Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/224

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208 RAPOPORT RASCIA been often printed (2 vols. fol., l732-'3; 5 vols. fol., 1743-7; 21 vols. 8vo, 1757-'9). RAPOPORT. See RAPPAPORT. RAPP, Georg, founder of the sect of Har- monists, born in Wurtemberg in 1770, died at Economy, Pa,, Aug. 7, 1847. Believing that he had a divine call, and was charged with the restoration of the Christian religion to its ori- ginal purity, he organized a community on the model of the primitive church, with goods in common. A difficulty with the government in regard to worship impelled Rapp to transplant his community in 1803 from Wurtemberg to the United States. They settled first on Co- nequenessing creek, in Butler co., Pa., where they founded the village of Harmony, and em- ployed themselves in agriculture and manufac- tures. They acquired considerable wealth, and in 1815 removed to the territory of Indiana, where they had purchased a tract of 27,000 acres on the Wabash. The settlement of New Harmony here was even more prosperous than their former establishment, but in 1824 they sold the property to Robert Owen, and emi- grated to Beaver co., Pa., where the town of Economy was laid out on the right bank of the Ohio, 17 m. N. W. of Pittsburgh. It is an agricultural and manufacturing community. Members of both sexes are admitted, but they do not marry ; they profess Protestantism, ob- serve strict morality, and pay much attention to education. There was a secession of about 200 members in 1832. The village of Harmony (pop. in 1870, 225) was in 1851 set off from the township of Economy (pop. in 1870, 1,824). RAPP, Jean, a French general, born in Col- mar in April, 1772, died in Paris, Nov. 8, 1821. He entered the French army as a pri- vate in 1788, distinguished himself during the wars of the revolution, and was an aide-de- camp of Desaix in Italy and Egypt. After the battle of Marengo Napoleon attached him to his staff, and when ho became emperor Rapp was promoted to brigadier general. At Aus- terlitz he decided the victory by precipitating his force upon the Russian imperial guard, and was made general of division. He distin- guished himself in the succeeding campaigns, especially at Golymin (1806), where he was wounded for the ninth time. To enable him to recruit his health he was intrusted with the government of Thorn, and subsequently with that of Dantzic. He was in the cam- paign of 1812 against Russia, receiving at the Moskva his 23d wound; and after the disas- trous result of that invasion he withdrew to Dantzic, where he was blockaded by the Prus- sians and Russians. He held out 12 months, but finally surrendered, and was carried to Russia as prisoner of war. Returning to France on the restoration, he was sent to oppose the return of Napoleon, but went over to his old leader, who appointed him commander-in-chief of the army of the Rhine. But being pressed by an Austrian army superior to his, he retired to Strasburg, and after the second restoration went to Switzerland. In 1818 he returned to France, was reinstated in the army, and in 1819 was made a peer. He left a volume of "Memoirs," published in 1828. RAPPAHAMOCK, a river in the E. part of Virginia, formed by the confluence of the North fork and other small streams, which rise in the Blue Ridge and unite on the N. E. bor- der of Culpeper co. At the S. E. extremity of that county it receives the waters of the Rap- idan, its largest tributary ; thence flowing in a devious course, it reaches tide water at Fredericksburg, where by a fall it supplies valuable power ; thence it becomes navigable, and enters Chesapeake bay by an estuary about 60 m. long. The whole length in a straight line from its sources to Chesapeake bay is about 140 m., but with its numerous and in- tricate windings its real length must be nearly twice as much. It* general course is S. E. RAPPAHANNOCK, a N. E. county of Virginia, bordered N. E. by the North fork of the Rap- pahannock, and drained by others of its head waters; area, about 250 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 8,261, of whom 8,066 were colored. It is bor- dered N. W. by the Blue Ridge, and has a gen- erally fertile soil. The chief productions in 1870 were 103,112 bushels of wheat, 10,755 of rye, 304,040 of Indian corn, 44,297 of oats, 2,058 tons of hay, 23,918 Ibs. of tobacco, 15,036 of wool, 87,426 of butter, and 8,819 gallons of sorghum molasses. There were 2,087 horses, 1,904 milch cows, 5,192 other cattle, 3,655 sheep, and 5,615 swine. Capital, Washington. RAPPAPORT, or Rapoport, Solomon Judab, a Jewish antiquary, born in Lemberg in June, 1790, died in Prague, Oct. 16, 1867. He pub- lished critico-biographical and other essays in the Hebrew periodicals Bikkurei ha'ittim (Vienna, 1820-'31) and Kerem 'hemed (Vienna and Prague, 1833-'45), which raised him to the highest rank among the Hebrew scholars of the age. The most important of his nu- merous writings, including the posthumous Na'halath Yehudnh (Cracow, 1869), is the first volume of a Talmudo-rabbinical cyclopae- dia entitled 'Erekh millin (Prague, 1852). He was elected rabbi of Tarnopol in 1837, and of Prague in 1840, and held the latter position till his death. RARATONGA, or Rarotonga. See COOK'S ISL- ANDS. RARITAN, a river of New Jersey, formed by the confluence in Somerset co. of two branch- es, both having their sources in the mountains of Morris co. ; the North branch flows mainly due S., and the South branch makes a curve S. W. through Hunterdon co., and then forms a circuit to the north. From the junction the course of the Raritan is nearly E. It passes by New Brunswick, whence it is navigable to Raritan bay, which it enters at Perth Am boy. The main stream is about 33 m. long. RASCIA, in the middle ages, the name of southern Servia, derived from Rasa (now Novi- Bazar), on the Rashka, and subsequently ex-