Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 03.djvu/308

 DORSEV

I'UK.SEV

anil Mnnory (1849); (/«*/, //«- I^pcr (ISoO); Wn,„1- jvrf Manor (1852); Ma>f lirimke (1850); Orimtttl Ptarl (18.')7); Coaina, the Jins,' of tin' AlffoiKjniits (1868); .\nra Jlnnh/s Vow (18GJ)); Motia, the Vcs- f'll (1809); Tfo- Fleminijs, or Truth Triumphant (18«9); The Old dray L'o.snry (1870); Tanijhd P.jM.s (1879): The Old JItntxe at Glenarra (1886); ll'^nV) and 11'."./ (1887); and Palms (1887). She ilJtMl ill Wasliiiif^ton. D.C.. Dec. 20, 1896.

DORSEY, George W. E., representative, was Kirn in lj«)u«loun county, Va.. Jan. 2.j, 1842; son of Hamilton II. ami .Sarali C. (Polton) Dorsey; j^randson of Edward and Mary (Klein) Dorsey; and a descendant of ^licliael Dorsey, who settled in Marylan 1 in 1G67. In 1856 he removed with his jtarents to Preston countj', Va., and was educated at Oak Hill academy and by private tutor. Pie recruited a comiwin}' and entered the Federal army in Augtist, 1801, as 1st lieutenant, being as- signed to the 6th Western Virginia infantry. He was promoted ca|itain, then major, and was mus- tered out with the army of the Shenandoali in August. 1865. In 1866 lie removed to Fremont, Xeb.. where he was admitted to the bar in 1869. Later he engaged in banking; became a member of the board of trustees of the insane hospital; a member and vice-president of the state board of agriculture: and chairman of the Republican state central committee. lie was a Republican repre- sentative from the 3d district of Nebraska in the 49tli, 50th and 51st congresses, 1885-91. He was chairman of the committee on banking and cur- rency in the 51st congress, and a member of the committee on territories. He introduced and reported the bill for the admission of Idaho, and had charge of this bill on the floor of the house.

DORSEV, James Owen, anthropologist, was born in Baltimore, Md., Oct. 31. 1848; son of Thomas Anderson and Maria Sweetser (Hance) Dorsey; grandson of Nicholas Slade and '^Inry (.Vnderson) Dorsey, and of James Hance; great- grand.sonof Eli-siia and Mary (Slade) Dor.sey; and a descendant of the Hon. John Dorsey, a member of the " Upper House of Burgesses in 1714."' James Owen spent his school days in the City col- lege. He then taught school for a few months, and was graduated at the Theological seminary of thedioceseof Virginia in 1871. After his ordina- tion by Bishop Johns he engaged in missionary work among the Ponka Indians in Dakota Ter- ritory. He immediately began the formulation of an alphabet of the Indian language. Owing to ill health he was obliged to relinquish the work in 1873. and returning to Maryland lie was en- gatre.l in parochial work until July. 1878, when he was sent by the Smithsonian institution to the Omaha and Winnebago reservations in Nebraska, for the purpose of increasing his knowledge of the Indian dialects. Upon the organization of the

Bureau of ethnology in the Smithsonian institu- tion in 1879 he was chosen one of its scientific corps. He remained among the Omaha Indians until April, 1880, when he returned to Washing- ton, but afterward made frequent trips to Indian reservations, visiting in addition to those of the Siouan stock the Biloxie of Louisiana, and that of Siletz ill Oregon, on which he was able to collect important vocabularies and valuable gram- matic notes and material pertaining to the Atha- pascan, Kusan, Takiliuan, and Yakonan stocks. In visiting the different tribes he held services, l)reaching to the Indians in their own language, and translating for them hymns and jjortions of Scripture. In 1884 he was elected a member of the council of the Anthropological society of Washington, and the following year became its vice-president. In 1885 he became vice-president of the section on antliropology of the American association for the advancement of science. He was also a member of the American folklore society from its foundation in 1888, and became president of this society in 1894. lie was elected a member of the Academy of political and social science, Philadelphia, and an honorary corre- sponding member of the Philosophical society of Great Britain. In 1886 he was awarded a gold medal by the Italiana regale societa didascalica for his works on sociology, and in 1892 was granted a medal by the Spanish government in recogni- tion of liis scientific works at the American his- torical exposition held at Madrid. His published volumes and papers include; Ponka ABC Wa- hd-ru; Osage War Customs; JSiouan Phonology; Kansas Mourning and War Customs; Omaha Sociol- ogy; Indian Personal Xames; Teton Folk-lore; The Chegiha Language, Myths and mythology; and nu- merous contributions to scientific periodicals. He edited the Dakota English Dictionary and Da- kota Grammar, Texts, and Ethnography oi the Rev. S. R. Riggs. He left unpublished the most im- portant part of the material collected and elab- orated by him during his active and successful career. He died in Washington, D.C., Feb. 4, 1895. DORSEV, Sarah Anne Ellis, author, was born in Natchez, Miss., Feb. 16, 1829; daughter of

Thomas and (Ware) Ellis; stepdaughter

of Gen. Charles G. Dahlgren, C.S.A.; and a niece of Catliarine Ann (Ware) Warfield, author of " The Household of Bouverie." She was educated under private teachers and spent much time in foreign travel and study, acquiring a proficiency in painting and music, and becoming an accom- plished linguist. She was married in 1853 to Sam- uel W. Dorsey. a lawyer and planter of Tensas parish. La. Her first literary work was done for the New York Churchman, under the i>en-name " Filia EccIesifE." She was deeply interested in the welfare of the colored race and erected a