Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/136

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112
McDowell
MacEACHERN

views, and, had he lived in a less primitive com- munity, might have attained wealth and world- wide celebrity in his lifetime. In person he was stout, nearly six feet in height, with a florid com- plexion and black eyes. He was one of the found- ers and an original trustee of Centre college, Dan- ville, and a few months before his final illness began to build a large mansion near that town. On 14 May, 1879, a granite monument with a medallion of Dr. McDowell was erected to his memory, the memorial address being made by Dr. Samuel D. Gross, of Philadelphia, before the Ken- tucky medical society. This is located near the centre of Danville, in a public square known as McDowell park. — His grandson, William Adair, physician, b. near Danville, Ky., 21 March. 1795: d. "in Louisville, Ky., 10 Dec, 1853, was educated at Washington college, Va., which he left to serve in the war of 1812. He studied medicine with his uncle Ephraim, with whom he practised after re- ceiving his degree from the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania in 1818. He devoted much time to the study of pulmonary consumption, and the result of his clinical observa- tions was published in a monograph entitled " A Demonstration of the Curability of Pulmonary Consumption " (Louisville, 1843).


Mcdowell, Silas, author, b. in York dis- trict, S. C, 16 May, 1795 ; d. in Macon county, N. C, 14 July, 1879. He was left an orphan at an early age, and his life was one of hardship. For a short time he was a student at the Newton acade- my. Buncombe co., S. C, working to pay for his tuition, and he subsequently apprenticed himself to a tailor. He worked at this trade for ten years in North Carolina, but in 1830 removed to a farm in Macon county and served as clerk in the supe- rior court for sixteen years, and as clerk and mas- ter in equity for five years. He was a devoted student of nature, giving much time to geology, mineralogy, and botany. His sketch, " Above the Clouds," was extensively copied in journals in 1829, and was followed by others that described North Carolina mountain scenery. He also wrote articles upon pomology, horticulture, sheep-husbandry, and cheese-making, and a paper upon the " Theory of the Thermal Zone," printed in the " General Agri- cultural Reports " (Washington, 1861).


McDUFFlE, George, governor of South Caro- lina, b. in Columbia county, Ga., about 1788 ; d. in Sumter district, S. C, 11 March, 1851. He was of humble parentage, and began life as a clerk in a mer- cantile establishment in Augusta, Ga. His talents attracted the attention of William Calhoun, who sent him to Dr. Moses Waddell's school in Wil- mington, N. C, and subsequently to South Caro- lina college, where he was graduated with first honors in 1813. He then studied law, was admit- ted to the bar in 1814, and began to practise in Edgefield, S. C. In 1818 he was sent to the South Carolina legislature, where he proved himself an able writer. A political controversy with Col. Will- iam Cumming, of Georgia (q. v.), about this time, led to several duels, in one of which McDuffie received wounds from which he never fully re- covered. In his earlier writings he advocated consolidation doctrines in opposition to the state- rights views that he subsequently espoused. His various papers on this subject were collected in a series of pamphlets entitled " The Crisis." In 1821 he was elected to congress as a Democrat, serving from 1821 till 1834, when he resigned. In December, 1823, he advocated the expediency of changing the constitution so as to establish uni- formity in the mode of electing the members of the house of representatives, and also in the mode of choosing presidential electors, and as chairman of this committee he made an elaborate report in January, 1825. He opposed congressional appro- priations for internal improvements, and alsO' argued against the proposed congress of Panama, a fa- vorite measure of President John Quincy Adams. As chairman of the committee of ways and means he en- deavored to main- tain the Bank of the United States, was a frequent as- sailant of the pro- tective tariff, and engaged in impor- tant debates. In December, 1830, he opened the im- peachment trial of

Judge James H.

Peck, for the prosecution, in a speech of great power. He had been originally a supporter of President Jackson, but opposed him on the state- rights issue, and was one of the most ardent and eloquent champions of nullification, which he re- garded not as a constitutional but as a justifiable revolutionary measure. He was the author of the address to the people of the United States that was issued by the South Carolina convention of 1832. In 1834 he left congress, after making a vehement speech against the administration, and in the same year he was elected governor of South Carolina, which office he held until 1836. He then retired to private life, but in 1842 was elected to the U. S. senate in place of William C. Preston, who had resigned, and served until 1846, when he relinquished his place, owing to impaired health. In congress few men have treated with more abil- ity such a variety of difficult subjects. He was one of the most successful planters in the state, and delivered an oration before the State agricul- tural society. For many years he was commonly called Gen. McDuffie, as "he had been a major-gen- eral in the state militia. He published a " Eulogy on Robert Y. Hayne " (Charleston, 1840), and was the author of numerous addresses.


MACE, Frances Parker Laughton, poet, b. in Orono, Me., 15 Jan., 1836. Her maiden name was Laughton. She was graduated at the high-school of Bangor in 1852, and in 1855 married Benjamin H. Mace, a lawyer of that city. In 1885 she re- moved to San Jose, Cal. One of her poems, " Only Waiting," suggested by the reply of an old man who was asked what he was doing, first published in the Waterville, Me., "Mail," in 1854, became very popular. She has published " Legends, Lyrics, and Sonnets " (Boston, 1883), and poems entitled " Under Pine and Palm " (1887), besides contribu- tions to magazines, which include " Israfil," " Easter Moi-ning." and " The Kingdom of the Child."


MacEACHERN, Bernard Angus, Canadian R. C. bishop, b. in Scotland about 1780; d. in Charlottetown, Prince Edward island, in 1835. He was for a long time engaged on the mission of Prince Edward island, and was consecrated vicar apostolic of that province and New Brunswick, in Quebec, 17 June, 1821. The population of his diocese was large, and the number of priests inconsiderable, and. to insure an increase in the latter he