Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 03.djvu/126

DALL, William Healey, naturalist, was born in Boston, Mass., Aug. 21, 1845; son of Charles Henry Appleton and Caroline Wells (Healey) Dall. In 1863 he became a pupil of Louis Agassiz in natural sciences, and of Jeffries Wyman and Dr. Daniel Brainerd in anatomy and medicine. An image should appear at this position in the text. He was in Alaska as lieutenant in the International telegraph expedition in 1865-68, and was assistant to the U.S. coast survey, 1871-83, making many valuable observations and discoveries. In 1885 he became paleontologist of the United States geological survey and honorary curator of the United States national museum. He was honorary professor of invertebrate paleontology, Wager institute of science, Philadelphia. 1893- 98. He was elected a member of most of the scientific societies of America and in 1882 and 1885 was vice-president of the American association for the advancement of science. In 1897 he was elected to the National academy of sciences. His scientific papers, comprising nearly three hundred titles, include descriptions of brachiopoda, chitonidæ, patellidæ, and the mollusc-fauna and ethnology of Alaska. He received the honorary degree of A.M. from Wesleyan university, Middletown, in 1888. His published volumes include: Alaska and Its Resources (1870); Tribes of the Extreme Northwest (1877); Meteorology and Bibliography of Alaska (1879); The Currents and Temperatures of Bering Sea and the Adjacent Waters (1882); Alaska Coast Pilot (1883); List of Marine Mollusca (1885); Report on the Mollusca Brachiopoda and Pelecypoda of the Blake Expedition (1886); Mollusca of the Southeast Coast of the United States (1890); Instructions for Collecting Mollusks (1892); Contributions to the Tertiary Fauna of Florida (4 vols., 1890-98); Neocene of North America (1892); Coal and Lignite of Alaska (1896). He also edited the Marquis de Nadaillac's Prehistoric America (1885).

DALLAS, Alexander James, statesman, was born on the island of Jamaica, W.I., June 21, 1759; son of Dr. Robert Charles and Elizabeth (Carmack) Dallas; grandson of James and Barbara (Cockburn) Dallas; great-grandson of George and Elizabeth (Abercromby) Dallas; and great-grandson of William Dallas of Budyatt, County of Moray, Scotland. The family traces its descent from the Barons of Dallas through Sir William de Dolyes, Knight Lord of Dolyes (1289) and John de Dolas, chief of his name and first of Cantray (1442), down through William Dallas (1617), whose son. George Dallas, of Saint Martin's, Ross-shire (1630), was an eminent lawyer and the author of the Scottish law book An image should appear at this position in the text. known as St. Martin's Styles." He was also keeper of the privy seal of Scotland during the reign of James VII. This seal afterward came into the pos- session of the fam- ily of Lieut.-Gen. Sir Thomas Dallas, K.C.B. (1757), a cousin of Alexander James Dallas (1759), who, as an officer A.J. Dallas; in the British army. distinguished him- self in the Carnatic and later at the siege of Seringapatam. Dr. Robert C. Dallas was a Scotch physician then practising on the island and soon returned to Edinburgh, where, and at Westminster, his four sons were educated. Alexander read law at the Temple in London, but the death of his father, the great depreciation of his Jamaica estates, and the marriage of his mother, determined him to seek employment as a merchant's clerk with an uncle named Gray, with whom he remained two years. He then procured a commission in the army. He was married, Sept. 4, 1780, to Arabella Maria, daughter of Maj. George Smith of the British army and great-grand-daughter of Sir Nicholas Trevanion, a wealthy landowner in Cornwall. He then joined his mother's family who had returned to Jamaica, was appointed master in chancery and was promised further advancement, but the continued illness of his wife determined him to take £700, his portion of the patrimony, and find a home in America. On June 8, 1783, he settled in Philadelphia and took the oath of allegiance to the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He was not then admitted to the bar on account of a law requiring a two years' residence, and he became clerk in the office of the commissioner for settling the accounts of the commissary and quartermaster's departments in the Revolutionary army. In July, 1785, he was admitted as an attorney and counsellor in the supreme court of Pennsylvania. He added to his income by writing plays for Mr. Lewis Hallam, the theatrical manager, and contributing to several literary periodicals, including the Columbian Magazine, which was published under his management. He partici-