David Curtis De Forest was born January 10, 1774 in Huntington, Connecticut. He worked on sailing vessels as a young man and served as a lieutenant in the army (1799-1801). De Forest established the first American commercial house in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Political and military unrest in Argentina (1811-1817) did not harm his business, and De Forest was commissioned as consul general to the United States by the new Argentine Republic (1815). De Forest resigned this position before receiving any U.S. diplomatic papers. De Forest died on February 22, 1825 in New Haven, Connecticut.
From the guide to the De Forest family papers, 1798-1889, 1798-1825, (Manuscripts and Archives)