Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1892, volume 3).djvu/615

Rh series of monographs on &ldquo;Cactus&rdquo; (Albany, 1875); &ldquo;Cereus Grandiflorus and Cereus Bonplandi&rdquo; (1876); &ldquo;Cereus Triangularis and Phyllocactus Grandis&rdquo; (1876); &ldquo;Cardinal Points in the Study of Medical Botany&rdquo; (New York, 1881); and &ldquo;The Germination and Vitality of Seeds&rdquo; (1881).

KURTZ, John D., soldier, b. in the District of Columbia about 1822; d. in Georgetown, D. C., 16 Oct., 1877. He was graduated from the U. S. military academy, 1 July, 1842, and entered the corps of engineers. He was employed in repairing fortifications in North Carolina and the forts in Charleston harbor, served on a commission to devise a project for the improvement of the harbor in 1852, and was promoted 1st lieutenant in March, 1853, and captain, 1 July, 1856, serving from 1852 till 1856 as assistant to the chief engineer in Washington, and then on harbor works in New England till the civil war. He was promoted major, 3 March, 1863, brevet lieutenant-colonel and brevet colonel, 13 March, 1865, and lieutenant-colonel, 8 Aug., 1866. He served during the civil war as chief engineer of the Department of Annapolis from June till July, 1861, and of the Shenandoah in August, 1861, and then as assistant to the chief of engineers at Washington, D. C., till 1869, having charge of the bureau during the absence of the chief engineer. Afterward he was employed as superintending engineer of various works, including the defences of Delaware bay and river in 1870-'7, the Delaware breakwater in 1871-'2, and the foundation of the Washington monument from 26 Sept., 1876, till his death.

KURTZ, John Nicholas, clergyman, b. in Lutzelinden, Nassau-Weilburg, Germany, about 1720; d. in Baltimore, Md., 12 May, 1794. He was educated in the University of Halle, selected as a missionary to Pennsylvania, and came to this country, 15 Jan., 1745. Soon after his arrival he settled at New Hanover, Montgomery co., Pa., where he labored for two years, teaching and preaching. In 1748, at the first meeting of the first Lutheran synod in this country, he was ordained to the ministry, and became pastor at Tulpehocken, Pa., where he remained for twenty-three years. In 1771 he removed to York, Pa., where he continued his pastoral labors until 1789, when he retired from the active duties of the ministry and removed to Baltimore, Md., to spend his last days with one of his sons. By his learning and indefatigable activity Dr. Kurtz acquired great influence in the church, and received various marks of confidence and honor, especially in being selected senior of the synod. &mdash; His son, John Daniel, b. in Germantown, Pa., in 1763; d. in Baltimore, Md., 30 June, 1856, studied theology under the direction of his father, and afterward with Rev. Dr. Gotthilf Henry E. Muhlenberg at Lancaster, Pa. He was licensed to preach by the synod of Pennsylvania in 1784, and for some time assisted his father in pastoral work. He afterward took charge of a congregation near York, Pa., and in 1786 was installed as pastor of the principal Lutheran church in Baltimore, Md., with which he remained till 1832, when physical infirmities compelled him to resign. He was one of the founders of the General synod, a director in the Theological seminary, and prominently connected with all the benevolent institutions of the Lutheran church. &mdash; His grandson, Benjamin, b. in Harrisburg, Pa., 28 Feb., 1795; d. in Baltimore, Md., 29 Dec., 1865, began his studies in Harrisburg academy, and at the age of fifteen was an assistant teacher there. At the age of eighteen he began the study of theology at Lebanon, Pa., in 1815 he was licensed to preach, and immediately received a call as assistant to his uncle, the Rev. John

Daniel Kurtz, D. D., who was then pastor at Baltimore. He was then pastor at Hagerstown for sixteen years, and in 1831-'3 at Chambersburg, Pa. Retiring from the active duties of the ministry in 1833, owing to failing health, he took charge of the &ldquo;Lutheran Observer,&rdquo; a post which he held for nearly thirty years. In 1838 he received the degree of D. D. from Washington college, Pa., and in 1858 that of LL. D. from Wittenberg college, Springfield, Ohio. Dr. Kurtz was regarded as one of the most eloquent men of his time. He was a zealous advocate of revivals, and had very little sympathy with the confessional writings of the Lutheran church. He was one of the founders of the general synod and of the theological seminary at Gettysburg, and was for more than thirty years one of the trustees of Pennsylvania college and of the board of directors of the seminary. He was also the founder of Missionary institute at Selinsgrove, Pa. During his two European tours, in 1825 and 1846, he contributed interesting incidents and reminiscences to the &ldquo;Lutheran Intelligencer&rdquo; and to the &ldquo;Lutheran Observer,&rdquo; of which he was editor at the time. Among his other publications are &ldquo;First Principles of Religion for Children&rdquo; (Hagerstown, 1821); &ldquo;Sermons on Sabbath-Schools&rdquo; (1822); &ldquo;Faith, Hope, and Charity&rdquo; (1823); &ldquo;Infant Baptism and Affusion, with Essays on Related Subjects&rdquo; (Baltimore, 1840); &ldquo;Theological Sketch-Book, or Skeletons of Sermons, Carefully arranged in Systematic Order,&rdquo; partly original, partly selected (2 vols., 1844); &ldquo;Why are You a Lutheran?&rdquo; (1847); &ldquo;Lutheran Prayer-Book&rdquo; (1856), etc.

KUYPERS, Warmuldus, clergyman, b. in Holland in 1732; d. in Schralenburg, N. J., in 1797. He studied in the University of Groningen, and was a pastor at Curacoa for some time before 1769, when he settled in New York, preached for two years at Rhinebeck Flats, Upper Red Hook, and the Landing, and in 1771 took charge of that part of the church in Hackensack, N. J., which belonged to the Conferentie party and had no representation in the classis. &mdash; His son, Gerardus Arentse, clergyman, b. in Curaçoa, W. I., 16 Dec., 1766; d. in New York, 28 June, 1833, came to the United States in his early childhood, and was educated at Hackensack. He studied theology first under the direction of his father, and subsequently under the Rev. Hermanus Meyer and the Rev. Dirck Romeyn. He was licensed to preach in 1787, and was ordained, 15 June, 1788, by the classis of Hackensack, as colleague pastor at Paramus, N. J. In 1789 he took charge of a church in New York city, where he remained till his death. Until 1803 his preaching was exclusively in Dutch; but after that time he preached in English. He was appointed a teacher of Hebrew in 1799, received the degree of M. A. from Princeton in 1791, and that of D. D. from Rutgers in 1810. He left unfinished &ldquo;Discourses on the Heidelberg Catechism.&rdquo;

KYAN, John H., inventor, b. in England in 1775; d. in New York city, 9 Jan., 1850. He was the first to introduce a chemical process for the preservation of wood, finding that, where timber was steeped in a solution of corrosive sublimate or placed in an exhausting-cylinder and the solution forced in under atmospheric pressure, the wood was rendered capable of resisting decay for a great length of time. This process he patented in England in 1832, and subsequently introduced it into the United States. This method was named kyanizing, after its inventor. Its expense and the difficulty of manipulation at first largely prevented its use, but with improved means it now finds wide application.