Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1892, volume 3).djvu/446

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414
JAYNE
JEFFERSON

ciety, and was long manager and corresponding secretary of the New York historical society. He was also the first president of the Huguenot society, organized in 1855 in New York. In connection with his political career, Mr. Jay has delivered numerous addresses on questions connected with slavery, and also bearing on its relation to the Episcopal church, of which he is a leader among the laity. His speeches and pamphlets, which have been widely circulated, include “America Free, or America Slave” (1856); “The Church and the Rebellion” (1863); “On the Passage of the Constitutional Amendment abolishing Slavery” (1864); “Rome in America” (1868); “The American Foreign Service” (1877); “The Sunday-School a Safeguard to the Republic”; “The Fisheries Question”; “The Public School a Portal to the Civil Service.”


JAYNE, David, physician, b. in Monroe county, Pa., 22 July, 1799; d. in Philadelphia, Pa., 5 March, 1866. He was the son of Ebenezer Jayne, a Baptist clergyman, who was the author of a Baptist hymn-book, and of various polemical es- says. The son studied medicine and practised in New Jersey until 1836, when he settled in Phila- delphia and continued his professional work in connection with a drug business. He also began the manufacture of medicines, which business grew to large proportions and made him wealthy. As early as 1849 he began to erect extensive gran- ite and marble buildings in Philadelphia, and he continued to do so till the end of his life. At the time of his death he was about completing one of the finest residences in Philadelphia. Dr. Jayne is said to have been the first person to publish al- manacs as a means of advertising, and these he printed in all the modern languages of Europe and Asia, including even some of the minor dialects of India. — His son, Horace, scientist, b. in Phila- delphia, 5 March, 1859, was graduated at the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania in 1879, in medicine in 1882. He subsequently spent nearly two years abroad, studying biology in the university at Leipsic, and under Haeckel at Jena. On his return he was chosen lecturer in biology in the University of Pennsylvania, and subsequently professor of ver- tebrate morphology in the same institution, which place he now (1887) holds. He has written " A Revision of the Dermestidae of North America," " Abnormities observed in North American Coleop- tera," and " Origin of the Fittest."


JEFFERS, William Nicholson, naval officer, b. in Gloucester county, N. J., 6 Oct., 1824 ; d. in Washington, I). O, 23 July, 1883. He entered the navy as a midshipman, 25 Sept., 1840, took part in the capture of Upper California in 1842, and at the beginning of the Mexican war was ordered to the steamer " Vixen," and was present in all the naval actions in the Gulf of Mexico. He was promoted to master in June, 1854, and commis- sioned lieutenant in January, 1855, and while in command of the " Water Witch " rescued the Spanish steamer " Cartagena," for which service the queen of Spain presented him with a sword. He was also present at the engagement with the fort at Paso de la Patria, which caused the expe- dition under Com. Shubrick to Paraguay. At the beginning of the civil war he was on sick-leave at his home, but at once applied for service, and was detailed on ordnance duty at Norfolk. He com- manded the " Philadelphia " on Potomac river in April and May, 1861, the " Underwriter " during the brilliant operations in the sounds of North Carolina during January and February, 1862, and the " Monitor " in the action with Fort Darling on 15 May of that year. He was commissioned com- mander in March, 1865, captain in July, 1870, and in April, 1873, became chief of the bureau of ord- nance. He was made commodore, 26 Feb., 1878, and in 1875 introduced a system of bronze and steel boat howitzers. In 1876 he doubled the power of the Dahlgren 11-inch smooth-bore by converting it into an 8-inch rifle, and the details of a breach- loading system for every calibre up to 12-inch. He published " Short Methods in Navigation " (1849) ; •' Theory and Practice of Naval Gunnery " (New York, 1850) ; " Inspection and Proof of Cannon " (1864) : « Marine Surveying " (1871) ; " Ordnance Instructions for U. S. Navy " (1866, 1880), and nu- merous pamphlets on naval subjects.


JEFFERSON, Joseph, actor, b. in Plymouth, England, in 1774; d. in Harrisburg, Pa., 6 Aug., 1832. He was the son of Thomas, a comedian connected with Drury Lane theatre, London, who for some time managed the play-house in Richmond, England. Jefferson's first appearance in the United States was made at the Federal street theatre, Boston, in 1795. On 10 Feb., 1796, he joined the John street company in New York city, continuing there until 1803. Within the same year he went to Philadelphia, where he was connected with the Chestnut street theatre for twenty-seven years, except for brief visits to neighboring cities. He resigned from this post in 1832. In Philadelphia his talent for comedy was rated beyond that of any other performer. As a comedian his manner was altogether free from grimace and extravagance. Jefferson's rôles were many, and almost equally well sustained. — His son, Joseph, actor, b. in Philadelphia in 1804; d. in Mobile, Ala., 24 Nov., 1842, was trained for a scene-painter, but eventually became an actor and manager. In 1826 he married Mrs. Burke, a popular stage vocalist. From 1835 till 1837 Jefferson was connected with the Franklin and Niblo's garden theatres in New York city. He appeared at many places during his career, but attracted little notice. His best personations were old men's characters. The son resembled his father in appearance, but, besides being constitutionally timid before an audience, he inherited none of the latter's ability. He was unselfish and improvident, and engaged in constant struggles for a livelihood. —

His son, Joseph, the third of that name, b. in Philadelphia, 20 Feb., 1829, at the age of three years figured as the child in Kotzebue's drama of “Pizarro, or the Death of Rolla,” and later represented “The Living Statues” at the theatre in Washington, D. C. In 1843, after the death of his father, the lad joined a party of strolling players, who made their way through Texas, and during the war with Mexico followed the U. S. army into Mexican territory. On his return to the northern states he was engaged to play small parts at several minor theatres, and unsuccessfully undertook to conduct the dramatic performances at Peale's museum in Philadelphia. In 1849 he married Miss Lockyer, an actress, and joined the company of the Chatham street national theatre in New York city, taking a part in the farce of “Somebody Else.” Thereafter he led a strolling company through the southern states, and for brief terms managed the theatres in Savannah, Ga., and Wilmington, N. C. From 1850 until 1856 Jefferson was employed as actor and stage-manager in Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore, and Washington. During the latter part of 1856 he visited Europe for his health, and on his return became stage-manager of the theatre in Richmond, Va. Up to this time Jefferson had merely attained the standing of a respectable stock-actor. In 1857 he