societies, including the Antiquaires de France, the Historical institute of Rio Janeiro, and the Archieo- logical society of Madrid. Septenville's works in- clude, besides numerous valuable articles in his- torical magazines, " Victoires et conquetes de i'Kspagne depuis 1'occupation des Maures jusqu'a nos jours " (3 vols., Paris, 1862) ; " Decouvertes et conquetes du Portugal dans les deux mondes " (2 vols., 1863); " Le Bresil sous la domination Por- tugaise " (1872) ; and " Pastes inilitaires et mari- times du Portugal " (2 vols., 1879).
SERCEY, Pierre Cesar Charles Guillaiime, Marquis de. French naval officer, b. near Autun, 26 April, 1753; d. in Paris, 10 Aug., 1836. He entered the navy in 1766, was commissioned ensign
in May, 1779, and served under the Count de
Guiehen. For his participation in several danger-
ous enterprises during the siege of Pensacola, Fla.,
he was made lieutenant and given the cross of St.
Louis. On his return to France he was ordered to
the command of " La Surveillante " in 1790, and
sailed for Martinique. He was promoted captain
in 1792, and in January, 1793, was ordered to con-
voy to France all the merchant vessels in those
waters. He had collected more than fifty ships
laden with valuable cargoes, when the rising of
the negroes in Santo Domingo occurred. He res-
cued 6,000 of the colonists. As his scanty supply
of provisions and the feebleness of his naval force
did not permit of his attempting to cross the At-
lantic, he set sail for the coast of New England,
where he arrived in safety. On his return to
France in December he was imprisoned for six
months for being of noble birth. In December,
1795, he was given command of the naval force
that was detailed to accompany the two civil com-
missioners that were charged with the execution
of the decree giving liberty to the blacks in Mau-
ritius and Reunion. Sercey, fearing that scenes
similar to those he had witnessed at Santo Domingo
might be enacted there, warned the colonists of
the nature of the commissioners' errand, and they
were in consequence not allowed to land. In 1804,
at his earnest request, he was placed on the retired
list, and sailed for the Mauritius, which he gallantly
defended against the English in 1810. On the
declaration of peace in 1814 he was appointed
president of the commission to negotiate in Eng-
land for the exchange of French prisoners. On
his return to France he was promoted vice-admiral,
again placed on the retired list in April, 1832, and
became a member of the house of peers.
SERGEANT, John, missionary, b. in Newark,
N. J., in 1710; d. in Stockbridge," Mass., 27 July,
1749. His grandfather, Jonathan, was a found-
er of Newark in 1667. John was graduated at
Yale in 1729, and served as tutor there in 1731-'5.
He began to preach to the Indians at Housatonic,
in western Massachusetts, in 1734, and the next year
permanently settled among them and taught them
in their own language. In 1736, when the genrral
court purchased of the Indians all the land at
Skatehook, and in return granted them the tovn-
sliip which is now called Stockbridge, he was made
owner of one sixtieth part, and ordained " settled
missionary to the Indians" there and at Kaunau-
meek. A short time before his death he estab-
li>ln'.l a manual-labor school at Stockbridge that
was in successful operation several years. He
translated into the Indian language parts of the
Old Testament and all of the New except the book
of Revelation, and published a "Letter on the In-
dians " (1743) and " A' Sermon " (1743). His son,
Erastns, physician, b. in Stockbridge, Mass., 7
Aug., 1742; d. there, 14 Nov., I'M I, IM i-d two
years at Princeton, and studied medicine with his
uncle. Dr. Thomas Williams, in Decrfield, Mass.
He then settled in Stockbridge, and was the first
practitioner in that town. He was a skilful sur-
geon, and the principal operator within a circle of
thirty miles radius. He entered the Revolutionary
army in 1775 as major of the 7th Massachusetts
regiment, and served with it on Lake Champlain
from December, 1776, till April, 1777, and subse-
quently till Burgoyne's surrender. Another son of
John, John, missionary, b. in Stockbridge. Mass., in
1747; d. there, 8 Sept.. 1824, studied at Princeton
two years, was ordained to the ministry of the
Congregational church, and in 1775 took charge of
the Indian part of the Stockbridge congregation.
When they removed to New Stockbridge, N. Y.,
he followed them and labored among them until
his death. One of his daughters established a
temperance society for Indian women. Mr. Ser-
geant possessed little worldly wisdom, and was bet-
ter known for his useful and blameless life than
for his intellectual gifts, but he exercised great in-
fluence among the Indian tribes, and, on hearing of
his expected death, one of the chiefs said : " We
feel as if our sun was setting, and we do not know
what darkness will succeed." The first John's
nephew, Jonathan Dickinson, lawyer, b. in
Newark. N. J., in 1746 ; d. in Philadelphia, Pa.. 8
Oct., 1793, was the grandson of Jonathan Dickin-
son, the first president of Princeton. He was
graduated there in
1762, studied law,
and began prac-
tice in his native
state. He took his
seat in the Conti-
nental congress a
few days after the
signing of the Dec-
laration of Inde-
pendence, served
in 1776-'7, and in
July, 1777, became
attorney - general
of Pennsylvania.
In 1778, congress
having ordered a
court-martial for
the trial of Gen.
Arthur St. Clair
and other officers
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in relation to the evacuation of Ticonderoga. he was appointed by that body, with William Patterson, of New Jersey, to assist the judge-advocate in the conduct of the trial. He resigned the office of attorney-general in 1780, settled in his profession in Philadelphia, was counsel for the state of Pennsylvania in the controversy with Connecticut concerning the Wyoming lands in 1782, and was conspicuous in the management of many other important cases. When the yellow fever visited Philadelphia in 1793 he was appointed one of the health committee, and in consequence refused to leave the city. He distributed large sums among the poor, nursed the sick, and was active in sanitary measures, but fell a victim to the epidemic. Jonathan Dickinson's son. John, lawyer, b. in Philadelphia, 5 Dec., 1779; d. there, 25 Nov., 1852, was graduated at Princeton in 1795. and, abandoning his intention to become a merchant, studied law, and was admitted to the Philadelphia bar in 17!M. For more than half a century he was known throughout the country as one of the most honorable and learned members of his |>ro|Vion and its acknowledged leader in Philadelphia. He