Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/267

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
DUER
DUER
245

his followers, was taken prisoner by the Nicaraguan authorities, and delivered to the government of Salvador, under a promise that his life should be spared. Notwithstanding this condition, Duenas submitted Barrios to a court-martial largely com- posed of personal enemies, and he was condemned to death, and shot in August. In 1869 Dueflas was re-elected for a new term of four years, and, notwithstanding his conservative affiliation, fol- lowed a progressist policy. During his adminis- tration the first telegraph lines were established in the repul)lic, the national palace in San Salvador built, and new and substantial wharves at the ports of La Libertad. La Union, and Acajutla were con- structed. In February, 1871, Honduras declared war against President Duenas, and at the same time, and probably in concert with Honduras, a revolution against his government broke out at home, headed by Gen. Santiago Gonzalez, and on 10 April, after a three days' battle, the government troops were defeated at Santa Ana. On the re- ceipt of this news at San Salvador, the populace rose and sacked Dueiias's house, who fled to the American consulate for protection, but on the en- try of the victorious army, Api'il 15. order was restored and Gonzalez nominated provisional presi- dent. Dueiias, who had been delivered to the au- thorities, was set at liberty in June. After a pro- longed trial by the supreme court, he was absolved, 4 July, 1872, but toward the end of that month, on the discovery of a conspiracy to overthrow the governments of Guatemala and Salvador, he was imprisoned again, and in August expelled from the republic with sixteen capuchin friars who were implicated with liim. They went to Europe.


DUER, Edward Louis, physician, b. in Cross- wicks, N. J., 19 Jan., 1836. He is descended from an old Scottish family long resident in the United States. He was graduated at Yale in 1857, and re- ceived his degree of M. 1). from the University of Pennsylvania in 1860. During the years succeed- ing his graduation he practised with his father, Dr. George S. Duer, at Crosswicks. In 1861 he entered the U. S. army as surgeon of volunteers, and served throughout the war. He was resident phy- sician of Philadelphia hospital from 1860 till 1862, surgeon from 1862 till 1865, obstetrician from 1861 till 1884, gynecologist of Presbyterian hospital in 1880, and lecturer on diseases of women and children in Philadelphia polvclinic from 1883 till 1885. He has published " Post-Mortem Discov- eries " and " Treatment of Diphtheria."


DUER, William, statesman, b. in Devonshire, England, 18 March, 1747; d. in New York city, 7 May, 1799. He was the third son of John Duer, a planter of Antigua, who had a villa in Devonshire. His mother was Frances Frye, daughter of Sir Frederick Frye, who held a command in the West Indies, where she married John Duer. After being sent to Eton, and while still under age, he was put into the army as ensign, and accompanied Lord Clive as aide-de-camp on his return to India, as governor-general, in 1762. As he suffered severely from the climate, Lord Clive sent him back to England, where he remained five years until his father's death. Having left the army, he went to Antigua, and thence to New York, for the first time in 1768, to arrange for a regular and constant supply of lumber for the plantations in Antigua and Dominica. This brought him into contact with Gen. Schuyler, by whom he was induced to buy a large tract of land at Fort Miller, on the upper Hudson, including the falls, and here he erected large saw-mills. He was appointed colonel of militia, judge of the county courts, member of the New York provincial congress, and member of the committee of safety. In 1773 he went again to England, and obtained a contract to supply the Royal navy with timber for masts and spars. He was one of the committee that drafted the first constitution of New York in the convention of 1777. In 1777-'8 he was a delegate to the Continental congress, and in 1789 secretary of the treasury board, until the organization of the finance department under the National convention. He was a member of the state legislature, and assistant secretary of the treasury under Gov. Hamilton. Mr. Duer's failure in 1792 produced the first financial panic caused by speculation that New York had ever witnessed. The loss was estimated at $3,000,000, and impoverished many in all classes. On 27 July, 1779, he married

Catherine, second daughter of Gen. William Alexander, the claimant of the Scottish earldom of Stirling. The marriage took place at his country seat, “The Buildings,” near Baskingridge, N. J., which was designed to imitate the residence of an English nobleman, with all the appointments of an English country seat. She was descended from James Alexander, the De Peysters, Livingstons, and Schuylers, and occupied a brilliant place in the society of the period. — His eldest son, William Alexander, jurist, b. in Rhinebeck, N. Y., 8 Sept., 1780; d. in New York, 30 May, 1858, studied law in Philadelphia, and with Nathaniel Pendleton in New York. During the quasi war with France in 1798 he obtained the appointment of midshipman in the navy, and served under Decatur. On the adjustment of the French question, he resumed his studies with Pendleton, and was admitted to the bar in 1802. He engaged in business with Edward Livingston, who was then district attorney and mayor of New York, and, after his removal to New Orleans, formed a professional partnership with his brother-in-law, Beverley Robinson. About this time he contributed to a partisan weekly paper called the “Corrector,” conducted by Dr. Peter Irving in support of Aaron Burr. Mr. Duer shortly afterward joined Livingston at New Orleans, and studied Spanish civil law. He was successful, but, owing to the climate and to his marriage with the daughter of William Denning, a prominent whig of New York, he was induced to resume practice in the latter city. Here he contributed literary articles to the “Morning Chronicle,” the newspaper of his friend Peter Irving. He next opened an office in Rhinebeck, and in 1814 was elected to the state assembly, where he was appointed chairman of a committee on colleges and academies, and succeeded in passing a bill, which is the original of the existing law on the subject of the common-school income. He was also chairman of the committee that arranged the constitutionality of the state law vesting the right of navigation in Livingston and Fulton, and throughout his service bore a prominent part in promoting canal legislation. He was judge of the