Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 03.djvu/369

 DURBIX

DURELL

ment, through Secretary Welles of the navy, he was exempted, with all the men in his employ, from military service, in order to allow the manufacture of iron plates for the first monitor and other vessels built by Captain Ericsson. He was married to Clara, daughter of Capt. W. J. Wis wall.

DURBIN, John Price, educator, was born near Paris, Bourbon county, Ky., Oct. 10, 1800; son of Hozier and Elizabeth (Nunn) Durbin. In November, 1818, he was licensed to preach in the Methodist Episcopal church, and in 1819 was appointed to the Greenville (Ohio) circuit. He __^ was subsequently

assigned to the church at Hamilton, Ohio, and at the same time attended Miami college. He Avas graduated at Cincinnati college in 1825, receiving his A.M. degree in 1828. He was agent for Augusta college, Ky., 182.")-26, and was professor of an- cient languages there, 1826-31. In September, 1827, he was married to Frances B., daughter of Alexander Cook of Phil- adelphia, Pa. He was professor of natural science in Wesleyan imi versify, Middletown, Conn., 1831, resigning in December, 1831, when he was fleeted chaplain of the United States senate. He was editor of the Christian Advocate, New York, 1832- 33. In 1833, when Dickinson college passed into the hands of the Methodist denomination, Mr. Durbin was elected its president. He held the office from 1833 imtil 1845, Avhen he resigned and became pastor of the Union church, Pliiladelphia, Pa., having been transferred to the Philadelphia conference in 1836. In 1842-43 he made an ex- tensive tour through Europe, Egypt and the East. In 1849 he was appointed j^residing elder of the north Philadelphia district, and was secre- tary of the missionary society, 1850-72. He was a delegate to eight sessions of the General confer- ence, 1844—72. He received the degrees of D.D. and LL.D. He published: Olivcrvations in Europe, principalhj in France and Great Britain (2 vols., 1844, 9th ed., 1848); Observations in the East, chiefly in Egypt, Palestine, Syria and Asia Minor (2 vols., 1845, 10th ed., 1854) ; and an annotated edi- tion of Wood's Mosaic History of the Creation (1831). See Life of John Price DnrJnn by John A. Roche, M.D., D.D. (1889). He died in New York city. Oct. 17, 1876.

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DURBOROW, Allan Cathcart, representative, was born in Philadelphia, Pa., Nov. 10, 1857; son of Allan Cathcart and Elizabeth (Boyer) Dur- borow. He removed with his parents to Wil- liamsport, Ind., in 1862; attended the high school; then Wabash college, 1872-74, and was graduated at the Indiana state university in 1877. After leaving college he engaged in business in Chicago and was business manager of the Western Electri- cian, 1887-91. He represented his district as a Democrat in the 52d and 53d congresses, 1891-95. He was chairman of the special committee on the Columbian exposition in the 52d congress, and successfully conducted all the legislation incident to that work.

DURELL, Daniel Meserve, representative, was born in Lee, N.H., July 20, 1769; son of Nicholas and Abigail (Meserve) Durell. He was graduated from Dartmouth in 1794, studied law under Henry MeUen of Dover, N.H., and was admitted to the bar in 1797, practising in Dover. In 1806 he was elected a representative in the lOtli congress. He was a member of the state legisla- ture in 1816; was chief justice of the district court of common pleas, 1816-21; and U.S. attor- ney for the district of New Hampshire, 1830-34. He was married in 1800 to Elizabeth, daugliter of John Went worth, Jr., of Dover. He died in Dover, N.H., April 29, 1841.

DURELL, Edward Henry, jurist, was born in Portsmouth, N.H., July 14, 1810; son of Daniel Meserve and Elizabeth (W^entworth) Durell ; and grandson of Nicholas and Abigail (Meserve) Durell. He was graduated at Harvard in 1831 ; was admitted to the bar, and in 1834 settled in Pittsburg, Miss., which he renamed Grenada. He removed to New Orleans in 1836. -Through his influence the law of the state respecting descent of property was changed so as to remove the source of prevalent familj' feuds. He was a member of the New Orleans common council, 1854-56. In 1860 he resisted the adoption of the ordinance of secession by the state and on its passage he left the Democratic party and lived in retirement. When the Federal troops occupied New Orleans in 1862 he Avas requested by the military governor to construct a new municipal charter and he drafted the so-called bureau system in force, 1862-70. He was president of the city bureau of finances, 1862-64, mayor of the city in 1863, and judge of the eastern district of Louisiana by appointment of President Lincoln in 1863, his district including the entire state, 1866-72. He was president of the Loviisiana constitutional convention of 1864 and procured a discontinuance of legal procedure in the state under the confiscation acts. He resigned from the bench in 1874 and in 1875 made his home in Schoharie, N.Y He refused appointment to a