NOURSE, Joseph, register of the treasury, born in London, England, 16 July, 1754; died near Georgetown, D. C., 1 September, 1841. He emigrated with his family to Virginia in 1769, entered the Revolutionary army as military secretary to General Charles Lee in 1776, was clerk and paymaster of the board of war in 1777-'81, then was assistant auditor-general, and in 1781-1829 was register of the United States treasury. For twenty-five years he was a vice-president of the American Bible society.--His nephew, Joseph Everett, author, born in Washington, D. C., 17 April, 1819, was graduated at Jefferson college in 1837, became principal of Rittenhouse academy, Washington, D. C., in 1840, and in 1849 was licensed to preach in the Presbyterian church. He was professor of ethics and English studies in the United States naval academy in 1850-'64, was commissioned professor of mathematics at that date, and retired in 1881. In 1865-'80 he was on duty at the naval observatory and in the navy. He supplied the infantry at Fort Adams during the civil war, and subsequently occasionally supplied churches in the District of Columbia and in Virginia. He represented the United States government at the International geographical congress that met in Paris in 1875. He has published "The Maritime Canal of Suez : Brief Memoir of the Enterprise and Comparison of its Probable Results with those of a Ship-Canal across Darien " (Washington, D. C., 1869): "Astronomical and Meteorological Observations" (1871) ; "Memoir of the Founding and Progress of the United States Naval Observatory" (1873) ; "Medals awarded to American Arctic Explorers by Foreign Societies" (1876);" Narrative of the Second Arctic Exploration by Charles F. Hall" (1879);" American Explorations in the Ice Zones," prepared from official sources (Boston, 1884) ; and "The Maritime Canal of Suez from its Inauguration, 17 November. 1869, to the Year 1884" (Washington, D. C., 1884).--His cousin, James Duncan, journalist, born in Bards-town, Kentucky, 26 September, 1817; died in St. Louis, Missouri, 1 June, 1854, was graduated at St. Joseph college, Bardstown, Kentucky, in 1836, studied both law and medicine, but abandoned them for journalism, and at different periods edited three newspapers in his native town. He subsequently became connected with the "St. Louis Intelligencer," and was its associate editor at the time of his death. He contributed constantly to magazines, and is the author of the novels "The Forest Knight" (Philadelphia, 1846); "Leavenworth, a Story of the Mississippi" (1849) ; and a collection of lectures, that he had previously delivered on the philosophy of history, that was highly recommended by critics in this country and abroad, entitled "God in History, or the Past and its Legacies" (Louisville, 1852).