Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 06.djvu/286

 KINNEY

KINSEY

ted to the bar in 1844, and commenced the prac- tice of law, which he abandoned in a short time to report legislature and political affairs for the Newark Daily Advertiser, of which his father was editor. He introduced many improvements in the methods of news gathering, which re- sulted in the organization of the Associated Press. He was admitted into partnership with his father in the proprietorship of the Daily Advertiser, and was its sole proprietor, 1851-92. He was a delegate to the Republican national convention of 1860. He declined the mission to Italy offered by Pres- ident Arthur, another foreign mission offered by President Harrison, and other public offices. He was an original incor23orator and president of the New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals ; a member of the geological board of the state ; president of the board of agriculture, 1878-82 ; an original trustee of the State Institu- tion for the Deaf and Dumb ; a niember of the board of proprietors of East Jersey and a heredi- tary member of the Society of the Cincinnati. He was a founder and for several years president of the Fidelity Trust company and a director in the National State bank. He had one of the largest private art galleries in the country. He was married, Oct. 3, 1863, to Estelle, daughter of Joel VV. and Margaret (Harrison) Condit, and had one son and three daughters. He died in Newark, N.J., Dec. 2, 1900.

KINNEY, William Burnet, diplomatist, was born at Speedwell, Morris county, N.J., Sept. 4, 1799 ; son of Col. Abraham and Hannah (Burnet) Kinney ; and a descendant on his mother's side of the Bishop of Salisbury. His father was a Rev- olutionary officer and a quartermaster-general in the war of 1812. He was educated at the College of New Jersey ; studied law under Joseph C. Hornblower, but abandoned law and in 1821 founded the Newark Daily Advertiser, and was its editor almost continually until 1851. He was a delegate to the Whig national convention at Baltimore in 1854, where he was influential in obtaining the nomination of Theodore Freling- huysen for Vice-President on the ticket with Henry Clay. He was appointed U.S. minister to the court of Victor Emanuel, at Turin, Sardinia, by President Taylor inl851, and took an active in- terest in the movement for the unification of Italy. His services rendered Great Britain at the same time were acknowledged by a despatch from Lord Palmerston. He inquired into the object of the visit of Kossuth, the Hungarian exile, to America, and finding that it was to enlist the sympathies of the United States in a way that might engender foreign complications, he com- municated with Secretary of State Daniel Web- ster, and notified the commander of the U.S. frigate detached from the Mediterranean squad-

ron (which was under his jurisdiction) to carry the Hungarian liberator to America, of the /act. At the close of his term in 1854 he took up his residence in Florence, Italy, collecting data for a histoiy of the Medici family which he had be- gun during his official term. He returned to the United States in 1865 and lived in retirement. He received the honorary degree of A.M. from the College of New Jersey in 1836, and was a trustee of the college, 1840-50, when he resigned. He was an original member of the New Jersey His- torical society. He was twice married — first tO' Mary Chandler ; and secondly, in 1841, to Eliza- beth Clementine, daughter of David L. Dodge, of New York city, and widow of Edmund B. Sted- man, of Hartford, Conn. His second Mufe (born in New York city, Dec, 18, 1810, died at Summit, N.J., Nov. 19, 1889) is the author of : Felicita, a Metrical Romance (1855) ; Poems (1867); Bianca Capello, a tragedy (1873). Mr. Kinney died in New York city, Oct. 21, 1880.

KINNICUTT, Leonard Parker, educator, was born in Worcester, Mass., May 22, 1854; son of Francis H. and Elizabeth W. (Parker) Kinnicutt ; a grandson of Thomas and Amey (Wightman) Kinnicutt, and a lineal descendant of John How- land, of the Mayflower. He prepared for college at the Worcester high school ; was graduated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, S.B., 1875 ; was a student at the universities of Heidel- berg and Bonn, 1875-80, and was graduated at Harvard, S.D., 1882. He was instructor in chem- istry at Harvard, 1880-83 ; assistant professor of chemistry at the Worcester Polytechnic institute, 1883-85, and became professor of chemistry there in 1885, and a director of the laboratory in 1890. He was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the Amer- ican Antiquarian society ; a fellow of the na- tional chemical societies of America, England and Germany, and a member of the Boston Civil Engineering society. He is the author of numer- ous articles in scientific journals on antvlytical, sanitary and chemical subjects.

KINSEY, James, jurist, was born in Philadel- phia, Pa., March 22, 1731 ; son of Judge John Kinsey. He was admitted to the bar, and prac- tised in the courts of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. He was a member of the New Jersey assembly in 1772, and was prominent in his oppo- sition to Gov. William Franklin. He took a leading part in colonial affairs, and was a mem- ber of the committee of correspondence for Bur- lington county. He was a delegate from New Jersey to the Continental congress, 1774-75, when he resigned his seat ; and was chief justice of New Jersey, 1789-1802. He received the degree of LL.D. from the College of New Jersey in 1790. He died in Burlington, N.J., Jan. 4, 1802.