Details
Title Kurtz, Horatio J.
Alternate title Kurtz, Horatio I.
Date b. ca. 1844-January 1, 1917
Description Horatio J. Kurtz, born ca. 1844 in Pennsylvania, worked as an artist and lithographer in Philadelphia ca. 1859-ca. 1900. Kurtz entered the lithographic trade as an apprentice to William Rease with whom he lived ca. 1859-ca. 1860 at 1440 Marshall Street. During the Civil War, Kurtz served in the Pennsylvania infantry (1864-65), and in 1867 entered into a partnership with his former master artisan Rease. The known work of the business, which lasted about a year, includes the souvenir advertisement print "City of Philadelphia, 1867."
A year later, Kurtz worked as an artist at 413 Chestnut Street, one of the 1867 addresses for Duval, Swander & Co. Kurtz remained in the trade through the 1870s and 1880s, including the 1877 partnership Kurtz & Brother (Fifth and Chestnut Streets) and his own firm at 605 Sansom Street where he produced a ca. 1880 advertisement for Simes Storage. Despite some professional success - Kurtz owned $1000 worth of real estate in 1870 as a "sign painter"- the lithographer 's personal life was marred by the publicly reported abuse of his wife Lois (b. ca. 1848) who filed for divorce in 1881 after 14 years of marriage.
According to city directories, Kurtz also worked as a clerk during the 1880s, as well as as a salesman in 1890. For the 1910 census, Kurtz listed his occupation as artist, although earlier in the decade he filed for his Civil War pension under the status "invalid." According to his pension records, Kurtz died on January 1, 1917 in New Brunswick, N.J.
Is part of Philadelphia on Stone Biographical Dictionary of Lithographers
References See Duval, P. S. and Rease, William
Call number Philadelphia on Stone Biographical Dictionary of Lithographers
Bibliographic citation Bucks County Gazette, July 14, 1881
Census 1860, 1870, 1910
Civil War and Later Veterans Pension Index
Library Company of Philadelphia research file
Philadelphia Business and City Directories, 1859-1890 (intermittently)