Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 7).djvu/112

86 bishop of Druzipara in March, 1893. He has con- timied ever since to assist Bishop Moreau of Hya- cinthe in the episcopal labors of that diocese.

DE KOVEN, Henry Louis Reginald, com- poser, b. in Middletown. N. H., 3 April, 1859. Ue was graduated at Oxford university, and studied music at Stuttgart and Florence. He has been the musical critic of several New York journals, and has composed numerous songs and the operas of " The Begum," " Don Quixote," " Robin Hood," "The Fencing Master," "The Tzigane," "The JIanderin," " The Highwayman," and " The Three Dragoons."— His wife, Anna Farwell, b. in Chi- cago, 9 Nov., 1860, was graduated at Lake Forest university, and in 1884 wfis married to Mr. De Koven. She is the author of " A Sawdust Doll," and of contributions of prose and verse to various periodicals. Mrs. De Koven is a daughter of Charles B. Farwell {q. v.). late U. S. senator. DELAND, Marg:aretta Wade, author, b. in Alleghany, Pa., 33 Feb., 1857. Her maiden name was Campbell. She was educated at Pelham priory, New Kochelle, N. Y., then studied at Cooper Union, and in 1878-'9 taught industrial design in the Girl's normal college. In May, 1880, she married Lorin F. Deland, of Boston, Mass. Mps. Deland has published " The Old Garden," a volume of verses (Boston, 1886); "John Ward, Preacher," a novel that has attained great success (1888); "Mr. Tommv Dove, and other Stories" (1893); "Philip and his Wife " (1895) ; and "The Wisdom of Fools " (1897).

DEMAREST, Mary Angusta Lee, b. in New York city, 26 June, 1838; d. in Los Angeles, Cal., 8 Jan., 1888. She was a daughter of Thomas R. Lee, and became the wife of Theodore F. C. Dem- arest. For many years she was a resident of Pas- saic, N. J. Mrs. Demarest bequeathed $10,000 to various religious institutions. She was the author of many poems, a volume of which was published (New York, 1883). The best known of these is " My ain Countrie," which first appeared in the New York "Observer" in December, 1861.

DENBY, Charles, lawyer, b. at Mount Doy, Botetourt co., Va., 13 Dec, 1830. He was edu- cated at Georgetown university and graduated at the Virginia military institute. He taught school and studied law for two years, practised in Indi- ana, and entered the army as lieutenant, passing through the various grades until he became colo- nel of the 80th Indiana infantry. In 1885 he was appointed minister to China, serving as such for four years, and in 1898 President JIcKinley made him a member of the commission appointed to in- vestigate the conduct of the war with Spain. Col. Denby was one of the commissioners, the others being President Schurman and Prof. Dean Worces- ter, sent to the Philippines in the summer of 1899, and ordered by the state department in September to return and report to President McKinley.

DENIS, Jean, Norman pilot. This navigator, according to a narrative in " Ramuzio," visited Newfoundland in 1506, and some time prior to 1519 explored the coasts of Brazil. The 1506 voyage was majle under the auspices of Jean d'Ango (q. v.). Nothing was known of his personnel until the re- cent discovery of his name upon the register of a charitable institution at Hcmfleur, existing in 1457, and also among the names of an assembly of the bourgeois of that city in 1502.

DERRY, Orville Adelbert, geologist and ex- lorer, b. in Kelloggsville, N. Y., 23 July, 1851. le studied at Cornell, where he received the de- gree of M. A. in 1874, after he had made a trip to the Amazon in 1870-'l. In 1873-5 he was in- structor in geology in Cornell, resigning to serve on the geological commission to Brazil. In 1878 he was appointed curator of the National museum, and arranged the collection which he had gath- ered in Brazil. He has explored nearly every part of that country, and is regarded as the greatest living authority on the geology and physical geog- raphy of Brazil. Mr. Derby is a fellow of the London geological society and a member of nu- merous scientific associations.

DE REKZKE, Jean, singer, b. in Warsaw, Po- land, 14 Jan., 1852. From an early age his voice showed remarkable qualities ; his parents, however, destined him for the bar and educated him with this end in view. Although he took his examina- tion and received the degree of advocate, he soon gave up his profession and devoted himself to music. He studied under Ciaffei, and in 1874, by the advice of Cotogni, made his first appearance as baritone at La Fenice, in Venice. His voice, how- ever, was tenor, rather than baritone, and after some years ho retired from the stage, on the advice of Sbriglia, to prepare himself for tenor parts. The event justified the step, for on his reappearance, at Madrid, his success was great; from Madrid he went to London, and in 1885 he appeared in grand opera at Paris. Later he became a great favorite in operas given in the leading cities of this coun- try. — His brother Eduard, singer, b. at Warsaw, 23 Dec, 1855, has made a reputation equally great as a bass singer. He intended to devote himself to scientific agriculture upon the family estate, but, upon the advice of his brother, he took up the study of music, under Stella and Alba, in Milan, and Coletti, in Naples. After four years he went to Paris and studied with his broth- er under Sbriglia. The two brothers have been favorites in grand opera in Paris and the other capitals of Europe; they have had equal if not, iiKleetl, greater appreciation in the United States, where they have sung for manv seasons.

DE VARENNES, Pierre Gauthier, Sieur de la Verendryc, French traveller, b. in France ; d. in Quebec in 1749. He emigrated to Canada, and was for some time engaged in trading in peltry with the Indians. M. de Beauharnais, governor of Canada, originated a scheme to reach the Pacific, and its execution and expense were undertaken by De Varennes, who discovered the Rocky mountains in 1731. While on this tour he discovered, among massive stone pillars, a small sione bearing on two sides graven characters of an unknown language. The stone was afterward sent to Paris, and there the resemblance the characters were thought to liear to the Tartaric was regarded as supporting the hypothesis of an Asiatic immigration into America. The king of France conferred the cross of St. Louis upon De Varennes, and at the time of his death he was about to resume, by the king's desire, his attempt to reach the Pacific ocean.

'''DEVILLE. Edward Gaston''', surveyor-general of Canada, b. at La Charite-sur-Loire Meire, France, in 1849. He was educated at the naval school, Brest, and retired from the navy to take charge of the extensive hydrographic surveys in the South Sea islands and Peru. In 1874 he arrived in Canada, and remained in the employ of the government of Quebec a.s inspector of surveys and scientific explorer until 1879. Two years later he was named inspector of Dominion land surveys, and in 1885 he reached his present posi- tion. Capt. Dcville is a fellow of the Royal society of Canada, as well as a member of several other scientific .societies. He is the author of "Astro- nomic and Geodetic Calculations."