Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/301

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DWIGHT
DWIGHT
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3t. Mary's, and was also connected with the Semi- nary of St. Mary's. He was a travelling missionary in the states of Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana in 1867-'72, and in the latter year was consecrated bishop of Fort Wayne. He immediately devoted himself to the development and organization of the parocliial-sehool system in his diocese, tie established a diocesan school board, and introduced uniformity of teaching and grading. He modelled his system on that of the public-school of the United States, and with great success. In 1884 he had sixty schools in operation, with 8,000 pupils, in a Roman Catholic population of 85,000. The University of Notre Dame was established through him under the priests of the holy cross, and he also founded numerous sisterhoods. He accom- panied the American pilgrimage to Rome as its superior, and was present at tJie third plenary council of Baltimore.


DWIGHT, John Sullivan, musical critic, b. in Boston, Mass., 13 May, 1813; d. there, 5 Sept., 1893. He was one of the family whose ancestor, John Dwight, is supposed to have been a nephew of Capt. Henry, of Hatfield, lie was graduated at Harvard in 1832, at the Cambridge divinity school in 1835, and in 1840 was ordained pastor of the Unitarian church in Northampton, Mass. He soon left the ministry from sympatiiy with the socialistic ideas of the famous Brook Farm community, of which he was one of the founders, and where he lived for five years, teaching Latin, Greek, German, and music, and at the same time farming, cutting wood, cultivating trees, and engaging in other in- dustries. He returned to Boston in 1848 and devoted himself to literature, contributing to the " Harbinger " (which was at one time the organ of the Brook Farm community, but afterward re- moved to New York), the Boston " Dial," the "Christian Examiner," and other periodicals. He now devoted himself specially to musical criticism, doing much to foster a taste for the best compo- sitions, both by his articles and by lectures on Bach, Beethoven, Handel, and Mozart, which he delivered in the principal cities in the country. In April, 1852, he established in Boston " Dwight's Journal of Music," the publication of which was assumed by Oliver Ditson & Co. in 1858, but Mr. Dwight continued its sole editor until 1881, when it was discontinued. It was for several years the only musical journal in the country, and always expressed the opinions of its editor without fear or favor. He earnestly opposed Wagner, Berlioz, Rubinstein, and the " music of the future," and as strenuously upheld Bach, Handel, and Beethoven. Mr. Dwiglit published " Translations of Select Minor Poems from the German of Goethe and Schiller, with Notes " (in Ripley's " Specimens of Foreign Standard Literature," Boston, 1838). These are distinguished for grace of diction, close ad- herence to the originals, and musical rhythm. His best-known original poem is " God Save the State." — His sister, Frances Ellen, b. in Boston in 1819, became a teacher of music in that citv.


DWIGHT, Joseph, soldier, b. "in Dedham, Mass., 16 Oct., 1703 ; d. in Great Barrington, Mass.. 19 June, 1705. His father, Capt. Henry Dwight, of Hatfield, Mass., was grandson to John Dwight, of Dedham, Mass., from whom all of the name in this country are descended. Joseph was graduated at Harvard in 1722, and was a merchant in Spring- field, Mass., in 1723-'31, but removed to Brookfield, Mass., and was admitted to the bar in 1733. He was eleven times a member of the colonial council between 1731 and 1751, and its speaker in 1748-'9. In 1739 he was judge of the court of common pleas of Worcester county. He had become a colonel of militia, and on 20 Feb., 1745, was made brigadier- general, and was second in command at the attack on Louisburg in that year, where he led in person the " Ancient and honorable company of artillery of Boston," and was commended for his courage and skill by Gen. Pepperell. In 1756 he com- manded a brigade of Massachusetts militia, at Lake Champlain, in the second French war. He had removed in 1752 to Stockbridge, where he was for several years trustee of Indian schools, and in 1753-'61 was chief justice of the Hampshire county court of common pleas. He went to Great Bar- rington in 1758, and on the formation of the new county of Berkshire in 1761 became judge of its court, and also judge of probate, holding these offices till his death. Gen. Dwight was a man of fine personal appearance, dignified in bearing, and much esteemed throughout the colony.— His grand- son, Henry Williams, congressman, b. in Stock- bridge, Mass., 20 Feb., 1788 ; d. in New York city, 21 Feb., 1845. His father, of the same name, was a soldier of the Revolution, and treasurer of Berk- shire county from 1784 till 1804. Henry was edu- cated at Williams, became a lawyer in Stockbridge, and in the war of 1812 was aide to Gen. Whiton, with the rank of colonel. He was a member of the legislature in 1818 and 1834, and served five suc- cessive terms in congress, 1821 till 1831. Col. Dwight, fond of fine stock, was one of the first importers of merino sheep and Devonshire cattle. — Henry Williams's brother, Edwin Welles, clergyman, b. in Stockbridge, Mass., 17 Nov., 1789 ; d. there, 25 Feb., 1841, was graduated at Yale in 1809, was pastor of a Congregational church at Richmond, Mass., in 1819-'37, and published a "History of Berkshire County, Massachusetts " (Pittsfieid, Mass., 1829).— Another brother, Louis, philanthropist, b. in Stockbridge, Mass., 25 March, 1793 ; d. in Boston, Mass., 12 July, 1854, was gradu- ated at Yale in 1813, and at Andover theological seminary in 1819. He was prevented from preach- ing by weak lungs, caused by inhaling " exhilara- ting gas " during a college chemical lecture. He was an agent of the American tract society in 1819-'21, and of the Education society in 1821-4, and was ordained in Salem, Mass., on 27 Nov., 1822. In 1824 he married Louisa Willis, sister of N. P. Willis, the poet, and in the latter part of that year,^ during a six-months' horseback ride for his health, distrilDuted Bibles among the inmates of prisons in various states of the Union. The abuses that thus became known to him led to the formation in 1825 of the Prison discipline society, of which he was secretary and practical manager till his death, effecting many needed reforms. In 1846 he visited Europe and inspected the prisons there. The series of twenty-nine annual reports published by Mr. Dwight contained a vast amount of valuable information not to be found elsewhere. — Harrison Gray Otis, missionary, great-grandson of Gen, Joseph's elder brother Seth, b. in Conway, Mass., 22 Nov., 1803; d. in Vermont, 25 Jan., 1862, was graduated at Hamilton college, Clinton, N. Y., in 1825, and at Andover theological seminary in 1828,, and on 15 July, 1829, was ordained and commis- sioned a missionary of the American board, whose agent he had been for a short time. He sailed for Malta in January, 1830, and in the same year be- gan, with Dr. Eli Smith, a fifteen-months' explora- tion of Asia Minor, Persia, Armenia, and Georgia. In July, 1831, he settled in Constantinople, and became one of the founders of the Armenian mission there. He was one of the most noted American missionaries, and, in addition to his