and then acquired a proficient knowledge of wood- engraving and lithography. He also studied medi- cine, and in that connection obtained an intimate acquaintance with chemistry, which he applied with great ability in his inventions. His knowledge of op- tics was unusual, and he had no superior in familiari- ty with photography. In 1839 he took up the experi- ments of Daguerre, and was one of the first persons to take portraits by the camera. The application of a reflector, so that the picture should not appear reversed, is credited to him, and Samuel P. B. Morse, to whom he confided the method, endeavored to have it patented in Europe. He built the first locomotive with the double crank, using wooden wheels. That a steam-engine could be run on wheels and perform the services of a carrier was considered absurd. Mr. Dixon originated the process of transferring on stone, now everywhere used by lithographers, and invented the process of photo-lithography, publishing it years before it was believed to be ot any value. By his process of transferring, the old bank-notes were easily counterfeited, and it was to prevent the abuse of his process that he devised the method of printing the bills in colors. He patented this process, but never received any benefit from it, as all the banks used it without pay. The present method employed by the U. S. government for printing in colors, for which a large sum is paid to patentees, is the old process invented by Mr. Dixon, of which the patent had long since expired. He perfected the method of making collodion as used in photography, and his suggestions led to the adoption of a true system for grinding the lenses of camera-tubes. It is claimed that the anti-friction metal, known generally under the name of " Bab- bitt metal," was originally discovered by him. He is the originator of the steel-melting business in the United States. Mr. Dixon became most widely known in connection with the crucible works that bear his name, having invented the plumbago, or graphite, crucible as now made. He established his factory in Salem, Mass., in 1827, removing it to Jersey City in 1847, and, with improvements and additions, it has grown into the largest factory of its kind in the world. The crude material comes largely from mines near Fort Ticonderoga, N. Y., and is also very extensively used by the Joseph Dixon crucible works in the manufacture of lead- pencils, an industry that has been developed simul- taneously with the production of crucibles. Mr. Dixon invented a great number of machines and processes, never failing in his mechanical undertakings, and became very wealthy.
DIXON, Nathan Fellows, senator, b. in Plain-
field, Conn., in 1774; d. in Washington, D. C, 29
Jan., 1842. He was graduated at Brown in 1799,
studied law, and in 1802_ settled in Rhode Island.
He was elected a member of the general assembly
of that state in 1813, and served in that capacity
until 1830. From 1839 till 1842 he was a U. S.
senator. — His son, Nathan Fellows, lawver, b. in
Westerly, R. I., 1 May, 1812: d. there, 11 April,
1881, was graduated at Brown in 1833, attended
the law-schools at New Haven and Cambridge, and
practised his profession in Connecticut and Rhode
Island from 1840 till 1849. He was elected to congress from Rhode Island in 1849, and was one of the governor's council appointed by the general assembly during the Dorr troubles of 1842. In 1844
he was a presidential elector, and in 1851 was elected as a Whig to the general assembly of his state, where, with the exception of two years, he held office until 1859. In 1803 he went to "congress
as a Republican, and served as a member of the com-
mittee on commerce. He was a member of the 39th,
40th, and 41st congresses, declining re-election in
1870. — His son, Nathan Fellows, senator, b. in
Westerly, 28 Aug., 1847; d. there. 3 Nov., 1897,
was graduated at Brown in 1869, studied law, and
was for four years a state senator. He was elected
to congress as a Republican, and in April, 1889,
to the U. S. senate, as successor to Jonathan Chace,
resigned, serving for a term of six years.
DIXON, William Hepworth, British author,
b. in the West Riding of Yorkshire, 30 June, 1821 ;
d. 27 Dec, 1879. At twenty-three he became lit-
erary editor of a paper at Cheltenham. In 1846 he
settled in London as a law student at the Inner
Temple, and began contributing to the " Daily
News." In 1853 he became chief editor of the
"Athenanim," which post he held until 1869. His
treatment of American subjects and American au-
thors in this journal, as well as in his books on
America, was considered in the United States un-
just and incorrect, although he made many friends
in his visits to this country. In 1864 he made a
tour of the East, and in 18GG spent a few months
in travelling and lecturing in the United States,
paying especial attention to Mormonism and spir-
itualism. He revisited America in 1874-'5, and
wrote " White Conquest " (2 vols., 1876), which
contained some useful information about the con-
dition of the negroes, the Indians, and the Chinese
in America. He published " John Howard, a Memoir " (London, 1849) ; "Life of William Penn " (1851) ; " The Lives of the Archbishops of York " (1863) ; " The Holy Land " (2 vols., 1865) ; " New
America " (1867) ; " Spiritual Wives " (1868) ; " Her
Majesty's Tower " (4 vols., 1869-'71) ; " Free Rus-
sia " (2 vols., 1870) ; " The Switzers " (1872) ; " The
History of Two Queens — Catherine of Aragon and
Anne Boleyn " (4 vols., 1873-'4) ; •' Diana, Lady
Lyle " (3 Vols., 1877) ; " Ruby Grey " (3 vols!,
1878); "Royal Windsor" (1878); and a work on
Cyprus, which he visited in 1878.
DIXWELL, JOHN, regicide, b. probably in
Folkstone, Kent, England, in 1607; d. New
Haven, Conn., 18 March, 1689. It appears that he
was a man of estate, and was descended from a
family long prominent in Kent and Warwickshire.
In the revolution of 1640 he espoused the popular
cause, was a colonel in the parliamentary army, a
member of four parliaments, thrice in the council,
and also one of the court that tried and condemned
Charles I. After the Restoration he and his
associates were condemned to death, but Dixwell
escaped to America. He changed his name to John
Davids, and lived undiscovered in New Haven,
where he was married and left children. In 1664
he visited two of his fellow-regicides, Whalley and
Goff, who had found a refuge at Hadley, Mass.
Up to the time of his death he cherished a hope
that the spirit of liberty in England would produce
a new revolution. See Stiles's “History of Three
of the Judges of Charles I. — Whalley, Goffe, Diexwell”
(Hartford, 1794).
DOAK, Samnel, clergyman, b. in Augusta county, Va., in Augttst, 1749 ; d. in Bethel, N. C., 12 Dec, 1830. Pie was graduated at Princeton in 1775, became tutor in Hampden Sidney college, studied theology there, and was licensed to preach by the presbytery of Hanover in 1777. He removed to the Holston settlement (then part of North Carolina, but now a part of east Tennessee), and two years later to a settlement on the Little Limestone, in Washington county, where he bought a farm, built a log school-house and a small church, and founded the "Salem Congregation." The
school he established at this place was the first that was organized in the valley of the Mississippi.
