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writing poetry for the newspapers. He was then a farmer in Union county till 1839, and served in the legislature in 1836-'7. He became one of the editors of the “Hesperian,” at Columbus, Ohio, in 1838, and in 1839 began the study of law at Marysville. He was again in the legislature in 1842, and in that year bought the “Greene County Torchlight,” published in Xenia, Ohio. He returned to Marysville in 1845, and practised his profession till his death, except in 1853-'4, when he edited the “Scioto Gazette,” in Chillicothe. He published “Love of the Past,” a poem (Cincinnati, 1838). See Coggeshall's “Poets and Poetry of the West.”

CURTIN, Andrew Gregg, governor of Penn- sylvania, b. in Bellefonte, Centre co.. Pa., 22 Ajjril, 1'815; d. there, 7 Oct., 1894. His father came from Ireland in 1793, and in 1807 established near Bellefonte one of the iirst manufactories of iron in that region. Andrew studied law in Dickinson college law-school, was admitted to the bar in 1839, and soon became prominent. He early entered politics as a whig, laboring for Harrison's election in 1840, and making a successful canvass of the state for Clay in 1844. He was a presidential elector in 1848, and a candidate for elector on the whig ticket in 1852. In 1854 Gov. Pollock ap- pointed him secretary of the commonwealth and ex-officio superintendent of common schools, and in the discharge of his duties Mr. Curtin did muph toward reforming and perfecting the school system of the state. In his annual report of 1855 he recom- mended to the leg- islature the estab- lishment of nor- mal schools, and his suggestion was adopted. In 1860 he was the re- publican candi- date for governor. The democrats, though divided in national politics, were miited in Pennsylvania, but Mr. Curtin was elected by a ma- jority of 32,000. In his inaugural

address he advocated the forcible suppression of secession, and

throughout the contest that followed he was one of the " war governors " who were most earnest in their support of the national government. He responded promptly to the first call for troops, and when Gen. Patterson, who was in command in Pennsylvania, asked for twenty-five thousand more, they were im- mediately furnished. Gen. Patterson's requisition was afterward revoked by the secretary of war, on the ground that the troops were not needed ; but Gov. Curtin, instead of disbanding them, obtained authority from the legislature to equip them at the state's expense, and hold them subject to the call of the national government. This body of men became known as the " Pennsylvania Reserve," and was accepted by the authorities at Washington a few weeks later. Gov. Curtin was untiring in his efforts for the comfort of the soldiers, answering carefully the numerous letters sent him from the field, and originated a system of care and instruc- tion for the children of those slain in Viattle, mak- ing them wards of the state. He thus became known in the ranks as " the soldiers' friend." Gov. Curtin's health began to fail in 1863. and he signi- fied his intention of accepting a foreign mission that had been offered him as soon as his term should expire, but in the mean time he was re- nominated, and re-elected by 15,000 majority. In November, 1865, he went to Cuba for his health, and in that year declined another offer of a foreign mission. In 1869 Gen. Grant appointed him min- ister to Russia, and in 1868 and 1872 he was promi- nently mentioned as a candidate for vice-president. He returned home in August, 1872, supported Hor- ace Greeley for the presidency, and subsequently joined the democratic party, by which he was elect- ed to congress for three successive terms, serving from 1881 till 1887.

CURTIN, Jeremiah, linguist, b. in Milwaukee, Wis., about 1835. He had little education in child- hood, but at the age of twenty or twenty-one pre- pared himself to enter Phillips Exeter academy, made extraordinary progress, and soon entered Har- vard college, where he was graduated in 1863. By this time he had become noted among his classmates and acquaintances for his wonderful facility as a linguist. On leaving college he had acquired a good knowledge of French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Rumanian, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Icelandic, Gothic, German, and Finnish, besides Greek and Latin. He had also made considerable progress in Hebrew, Persian, and Sanskrit, and was beginning to speak Russian. When Admiral Lissofsky's fleet visited this country in 1864, Curtin became ac- quainted with the officers and accompanied the ex- pedition on its return to Russia. In St. Petersburg he obtained employment as a translator of polyglot telegraphic despatches, but he was presently ap- pointed by Mr. Seward to the office of secretary of the U. S. legation, and he held this place till 1808. During this period he became familiar with the Polish. Boiiemian, Lithuanian, Lettish, and Hun- garian languages, and made a beginning in Turkisli. From 1868 till 1877 he travelled in eastern Eurojie and in Asia, apparently in the service of the Rus- sian government. In 1873, at the celebration at Prague of the 500th anniversary of the birth of John IIuss, he delivered the oration, speaking with great eloquence in the Bohemian language. Dur- ing his travels in the Danube country he learned to speak Slovenian, Croatian, Servian, and Bulga- rian. He lived for some time in the Caucasus, where he learned Mingrelian, Abkasian, and Ar- menian. At the beginning of the Russo-Turkish war in 1877, he left the Russian dominions, and, after a year in London, returned to his native country. Since then he has been studying the languages of the American Indians, and has made valuable re- searches under tiie auspices of Maj. John W. Powell and the bureau of ethnology. He is said to be ac- quainted with more than fifty languages.

CURTIS, Alfred Allen, R. C. bishop, b. in Somerset county, Md., in 1833. He began his studies for the Protestant Episcopal church in 1854, supporting himself during his course by teaching. In 1856 he was ordained deacon and sent to St. John's parish, Worcester, and in 1859 was ordained priest. At the close of the year he had charge of Catoctin Furnace parish, Frederick co., Md. While there he received a call as assistant rector of St. Luke's, Baltimore, where he ministered until 1864, when he was sent to officiate at Chestertown, Md. He was recalled at the close of the year and placed in charge of Mount Calvary church, Baltimore, where he remained rector until December, 1870, when he resigned. He went to England in 1871, was received into the Roman Catholic church the same year by Cardinal Newman, returned to Baltimore,