182 DONOVAN. DORCHESTER. of Augustine and Sarah (Crowley) Seede. Of this union are five children : Katharine Seede, John Augustine, Sarah Elizabeth, Grace Dorothy, and Marianna Donovan. Mr. Donovan has held many positions of honor and trust ; has been member of board of overseers of the poor ; was elected as a Democratic mayor of Lowell in 1882, JOHN J DONOVAN. and was re-elected the next year, refusing a re-nomination at the expiration of his term. In 1886 he was nominated for con- gressional honors in the 8th congressional district, in which election the usual Repub- lican majority was reduced to a very nar- row margin. He was president of the Democratic state convention in 1888, and his address upon that occasion was strong, able and eloquent. It confirmed his repu- tation for oratorical ability, and several thousand copies of the address were pub- lished and distributed in the New England States. The oration at the Washington centennial in Huntington Hall, Lowell, and his memorial address before the G. A. R. posts the present year, were received with especial favor. Although engaged in active business, he still finds time to indulge his literary tastes, and has been frequently heard upon the lecture platform. Some of his lectures have been of exceptional merit, especially his "Orators and Oratorical Culture," " Life and Times of Robert Emmett," and "Germany; Its Growth and Influence." Mr. Donovan applies himself energetic- ally to every movement that promises to advance the interests of the people who have honored him in the past, and who appreciate his worth to-day. DORCHESTER, DANIEL, son of Rev. Daniel and Mary (Otis) Dorchester, was born in Duxbury, Plymouth county, March 1 1, 1827. He received his educational training from the common schools, Norwich Acad- emy, and the Wesleyan University, Middle- town, Conn., from which institution he re- ceived the degrees of A. M. and 1). D. He has given his life to the work of the church and kindred elevating and educa- ting institutions. He entered the minis- try of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which his father was an honored clergyman for many years. He has been conspicuous in the temperance reform, and in statistical studies, particularly in the ecclesiastical and reformatory departments of inquiry. He is an acknowledged authority, not only in religious statistics, but the religious his- tory of the United States, to which he has devoted great attention. His " Christian- ity in the United States " has been adopted as a text-book for young students for the ministry, and his " Problem of Religious Progress " has given him a world-wide fame. He was married, first in Dudley, April 12, 1S50, to Mary P., daughter of Henry and Matilda Davis of Dudley. His second marriage occurred October 12, 1875, with Marial A., daughter of Matthew and Diantha Whipple, of Charlestown, N. H. Of the first marriage were seven children : Daniel, Jr. (professor in Boston Univer- sity), Henry Davis (deceased), Sarah C. (Woods), Ernest D., Liverus H. (clergy- man at Springfield), Wesley (deceased), and Chester O. Dorchester. In 1854 he was elected to the Connecti- cut state Senate from the 14th senatorial district. In 1854 and '55 he was chairman of the commission appointed by the Con- necticut Legislature to investigate the con- dition and unprovability of idiots. In 18S2 he was elected to the Massachusetts Legis- lature from the town of Natick. He has written and spoken much upon po- litico-religious and reformatory questions. He is widely known as a man of ideas and opinions which he has evolved, and for which he stands, in a progressive, conserva- tive way.
