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James Dunwoody Brownson De Bow (July 20, 1820 – February 27, 1867) was an Americanpublisher andstatistician, best known for his influentialmagazineDe Bow's Review, who also served as superintendent of theU.S. Census from 1853 to 1855.[1] He always spelled "De Bow" as two words.
J. D. B. De Bow was born on July 20, 1820, inCharleston, South Carolina, the second son of Mary Bridget Norton and Garret De Bow. James' father, Garret, was born inNew York City, New York about 1775 to aDutch-Huguenot father who immigrated to the United States at an unknown date. His mother, Mary Bridget, was born into an elite planter family fromSouth Carolina. Her grandfather was Capt. John Norton, an early settler on the Carolina Coast. Her father, William, was a soldier in theAmerican Revolutionary War.
A resident ofNew Orleans, De Bow used his magazine to advocate the expansion of Southernagriculture andcommerce so that the Southern economy could become independent ofthe North. He warned constantly of the South's "colonial" relationship with the North, one in which the South was at a distinct disadvantage.
In 1866, he became the first president of the proposedTennessee and Pacific Railroad, a business venture that he would not live to see fulfilled. Less than a year later, De Bow died ofperitonitis, which he contracted on a trip to visit his brother inNew Jersey.
| Preceded by | Superintending Clerk of the United States Census 1853–1855 | Succeeded by |
