a member of the democratic national convention in 1856, and the republican national convention in 1864, state treasurer of Ohio in 1861 and 1863, chairman of the republican executive committee in 1863-'4, and supplied the place of Gov. Tod as elector at large on the republican ticket in 1868.
DORSEY, James Owen, ethnologist, b. in Baltimore, Md., 31 Oct., 1848 ; d. in Washington, D. C., 4 Feb., 1895. He studied at the Central high school from 1862 till 1863, and then at the theological seminary of Virginia from 1867 till 1871. After being ordained a deacon, 18 April, 1871, he was sent as a missionary of the Protestant Episcopal
church to the Ponka Indians in Dakota, where he
remained for two years. From 1873 till 1878 he
was engaged in parish work in Maryland. He was
appointed ethnologist to the U. S. geological and
geographical survey of the Rocky mountain region
under Major J. W. Powell, and sent to the Omaha
Indians in Nebraska, remaining there until 1880.
Meanwhile, in 1879, he had been «transf erred to the
bureau of ethnology in the Smithsonian institu-
tion, and in 1880 was also appointed Ponka inter-
preter to Gen. Cook's commission. Prior to 1884
his investigations were confined to the languages,
mythology, and sociology of tribes of the Dakotan
or Siouan family, but after that time he made
original researches for linguistic material among
nineteen Oregon tribes of the Athapascan, Kusan,
Takilman, and Yaknon families. Pie was made
member of the council of the Anthropological so-
ciety of Washington in 1884. and general secretary
in 1885, vice-president of the section on anthro-
pology of the American association for the ad-
vancement of science in 1885, honorable local
correspondent of the Victoria institute of Great
Britain in 1885, and member of the Italiana Re-
gale Societa Didascalica in 1886, from which or-
ganization in 1886 he received a gold medal for
his works on sociology. A record of his work will
be found in the annual reports of the Smithsonian
institution. He published " Ponka ABC Wa-ba-
ru," a Ponka primer (1873) ; " Siouan Phonology "
(1883); "Osage War Customs" (1884); "Kansas
Mourning and War Customs " (1885) ; " Omaha
Sociology" (1885); "Siouan Migrations" (1886);
" Indian Personal Names" (1886) ; "The Dhegiha
Language, Myth Stories, and Letters"; "Omaha
and Ponka Letters"; and " Dhegiha-English and
English-Dhegiha Dictionary," of over 20.000 words,
DORSE Y, John Syng physician, b. in Philadelphia, 23 Dec, 1783; d. there, 12 Nov., 1818.
He received his early education at the Friends'
academy in Philadelphia, studied medicine, and
was graduated at the University of Pennsyl-
vania in 1802. The yellow fever broke out in
Philadelphia a few weeks later, and committed
such ravages that a hospital was opened, ^nd the
young graduate received the appointment of resi-
dent physician. He combatted the idea of conta-
gion, and strengthened his theory regarding the
disease by courting infection in the most reckless
manner. The next year, 1803, he visited France
and England, attended the lectures of Humphry
Davy, the distinguished chemist, and afterward
visited the medical schools of Paris, returning to
Philadelphia after an absence of about a year. He
was elected adjunct professor of sitrgery in the
school where he had been graduated but five years
previously, was transferred to the chair of materia
medica in 1816, and. having given two courses of
lectures on that subject, was chosen to the profes-
sorship of anatomy made vacant by the death of
Dr. Wistar. On the evening after delivering his
introductory lecture he was attacked by a fever,
and died at the end of a week. He had the repu-
tation of being one of the first surgeons of Amer-
ica. He contributed papers to the " Portfolio " and
other medical journals, and published an edition
of "Cooper's Surgery" in the notes, and "Ele-
ments of Surgery" (Philadelphia, 1813). The last
was adopted as a text-book in the University of
Edinburgh, and was long a favorite in this country.
DORSEY, Sarah Anne, author, b. in Natchez,
Miss., 16 Feb., 1829 ; d. in New Orleans, La., 4 July,
1879. Her maiden name was Ellis. She received
a careful education, and enjoyed the advantage of
extended foreign travel. Her mother was a sister
of Catherine Warfield, author of " The Household
of Bouverie," who died in 1877, and left in Mrs.
Dorsey's hands a mass of manuscript, the greater
part of which is still unpublished. Mrs. Dorsey's
mother married Gen. Charles G. Dahlgren, after-
ward of the Confederate army, and the daughter,
in 1853, married Samuel W. Dorsey, of Ellicott's
mills, Md., who was then practising law and plant-
ing in Tensas parish, Louisiana. Mrs. Dorsey used
her pencil with artistic skill, and performed on
the harp with exquisite taste. She spoke fluent-
ly several modern languages, was a proficient in
Latin and Greek, and a student of Sanskrit. She
began her literary career by writing for the New
York " Churchman." receiving from that journal
the pen-name of " Filia Ecclesiae." Mrs. Dorsey
built a chapel on her plantation, and devoted
much time to the religious instruction of her
slaves, teaching a class of fifty or sixty negroes
every Sunday. In 1800 she sent to New York, to
be published, the choral services that she had ar-
ranged and used successfully among her black pu-
pils for years, but the war began, and the collection
remained unpublished. Mr. Dorsey lost nearly a
quarter of a million dollars by the civil war. Their
home was burned in a skirmish, and several men
were killed in the garden. They took their slaves
to Texas, where Mrs. Dorsey acted as nurse in a Con-
federate hospital. After the death of Mr. Dorsey in
1875. she removed from her plantation in Tensas
parish, and resided at Beauvoir, a small place on
the Gulf shore, which, by her will, was given to
Jefferson Davis. Here she continued her literary
labors, acting also as amanuensis to Mr. Davis in
the preparation of his " Rise and Fall of the Con-
federate Government." She afterward removed to
New Orleans, and submitted to a surgical opera-
tion for cancer, which proved unavailing. Her
published works are " Recollections of Henry Wat-
kins Allen, ex-governor of Louisiana " (New York,
1860); "Lucia Dare" (1867); "Agnes Graham" (Philadelphia, 1869); "Atalie or a Southern Villeggiatura " (1871) ; and " Panola ; a tale of Louisiana " (1877).
DORSEY, Stephen W., politician, b. in Benson, Vt., 28 Feb., 1842. He received an academical education, and removed with his father's family to Oberlin, Ohio. At the beginning of the civil war he enlisted in the national army, served in the west until 1804, was transferred to the Army of the Potomac, with which he remained until the close of the war. Returning to Ohio, he resumed business as an employee of the Sandusky tool company, was soon afterward made president of the company, and was elected on the same day, without his knowledge, president of the Arkansas central railway company. He removed to Arkansas, and was chosen chairman of the Republican county and state committees. He was elected as a Republican to the U. S. senate, serving from 3 March, 1873, till 3 March, 1879. During the presidential canvass of
