Colburn, in his history of the Bessemer process of refining iron, says : " The first experiments in the conversion of melted cast-iron into malleable steel, by blowing air in jets through the mass in fusion, appear to have been made by William Kelly, an iron-master at the Suwanee furnaces, Lyon county, Kentucky, U. S." This method, long known as " Kelly's air-boiling process," was used for the manufacture of boiler-plates before Sir Henry Bessemer was known, and it was claimed by Mr. Kelly that Bessemer obtained his original knowledge of the process that bears his name from information that was procured through English workmen in Mr. Kelly's employ. As soon as Besse- mer brought out his process in England, applica- tion was at once made by Mr. Kelly for a patent in the United States, and after considerable delay, during which time the English applicant appeared in the patent-office, the commissioner decided that Mr. Kelly was the first inventor and entitled to the patent, which he at once issued to him. In 1863 a syndicate of iron-masters organized the Kelly process company, for the purpose of control- ling Mr. Kelly's patents, and at once erected experi- mental works at Wyandotte, Mich, (see Durfee, William F. and Zoheth S.), where steel was first made under Kelly's patents in the United States, months before the similar production under Besse- mer's patents at Troy by Alexander L. Holley (q. v.). In 1866 the interests of the several patentees were consolidated under the title of the Pneumatic steel association. Application was made at the patent- office in 1871 for the renewal of the Bessemer, Mushet, and Kelly patents, and the claims of the two former were rejected, while a renewal of seven years was granted to Mr. Kelly. In 1854 Mr. Kelly, finding slave labor unsatisfactory, imported through a New York tea-house ten Chinamen to take the place of negroes in his iron-works. This is said to have been the first introduction of that kind of labor into the United States, and it excited much comment. The experiment proved successful, and arrangements were made for the further im- portation of fifty Chinamen, when a difficulty be- tween the two nations prevented their coming.
KELPIUS, John, mystic philosopher, b. in
Siebenbürgen, Transylvania, Germany, in 1673; d. in
Roxborough, Philadelphia, Pa., in 1708. He was of
wealthy family, and was educated at the
University of Helmstadt, where his preceptor, Dr.
John Fabricius, selected him as his assistant in the
authorship of a work in Latin. His native
language was the German, but he was also acquainted
with the Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and English. He
early devoted himself to theological studies and
became a follower of Philip Jacob Spener, the
founder of the sect called Pietists. While in London
he met Jane Leade, the head of the
Philadelphians, another mystic sect. Of course his
peculiar views met with opposition, and although at
this time there was a great spirit of inquiry all
over the land, under the name of Quietism in the
Roman church, and Pietism, Chiliasm, and
Philadelphianism in the Protestant churches, the desire
to live where religious liberty could be enjoyed led
him and his followers to emigrate to the New
World. At the age of twenty-one years, with about
forty others of like faith, he began his voyage to
this country, 7 Jan., 1694, and after a dangerous
and tempestuous journey reached Philadelphia, 23
June, and next day went to Germantown, where
the German emigrants and those from Holland
had settled under the leadership of Francis Daniel
Pastorius, the German jurist. Kelpius and his
followers soon attracted much attention by their
dress, their peculiar doctrines, and holy way of
living. He afterward selected a spot on the banks
of the Wissahickon, where in a small valley he
built a hut or cave, and walled a spring of water,
that is still known as “the hermit's spring.”
There they lived as an unbroken brotherhood for
about ten years. They held religious services in
the groves, and crowds of curious people
assembled to hear the preaching of the hermits. It
is said that they taught little children that were
brought to them. They were called the “Society
of the women in the Wilderness,” and their religious
views were tinctured with the doctrines of
Jacob Boehme, the Teutonic philosopher.
Kelpius was a firm believer in the millennium, said it
was near at hand, and told Alexander Mack, the
Tunker preacher, that he should not die till he
saw it. His Latin journal, kept during his voyage
across the Atlantic, is still preserved in the
Historical society of Pennsylvania. In it are copies of
several letters in English and German, which he
wrote to learned persons both in Europe and America.
When Pastorius ceased to be the agent of the
Frankfort company, Kelpius was chosen in his
place, but it does not appear that he ever acted as
such. Reference is made to Kelpius in “The
Chronicon Ephratense,” and it would seem that
after his death many of his followers joined the
Seventh Day Baptists at Ephrata. Pa. (See Beissel, Conrad.)
Whittier, in “The Pennsylvania
Pilgrim,” speaks of the hermit as
| “ | Painful Kelpius from his hermit den By Wissahickon, maddest of good men.” |
KELSO, Thomas, philanthropist, b. in Ireland
in 1784; d. in Baltimore, Md., 26 July, 1878. He
came to the United States in 1791, and engaged in
business in Baltimore, where he accumulated a
fortune. He was a director of the Philadelphia,
Wilmington and Baltimore railroad for thirty-
seven years, and held various other financial offices.
He founded the Kelso orphan home, for the or-
phans of members of the Methodist church, at a
cost of $120,000. and gave liberally to churches in
Baltimore and Washington.
KELTON, John Cuningham, soldier, b. in Delaware county, Pa., 24 June, 1828. His great-grandfather, James, came from Ireland to Chester county. Pa., about 1735. He was graduated at the U. S. military academy in 1851, and was employed on the frontier till 1857, and at the academy, as instructor in infantry tactics and the use of small arms, till 24 April, 1861. He served during the civil war in 1861-'5 as assistant adjutant-general, with the exception of two months in 1861, when, as colonel of the 9th Missouri regiment, he commanded a brigade in that state. He resigned his volunteer commission, 12 March, 1862, but was in the field during the advance upon Corinth and the siege of that place in April and May, and was on
Gen. Henry W. Halleck's staff from July of that year till 1 July, 1865. He was brevetted lieutenant-colonel, colonel, and brigadier-general, U. S. army, on 13 March, 1865, "for most valuable and arduous services both in the field and at headquarters." Gen. Kelton was in charge of the appointment
bureau in the adjutant-general's office at Washing- ton in 1865-'70, and was afterward adjutant-general of the Division of the Pacific. On 15 June, 1880, he attained the staff rank of colonel, and since 1885 he has been on duty in the adjutant-general's office at Washington. Since 1880 he has patented a modification of the locking mechanism
of the Springfield rifle, reducing the number of motions required to load and fire it to four; a front sight cover and protector; a detachable
