Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 02.djvu/354

 COLVOCORESSES

COLYER

him the degree of D.D. in 1857. He died in Chicago, III, Dec. 25, 1870.

COLVOCORESSES, George Musalas, naval officer, was born on the island of Scio, in the Gre- cian arcliipelago, Oct. 22, 1816; son of Constantine and Franka (Grinialdi) Colvocoresses. After the massacre of a large part of the Greek popu- lation of the island of Scio in 1822, he was sent to the United States and was educated at Nor- wich university, Vt. In 1832 he joined the U.S. navy as a midshipman, and in 1836-37 was at- tached to the United States of the Mediterranean squadron. He was commissioned passed mid- shipman in 1838 and served on the Wilkes explor- ing expedition, and in 1841 on the overland expedition from Vancouver's island to San Fran- cisco, Cal. In 1843 he was commissioned lieuten- ant and served in the Pacific squadron, 1844-46 ; in the Mediterranean, 1847-49; on the African coast, 1851-52; at New York, 1853-55; in the Indian ocean, 1855-58; and at Portsmouth navy yard, 1858-60. He was executive officer of the Levant at the capture of the Barrier forts in Canton river. He was made commander in 1861, and was at- tached to the Atlantic coast service during the Civil war till 1865, when he was ordered to the Pacific sqvxadron. He received his commission as captain in 1867 and was thereupon retired. He published Four Years in a Government Exploring Expedition (1855). He was murdered by an un- known person in Bridgeport, Conn., June 3, 1872.

COLWELL, Stephen, author, was born in Charlestown, Va., March 25, 18U0; son of Robert and Sarah (Brown) Colwell, and grandson of Oliver and Abigail (Richardson) Brown. The following is a copy of the inscription on the tombstone of his maternal grandfather: "Col. Oliver Brown of the artillery of the Massachu- setts line, Revolutionary war. Born in Lexing- ton, Mass., 1752. He stood in front of the first cannon fired by the British on the Americans in the affray at Lexington. Witnessed the Tea Party in Boston Harbor. Was at the battle of Bunker Hill. Commissioned by congi'ess, 16th of January, 1776. Commanded the volunteer party that bore off the leaden statue of King George from the Battery of New York and made it into bullets for the American army. Bore a conspicuous part in command of artillery at the battle of White Plains, Harlem Heights, Prince- ton, Trenton, Brandywine, Germantown and Monmouth. After serving his country he entered in the Armies of the Son of God and surrendered to the last enemy on the 17th of February, 1846, in the full assurance of a never-ending peace. " Stephen Colwell was graduated at Jefferson col- lege. Pa., in 1819 and was admitted to the bar in 1821. He practised in St. Clairsville, Ohio, 1821-28, and in Pittsburg, Pa., 1828-36, removing

in the latter year to Philadelphia, where he engaged in the practice of law, in which he ac- quired a large fortune. He gave liberal support to the Union cause, 1861-65, was one of the found- ers of the Union league club of Philadelphia and an associate member of the U.S. sanitary com- mission. After the war he exaniined the U.S. internal revenue system as special commissioner, and his report went far toward determining the financial policy of the government. He endowed a pro- fessorship of social science in the Uni- versity of Pennsyl- vania and gave to the institution his valuable library. He was married in v • \i> /u,>'

1836 to Sarah Ball, MljiJuM^i -^ixd^^-yM, daughter of Samuel

Richards of Philadelphia. Under the name " Mr, Penn, " he wrote: Letters to Members of the Leyislat- nre of Pennsylvania on the Removal of Deposits front the Bank of the United States by Order of the Presi- dent (1834); under the name "Jonathan B. Wise": 77te Eelative Position in our Industry of Foreign Commerce, Domestic Production and Internal Trade (1850) ; and under his own name : Kew Themes for the Protestant Clergy (1851, 2d ed., 1852); Politics for American Christians (1852); Hints to a Layman (1853) ; Charity and the Clergy (1853) ; Position of Christianity in the United States in its Belation with our Political System and Eelig- iotis Instruction in the Public Schools (1855) ; The South : a Letter from a Friend in the North icith Reference to the Effects of Disunion upon Slavery (1856) ; The ]Vays and Means of Commercial Pay- ment (1858) ; TJie Five Cotton States and New York (1861) ; and Gold, Banks and Taxation (1864). He died in Philadeljihia, Pa., Jan. 15, 1871.

COLYER, Vincent, painter, was born in Bloomingdale, N.Y., in 1825. In 1844 he went to New York city where he studied art under the tuition of John R. Smith and at the National academy of design. He made his first exhibi- tion at the academy in 1848. His first works, portraits and ideal heads in crayon, were soon succeeded by portraits in oil. At the outbreak of the civil war he originated the Cliristian commission and was in active service as head of that charit}' throughout the war, sjjending- much of his time in the southern states where his work among the freedmen and in the Union can^ps was arduous and exacting. After the war he made his home at Rowayton, IJarien, Conn.