USA > Ohio > The biographical cyclopaedia and portrait gallery with an historical sketch of the state of Ohio. Volume III > Part 59
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their new home on the west bank of the Miami River. In less than a year his estimable wife died, and her remains were the first interred in the Berea Cemetery, a beautiful spot donated by Mr. Hughes for a home of the dead. In 1805 he was again united in marriage with Miss Mary Ewing, born in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, June IIth, 1785. Mr. Hughes leased most of his valuable lands. He was a kind and generous landlord, highly esteemed by all of his tenants; always ready to help poor, honest, and industri- ous men. They had a family of six sons and four daugh- ters. At his death, the estate, as divided by Mr. Hughes, was inherited by his children, and remains to this day, after the lapse of so many years, in their possession. In 1820, Mr. Hughes suffered a severe fall while descending the steps of the First Presbyterian Church, on Main Street, Cincinnati, which lamed him for life. Educated in the Christian faith, and encouraged by the godly example of his pious parents, lie, early in life, embraced the religion of Jesus Christ, and lived a useful, happy Christian life, leaving for his large family the inheritance of a good name, and on the 2d of September, 1849, died the death of the . righteous, in a good old age, full of years, and was gath- ered to his fathers. His bereaved widow continued to re- side at the old homestead, surrounded by the comforts of life and the society of her children, until her death, Octo- ber 2d, 1857, aged seventy-two years. She commanded her household in the love and fear of God, and her chil- dren arise and call her blessed.
DUTCHER, ADDISON P., late of Cleveland, Ohio, was the son of Josiah Dutcher-the latter a putative grandson of the Brown Dutcher immortalized by Irving. He was born in Durham, Green County, New York, October 11th, 1818, and died at his late residence in Cleveland, January 30th, 1884. His early education was received at the well-known school of Benjamin Romain-a school whence Paulding, Irving, and others scarcely less famous, had been pupils. In 1834 he began his professional studies under Dr. John Shanks, of New York; later, entered the office of Dr. Edward H. Dixon, and in 1839-having duly attended lectures-graduated M. D. at the New York College of Physicians and Sur- geons. After practicing at Cooksbury, New York, and New Brighton, Pennsylvania, he established himself, in 1847, in Enon Valley, in the latter State, and was there resident for sev- enteen years. In 1864 he was tendered the chair of Principles and Practice of Medicine in the Charity Hospital Medical College, of Cleveland. This position he accepted and held during two terms, and, since 1864, was in practice in Cleve- land, occupying a leading place in his profession. He was a fellow of the Cleveland Academy of Medicine, and presi- dent in 1868; honorary member of the Beaver County (Penn- sylvania) Medical Society, and president in 1863; and ex-member of the Pennsylvania Medical Society. His con- tributions to medical literature were extensive, and while confined, in the first instance, to professional periodicals, have been since (in part) issued in book form. The most important of these volumes is "Pulmonary Tuberculosis ; lts Pathology, Symptoms, Diagnosis, Causes, and Medical Management," Vol. I, octavo, pp. 400, 1876. Among his more noteworthy papers are "Epidemic Dysentery," "Incision of Uterine Neck in 'Missed Labor.'" Sixteen of his lectures, delivered at the Charity Hospital, were also republished by request. Among his publications outside of
his profession may be mentioned "Selections from my Port- folio; Comprising Lectures and Essays on Popular and Scientific Subjects," Vol. 1, 8vo., pp. 370, 1858, and a series of articles under the title, "Common Places in Christian Theology," in the Pittsburg Christian Advocate during the year 1860. He was an active worker in the Abolition move- ment, and for years, as a speaker and writer, took a promi- nent part in the effort to prohibit tlie sale of intoxicating liquors. He married March 30th, 1839, Amanda M., daughter of the Hon. Richard Curtis, of New York. His son, Dr. E. A. Dutcher, who was for some years associated with him in practice, died in 1878. His wife died in 1881. The fol- lowing extracts are taken from an obituary notice of Dr. Dutcher which appeared in the Cleveland Leader of Feb- ruary Ist, 1884 :
"The death of Dr. A. P. Dutcher, at his late residence in this city, Wednesday evening, January 30th, will cause a deep feeling of sadness throughout the large circle of his friends and acquaintances in Cleveland and in Western Pennsylvania, where he formerly resided. He was a man of distinct and well-defined personality, whose individual traits of character were never effaced or dimmed by circum- stances or associations, and wherever he moved he made his impress upon those around him. His life was one long, un- selfish pursuit of professional and literary work in which the welfare of others and his duty to his fellow-men formed his great motives of action. A physician enjoys almost un- bounded opportunities for doing good, and Dr. Dutcher made the most of these opportunities. His office was frequently thronged with patients, many of them too poor to pay, but none too poor to receive his careful attention. After med- ical skill had failed to relieve a patient, Dr. Dutcher was always ready with the soothing and consoling words of piety to prepare the soul for its passage to the better world. To save a life was, of course, his greatest satisfaction, but next to this was the pleasure of knowing that his patient died in Christ. He often related deathbed scenes, dwelling with sympathetic tenderness and keen affection upon the spiritual condition of the deceased. One time he returned to his house after the death of an old colored woman whom he had attended through protracted sickness, and he said to a member of his family, 'O what a glorious death that was! The old woman was poor in this world's goods but she was a millionaire in the grace of Christ. Her life was a model of religious duty, and her death a fulfillment of all the promises of the Scrip- tures. I should like to write a long obituary on her, but I could not begin to describe the purity and elevation of her piety or the triumphant happiness of her death.' He often dwelt upon such pictures with enthusiasm and rapture. He was a devout believer in the Christian religion, having em- braced it in his early youth, bringing its precepts into the practices of daily life, and living strictly in accordance with what he believed. His whole life was permeated with a mild spirit of contentment and Christian loveliness which was ever felt in his soft, low voice, while it pervaded all his actions. Of the many who were well acquainted with him, it may safely be said that no one can now say a word that will re- flect in any way upon his integrity, honor, or in any way mar the well-rounded symmetry of his character as understood and loved by those nearest to him. Dr. Dutcher leaves to mourn his loss a daughter, Mrs. Minnie D. Covert, his son- in-law, Mr. John C. Covert, and a granddaughter, Miss Min- nie Dutcher."
MCBRIDE, JAMES, the historian, was of Scotch de- scent. His grandfathers, on both the paternal and maternal side, were born in North Britain, not long after the incorpora- tion of Scotland with England, and emigrated to Pennsylva- nia about the time of the French and Indian war. His father was also James McBride. While still a young man, he went to Kentucky, then the scene of perpetual Indian warfare, and fell a victim to the attacks of the red men. There was a
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trace leading from the mouth of the Licking to the site of the present city of Lexington, and while on this path he was cut off by the Indians, in 1789, on the Dry Ridge. His wife, whose maiden name was McRoberts, had been left at home, while he was out on the frontier, and there she lived until her death, which occurred in September, 1808. Her resi- dence was on the farm, near Conococheague Creek, where she had been born. She had but one child, the subject of this sketch. James McBride, the son, was born November 2d, 1788, on the farm above mentioned, a short distance from Greencastle, Franklin County, Pennsylvania, and emigrated to Hamilton, Ohio, in 1806, being then in his eighteenth year. He received no set education, but improved what op- portunities he had for reading, and, on coming to Butler County, was discovered to possess a very large amount of useful knowledge. He had been well instructed in penman- ship, and his neat and painstaking chirography can be traced in the public records of that county almost from the time of his coming until his death. His first employment, it is believed, was as clerk for John Reily, but he soon found other openings. Every one had the utmost confidence in him, and he was constantly in request. His patrimony was not large, but it enabled him sometimes to try new plans for bettering his fortune. Just before the war with Great Britain, in the early part of this century, he engaged with Joseph Hough in a venture to New Orleans. Flour was bought and shipped to that port with a large profit, and thenceforth Mr. McBride was easy in his circumstances. In 1813 he was elected sheriff, and was again chosen in 1815. This office was then considered as being the chief one in the county, and it shows the confidence his fellow-citizens must have had in him, as he was but twenty-five when elected. While holding this office, he was married to Hannah, daugh- ter of Judge Robert Lytle, who dwelt a few miles from town, and with her he lived forty-five years, having three sons and two daughters. Mr. McBride had scarcely removed to But- ler County when he began his researches in the early his- tory of that region. He foresaw its progress, and knew that where there was then only a wooded plain would soon be villages and cities. The pioneers were still alive who could recount the tale of the defeat of St. Clair, the triumphal march of Wayne, the building of the first houses, and the birth of the first children. Some of the older ones had been in the Revolutionary struggle, and yet older ones remem- bered the last long and todious war we waged with France, ending with glorious victories in 1763. These stories were not wasted upon an inattentive ear. He listened to the nar- rations, and put down upon paper the material portions re- lating to the early settlement of the Miami country. He verified the relations by comparison with others, and then wrote out a rough draft for publication. This again was changed and altered until, in some cases, three drafts of the same narrative were extant at once. It is impossible to say how much he wrote, but there are probably now in ex- istence, in his handwriting, not less than three thousand pages of manuscript bearing upon Butler County and the country adjacent. Among the most valuable of these is the work issued in 1869 by Robert Clarke & Co., of Cincin- nati, under the title of "Pioneer Biography of Butler County." Besides these, Mr. McBride wrote a history of Hamilton, and one of Oxford, together with a sketch of Miami Uni- versity. These were never published until they appeared in substance in the History of Butler County, published by
the authors of this work in 1882. No one can read what he has done without being struck with the thoroughness and solidity with which he did his work. He read many volumes to make his annotations, and each page of his writing must represent a day of labor. There are blanks left here and there to be filled up, and in some cases where chapter headings were placed the text had not been written. He hoped to be able to do this, but time was lack- ing. To the triennial catalogue of the Miami University there are copious additions, and there is included in his pa- pers on the Miami University a list of the graduates, with their subsequent history. This must have taken a great deal of correspondence. He wrote an account of the Hamilton bridge, which was published by the stockholders; he fur- nished the means, and wrote the book, describing Symmes's theory of concentric spheres; and he occasionally contributed points of Ohio history both to Cist's Miscellany and the Hamilton papers. Howe's History of Ohio was largely in- debted to him. But while he was writing what had hap- pened, he was also attentive to gathering up those books and odds and ends of knowledge that would make the prep- aration of historical works easier to the future annalist. His library was in many branches of knowledge, embracing probably five thousand volumes, at a day when neither in- comes nor libraries were so large as at present. He retained files of the Hamilton papers from the beginning, as well as of Niles's Register and the National Intelligencer. A few of these went to the State library, but the remainder are de- stroyed. He kept every pamphlet that reached him; and it is not too much to say that, in this respect, the loss that was suffered by his death and their destruction, is incalculable to the student of Western history. Beginning his researches in 1806, and continuing them for more than a half century, it is certain that the historical societies of the future, in Chi- cago, Cincinnati, and Cleveland, would be willing to pay their weight in silver for what is now lost. Mr. McBride's collection was probably the richest in the incunabula of the West, if we may borrow a term generally restricted to the fifteenth century, of any made or gathered in the United States. He had the same advantages that Jefferson had when he collected his library of works relating to America, with the exception that our pioneer retained only those which were locally valuable. Mr. McBride was never hap- pier than when in his library. He had a sincere love for truth, and wished himself to know what it was, even when he had no desire to write or otherwise express it. His books were his fountains of knowledge. He kept continually add- ing to them, and was equally assiduous in extracting their contents. He was always ready to lend his aid to other in- vestigators, and to place them upon sound ground. He had a strong intellect and a love for letters, and he never seemed to grow tired of these investigations. The result was that, in the end, he had accumulated a vast stock of knowledge, and this without pretense or exciting remark. Mr. McBride was the first observer in Butler County who gave the tumuli more than cursory attention. He opened some of them, and others he surveyed and described. He spent much time in this pursuit, and, by patience and the use of money, finally succeeded in getting together the finest collection of prehis- toric relics ever in that neighborhood. Many of these curi- osities were the gifts of his neighbors, who knew his tastes. This cabinet is now in the possession of George W. Vaux, of Philadelphia. We are apt to forget, in these days of easy
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locomotion and advanced education, what great benefits were reaped from our early colleges. They deserved all the encomiums lavished upon them by the early historians, although their staff of professors was small, their range of studies limited, and their teachers knew little but the clas- sics. They kept the lamp of knowledge aflame throughout the country, and here and there trained up men who carried the advance of knowledge still further. In this task Miami University had a great share, and of its board of governors none took a greater or more intelligent interest than Mr. McBride. From the origin of the institution he was con- nected with it, and at the time of his death he was the president of its board of trustees. Without himself having attained a collegiate education, he appreciated its advantages. He was sedulous in attendance at the meetings of the trus- tees; he was treasurer for a long time; he aided on the build- ing committees and elsewhere, and he invariably gave the faculty a full support. That institution acquired an early and great fame, and to no one scarcely can more credit be given than to Mr. McBride. After ceasing to be sheriff of Butler County he was in repose several years, until he was urged by his fellow-citizens to become Mayor of Hamilton. He showed in this office the same punctual diligence he dis- played elsewhere, as is attested by his docket, still preserved, in which he recorded the cases brought before him. While in this position he aided in a codification of the municipal ordinances. After the election of John Woods as Auditor of State, he went thither to assist him, rendering most valu- able co-operation, and in 1846 was chosen clerk of the courts of Butler County, a position he held until 1852. He was a taciturn and modest man, never frequenting public gatherings, and rarely conversing at any length except with those intimately connected with him. He was averse to dis- play. He was very quiet and unobtrusive, and of sterling integrity. He could not push himself forward. He was charitable almost to a fault, and never let a person leave his door unaided. His probity was of the highest. He never sought to escape the consequences of an action in which he had been unfortunate, through misjudgment or misplaced confidence, but dealt as he would be done by. He was active in every thing that helped to benefit or improve his county or State, and took an interest in every thing that promised these results. He was a stockholder in the bridge, the hydraulic, and the railroad, because he thought they would benefit his adopted town, and not because he thought they would put money in his pocket. When he had attained the patriarchal age of three-score and ten, his wife died. This was on the 23d of September, 1859. He seemed in- stantly to lose all interest in life, and prepared himself to de- part. Ten days after, he died, on the 3d of October, aged seventy years and eleven months, leaving two sons and two daughters. Homer, his oldest son, had died long before, and those who survived were, Horace, James, Laura, and Marietta. The last married William Sanders, and on her death left two daughters. Laura married Roger N. Stembel. Both of Mr. McBride's sons are dead.
SCUDDER, JOHN M., M. D., Professor of Pathology and Practice of Medicine in the Eclectic Medical Institute of Cincinnati (of which he is owner and manager), editor and publisher of the Eclectic Medical Journal, author of a series of medical works, etc., was born in Hamilton County, Ohio, September 8th, 1829. Dr. Scudder began his remark-
ably successful professional career in the twenty-sixth year of his age. Thrown upon his own resources by the death of his father in his childhood, the first twenty-five years of his life were spent in an earnest, continuous struggle towards self-support and in an effort to acquire an education. He completed a course at Oxford, graduating in medicine in 1855, with great credit to himself. Being a young man of "strong convictions, earnest resolves, and perseverance," suc- cess has come to him in a degree equaled by few in his chosen profession. His professional education was received at the Eclectic Medical Institute, of which he is now the manager. In 1856 he was appointed to a professorship in the same in- stitute. Since then his history has been largely identified with that prominent college, having filled the chairs of Anatomy, Obstetrics and Diseases of Women, of Pathology and Practice of Medicine, and as lecturer upon " Hygiene." His labors as an author have been extremely successful. The following is a list of books he has written upon med- ical science : "The Principles of Medicine," "The Eclectic Practice of Medicine," "The Eclectic Practice of Medicine in Diseases of Women and Children," "General and Special Therapeutics," "A Practical Treatise on Diseases of Women," "Specific Medication and Specific Medicine," "Specific Di- agnosis," "The Eclectic Practice of Medicine for Families," " Materia Medica and Therapeutics," "On the Reproductive Organs and the Venereal," and "On the Use of Inhalations." In addition to these literary labors he has edited and pub- lished the Eclectic and Medical Journal since 1862. This work has been done, this eminence attained in less than twenty-five years since he entered upon the real and earnest pursuit of his profession, than whom, it would seem, no one is a more enthusiastic and successful devotee. By his industry he has also been enabled to reap financial re- wards, for they are commensurate therewith. But though possessing wealth he does not perceptibly relinquish his toil in scientific fields, though less for its compensation than the benefits that may accrue to the cause he has ever held it his duty to advance. The Medical College over which he presides has attained large proportions, and has become an important educational instrumentality under his management. It presents the claims of age, experience, and every advantage that money can provide as facilities for education. He has drawn to its faculty gentlemen of ac- knowledged talents and large experience. It numbers eight thousand and ninety-six matriculants, and two thousand five hundred and ninety-two graduates up to the year 1884, hav- ing just issued its thirty-ninth catalogue. Its position is, therefore, high among the scientific schools of the United States. Thus has Dr. Scudder done, and is still doing, much to advance the cause of medical science. Perhaps no one individual or member of that learned profession in Ohio has done more to disseminate medical lore than Dr. Scudder. The large sale that his books have met indicates their literary merits and their scientific value, and are regarded as authori- ties in medical circles. Dr. Scudder is connected with most of the Eclectic societies of the United States. He still pursues the study of his profession out of his natural love therefor, and with the zeal and tirelessness that characterized his earlier years, though now the ruling incentive is to con- tribute as much as in him lay to the cause he has already so successfully advanced. Thus, in every way that is gratifying to the honorable ambition of the citizen and professional gentle- man, Dr. Scudder has succeeded. Enjoying the high esteem
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of his fellow-citizens, occupying a prominent and influential position in his profession, secure in the possession of an inde- pendent fortune, and the author of many valuable works on medical jurisprudence, his career may be regarded as excep- tional, especially when it is remembered that he is a self- made man. With his family he resides in an elegant resi- dence upon Ridgway Avenue in Avondale, which, together with a number of other houses that he has erected there, contributes to the advancement and embellishment of one of the most beautiful suburbs of Cincinnati.
HALSTEAD, MURAT, journalist, was born September 2d, 1829, in Ross township, post-office Paddy's Run, near the village of New London, Butler county, Ohio,-living at Cin- cinnati. His father, Colonel Griffin Halstead, a native of North Carolina, removed in 1804 to Ohio with his parents, who, in the following year, settled upon the farm which became their grandson's birth-place. The family of his mother, Clar- issa Willits, came from Pennsylvania, and were among the early settlers on the Scioto, in central Ohio. Mrs. Halstead, who taught her son to read and write at a very early age, made him a student of history and geography before he ever visited a school-house, and his first school experience began in com- pany with "McGuffey's Third Reader" and an English grammar. In the village of New London, about the year 1840, the Rev. B. W. Chidlaw, a well-known Congregational minister, kept a select school, in which during two successive winters, Murat received instruction in the English branches. Afterward, until he was eighteen years old, he attended the common school of his district during the winters, meanwhile working upon his father's farm through the summer months. In the fall of 1848, after a short experience in school-teaching, he entered Farmers' college, at College Hill, whence he grad- uated in 1851. He at one time attempted the study of law, but having written and contributed occasional sketches to the Hamilton Intelligencer and Rossville Democrat, during his college life and while teaching school, he acquired a literary taste and facility in writing which became the means of intro- ducing him to his career as a journalist. Mr. Halstead's early literary efforts, however, were chiefly in the department of fiction, though he attempted essays on American antiquities and current affairs. One of his pioneer romances, "A Legend of the Miamis," was published before his graduation, in the Cincinnati Gazette. In 1852, Mr. Halstead formed his earli- est editorial connection as news editor of the Daily Atlas, published by John D. Caldwell. This was followed by a brief engagement upon the Cincinnati Enquirer, as assistant local editor, and then as associate editor of the Columbian and Great West, edited by W. B. Shattuck. The Cincinnati Com- mercial had already been established for eleven years, and was prosperous and influential, when in March, 1853, M. D. Potter, its chief proprietor and editorial manager, engaged Mr. Halstead as one of its corps of reporters. In the summer following, through the illness and absence of the proprietor, the direction of the paper fell into Mr. Halstead's hands. Then and afterward, as the opportunity was presented, was introduced into its management, a feature which erelong wrought a marked change in Western journalism. This was a systematic compilation of the news found in the exchange papers. Cincinnati being a central point and the telegraph then giving but a meagre outline of daily news-often nothing more than imperfect market reports-the work that Mr. Hal- stead was enabled to do was so highly appreciated by Mr.
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