Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 03.djvu/245

 DE SAUSSURE

DESHON

president of the board of engineers charged with the land defences of the city throughout the war. In 1865 he was bre vetted major-general in tiie U.S. army for " long and faithful serA-ices." He died in San Francisco, Cal., Nov. 23, 1865.

DE SAUSSURE, Henry William, jurist, was born in Pocotaligo, S.C., Aug. 16, 1763; son of Daniel De Saussure, a Revolutionary patriot and president of the state senate, 1790-91 ; and grand- son of Henry De Saussure, of an ancient family of Lorraine, France, who immigrated to America in 1730 and settled in South Carolina. Henry Wil- liam, although but seventeen years of age, volun- teered in the siege of Charleston, was captured, confined in the British prison-ship for two months and sent to Philadelphia to be exchanged. He remained in that city, studied law under Jared IngersoU and gained admission to the Philadelphia bar in 178-1 and to that of Charleston in 1785. He was a delegate to the South Carolina state constitu- tional convention in October, 1789, and a member of the legislature in 1791. President Washington appointed him director of the U.S. mint in 1794, and he produced the first gold coin issued by the United States government. He resigned the office in 1795, returned to the practice of law, and in 1808 was elected chancellor of the state of South Caro- lina. In the twenty years following 1809 he deliv- ered 1314 of the 2888 decrees of the circuit court of equity and the state court of appeals. He resigned in 1888. He published Eeports of the Court of Chancery and Courts of Equity in South Carolina from the Bevolution till 1813 (4 vols., 1817-19). He died in Charleston, S.C, March 29, 1839.

DE SAUSSURE, William Ford, seng.tor, was born in Charleston, S.C, in 1792; son of Henry William De Saussure, chancellor of South Caro- lina. He was graduated from Harvard in 1810, and later practised law in Charleston, S.C. He was a representative in the state legislature for many years and was appointed by Governor Man- ning U.S. senator to succeed R. Barnwell Rhett, resigned, who had succeeded Robert W. Barn- well, resigned, who had succeeded Franklin Harper Elmore, deceased, who had succeeded John C. Calhoun, deceased, elected for the term 1847-53. On the assembling of the state legisla- ture in November, 1852, Mr. De Saussure was elected for the remainder of Mr. Calhoun's term which expired March 4, 1853. He died in Charles- ton, S.C, in 1870.

DE SAUSSURE, Wilmot Gibbes, lawyer, was born in Charleston, S.C, June 23, 1822; son of WilliamFord De Saussure, U.S. senator, and grand- son of Henry William De Saussure, chancellor of South Carolina. He was graduated at the South Carolina college in 1840 and practised law in Charleston, S.C, after 1843. He was a represent- ative in the state legislature, 1850-60, and com-

manded the state troops that occupied Fort Moultrie in December, 1860, upon General Ander- son evacuating the fort and withdrawing to Fort Sumter. He was made lieutenant -colonel of the state militia and commanded the artillery on Morris Island during the bombardment of Fort Sumter in April, 1861. He was elected treasm-er of the state and also served as adjutant and in- spector-general during the civil war. He was president of the South Carolina branch, society of the Cincinnati; of St. Andrew's society; of the Charleston library society; of the St. Cecelia so-. ciety, and of the Huguenot society of South Caro- lina. He died in Charleston, S.C, Feb. 1, 1886.

DE SCHWEINITZ, Edmund, Moravian bishop, was born at Bethlehem, Pa., March 20, 1825; great^ grandson of Count Ziuzendorf. This family for more than one hundred years furnished min- isters in an unbroken line to the American branch of the Moravian church. He was graduated at the Moravian theological seminary at Bethlehem in 1844 and in 1855 studied in Berlin, Germany. He was pastor at Canal Dover, Ohio, in 1850; Lebanon, Pa., 1851-53; Philadelphia, Pa., 1853- 60; Letitz, Pa., 1860-64, and Bethlehem, Pa., 1864-80. He was consecrated bishop in 1870. He published:. The Moravian Manual (1859, 2d ed. 1869); The Moravian Episcopate {imb, 2d ed. 1874) ; The Life and Times of David Zeisberger (1870) ; Some of the Fathers of the Moravian Church (1881); and The Unitas Fratrum (1885). He died in Bethlehem, Pa., Dec. 18, 1887.

DESHA, Joseph, governor of Kentucky, was born in Pennsylvania, Dec. 9, 1768. He was a brother of Robert Desha. He immigrated to Ken- tucky in 1781, and served under Gen. Anthony Wayne in his expedition of 1794 against the Indi- ans. He was elected to the state legislature and on Oct. 5, 1813, commanded a division in the bat- tle of the Thames with the rank of major-general. He was a representative in the 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th congresses, 1807-19. In 1824 he succeeded John Adair as governor of Kentucky and served by re-election until 1828. He died in Georgetown!. Ky., Oct. 13, 1842.

DESHA, Robert, soldier, was born in Pennsyl- vania. His education was acquired in Tennes- see. At the beginning of the war of 1812, in which his brother Joseph was a major-general, he re- ceived a captain's commission and served with distinction, winning the brevet rank of major for his bravery at Fort Mackinaw. Aug. 4, 1814. In October, 1814, he was promoted brigadier-major. He was a representative from Gallatin, Tenn., in the 20th and 21st congresses, 1827-31. He died in Mobile, Ala., Feb. 8. 1849.

DESHON, George, missionary, was born in New London, Conn., Jan. 30, 1823; son of John and Fanny ^ Robertson) Deshon; grandson of