Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 10.djvu/279

 VESEY

VEST

with her own meagre resources, originated the first vacation school founded in Boston (1878).

VESEY, William, clergyman, was born in Braintree, Mass., Oct. 10, 1G7-1 ; son of William and Mary Vesey. The Vesey family had for a long time been established in Braintree, Mass. His father was a member of the state legislature, 1703, and one of the organizers of Christ church in 1704, giving land for the site of an edifice in 1735. He was graduated from Harvard college, A.B., 1693 ; served as a lay reader at Sag Harbor, N.Y., for six months, and subsequently studied theology under the Rev. Samuel Myles of King's Chapel, Boston, Mass. He was lay reader at Hempstead, N.Y., 1695-96 ; served as assistant minister for thi-ee months in the latter year in King's Chapel, and having been appointed minis- ter pursuant of Trinity parish. New York city, went to England under the auspices of the church to complete his ministerial preparation. He was graduated from Oxford, A.M., 1696 ; ordained priest, Aug. 2, 1696, and installed rector of Trinity parish upon the completion of its edifice, March 13, 1698. He was married, March 1, 1698, to Mrs. Mary Reede, who subsequently became the wife of Judge Daniel Horsmanden of New York city. He visited England for the relief of his church, 1714-15, returning as commissary to the Venerable Society for the Propagation of the Gospel by appointment of Bishop Compton of London, and by his indefatigable industry the Cliurch of England was firmly planted in the United States, twenty-two churches having been established by Mr. Vesey during his forty-eight years of rectorship. His name is perpetuated in Vesey street, New York city, and his portrait was placed in Trinity chapel. See : " The Parish of Trinity Church in the city of New York," edited by Morgan Dix (1898). He died in New York city, July 11, 1746.

VESPUCCI, Amerigo (Americus Vespucius), navigator, was born in Florence, Italy, March IS, 1452 ; son of Nastugio Vespucci, a notary of Florence. He was educated by his uncle, a Dominican friar, and became a clerk in the com- mercial house of the Medici. He was sent to Spain by his employers about 1490 ; entered the commercial house of Juonato Berardi at Seville, which house fitted out Columbus's second ex- pedition in 1493. Vespucci made several trips to the New "World, of each of which he wrote a narrative. The first expedition sailed from Cadiz, Spain, May 10, 1497, and "at the end of twenty-seven days, touched upon a coast which we thought to be a continent." If this account is authentic, Vespucci reached the continent of America a week or two earlier than the Cabots and about fourteen months earlier than Colum- bus, but the only authority for this voyage is the

statement of Vespucci himself, all contempoi-ary history being absolutel}' silent in regard to such an expedition. In 1499 he made a voj^age along the northern coast of South America, and in 1501 he entered the service of Emanuel of Portugal and visited the Bra- >f^^^

zilian coast. Return- k\^'^^^'

ing in 1503, he im- mediately set sail in command of a cara- vel for the discovery of Malacca. His ves- sel parted company with the rest, and he again made his way to the Brazilian coast. In 1508 he was ap- pointed pilot-major of the kingdom of Spain, which offic he held until his death. He prepared a general description of coasts, and accounts of new discoveries, and superintended the con- struction of nautical charts. His Brazilian discoveries were considered to be a fourth part added to the previously known world, and Waldeesmiiller, a teacher of geography in Lor- raine, proposed the name America, for that part. The name soon began to be generally used for the whole continent. Additional facts may be found in "Narrative and Critical History of America" by Justin Winsor (1884), " Life and Voyages of Americus Vespucius " by C. E. Lester (1846) and a translation of Santarem's "Vespu- cius and his Voyages" by E. V. Child (1850). He died in Seville, Spain, Feb. 23, 1512.

VEST, George Graham, senator, was born in Frankfort, Ky., Dec. 6, 1830 ; son of John Jay and Harriet (Graham) Vest ; grandson of John and Sarah (Edmundson) Vest, and of George and Susan (Runyon) Graham. He was graduated from Centre college, Ky. , in 1848, and from Transylvania university, LL.B. in 1853. He re- moved in 1853 to Georgetown, central Missouri, where he practised law until 1856, when he re- moved to Booneville, Mo. He was married, June 6, 1854, to Sallie E., daughter of Alexander and Elizabeth (Campbell) Sneed of Danville, Ky. He was a presidential elector on the Democratic ticket in 1860, and a representative in the state legislature, 1860-61. In 1861 he served with the anny of General Price as judge-advocate-general of a court-martial held at Lexington, Mo., and was a representative from Missouri in the first and part of the second session of the Confed- erate States congress, and in 1864 he was ap- pointed by Gov. T. C. Reynolds. Confederate States senator. He resumed his law practice in