrop. Dreuillettes set out in August, 1650, and after much suffering reached Coussinook (Augusta) and presented his credentials to John Winthrop, the Plymouth agent, who went with him to Boston. There he saw Gov. Dudley, of Massachusetts, who referred him to Plymouth, as Kennebec was under the jurisdiction of that col- ony. He was received favorably by Gov. Bradford, but found that only the commissioners of the United colonies had power to enter into any treaty. After many unsuccessful efforts to influence the delegates of the colonies, he returned to Kennebec, visiting the English missionary John Eliot on the way, and then went to Quebec. Full details of his journey are given in his " Narre du A'oyage faict pour les missions," and in his " Epistola ad Doin. Joannem Winthrop." He was next placed among the Montagnais, Kristineaux, Papinachois, and Abnakis. He accompanied a French expedi- tion to the west in 1656, and made an unsuccessful attempt to reach Hudson's bay by land in 1661. After instructing Marquette in the Indian dialect, he followed him to the west, and, although broken by age and infirmities, he labored at Sault St. Marie up to 1679, when he returned to Quebec.

DREW, Daniel, capitalist, b. in Carmel, Putnam CO., N. Y., in 1788 ; d. in New York city, 19 Sept., 1879. He began active life as a cattle-dealer, but soon became connected with steamboat-building, and constructed many of the Hudson river boats. Still later he became identified with railroad enter- prises, and was a prominent speculator in Wall street. When in the height of prosperity his fortune was estimated at from $5,000,000 to"fl5,- 000,000. In 1866 he was treasurer of the Erie railroad company, to which he lent the sura of $3,500,000, receiving as security $3,000,000 of shares of unused stock and $3,000,000 of bonds convertible into stock. He began to sell the stock " short " at the prevailing high price, Cornelius Vanderbilt and his adherents being the purchasers. When the contracts matured Drew converted the bonds into stock and threw into the market the 58,000 shares of stock that he possessed. The matter resulted in litigation, which drove Drew and his party to New Jersey, where they remained until the case was settled. Drew afterward lost heavily, and when the firm of Kenyon, Cox & Co., of which he was a partner, failed, he was compelled to make an assignment and ultimately to go into bankruptcy. He gave liberally to Methodist edu- cational institutions, founding the " Drew ladies' seminary" at Carrael, and giving large sums to Wesleyan university, Middletown, Conn. In 1866 he gave $250,000 to found the Drew theological seminary of Madison, N. J., and increased this sum by successive donations to nearly $1,000,000.

DREW, George Alexander, Canadian jurist, b. near the village of Williamstown, Glengarry co., Ont., 28 Feb., 1827. He is descended from Scotch loyalists who settled in Canada at the time of the American Revolution. He was educated at the grammar-schools in Williamstown and Cornwall, studied law under the late John Sandfield Mac- donald at Cornwall, and was called to the bar of Upper Canada in 1854. In 1855 he settled in Flora, in that province, and practised his profes- sion. In 1867 he was elected to parliament for North Wellington, and was re-elected for the same constituency in 1878. At the dissolution of parlia- ment in 1882 he retired from politics, and was ap- pointed judge of the county of Wellington, and afterward local judge of the high court of justice.

DREW, John, actor, b. in Dublin, Ireland, 3 Sept., 1825 : d. in Philadelphia, Pa., 21 May, 1862. He made his first appearance on the stage at the Bowery theatre, New York, in 1845, as Dr. O'Toole in " The Irish Tutor." After acting for several seasons at the Albany, N. Y., museum, he visited Philadelphia, and at once became a favorite, appearing there for the first time at the Chestnut street theatre, 28 Aug., 1852, as Trapanti in "She Would and She Would Not." In 1853, in conjunction with William Wheatley, he became manager of the Arch street theatre in the same city. After acting throughout the United States, he visited England in 1855, California in 1858, and Australia in 1859. He returned to this country in 1862, and made his last appearance on any stage on 9 May of