Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Kraitsir, Charles

KRAITSIR, Charles, philologist, b. in Schmolnitz, Hungary, 28 Jan., 1804; d. in Morrisania, N. Y., 7 May, 1860. He was graduated in medicine at Pesth in 1828, and in 1831 went to Poland and took an active part in the revolution there. He came to this country in 1833 with the intention of founding a Polish colony, and in 1837-'8 he established an academy at Ellicott's Mills, Md. Subsequently he resided in Washington, and in 1841-'2 was principal of the state academy of Maryland, Charlotte's hall. From 1842 till 1844 he delivered lectures in Boston on philology, and established a school there. In 1848 he went to Europe, but afterward returned to Boston, and in 1851 came to New York and passed his last years in Morrisania, engaged in literary pursuits. He is the author of “The Poles in the United States” (Philadelphia, 1836-'7); “First Book of English” and “Significance of the Alphabet” (Boston, 1846); and “Glossology, being a Treatise on the Nature of Language and on the Language of Nature” (New York, 1852).