Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 03.djvu/222

 DKLAFIELl)

DELAFIELD

Knuluatfii at Vale in IStio. at the College of l)liysii-ians ami surj^eims in 18(:{, stmlieil medi- cine in Paris, lierlin and London, and became an exjuTt jKithologist. He w:us made surgeon of the New York eye and ear inlirmary and physician ami pathologist of the Roosevelt hospital in 1871; pliysician to Bellevue hospital in 1874; was adjunct professor in the New York college of physicians and surgeons. 1875-82, and full pro- fessr of jKithology and the practice of medicine there from 1882. He became consulting physician to Bellevue hospital in 1885 and lirst president I if the Association of American physicians and jiathologists in 1886. He read a notable paper l)efore the congress of the American physicians and surgeons at Washington in 1897. He was elected to membership in the Century associ- ation, the Association of medical physicians and the New Y'ork academy of medicine. He re- ceived the honorary degree of LL.D. from Y'ale in 1890. His published works include: Iland Book 'if Post-Mortem Examinations and Morbid Anat- omy (1872); Manual of Physical Diagnosis (1878); Studies in Pathological Anatomy (1882); Diseases of the Kidneys (1895); and Hand Book of Pathological Anatomy and Histology (1885), which last, revised and extended, was adopted by medical colleges a.< a text and reference book, reaching its 5th edition in WM.

DELAFIELD, John, merchant, was born in England, March 16, 1748. He took passage for America in 1782 on the Vigilant, an English vessel bearing letters of marque. On the voyage he aided in the capture of a French merchantman and on reaching New Y'ork, April 5, 1783, received as i)rize money £100. He was the first to bring to the United States the text of the provisional treaty of peace, signed in Paris, Nov. 30, 1782, but not then made public in England, and an •fficial copy of which was on its way across the •■••ean on a slower vessel. He was married, Dec. 11, 1784, to Ann. daughter of Joseph and Eliza- Ixith Hallett of Long Island, N.Y., and had nine w,ns and two daugliters. He established himself in New York as a merchant after the evacuation of the British tnxjps in November, 1783, and retired in 1798 one of the richest men in New York. He also engaged as a marine underwriter and led the business in the city, but the disas- trous action of both England and France against American commerce ruined all engaged in insur- ing American l>ottoms and he only paid his debts by the sacrififte of his entire proi)erty. He estab- lished. June 15, 1787, the Mutual insurance com- pany, the first company in New York to take fire risks after the Revolution. He was a director of the branch U.S. bank, a founder of the United in.surance company. Feb. 1, 1796, and its presi- dent. He died in New Y'ork city, July 3. 1824.

DELAFIELD, John, financier, was born in New York cily, Jan. 22, 1786; son of John and Ann (Hallett) Delatield. He was graduated at Columbia college in 1802, and found his first em- ployment in the merchant marine as clerk and supercargo. He then engaged in the shipping business He was on board of one of his own vessels in 1808 when he was driven into the port of Corunna, Spain, by stress of weather, and witnessed the storming of that city by the French, Jan. 17, 1808. When the French directed their fire upon the shipping in the harbor he cut loose, after taking on board a family of Spanish refugees, and carried them safely to London. He established himself there as a banker, but was held as a prisoner, 1812-13, being an Ameri- can citizen. He continued his business, how- ever, by being limited in his journeyings to fifteen miles about his country-seat and the cor- porate bounds of London. In 1819 his large fortune was lost in a financial crisis, and in 1820 he returned to New Y'ork where he was secretary and subsequently president of the Phoenix bank. He resigned in 1838 to become president of the New Y'^ork banking company. The Philhar- monic society first met at his house and he was its first president. He instituted the Musical fund society, helped to establish the University of the city of New Y'ork, and revived the New York historical society. He was impoverished a second time by the failure of the New Y'ork banking company, and thereafter devoted him- self to agricultural pursuits, purchasing a large estate near Geneva, N.Y., where he conducted a model farm. He was president of the New York state agricultural society for several years, and presiding officer of the State agricultural col- lege. He was the first secretary of the corpora- tion of the University of the city of New Y'ork, 1831-32, and a member of the council, 1830-84. He was married first, in England, to Mary, daughter of John Roberts of Whitchurch, Bucks county, and secondly to Elizabeth, daughter of Col. Benjamin Tallmadge. He wrote: Journal of a Convention of Literary and i>'cientifc Gentlemen in New York (1831); and Inquiry into the Origin of the Antiquities of America (2 \ols., 1839). He died on his estate near Geneva, N.Y'., Oct. 22, 1853.

DELAFIELD, Joseph, scientist, was born in New York city, Aug. 22, 1790; son of John and Ann (Hallett) Delafield. He was graduated from Yal3 in 1808, and was admitted to the practice of law in 1811. He served in the war of 1812, first as a captain of drafted militia, and in 1813 he joined the regular army, serving as cap- tain in Hawkins's regiment, and as major of the 46th U.S. infantry from April 15, 1814. Ha re- signed his commission in the army at the close of the war, and served as U.S. agent in the