Andrew Ellicott Douglas
In the latter part of the seventeenth century, members of one
branch of the Douglass family were settled in Bergen County, N. J.
They were of Scotch origin, descended from the great Scottish family
whose name they bore. David Douglass, the ancestor of Mr. Andrew
Ellicott Douglass, was a resident of Hanover Neck, where he was born
about 1715 and died about 1765(?). His second wife, whom he married
in 1755(?), was Esther Reed. Deacon Nathaniel Douglass, his son, was
the grandfather of the subject of this sketch. Born in Hanover Neck
in 1760, part of his lifetime he was a resident of Pompton, N. J.,
and for many years was a member of the firm of Vanderpoel &
Douglass, leather manufacturers, of Newark. In 1813, he removed to
Caldwell, N. J., and resided there the rest of his life, dying in
1824. His wife was Sarah, daughter of David Bates. She was born in
1762 and died in 1816.
Major David Bates Douglass, son of Nathaniel Douglass and father
of Mr. Andrew Ellicott Douglass, was born in Pompton, N. J., in 1790
and died in 1849. He was graduated from Yale College in 1813 and
received the degree of M. A. in 1816. Commissioned a Second
Lieutenant of Engineers in the United States Army in 1813, he was
first ordered to West Point, and during the Niagara campaign of
i8i4saw service at the front, being promoted to be First Lieutenant,
and then Brevet Captain the same year. In 18 19, he was made Captain
of Engineers. In January, 1815, he was appointed assistant professor
of natural philosophy at West Point, and the same year was detailed
to examine and report upon the defenses of Narragansett Bay, New
London Harbor, Saybrook and New Haven. In 1817, he made a study of
the eastern entrance of Long Island Sound, with a view to its
fortification, and in 18 19 was United States Astronomical Surveyor.
In 1820, he joined the North West Expedition as civil and military
engineer and astronomer, and the same year succeeded his
father-in-law, Andrew Ellicott, as professor of mathematics at West
Point, becoming professor of engineering in the same institution
three years after. Resigning from the Government service in 1831,
Major Douglas became professor of natural philosophy and afterwards
professor of architecture and engineering in New York University;
from 1840 to 1844 was president of Kenyon College, and was professor
of mathematics in Geneva College 1848-49. Yale College gave him the
degree of LL. D. in 1841. He died in October, 1849. He married Ann
Eliza Ellicott, daughter of Andrew Ellicott, the distinguished
surveyor and mathematician. In 1786, Andrew Ellicott was a member of
the American Philosophical Society, and made the surveys of the City
of Washington as it now stands. During the latter years of his life,
he was professor of mathematics at West Point, where he died in
1820.
Mr. Andrew Ellicott Douglass was born at West Point,
November 18th, 1819. He was educated in private schools and
graduated from Kenyon College in 1838. After a successful business
career of thirty-seven years, he retired and has since devoted
himself to the study of American archaeology, traveling extensively
and making many original explorations, especially along the Southern
coast of the United States. He is a member of the leading scientific
associations in this country and in Europe, belongs to the Century
Association and the Church Club, and is the author of many essays,
principally on archaeological subjects. His collections relating to
American archaeology are among the most valuable in their particular
line that have ever been made.
In 1847, Mr. Douglass married
Sarah Cortelyou Cornell, daughter of George Lecky Cornell and his
wife, Isabella Woodbridge Sheldon, daughter of Charles Sheldon, of
Hartford, Conn. Mr. and Mrs. Douglass have but one child, a
daughter, Isabel Douglass, who in 1876 married Charles Boyd Curtis,
of New York, well known as an author on art matters. They have four
children, Ellicott Douglass, Charles Boyd, Isabel Woodbridge and
Ronald Eliot Curtis. Mrs. Curtis is corresponding secretary of the
Society of Colonial Dames of the State of New York, and president of
the Woman's Auxiliary for Domestic Missions of the Diocese of New
York. The Douglass and Curtis family residence in New York is in
East Fifty-fourth Street, and their country home is Locustwood, on
Milton Point, in Rye, Westchester County.
Any contributions will be
gratefully accepted
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