supreme court from 1822 till 1829, when he was elected president of Columbia college, where he remained until failing health compelled him to resign in 1842. During his administration he delivered to the senior class a course of lectures on the constitutional jurisprudence of the United States (published in 1833; revised ed., 1856). He delivered a eulogy on President Monroe from the portico of the city hall. After his retirement he resided in Morristown, N. J., where he wrote the life of his grandfather, Lord Stirling (published by the Historical society of New Jersey). In 1847 he delivered an address in the college chapel before the literary societies of Columbia, and in 1848 an historical address before the St. Nicholas society, which gives early reminiscences of New York, and describes the scenes connected with the inauguration of President Washington, both of which were published. He was the author of two pamphlets addressed to Cadwallader D. Colden on the “Steamboat Controversy,” and the “Life of William Alexander, Earl of Stirling” (New York, 1847). — Another son, John, jurist, b. in Albany, N. Y., 7 Oct., 1782; d. on Staten Island, 8 Aug., 1858, entered the army in his sixteenth year, but after two years left the service for the study of law. He began practice in Orange county, N. Y., and removed to New York city about 1820, where he acquired reputation as an insurance lawyer. He was a delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1821, and in 1825 was appointed one of the commissioners to revise the statutes law of the state, and afforded valuable assistance in the preparation of the first half of the work. He was elected an associate judge of the superior court, and, on the death of Judge Oakley in 1857, became chief justice. He has published “A Lecture on the Law of Representations in Marine Insurance, with Notes and Illustrations” (New York, 1844); “A Treatise on the Law and Practice of Marine Insurance,” which has become a standard authority in the United States (2 vols., 1845-'6); “A Discourse on the Life, Character, and Public Services of James Kent, Chancellor of the State of New York,” delivered by request before the judiciary and bar of the city and county of New York (12 April, 1848); “Three of the Revised Statutes of the State,” in connection with Benjamin F. Butler and John C. Spencer; and at the time of his death was editing Duer's reports of the decisions of the superior court, the sixth volume of which he left incomplete. — William, son of William Alexander, lawyer, b. in New York city, 25 May, 1805, was graduated at Columbia in 1824, studied law, and removed to Oswego in 1828. In 1832 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the legislature, and in that year returned to New York, and went thence to New Orleans. In 1835 he again resided in Oswego, and was a member of the New York legislature in 1840, and district attorney for Oswego county from 1845 till 1847. He was twice elected to congress as a whig, serving from 1847 till 1851.
DUERINK, John Baptist, missionary, b. in
St. Giles, near Lermonde, Belgium, in 180i) ; d. in
Kansas in 1857. He was educated in the Episcopal
seminary of Ghent, and, having long desired to de-
vote himself to the conversion of the savages of
North America, he embarked for the United States
in 1838. He entei'ed the Society of Jesus in Mis-
souri, beginning his novitiate at St. Stanislaus, near
Florissant, in 1884. afterward teaching for several
years, and serving as treasurer of the colleges of
Cincinnati, St. Louis, and Bardstown. He was an
accomplished botanist, and traversed a great por-
tion of Illinois and Ohio in search of rare plants |
and flowers, discovering several new varieties, one
of which is known as the priniuH Duerinkiana.
In 1849 he was sent among the Indians. The
mission of the Pottawattamies, which he conducted,
owed its great success to him. These savages had
already been converted, but he civilized them, and
induced them to prefer agriculture to the chase.
He established schools for the youth of the tribe,
and succeeded in interesting the national govern-
ment in his work. Many of his letters to the au-
thorities were published "in the documents that
accompany the annual message of the president
(1853-7). Father Duerink was drowned while de-
scending the Missouri river in a small boat.
DUFF, John, actor, b. in Dublin, Ireland, in
1787 ; d. in Philadelphia, Pa., in April, 1881. Be-
fore coming to the United States he was prominent
as an actor at the Theatre Royal in his native city.
He made his first appearance in this country at
the Federal street theatre, Boston, 8 Nov., 1810, as
George Gossamer in " Laugh when You Can." Ilis
first appearance in New York was at the Park
theatre, 14 Jan., 1814, as Octavian in " The Mount-
aineers," and the " Three Singles." Mr. Duff was
for many years the most popular actor in the old
Philadelphia company, where he was engaged in
1811 as a " stock star," and attracted far better
houses than many who claimed the highest honors.
His versatility seems to have been unbounded. He
could act Richard or Jeremy Diddler, sing a comic
song or take a part in an opera, with equal accepta-
bility. In 1828, when he introduced Mrs. Duff to
the iSlew York public, the bi'illiancy of her acting
scarcely allowed a thought of him, and soon after-
ward he suffered greatly from violent attacks of
gout ; yet he frequently played at the old Chatham,
Bowery, and Lafayette theatres, where he appeared
for the last time. — His wife, Mary Ann, actress, b.
in London, England, in 1795 ; d'. in New York, 5
Sept., 1857, was the daughter of an Englishman
named Dyke, who had held an otfiee in the service
of the East India company, and died, leaving her
and her sisters with small sui)port. They received
instruction in dancing from the ballet-master
D'Egville, and made their first appearance as pro-
fessional dancers at the Dublin theatre. While
playing with a party of amateurs at Kilkenny,
Mary attracted the attention of Thomas Moore,
who acted the part of Robin Roughead in " Fort-
une's Frolic," but, receiving no encouragement, he
transferred his affections to her sister, Elizabeth,
whom he soon married. After her marriage Mrs.
Duff came to Boston with her husband, in 1810,
where she made her first ajapearance on the Ameri-
can stage as " Juliet," but without success. Sub-
sequently she appeared in characters of minor im-
portance, and also in serious pantomimes. In 1817
she began to develop great al)ility. In 1828 she
visited New York for the first time, and appeared
in the Park theatre as Hermione in the " Distressed
Mother," adapted from Racine's " Andromache."
This was the character in which her talents were
first asserted and in which she first became known.
About this time she played leading Shakespearean
parts with Ednumd Kean, who considered her the
equal of the foremost British actresses of that day.
She visited England in 1838, and made her first
appearance in London as Isabella in the " Fatal
Marriage." Her beauty and talent made her a
great favorite throughout the United States.
While she was travelling from Cincinnati to New
Orleans upon the Mississippi river the Asiatic
cholera broke out among her fellow-passengers.
Fearless for her own life, she administered to the
sick and dying, and upon her arrival in New Or-
