Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/401

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
ESTAUGH
ESTERLY
377

consequently abandoned. On 4 Nov., 1778, D'Es- taing sailed to the West Indies, where, after an unsuccessful attempt to take St. Lucia, he captured St. Vincent and Grenada, and also forced the Brit- ish admiral, Byron — who came to the relief of Grenada — to retire. In September, 1779, with twenty ships-of-the-line and eleven frigates, bear- ing about 6,000 soldiers, he suddenly appeared o£E the coast of Georgia. Four British vessels at once fell into his hands, and a plan was arranged with Gen. Benjamin Lincoln for a united attack on the city of Savannah. The lateness of the season, the dangerous coast, and the reported approach of a British fleet, made it necessary for him to insist on immediate action ; but unfortunate circumstances, with various delays, made it possible for the Brit- ish to prepare themselves, and, in consequence, the attack was postponed. Finally, on 9 October, it was decided to carry the town by assault. The Americans and French advanced in three columns, the principal one under the direct command of D'Estaing. assisted by Gen. Lincoln. Early in the engagement the French commander was wounded both in the arm and thigh, and in this condition was carried to his camp. The combined forces failed in carrying the fortifications, and, after se-, vere losses, withdrew. A second attack was urged by Gen. Lincoln, but D'Estaing's loss had been heavy, and he determined on immediate departure, in consequence oE which the siege was raised. He returned to France early in 1780, and there endeav- ored to persuade the ministry to send 12,000 men to America as the best way of pursuing the war. Lafayette had given similar advice, and in June, 1780, Count de Rochambeau, with 6,000 men, was sent to the colonies. In 1788 D'Estaing had com- mand of the allied fleets of France and Spain, and was made a grandee of Spain. Subsequently he declared himself in favor of national reforms, and was elected in 1787 to the assembly of notables. In 1789 he was appointed commandant of the Na- tional guard of Versailles, and was chosen admiral in 1792 by the legislative assembly. He continued to cherish a regard for the royal family, and wrote friendly letters to the queen, which came to the knowledge of the revolutionary authorities, and he was arrested and imprisoned. On the trial of Marie Antoinette he testified in her favor, but without avail. He was himself brought to trial in 1794, and cited his military and naval services to the nation in his defence, but, seeing that his death was determined on, said, " Send my head to the English ; they will pay you well for it." D'Estaing wrote two poems, " Le plaisir" (1755), and " Le reve" (1775); a tragedy, "LesThermopyles" (1791); a pamphlet, '• Apercju hasarde sur I'exportation dans les colonies ; dedie a feu M. Franklin " (Paris, 1790); and works on the navy.


ESTAUGH, Elizabeth, colonist, b. in London, England, in 1682 ; d. in New Jersey in 1762. She was the oldest daughter of John Haddon, a Qua- ker. During her early youth William Penn visited her father's house, and greatly amused her by talking about the Indians. From that time she became interested in the Quaker emigrants, and early began to talk of visiting the colonies. Her father purchased land in New Jersey, with a view of emigrating, but did not carry out his plan ; and when he offered the land to any relative who would settle upon it, Elizabeth at once promptly Agreed to accept it. Her parents reluctantly permitted her to embark early in the spring of 1700, accompanied by a friend and housekeeper, and two men-servants, members of the society of Friends. Soon afterward she married John Estaugh, a Quaker preacher, after a courtship in which the first advances were made by herself in the following words : " Friend John, I have a subject of importance on my mind, and one which nearly interests thee. I am strongly im- pressed that the Lord has sent thee to me as a part- ner for life." In 1742 her husband went to make a religious visit to Tortola, in the West Indies, where he died. She published a religious tract by him, in which appears a preface entitled " Elizabeth Estaugh's Testimony concerning her Beloved Hus- band, John Estaugh." Mrs. Estaugh's house be- came a place of general resort for Friends, and an asylum for benighted travellers. Haddonfield, N. J., was named for her. Her medical skill is so well remembered, that the old nurses of New Jersey are said still to recommend her preparations.


ESTE, David Kirkpatrick, jurist, b. in Morristown, N.J., in October, 1785; d. in Cincinnati, Ohio, 1 April, 1875. He was the son of Capt. Moses Este, of the Continental army, and Ann Kirkpatrick, sister of Chief-Justice Kirkpatrick, of New Jersey. He was graduated at Princeton in 1803, and studied law under difficulties, owing to partial loss of eyesight. He removed to Ohio in 1809, settled in Cincinnati in 1814, and became prominent in his profession. He was associated with Henry Clay as counsel for the Bank of the United States for the Northwest territory, and his practice extended to the U.S. supreme court. In 1834 he was elected president judge of the ninth judicial circuit of Ohio, and in 1838 judge of the superior court of Cincinnati. On the expiration of his term in 1847 he retired to private life. Judge Este was an advocate of much force and skill, and a man of great research. In his long life, he was singularly above reproach.


ESTEN, James Christie Palmer, Canadian jurist, b. in St. George, Bermuda, 7 Nov., 1805 ; d. in Toronto, Canada, 25 Oct., 1864. He was a grand- son of a former attorney-general of the Bermudas, and his father was chief-justice of those islands for twenty years. The son was educated at the Charter House school, London, called to the bar in Lincoln's Inn, and practised as a barrister in England. He passed a part of his early life in Vii-ginia, came to Canada in 1836, and on the es- tablishment of the court of chancery there in 1837, became a barrister in it, and in 1849, on the reconstruction of the court, he was constituted one of its judges, and so continued till his death. During his term of office • he was never absent from his post, and was acting chancellor for a few years during the illness of Chancellor Blake.


ESTERLY, George, inventor, b. in Plattekill, N. Y., 17 Oct., 1809. Pie received a common-school education, and in 1837 removed to Wisconsin, where he engaged in wheat-growing. Finding difficulty in securing laborers, he turned his attention to the invention of agricultural machines. He experimented at first with a reaper, and, converting his barn into a machine-shop, produced in 1844 an implement capable of successfully cutting ten acres of wheat in half a day. A year later he built a harvesting machine, and soon began to manufacture various agricultural implements. Subsequently he obtained numerous patents, and his establishment at Whitewater, Wis., has become one of the largest of its kind in the United States. His inventions include steel plows, a self-raking reaper, reaper for harvesting without binding, and an improved broadcast seeder and cultivator. The use of steel in reapers and harvesters is his most important invention, and his machines are now constructed of that metal. Mr. Esterly has written several pamphlets on the currency.