Alexander Dimitry (1805 - 1883)

Born 6 Feb 1805 in New Orleans, Louisiana

Ancestors

Husband of Mary Powell (Mills) Dimitry — married 5 Apr 1835 in Washington D.C., U.S.

Descendants

Died 30 Jan 1883 at age 77 in New Orleans, Louisiana

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The Following Article is copied word for word from “Builders of Louisiana Education” by Rodney Cline:

ALEXANDER DIMITRY 1805 - 1883

Alexander Dimitry was born in New Orleans on February 7, 1805, at No. 4 St. Anne Street, near Jackson Square. His father Andrea Dimitry, was a native of the Island of Hydra in the Greek Archipelago. His mother, Marianne Celeste Dragon Dimitry was of Grecian and French-Canadian ancestry. In New Orleans Andrea Dimitry Was a fairly prosperous merchant.

Alexander, the third of ten children of the family, received an excellent education. He was tutored in French by Monsieur Denis and in English by Mr. Camp. For two years he attended a private school operated by Mr. Nugent. Later, he enrolled in the New Orleans Classical Academy headed by the Reverend James J. Hall, an Episcopal minister. At an early age he gave evidence of superior scholarly inclination especially in languages. At the age of ten years he had attained to considerable proficiency in Greek, French, Spanish, Italian, and English. In later life he was to he credited with knowledge of thirteen languages.

Following his early education in New Orleans, he entered Georgetown College, Washington D.C. There, after completing his preparatory work, he studied for the baccalaureate degree -which was awarded to him in 1827. Subsequent to this, he received from the same institution the Master's degree in 1832, and in 1859 the honorary degree, Doctor of Laws. Meanwhile, he had studied law with the firm of Auguste D’Averzac in New Orleans.

Alexander Dimity' engaged in a number of noteworthy activities other than those of a purely educational nature. The record of his occupational and professional involvements display the wide range of his interests and capabilities.

For two years, from 1828 to 1830, he was a member of the faculty of the short-lived College of Baton Rouge. In 1830, he became part owner of L'Abeille de la Nouvelle Orleans (New Orleans Bee), and served as the first editor of the English section of this otherwise French-language paper. While on the staff of The Bee he spent much of the summers in Washington D. C., thus maintaining advantageous contacts with national affairs. These contacts led, in 1835, to his appointment as clerk in the Post Office Department. Five years later, in 1840, President Van Buren named him secretary to the commission appointed to negotiate settlement of claims against Mexico. On this commission, Dimitry was of considerable value as a linguist and as adviser in international Mw (don't know what this means-aps).

At the end of his work with the Commission to Mexico, Dimitry returned to Louisiana where in 1842 he established a private school, St. Charles Institute, in St. Charles Parish. There he was joined by Robert Mills Lusher, a cousin of Mary Powell Mills, to whom Dimitry was married in 1835. In 1846 the school was moved to New Orleans, but shortly thereafter Dimitry left its work to become Superintendent of Schools in the third municipality of New Orleans.

Meanwhile, in 1845 an important milestone in the development Of public education in Louisiana had been reached through the adoption of a new State Constitution. Previous to this, education in the State as a whole was largely lacking in organization and support. The rural parishes were sparsely populated. The well-to-do citizens preferred to educate their children privately. There was difficulty in adjusting instruction to the conflicting interest, of those of differing languages. The French Catholics generally opposed education under secular control. A number of private academies had come into existence, and these were financed in part by the beneficiary grants" of public funds from the State. Responsibility for state-wide participation in education was vested in the Secretary of State who was "Ex-Officio Director of Public Education."

The new Constitution of 1845 abolished the beneficiary practice as affecting the academics, and called for the appointment by the Governor of a State Superintendent of Education to serve for a term of two years. It also directed that laws be enacted to provide for the support of schools through the levying of taxes on property or by other forms of taxation. This new Constitution thus provided the legal basis upon which a State system of public education might be built.

Pursuant to the demands of the newly-adopted Constitution, the Legislature, on May 3, 1847, adopted an act to provide for a fulltime State Superintendent appointed by the Governor at a salary of $3,000.00 a year. The same act called for the election by popular vote of parish Superintendents at the annual salary of $300.00.

Alexander Dimitry became the first State Superintendent, in 1847, by appointment of Governor Johnson. He had not sought the position but was persuaded to accept it by Robert Mills Lusher who had recommended him to the Governor as the man best qualified for the office.

(Note: At the time public schools did not admit people of color which is ironic because according to "The Forgotten People" by Gary Mills and revised by Elizabeth Shown Mills, Dimitry's grandmother was a freed slave.)

Dimitrys accomplishments as State Superintendent were not of spectacular nature. Principally, he contributed to the position the scholarly-respectability which his personal attainment represented. This enabled him to obtain for his recommendations an interest that otherwise would have been lacking. He visited the schools in all parts of the State. He conferred with local leaders of education, both to become familiar With their problems and to give advice pertaining to them. He led in the formulation of plans for distributing school money so that it would do the most good. His greatest efforts Were directed toward the arousing of sufficient public sentiment to provide adequate tax support for public education. Systematically, he reported to the Legislature and to the general public his compilation of information relating to the state of school work as it then existed generally in Louisiana. Among the facts reported were that 646 schools were operating for terms averaging six months in length and that of 43,000 educables only 23,000 were enrolled. As a result of his work the Legislature, in 1848, appropriated $550,000 for public education, a remarkably large sum under the circumstances.

Dimitry left the state superintendency in 1851. For several years he again was an employee of the Federal Government, serving as translator of diplomatic correspondence and as advisor on international law. In 1859, President Buchanan appointed him as U. S. Minister to Costa Rica and Nicaragua.

During the War Between the States, he was Postmaster General and Chief of Finance of the Postal Service of the Confederacy After the War, Dimitry returned to educational work in several capacities. He was, for a time, Assistant Superintendent of New Orleans School. He helped to organize and operate the Hebrew Education Society of the City. He taught for two years, 1869-1871 at Pass Christian College in Mississippi. This was his last teaching assignment, though he continued for the remaining years of his life to do what he could to promote the cause of education in New Orleans and in Louisiana as a whole.

Alexander Dimitry was undoubtedly one of the leading scholars produced by the State of Louisiana. Also, he was a gifted orator and a writer of considerable skill. In the latter regard, he wrote no books; but, through numerous short stories, articles, and letters he attained fair reputation. His main significance for Louisiana was that, as the first State Superintendent of Public Education, he gave prestige and direction to those ideas which were to constitute the foundation for a worthwhile system of public schools. Because of the pioneering work which he did, many of the developments of later years were made possible.

REFERENCES

Dimitry, Alexander, Report, State Superintendent of Public Education in Louisiana, 1850. Lusher, R. M., Collection of Writings, Department of Archives, L.S.U. Mouton, Carmen M., Alexander Dimitry, Master's thesis, L.S.U., 1944. "Professor Alexander Dimitry, LL.D.," Louisiana Journal of Education, V. 188.'3, pp. 12-15.

Sources

• Old Families of Louisiana by Stanley C. Arthur, Stanley Clisby Arthur, George Campbell Huchet de Kernion [1]
• "United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MCJ3-2V9 : 9 November 2014), Alexander Dimitry, Baton Rouge, East Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States; citing family 473, NARA microfilm publication M432 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
• Ancestry Family Trees (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members.), Ancestry.com, Ancestry Family Tree.
• Year: 1870; Census Place: Pass Christian, Harrison, Mississippi; Roll: M593_729; Page: 366B; Image: 740; Family History Library Film: 552228
• Ancestry.com, New Orleans, Louisiana, Death Records Index, 1804-1949 (Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2002), Ancestry.com, Orleans Death Indices 1877-1895; Volume: 82; Page: 72.
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New Orleans, Louisiana Death Records Index, 1804-1949

• U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900.

1870 United States Federal Census

• Yates Publishing, U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900 (Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004), Ancestry.com, Source number: 14.000; Source type: Electronic Database; Number of Pages: 1; Submitter Code: RTW.