James Dunwoody Brownson De Bow (July 20, 1820 – February 27, 1867) was an American

publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

and statistician, best known for his influential magazine '' De Bow's Review'', who also served as superindendant of the U.S. Census from 1853 to 1855.United States Census Bureau: Directors, 1840-1865
/ref> He always spelled "De Bow" as two words.

Biography

J. D. B. De Bow was born on July 20, 1820, in Charleston, South Carolina, the second son of Mary Bridget Norton and Garret De Bow. James' father, Garret, was born in New York City, New York about 1775 to a Dutch-Huguenot father who immigrated to the United States at an unknown date. His mother, Mary Bridget, was born into an elite planter family from South Carolina. Her grandfather was Capt. John Norton, an early settler on the Carolina Coast. Her father, William, was a Revolutionary Soldier. A resident of

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

, De Bow used his magazine to advocate the expansion of Southern

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and

commerce Commerce is the large-scale organized system of activities, functions, procedures and institutions directly and indirectly related to the exchange (buying and selling) of goods and services among two or more parties within local, regional, nation ...

so that the Southern economy could become independent of the North. He warned constantly of the South's "

colonial Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 au ...

" relationship with the North, one in which the South was at a distinct disadvantage. In 1866, he became the first president of the proposed

Tennessee and Pacific Railroad The Tennessee and Pacific Railroad was a 19th-century American company that operated a rail line from Lebanon, Tennessee, to Nashville, Tennessee. The state of Tennessee chartered the railroad on May 24, 1866. The original plans were to build a l ...

, a business venture that he would not live to see fulfilled. Less than a year later, De Bow died of

peritonitis Peritonitis is inflammation of the localized or generalized peritoneum, the lining of the inner wall of the abdomen and cover of the abdominal organs. Symptoms may include severe pain, swelling of the abdomen, fever, or weight loss. One part o ...

, which he contracted on a trip to visit his brother in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

References

* Crider, Jonathan B., "De Bow's Revolution: The Memory of the American Revolution in the Politics of the Sectional Crisis, 1850–1861," ''American Nineteenth Century History'' vol. 10 (Sept. 2009), pp. 317–332. * Kvach, John F. ''De Bow's Review: The Antebellum Vision of a New South''. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 2013.
''Statistical view of the United States, embracing its territory, population--white, free colored, and slave moral and social condition, industry, property, and revenue; the detailed statistics of cities, towns and counties; being a compendium of the seventh census, to which are added the results of every previous census, beginning with 1790, in comparative tables, with explanatory and illustrative notes, based upon the schedules and other official sources of information. By J.D.B. De Bow, superintendent of the United States Census''
Washington, A.O.P. Nicholson, Public Printer, 1854

External links

*
''The Cause of the South: Selections from De Bow's Review, 1846-1867''
{{DEFAULTSORT:DeBow, James Dunwoody Brownson 1820 births 1867 deaths American magazine publishers (people) Businesspeople from New Orleans 19th-century American railroad executives Deaths from peritonitis United States Census Bureau people American proslavery activists American Fire-Eaters

Biography

References

Further reading

External links