Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/13

 THE AMERICAN CYCLOPAEDIA. DEMPSTER DEMPSTER, John, an American clergyman, born in Florida, Fulton co., N. Y., Jan. 2, 1794, died at Evanston, 111., Nov. 28, 1863. His father, the Rev. James Dempster, though educated at the university of Edinburgh and bred a Presbyterian, was a colaborer with John Wesley, and was sent by him as a mis- sionary to America, and died while his son was a child. Becoming a peddler of tinware, young Dempster manifested no marked char- acteristics till his conversion in his 18th year, when he set about repairing the defects of his earlier education by most persistent study. In 1816 he was admitted into the Methodist general conference, and till 1825 was stationed at various places in Canada and New York. In 1835 he was sent as missionary to Buenos Ay res. Returning in 1842, for three years he had charge of churches in New York city. Meanwhile he had decided on Newbury, Vt., as a favorable site for a theological seminary, which soon after was removed to Concord, N. H. Here in 1847 was inaugurated the Biblical institute, which now constitutes the school of theology of Boston university. After seven years' labor in this institute, Dr. Dempster de- parted for the west, to seek a favorable loca- tion for the second in the chain of theological seminaries that he proposed to establish be- tween the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. A property for the adequate endowment of a Biblical institute in or near Chicago was ob- tained, and he was appointed senior professor in 1856. The steps he had taken for planting like institutions at Omaha, and next in Cali- fornia, failed, chiefly from the financial revul- sion which the entire country suffered in 1857. Preparatory to a contemplated journey to the Pacific coast to further his favorite plan, he submitted to a surgical operation that proved fatal. He left very extensive manuscripts, only one volume of which has been published, " Lectures and Addresses " (Cincinnati, 1864). DEMPSTER, Thomas, a Scottish professor and author, born at Muiresk, Aberdeenshire, Aug. 23, 1579, died near Bologna, Sept. 6, 1625. He was the 24th in a family of 29 children by the same mother, and at the age of three mas- tered the alphabet in one hour. He went in his 10th year to the university of Cambridge, and studied for some time at Pembroke hall, whence he passed over to France. For sev- eral years he wandered from one university to another, and in 1596 he received the degree of D. C. L., and was appointed regent of the col- lege of Navarre in Paris. His violent and quarrelsome temper often involved him in serious broils with his fellow students and pro- 'fessors. He was subsequently engaged as pro- fessor for brief periods at Toulouse and Nimes, and early in the 17th century went to Scot- land to recover a portion of the paternal prop- erty. Returning to Paris, he was for seven years connected with various colleges of the university, and while acting as temporary principal of the college de Beauvais he pre- served the most rigid discipline in that institu- tion. He afterward went to England, and was appointed by James I. historiographer royal. In 1615 he received from the king a handsome present in money, "but his hopes of preferment being defeated by the opposition of the clergy on account of his being a Roman Catholic, he betook himself in 1616 to Pisa, where for sev- eral years he lectured on the civil law. A personal difficulty induced him to go to Bolo- gna, where, after engaging in a number of dis- putes, he rose to eminence as professor of hu- manity, was knighted and pensioned by tho pope, and loaded with distinctions. In the midst of this prosperity his wife eloped with a student, and the mental and physical suffering which he experienced in an attempt to over- take the fugitives put an end to his life. Dempster's works are exceedingly numerous, and embrace a variety of subjects. He wrote