Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/168

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
148
DERBY
DE ROSSET

b. in Salem, Mass.. 1:3 Feb., 1819; d. in Boston, Mass., 20 June, 1874, was graduated at Harvard in 1838 in tiie collegiate department, and in 1843 in the medical school, and began practice in Bos- ton, giving much attention to sanitary science. He had acquired a lucrative practice and a wide reputation by his writings on sanitaiy subjects be- fore he entered the army in November, 1861, at which time he was commissioned surgeon in the 23d Massachusetts volunteers, serving for four years, and holding several important offices, among them those of medical inspector of the Department of Virginia and North Carolina, and surgeon-in- chief of divisions, finally attaining the rank of brevet lieutenant-colonel of volunteers. His ser- vices were regarded as most valuable, not only to his I'egiments but to the health and sanitary con- dition of the army, and the government gave him the last-named commission when his healtlr had compelled him to leave the army. After the war he was appointed to the command of the Soldiers' hospital at Augusta, Me., but he returned to Boston in 1866, was appointed one of the surgeons at the City hospital, and early set about the establishment of a state board of health, of which he was secre- tary and executive officer from January, 1866, until his death. In 1872 he was appointed to the neA|V professorship of hygiene at Harvard medical col- lege. Plis eight liealth registration reports were published, and gave rise to new views and reforms in sanitary science. He published a series of ar- ticles in the annual report of the Massachusetts board of health, which brought him to the notice of sanitarians at home and abroad. He issued a trea- tise on " Anthracite and Health " (Boston, 1868). — George's half-brother, Joliu Barton, author, b. in Salem, Mass., 13 Nov., 1792 ; d. in Boston in 1867, was graduated at Bowdoin in 1811, studied law in Northampton, Mass., and began practice in Ded- ham. In the latter part of his life he lived in Boston, where he held a subordinate office in the custom-house, and afterward became a familiar object in State street, gaining a precarious living by selling razors and other small wares, and amus- ing himself by writing poetry. He published "Musings of a Recluse" (Boston, 1837); "The Sea" (1840); and "The Village" (1841).— John Barton's son, George Horatio, soldier, b. in Ded- ham, Mass., 3 April, 1823; d. in New York, 15 May, 1861. He was graduated at West Point in 1846, and made brevet 2d lieutenant of ordnance. He was transferred in 1846 to the corps of topo- graphical engineers, and later in the same year served as assistant on the survey of New Bed- ford harbor, Mass. In the war with Mexico he served at the siege of Vera Cruz, was severely wounded in the battle of Cerro Gordo, and for gal- lant and meritorious conduct in that battle was brevetted 1st lieutenant. After his official duties as assistant in the topographical bureau in Wash- ington, he conducted various surveys, 1847-'8, and also explorations in Minnesota territory, 1848-9, and in the Departments of the Pacific and Texas, 1849-'52. He had charge of the survey and improve- ments of San Diego liarbor. California, 1853-'4, was on the staff of the commanding general of the Department of the Pacific, and of military roads in the same division in 1854-'6, and was coast surveyor and light-house engineer in 1856-'9. He rose to the rank of captain of engineers, and for two years was employed by the government in erecting light-houses on the Florida and Alabama coast. In tlie discharge of his duty in Florida he suffered a sunstroke, which affected his sight and caused softening of the brain, from which he died after his removal to New York. Under the pen-name "John Phoenix" he wrote a series of sketches and burlesques, which were published with the title of "Phcenixiana" (New York, 1855). He was also the author of " The Squibob Papers " (1859), under which name other of his articles were published after his death.


DE KOSSET, Armand John, physician, b. in Wilmington, N. C, 17 Nov., 1767 ; d. there, 1 April, 1859. He was the son of Moses John De Rosset, of London, and Mary Ivie, a native of the West Indies. In 1784 he was matriculated at Princeton. At the close of the first session of his collegiate course, a fellow-student, Robert Goodloe Harper, observing his rigid economy and close attention to duties, and his determination to remain at the col- lege during vacation, for want of funds to defray the expenses of the journey home, offered to be his teacher in the studies of the next year. The offer was gladly accepted, and at the opening of the next session De Rosset was promoted to an ad- vanced class, completing his course in three years. While at the medical college he enjoyed the friend- ship of Dr. Benjamin Rush, with whom he hold a long correspondence, many copies of the letters of the latter being still in the possession of the family. He was appointed by the president of the United States to be post-physician, which office he held for many years. During two or more terms he served in the town government. His writings were con- fined to communications to medical publications, no copies of which are known to exist. A pam- phlet, "De febribus intermittentibus," a Latin thesis, delivered at his graduation, was published in 1790.— His son, Moses John, physician, b. in Wilmington, N. C, 11 Jan., 1796 ;"d. there, 30 June, 1826, was graduated at the New York medi- cal college in 1817 or 1818.. He was associated in practice with his father from 1818 until his death. — His daughter, Mary Jane, married the Rev. Moses Ashley Curtis, the botanist. — His son, Ar- niand John, physician, b. in Wilmington, 6 Oct., 1807, attended the medical college of Charleston, S. C, in 1826-'7, and was graduated at the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania in 1827. He practiced his profession in W'ilmington from 1828 till 1837, when he engaged in mercan- tile affairs, which he relinquished a few years since. — His grandson, Moses Jolin, physician, b. in Pittsboro, N. C, 4 July, 1838 ; d. in Wilming- ton, 1 May, 1881, in youth showed remarkable aptitude for languages and mathematics. He passed thi'ee years in Geneva at the famous school of Diedrich, and spent six months in Cologne to perfect himself in German. He was graduated at the medical department of the University of New York in 1859, was appointed resident physician at Bellevue hospital, New York, and entered upon the duties in 1859. At the beginning of the civil war he entered the Confederate army as assistant surgeon, and, after serving through Stonewall Jack- son's valley campaign, was promoted to full sur- geon, and assigned to duty in Richmond. Subse- quently he was detached as inspector of hos]ntals of the Department of Henrico. At the close of the war he moved to Baltimore, where he was appointed adjunct professor of chemistry in the medical de- partment of the University of Maryland. He was also professor of chemistry in the dental college in that city. He here prepared himself for practice in diseases of the eye and ear, and in 1873 removed to Wilmington, N. C, and devoted himself to this specialty, and became a contributor to the " North Carolina Medical Journal." He removed to San Antonio, Texas, on account of his health, but, find-