Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 06.djvu/229

 the Globe newspaper supersede the Telegraph as the official organ of the administration. He was appointed postmaster-general by President Jackson in June, 1835; was retained by President Van Buren, and resigned. May 9, 1840, on account of ill-health. During his term of office he introduced many reforms in the department, freed it from debt, and urged the passage of a law forbidding the passage through the mail of any matter touching the subject of slavery. In carrying out his plans of postoffice reform he incurred the enmity of certain powerful naval contractors, and for several years was embarrassed by a suit that was brought against him for alleged holding back of moneys belonging to them. This suit he defended at his own expense, and it was finally decided in his favor. He established Kendall's Expositor in 1841 and the Union Democrat in 1840, both of which were soon discontinued. He was offered a foreign mission by President Polk, but declined the appointment. He was associated with Samuel F. B. Morse in the ownership and management of the Morse telegraph patents, 1845–60, the success of which brought him a fortune. The remainder of his life he spent in Washington. D.C., and at his country home, "Kendall Green," near that city. He gave $100,000 toward the erection of the Calvary Baptist church at Washington, D.C., in 1864, and after its destruction by fire in 1867 contributed largely toward rebuilding it ; was the founder and first president of the Columbian Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, and contributed $20,000 toward its support. He also gave $25,000 to two mission schools in Washington, D.C. He published in the Washington Evening Star a series of protests against the secession of the southern states in 1860, and April 17, 1861, placed his two houses and grounds at Washington at the disposal of the government for the quartering of troops in case they should be needed, retiring to Trenton, N.J., that the premises could be so occupied. He travelled in Europe, 1860–67. He was a trustee of the corporation of the Columbian university, Washington, D.C., 1865–69, and president of the board of trustees, 1867–69. He is the author of an incomplete Life of Andrew Jackson (1843), and a pamphlet entitled Full Exposure of Dr. Charles T. Jackson's Pretensions to the Invention of the Electro-Magnetic Telegraph (1867). See his autobiography, edited by his son-in-law, William Stickney (1872). He died in Washington, D.C., Nov. 12, 1869.

KENDALL, Edward Hale, architect, was born in Boston, Mass., July 31. 1842 ; son of Abel and Ann Mayo (Richards) Kendall, grandson of Abel Kendall, of Leominster. Mass., and a descendant of Francis Kendall, who came from England in 1640, settled in Woburn. Mass., and married Mary Tidd. He was educated at the Boston Latin school and studied architecture in Paris. He removed to New York city in 1865, where he practised his profession. He was the principal designer of the original Equitable building, and of the German Savings bank on Fourth avenue. He was architect of the Washington building on lower Broadway, the residences of Robert and Ogden Goelet, and the Methodist Book Concern building on Fifth avenue, New York city. In 1888 he was appointed by the Harlem bridge commissioners consulting architect of the Washington bridge, over the Harlem river; and in 1897, he was appointed by the department of docks consulting architect to design and superintend the first six recreation piers built by the city of New York in 1897–98. He was president of the New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects, 1887-92, and became president of the American Institute of Architects in 1892.

 KENDALL, Ezra Otis, educator, was born in Wilmington, Mass., May 17, 1818. He attended an academy in Woburn, Mass., and in 1835 removed to Philadelphia, Pa., where he studied mathematics under his half-brother, Sears Cook Walker (q.v.). He became professor of theoretical mathematics and astronomy in Central high school, Philadelphia, Pa., upon its organization in 1838 and with Mr. Walker established a thoroughly equipped astronomical observatory in connection with the school. He was professor of mathematics at the University of Pennsylvania, 1855–99; vice-provost of the university, 1883–94; Flower professor of astronomy there, 1892–94; sometime dean of the college faculty and honorary vice-provost; and honorary dean of the faculty, 1894–99. He made important contributions to the American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac after 1851, giving especial attention to the planets Jupiter and Neptune. He was a member of the American Philosophical society from 1842 and sometime its vice-president; a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science from 1882, and of the American Mathematical society from April, 1891. He received the degree of LL.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1888, in acknowledgment of his scientific attainments. He published a work on uranography; made observations for the U.S. coast survey, and contributed astronomical articles to scientific journals. He was married in 1844 to Emma Lavinia Dick, and their son, Otis Howard Kendall (University of Pennsylvania. A.B., 1866. LL.B., 1868, A. M. 1869), was assistant professor of mathematics there, 1877–89; received the degree Ph. D. from Wittenberg, 1885. and became headmaster of the American faculty of actuaries, 1890. Ezra Otis Kendall died in Philadelphia, Pa., Jan. 5, 1899. 