Dewey family.

George Dewey was born in Montpelier, Vermont, on December 26, 1837. He was the youngest son of Julius Yemans Dewey (1801-1877) and Mary Perrin Dewey (1799-1843), who died when the boy was five years old. The family remained close despite their loss and George Dewey grew up to be, as his father described him, a "natural leader."

George Dewey's naval career began at Norwich University in Northfield, Vermont, when he was seventeen years old. He attended Norwich with the intent to prepare himself for the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, to which he transferred to in 1855. He graduated from the Naval Academy in 1858, the fifth in his class.

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