Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 07.djvu/524

 MOTLEY

MOTT

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traveling in the south of Europe. He studied in Boston and was admitted to the bar in 1836. He was married in 1837 to Mary, daughter of Park Benjamin, journalist, and devoted himself to literary work. In 1841 he was appointed secre- tary of the American legation, St. Peters- burg, but returned home after a few months' residence there. He was a rep- resentative in the Mas- sachusetts general court and in 1851 went to Europe with his family, visiting Ber- lin, Dresden, the Hague and Brussels, where he gathered ma- terial for " The Rise of the Dutch Republic ", which he began in 1846 and which was published in England and Americain 1856, reprinted in English in Amster- dam and translated into Dutch, German, French and Russian. This work established Mr. Motley's reputation as a historian. He returned to the United States in 1856 and settled in New York city, but in 1858 went back to Europe, where he was received into the highest social circles. On Nov. 14, 1861, he was appointed by President Lincoln U.S. minister to Austria, and held office until f867, when he resigned and was succeeded by John Jay. He returned to Boston in 1868, and continued his literary work. He delivered an address before the New York Historical society in 1868 on •' Historic Progress and American Democracy." He \yas appointed by President Grant U.S. minister to England in 1869, but was recalled in 1870. He then revisited Holland and afterwards went to England and resumed liis writing. In 1873 lie suffered from an attack of paralysis which partially disabled him. He visited Boston in 1875, and on his return to England took up his residence with his daugh- ter. Lady Harcourt, at Dorsetshire, where he continued to work on his " History of the Thirty Years' War." The honorary degree of Litt.D. was conferred on him by the Regents of the University of the State of New York in 1864, that of LL.D. by the College of the City of New York in 1858, by Harvard in 1860, by Cambridge in 1861 and by Leyden in 1873, and that of D.C.L. by Oxford in 1860. He was a member of the Massachusetts Historical society; a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; mem- ber of the American Philosophical society, and of the leading learned societies of Europe. He published articles on " The Life and Character of

Peter the Great," *' Novels of Balzac," and "Polity of the Puritans," in the North American Revieiv, and ♦' The Causes of the Civil War" in the Lon- don Times; and is the author of: Morton's Hope, or the Memoirs of a Young Provincial (1839); Merry Mount, a Romance of the Massachusetts Colony (1849); Rise of the Dutch Rejyuhlic, ^3 vols., 1856); The History of the United Nether- lands, from the death of William the Sileyit to the Twelve Years' Truce, 1609 (2 vols., 1800), and TJie Life and Death of John of Barneveld, Advo- cate of Holland; xcith a View of the Pinmary Causes of the TJiirty Years' War (2 vols., 1874). He died at Dorsetshire, England, May 29, 1877, and was buried in Kensal Green cemetery.

MOTT, Alexander Brown, surgeon, was born in New York city, March 31, 1826; son of Dr. Valentine and Louisa (Dunmore) Munns Mott; grandson of Dr. Henry and Jane (Wall) Mott, and a descendant of Adam and Elizabeth (Rich- bell) Mott. Adam Mott, a Quaker, came from Essex, England, to New York as early as 1644 and settled on Long Island about 1657. Alexan- der Brown Mott was educated under private tutors and in the Columbia grammar school until 1836, and in Europe, 1836-41. He entered the U.S. Military academy in 1841; left at the desire of his father and visited Europe in 1842, and was employed in the naval agency at Marseilles, France, in 1843. He was private secretary to Commodore Morris, U.S.N., in 1844, and com- manded a battery during the Spanish revolution, being present at the siege and surrender of Barce- lona. He was engaged in business in Marseilles in 1845 and resided at Havre, France, 1846-47, where he began the study of medicine. He studied under his father, 1847, attended the New York University Medical college and was gradua- ted at the Vermont Academy of Medicine in 1850. He was prosecutor for his father for many years at the New York University Medical clinic and performed many operations in the surgical clinics. In 1857 he received the degree of M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. While on General Yates's staff in April, 1861, he organized the medical corps of the New York regiments under his charge and subsequently served as temporary medical director in New York and inspected all the recruits for thirty-eight regiments of volun- teers. He visited and inspected all the New York regiments in the vicinity of Washington, D.C., and Fort Monroe, Va.; resumed the office of inspector in New York, and was also connected with the mustering and disbursing office. He founded, in connection with the patriotic women in New York, the U.S. army general hospital in 1862, of which he was surgeon in charge. He was appointed surgeon of U.S. volunteers with the rank of major, Nov. 7, 1862; and in 1864-65