USA > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia County > Philadelphia > An historical catalogue of the St. Andrew's Society of Philadelphia, with biographical sketches of deceased members > Part 9
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Mr. Milne was closely identified with many charitable in- stitutions. He was one of the incorporators and president
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Biographies of Deceased Members
of the Pennsylvania Working Home for Blind Men, the original institution of its kind in the United States ; a trustee for thirty-six years of the Pennsylvania Institution for the Deaf and Dumb; a manager of the Howard Hospital for forty years; and he was also at one time president of the Southern Home for Destitute Children. He was a trustee of the Hahnemann Hospital and of the Philadelphia Home for Incurables. While president of the Pennsylvania Prison Society in 1889, he was appointed by Governor Beaver one of the State inspectors of the Eastern Penitentiary, and the same year he was appointed a commissioner to represent the State of Pennsylvania at the Universal Exposition held in Paris. In 1894 Governor Robert E. Pattison appointed him a delegate-at-large to represent the Commonwealth at the Prison Congress held in the City of St. Paul, Minn. Generous and liberal, his gifts to the benevolent and chari- table institutions were many. Most of his donations were unknown except to the recipients. There are records of free beds in perpetuity having been established by him in the following hospitals :
The Hahnemann, the Medico-Chirurgical, the Pennsyl- vania, the Polyclinic, the Presbyterian, and in the Philadel- phia Home for Incurables.
For nearly forty years he was a member and a liberal contributor to the Protestant Episcopal Church of the Holy Trinity, 19th and Walnut Streets.
His membership in social, patriotic, and other organiza- tions included the Union League, Rittenhouse Club, Art Club, Penn Club (at one time a director), Corinthian Yacht Club, Metropolitan Club of Washington, D. C., Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Genealogical Society, Academy of Natural Sciences, Numismatic and Antiquarian Society, New England Society, Society of Sons of the Revolution, Colonial Society of Pennsylvania (of which he was a Councillor), Albion Society, Pennsylvania Society of New York, and he was a member of Union Lodge No. 121, F. and A. M., and a 32d degree Mason.
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Mr. Milne took a deep interest in all that concerned the advancement of The St. Andrew's Society, both in its chari- table work and in its social meetings. As an evidence of this, in October, 1883, he donated $1000 to the Supper Fund, and on February 28, 1906, Mr. Milne offered to donate to the Supper Fund a sum equal to that subscribed by other members up to $5000. The Society contributed toward this fund $1258, which with Mr. Milne's gift added the sum of $2516 to the Supper Fund. It was his desire that the expense occasioned by the social gatherings should never encroach upon the Charity Fund of the Society. Again, on February 28, 1910, he offered to make a donation of $500 to the Supper Fund if the members contributed $1000. This sum was obtained before the meeting of October 3Ist of that year, and thus a further increase was made to this fund. He contributed also $100 towards the restoration of Iona Cathedral in Scotland.
When the " Historical Catalogue of 1907 " of the Society was completed, it was found that it had expanded much beyond the original expectations. Mr. Milne then gener- ously contributed $900 toward the expense of publishing.
When the Society relinquished to the Scot's Thistle Society its interest in the burial lot held in common in Mt. Moriah Cemetery, Mr. Milne presented to the Society, in 1905, a fine burial lot in Woodlands Cemetery, on which the present granite monument was erected.
In 1888 he entertained the Society at his country-seat, " Roslyn Manor," School House Lane, Germantown. This place contains nearly fifty acres and is beautifully situated on the Wissahickon.
From the foregoing it may be inferred that Mr. Milne had a deep love for The St. Andrew's Society.
In 1858 he married Sarah Margaretta Shea, daughter of John Shea and Susanna Barbara Wolff, of Pittsburgh, Pa., who died July 13, 1896. By her he had two sons, David 2d, Life member 1887, Vice-president 1894-97, and
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President 1898-99, and Caleb Jones, Jr., Life member 1887, and now, 1912-14, Vice-president.
An extensive traveller, he had crossed the Atlantic Ocean nineteen times and had spent much time in Europe. One of the results was the rare and valuable collection of paint- ings and bric-a-brac that adorned his town house at 2030 Walnut Street.
When in London, on June 30, 1912, he was struck by a taxicab at Trafalgar Square, and was so seriously injured that he died the following day at Charing Cross Hospital. After his remains were brought to the United States, services were held on July 13, 1912, at his former country-place, " Roslyn Manor," and interment was made in his burial lot at West Laurel Hill Cemetery.
FRANCIS FORBES MILNE, member 1860, was born in Philadelphia, April 6, 1837; died at his residence, 1714 Spruce Street, in Philadelphia, April 12, 1912, and was buried in the family vault in North Laurel Hill Cemetery. In boyhood he attended the Episcopal Academy when Dr. Hare was head master.
On June 30, 1859, he and his brothers, James and Caleb J., succeeded their father, David Milne, in the business of manufacturing cotton and woollen goods, under the firm name of Milne Brothers. The business had been established in 1830. In 1868 he retired from business, and afterward was not engaged in mercantile affairs.
On September 26, 1863, he married Maria Sheppard Dodson, who died July 25, 1864. On June 9, 1870, he mar- ried Annie Clyde, daughter of the late Thomas Clyde of Philadelphia. His widow, two sons, Clyde and Francis Forbes Milne, Jr., and one daughter, Mrs. Harry Bartol Brazier, survive him.
He was a member of the Union League, and in 1865 joined the Masonic Order, Union Lodge No. 121. He asso- ciated himself with the Academy of Natural Sciences in order to pursue microscopical studies, and was prominent
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in the Philadelphia Photographic Society, with which he was long identified. He was active likewise in charitable work and institutions.
REV. ALEXANDER MURRAY, D.D., member 1790.
The Reverend Alexander Murray, briefly referred to in volume I, " History of The St. Andrew's Society," was born in Scotland in 1727 and was educated in King's College, Aberdeen. After his ordination to the ministry, he was induced, it appears, by the Rev. William Smith, who was a graduate of the same college and who was then on a visit to England in the interest of the Academy and College of Philadelphia, to come to Pennsylvania under an appointment by the Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts. Mr. Murray arrived in this country in 1763 and immediately began his ministry at Reading, Pennsylvania.
His ecclesiastical views were of a very decided character and his work as a missionary extensive. He laid the foun- dations of St. Mary's Church at Reading, where the people were most desirous for the continuance of his ministry. He also had charge of the parish of St. Gabriel, Morlatton, opposite Norristown, and of those at Birdsboro and at Doug- lasville, Berks County, Pennsylvania.
During the agitation which existed previous to the War for Independence, Dr. Murray sympathized strongly with the colonies, and in 1775 with a number of other clergymen signed a paper praying " for some method of conciliation and satisfaction of a reasonably discontented people."
When, however, separation became an accomplished fact, he refused to discontinue prayers for the royal family, considering himself bound by his oath to the Crown, and because of this he was threatened with some violence. In 1778 he sailed for London, and continued to reside there during the Revolutionary War.
Being always a strong advocate for an Episcopal Church in the colonies, he used his influence with the Archbishop of Canterbury in asking for the consecration of bishops in the
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United States. He maintained correspondence with the Rev. William White, D.D., and the Rev. Dr. Smith, com- municating the conditions under which consecration would be administered. His advice and influence contributed to that end and deserved honorable mention and grateful re- membrance, resulting, as it did, in the consecration of Bishops William White of Pennsylvania and Samuel Pro- voost of New York, in the chapel of Lambeth Palace, London, February 4, 1787.
In 1790 Dr. Murray returned to Philadelphia, and con- tinued to reside there until his death, September 14, 1793. By his will he left directions to found bursaries in connec- tion with the university at which he graduated.
In volume iii, page 187, 2d series, Pennsylvania Archives, there is recorded a petition from Dr. Murray to the Supreme Executive Council of the State for permission to sell the real estate belonging to the above-named society, "as the Act of Congress declaring the Thirteen Colonies Independ- ent of Great Britain made it necessary to discontinue its missionaries in these parts and employ them in others." The memorial is endorsed, " Ordered that it be granted."
Dr. Murray was buried in Christ Church-yard, and the inscription on the tombstone over his grave (recorded page 297, volume I, "Hist. Catalogue, The St. Andrew's Society ") may be here repeated :
Born in North Britain; educated in King's College, Aberdeen ; departed this life September 14, 1793.
" A truly honest Man, Reader who e'er thou art, Strive to attain this Character."
" A Wit's a feather, and a Chief's a rod; An honest Man's the noblest work of God."
[Memoir by Rev. John A. Childs, D.D., Penna. Archives et al.]
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GEORGE MURRAY, member 1845. Mr. Murray was born in the parish of Keith, Bannf, Scotland, February 20, 1781, the son of George and Margaret Wilson Murray, of that place. He died in Doylestown, Penna., August 22, 1876, at the age of 95 years and six months.
When scarcely out of his teens he was graduated from Marischal College, Aberdeen, and then taught for a while in a private family in the Highlands. In 1804 he came to America and landed in Quebec, and, after remaining a few days there, went to Albany, New York, walking most of the way, as transportation was very limited. He then proceeded to New York City on a sloop, requiring two days for the trip. He later located at Basking-Ridge near Mor- ristown, New Jersey, where he began teaching school, in which occupation he was to attain a high rank.
He taught schools in various places in Bucks County, Penna., from 1807, moving to Doylestown in 1820 or 1821, where he was a teacher in Union Academy until 1829, when he established a private school, which soon gained an ex- tended reputation. Pupils came from all settled portions of the country, from the New England States on the east and as far south as New Orleans, from Canada, and even from the Danish island of St. Thomas. Mr. Caleb J. Milne, of The St. Andrew's Society, was one of his scholars. In 1850 Mr. Murray concluded to give up teaching and retire to his farm, having spent 50 years as teacher in Scotland and this country.
He was a man of splendid mental attainments, a thor- ough linguist, a profound mathematician, a man of wide general information and broad culture. He was also a beau- tiful penman, being scrupulously correct in composition and writing. He had an attractive personality, which, added to a fine sense of humor, made him delightfully companion- able with the learned.
When the Daguerre process of taking likenesses was introduced into the United States, Murray and three com- panions travelled to Philadelphia, and their daguerrotypes were among the first taken here by that process.
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Mr. Murray was twice married. His first wife was Parmelia Brown, by whom he had two children, daughters. His second wife was Rebecca Potts, of Southampton, who died February 5, 1863. There were six children by this marriage.
Mr. Murray was an active member of the Baptist church. [Doylestown Democrat, August 31, 1908.]
COLONEL CARSWELL MCCLELLAN, member 1865, was the second son of Dr. Samuel McClellan, of Philadelphia, and his wife Margaret Carswell Ely, and a brother of Dr. Ely McClellan, referred to, page 240, " Hist. Catalogue, The St. Andrew's Society " (1907).
He was born in Philadelphia, December 3, 1835, and died in St. Paul, Minnesota, March 6, 1892.
After a year at the University of Pennsylvania, Colonel McClellan entered Williams College, and was graduated in 1855, receiving the degree of A.M. in 1858. He became a noted civil engineer, being identified with railroad construc- tion and operation in the Western States and in Brazil. After the outbreak of the Civil War he was commissioned second lieutenant, Thirty-second New York Infantry, May 7, 1862; captain and assistant adjutant-general of volun- teers, October 1, 1862; brevet major and lieutenant-colonel U. S. Volunteers, March 13, 1865, “ for gallant and meri- torious services during the war." He served on the staff of General Andrew A. Humphreys, and participated in the battles of Malvern Hill, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, etc., being wounded both at Malvern Hill and Gettysburg. He was taken prisoner in the fight for the Weldon Railroad, August 19, 1864; paroled and honorably discharged November 16, 1864. He married Annie Davis, daughter of Vines Davis, of Collinsville, Illinois.
At the time of his death he was engaged in writing a his- tory of the Third Corps, Army of the Potomac. As a writer he wielded a strong, graceful, and polished pen.
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PROF. GEORGE MCCLELLAN, M.D., member 1911. Dr. McClellan was born in Philadelphia, October 29, 1849, and died in that city, after a short illness, on March 29, 1913.
He had a notable ancestry, dating back to Colonial times. General George B. McClellan, for a time commander of the Union forces during the Civil War, was his uncle; the for- mer Mayor of New York of the same name was his cousin ; Dr. George McClellan, who founded Jefferson College in 1825, was his grandfather, and his father was Dr. John Hill Brinton McClellan, also a noted physician; General Samuel McClellan, of Woodstock, Conn., a bosom friend of Washington, was his great-great-grandfather.
Dr. McClellan entered the department of Arts at the University of Pennsylvania in 1865, and left there in his senior year to matriculate at the Jefferson College, from which he graduated as M.D. in 1870. He at once began the practice of his profession, devoting himself to general surgery.
In 1872 he went abroad and pursued his studies in the great hospitals of Paris, Berlin, Vienna, London, and Edin- burgh. Upon his return he was successively elected surgeon to the Howard Hospital, the Philadelphia General Hospital, and the St. Joseph's Hospital.
Dr. McClellan began his career as a teacher at the Penn- sylvania School of Anatomy and Surgery, established by him in 1881, where he taught for twelve years and first developed his talent for free-hand drawing, with which he illustrated his lectures. This talent, his anatomical knowledge and love of art, led to his election as professor of anatomy and art at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, where he lec- tured for twenty-three years. In 1906 he was elected to the chair of applied anatomy at the Jefferson College, which professorship he held at the time of his death.
His book on Regional Anatomy, unique in the field of anatomical writings, passed through four editions, and was translated into French and passed through two editions in Paris.
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Dr. McClellan employed photography in the illustration of his work on anatomy.
Besides his books on Regional Anatomy and Anatomy in its Relation to Art, he wrote the " Anatomy of Children " in Keating's " Encyclopædia of the Diseases of Children," and such other scientific papers as A Study of the Effects of Shock, the Repair of Wounds, etc., and on practical sur- gical subjects as the Treatment of Carbuncle by the Sponge Dressing and Pressure, and the Uses of the Antiseptic Moist Sponge Dressing in Amputations of the Joints. He also in- vented a valuable surgical needle. In miscellaneous writing he produced a number of papers on various subjects, an amusing sketch, among others, of the life of George Fred- erick Cooke, the actor (whose skull had been presented to him by the famous Dr. Francis), called " The Strolling of a Player's Head," a life of Dr. Physick, and a short biogra- phy of his own grandfather.
Besides holding the chairs of anatomy at the Academy of Fine Arts and at Jefferson Medical College, Dr. McClellan was a member of the Association of American Anatomists, of the Academy of Natural Sciences, of the Academy of Sur- gery, of the Medical Club of Philadelphia, of the University Club, the Contemporary Club, vice-president of the Philo- biblon Club, consulting surgeon to the Howard Hospital, and lecturer on anatomy at the Pennsylvania School of Anatomy and Surgery.
He died after a three days' illness, retaining conscious- ness and the use of all his faculties to the end. The large attendance of students at his funeral was the best evidence of their appreciation of him, and the representative men in all walks of life who filled the church attested the high respect in which he was held. The loss of such a man is indeed to be deplored.
In 1873 Dr. McClellan married Miss Harriet Hare, daughter of Robert Harford Hare and Catharine Fleming, and granddaughter of Dr. Robert Hare, also a noted physician,
[ Copied in part from sketch by Mrs. Franklin Q. Brown. ]
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JAMES McCREA (Former President Pennsylvania R. R. Co.) Member 1907 Died March 28, 1913
Biographies of Deceased Members
JAMES McCREA, member 1907. Mr. McCrea was born in Philadelphia, May I, 1848, and died at his home, Ard- more, Penna., March 28, 1913. He was the son of Dr. James Alexander and Ann B. Foster McCrea and a de- scendant of one of the oldest families in Pennsylvania. His first American ancestor, whose name he bore, came to this State in 1776 from Londonderry, Ireland, as a representa- tive of one of the leading foreign banking institutions, and immediately took front rank as a financier. On Irish soil the McCrea family goes back five generations to the historic clan McRea of Scotland. Mr. McCrea wore their coat-of- arms engraved on the seal of a finger-ring.
The future president of the Pennsylvania Railroad received his early training at the school of the Rev. John W. Faries, D.D., and the Pennsylvania Polytechnic College, being graduated from the latter institution with the degree of civil engineer. He began his railway service in 1865, as rodman, then was made assistant engineer of the Connells- ville and Southern Pennsylvania Railroad. In 1867, he was transferred to engineering work in the construction of the Wilmington and Reading Railroad. The following year he was engaged as assistant engineer on the Allegheny Valley Railroad.
Mr. McCrea entered the service of the Pennsylvania Rail- road in 1871 as principal assistant engineer in the construc- tion department, where his work won almost instant recog- nition because of its accuracy and the ready knowledge of the young engineer. His advancement was rapid to places of responsibility requiring executive ability. He was appointed assistant engineer of maintenance of way of the Philadelphia Division August 1, 1874; promoted to the superintendency of the Middle Division on January 1, 1875, then advanced to the position of superintendent of the New York Division October 15, 1878.
The long connection of Mr. McCrea with the western lines of the Pennsylvania Railroad began on May 1, 1882, when he was made manager of the Southwest System, with head-
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quarters at Columbus, Ohio. On October 10, 1885, he was advanced to the post of general manager of all the lines west of Pittsburgh ; on October 19, 1887, he was made fourth vice- president, second vice-president on March 1, 1890, and first vice-president on April 23, 1891.
The position of vice-president was held for 16 years by Mr. McCrea, during which he was closely associated in projects of great development that pressed upon the com- pany in meeting the demands of the great city at the head- waters of the Ohio. During this period he became president of the Vandalia Railroad Company; Grand Rapids and In- diana Railway Company; Cleveland, Akron and Columbus Railway Company; Cincinnati and Muskingum Valley Rail- way Company, and a number of lesser transportation lines.
Mr. McCrea was elected a director of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company June 9, 1899, at the time of the election of A. J. Cassatt as president. Following the death of Mr. Cassatt, in December, 1906, he was chosen president of the company on January 2, 1907. Soon after assuming the presidency of the corporation he was elected president of the Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Railroad; the Northern Central Railway Company; the West Jersey and Seashore Railroad Company; the Pennsylvania Company, and the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Rail- way Company.
Before his election to the head of the company and while still a resident of Pittsburgh, Mr. McCrea was, in February, 1898, elected a trustee of the University of Pennsylvania, succeeding ex-Senator John Scott. It was the first time in the history of the institution that a member of the board had been selected from a city outside Philadelphia. He remained a trustee five years, resigning because it was impos- sible to attend the meetings of the board.
Mr. McCrea possessed a personality that made him popu- lar with his associates and other officials of the company. He was a great lover of home and family, keenly enjoyed domestic life, and his great longing was for the coming of a
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time when he might retire when still in vigor and good health to the privacy of home and family circle. He possessed a wide acquaintance with financiers, railroad officials, edu- cators, and professional men on both sides of the Atlantic, and numbered governors and presidents among his personal friends.
DAVID MCILVAINE, a founder of The St. Andrew's So- ciety, 1749, Secretary 1752, Assistant 1757-1760. He was a brother of William, also one of the founders of the Society, noted below. He was born in Ayr, Scotland, September 22, 1723, and died in Philadelphia in 1761.
His father, Joseph McIlvaine, who married, first, Anna Rodgerson, of Dumfries, and, later, Jane Hunter, of Ayr, was a man of prominence in the town of Ayr and held a num- ber of positions of importance. They traced descent back to Alexander Macilvaine, who about 1520 married a niece of the Earl of Cassilis, and who in 1529 was confirmed by James V to lands now part of the possessions of the Earl of Cassilis, Marquis of Ailsa.
Two of the sons of Joseph McIlvaine, David and William, came to America about 1745 and settled in Phila- delphia. They engaged as partners in business as shipping merchants, which grew to large proportions, and the ships of which they were owners, or part owners, constituted a considerable fleet.
Both the brothers joined the social circles of that day, as they, with other members of The St. Andrew's Society, as elsewhere stated, were subscribers to the notable City Dancing Assembly. David married Miss Elizabeth (Betty) Graydon, daughter of Col. Alexander Graydon, of the Pro- vincial Army of Pennsylvania, and it appears from the terms of his will that he died without issue.
A brother of Mrs. McIlvaine was Alexander Graydon, Jr., a gallant soldier during the Revolution and subsequently an author of celebrity; his memoirs of the times are fre- quently referred to by historians.
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[Reference to this family of McIlvaines condensed from Frank Willing Leach's " Old Philadelphia Families," in the North American, June 16, 1912.]
JOSEPH MCILVAINE, JUNIOR, member 1834. Born in Burlington, New Jersey, December 31, 1800; died in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, January 16, 1839.
His father, Joseph McIlvaine, was a son of Doctor William McIlvaine, whose biography follows. Joseph Mc- Ilvaine attained great prominence in public affairs and filled a number of high positions. After leaving his father's place in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, he settled in Burlington, New Jersey, and was later elected United States Senator from that State. His sons also secured responsible positions in social, political, and business life.
Our member, Joseph, was graduated from Princeton in 1818 and was admitted to the Philadelphia bar in 1821. On August 29, 1829, he was appointed Recorder of the City of Philadelphia, and so served until elected a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. He was secretary of a commission appointed by the Legislature to obtain in- formation and determine whether the Commonwealth should lend its aid in building a canal system to Lake Erie, or, in the construction of a railroad over the Allegheny Mountains, subsequently assumed by the Pennsylvania Railroad.
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