George Coleman de Kay (1802 New York City – 31 January 1849 Washington, D.C.) was a naval officer. He was buried at St George's Church cemetery, Hempstead, New York.
George Coleman De Kay | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | New York City  |
| Died | 31 January 1849 Washington, D.C. |
| Occupation | Naval officer |
| Spouse(s) | Janet Halleck Drake |
| Children | Helena de Kay Gilder, Charles DeKay |
| Family | James Ellsworth De Kay |
Biography
editHe was prepared for college, but ran away to sea. He became a skillful navigator, and took vessels built by Henry Eckford to South America. He volunteered in the navy of the Argentine Republic, then at war with Brazil, and was given command of a brig in June 1827. After taking several prizes, he accepted a captain's commission, which he had declined on entering the service, preferring to win it by promotion. In an engagement with the brig “Cacique,” commanded by Capt. Manson, that vessel was captured, though twice the size of de Kay's, and much more heavily armed. When returning to Buenos Aires in June 1828, his brig, the “Brandsen,” was driven inshore in the Rio Plata by a Brazilian squadron. He scuttled the vessel to prevent her capture, swam ashore with his crew, and on reaching Buenos Aires was made commodore.[1]
After the peace, he delivered a corvette to the Ottoman Porte for Henry Eckford. He was with him in Constantinople when he died, Eckford at the time being superintendent of the Ottoman shipyards. Returning to New York, de Kay married in 1833 Janet, only child of Joseph Rodman Drake, the poet. In 1847 he took the U. S. frigate Macedonian to Ireland with supplies for the sufferers from the famine, having exerted himself to secure the passage of an act of Congress permitting a government vessel to be so employed.[1]
Family
editHis brother was the naturalist James Ellsworth de Kay. George de Kay's son was the poet Charles Augustus de Kay. George de Kay's daughter, Helena de Kay Gilder, an artist, married Richard Watson Gilder, an editor, poet and political activist.[2]
Notes
edit- ^ a b Wilson & Fiske 1900.
- ^ "CHARLES DE'KAY, 8.6, POET, CRITIC, DEAD; Prominent in Literary, Art and Social Circles Many Years-Former Envoy to Berlin. A LINGUIST AND A FENCER Editor and Writer With The Times 1876-94 Member of a Distinguished Family". The New York Times. 1935-05-24. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-07-07.
References
edit- Wilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1900). . Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton.
Further reading
edit- Fitz-Greene Halleck, Outline of the Life of Com. George C. De Kay (New York, 1847)