538 



MEDILL, WILLIAM. 



the community, tinder obstacles and discour- 

 agements that would almost have appalled any 

 other man. From thence he returned to Bos- 

 ton, and soon after commenced the publication 

 of the " Christian Observatory," which he 

 edited more than three years. He assisted 

 also three years in conducting the "Puritan 

 Recorder," then edited by Dr. Parsons Cooke. 

 About this time he was recalled to his own 

 church in Maiden, where he remained a few 

 years, and was then installed over the Dutch 

 Reformed church in Grand Street, Jersey City. 

 He remained pastor of that church three years, 

 and on his dismission, at once entered upon 

 the duties of Secretary of the American and 

 Foreign Christian Union, in place of Rev. Dr. 

 Baird, resigned. In the first year of his secre- 

 taryship he was appointed chaplain at Rome. 

 At the anniversaries of the great benevolent 

 societies in London and Paris, he represented 

 his own society iu public addresses. He spent 

 much time in Paris in making arrangements 

 and collecting subscriptions for erecting a 

 chapel there. After his return to the United 

 States he occupied himself very earnestly in 

 measures to secure the erection of the Paris 

 chapel. This object was happily effected after 

 having been talked of in vain by good men 

 for more than thirty years. The following 

 spring, March, 1859, he was suddenly attacked 

 by the asthma with great violence, at Rutland, 

 Vermont, on a journey, which soon disabled 

 him from active labors, and from which he 

 never fully recovered. Dr. McClure published 

 a large number of works during his ministry, 

 among which are the following : A little tract 

 called the " Life Boat," which had a wide cir- 

 culation it was called "An Allegory;" 

 " Four Lectures on Ultra Universalism," three 

 editions, two volumes of the " Lives of the 

 Chief Fathers of New-England," in the series 

 published by the Mass. S. S. Society, and 

 "Translators Reviewed," giving a biographical 

 sketch of each translator concerned in King 

 James' version. This has been adopted by the 

 Board of Publication of the Reformed Dutch 

 Church. Dr. McClure was a man of extensive 

 learning, a sound divine, and warm and faith- 

 ful in his friendships. 



MEDILL, Hon. WILLIAM, ex-Governor of 

 Ohio, born in Newcastle County, Delaware, in 

 1805, died at Lancaster, Ohio, September 2, 

 1865. He received a thorough academical edu- 

 cation, studied law, and having removed to 

 Ohio, was admitted to the bar of that State in 

 1832. He was soon after elected to the State 

 Legislature, and gained some distinction as one 

 of the Democratic leaders ; was twice elected 

 Speaker, and was a Representative in Congress 

 from that State from 1839 to 1843. Under the 

 administration of President Polk ho was ap- 

 pointed first Assistant Postmaster-General, and 

 subsequently held the office of Commissioner of 

 Indian Affairs, the duties of which position he 

 discharged with great acceptability. When 

 delegates were elected to the Constitutional 



MEEK, ALEXANDER B. 



Convention, by which the present constitution 

 of Ohio was framed, Mr. Medill was elected as 

 one of the delegates from Fairfield County. Of 

 the Constitutional Convention he was chosen 

 the presiding officer, and he received the award 

 of the members thereof as a presiding officer 

 . of rare excellence. At the first election under 

 the present constitution he was elected Lieu- 

 tenant-Governor by the Democratic party, and 

 succeeded to the Governorship by reason of Gov. 

 Wood having resigned the Governorship and 

 accepted the consulship to Valparaiso. In Octo- 

 ber, 1853, Mr. Medill was elected Governor, and 

 served out the term of his office. Under Pres- 

 ident Buchanan he held the position of Comp- 

 troller of the Treasury. The duties of every 

 trust reposed in Mr. Medill were discharged 

 with ability and strict fidelity. In his public 

 and private relations he was a man of great 

 purity of character. In his politics he was a 

 Democrat, true and unfaltering. 



MEEK, Hon. ALEXANDER BEATTFORT, an emi- 

 nent lawyer and author, born in South Caroli- 

 na in 1814, died at Columbus, Miss., November 

 30, 1865. His father, a physician and clergy- 

 man of the Methodist Church, removed with 

 his family to Alabama in 1819 and settled at 

 Tuscaloosa. The son was graduated at the 

 University of Alabama, and was admitted to 

 the bar in 1835, where his logic, legal research, 

 wit, and eloquence gave him at once a place in 

 the front rank of his legal compeers. He 

 served in 1836 in the Seminole war, and was 

 soon after appointed Attorney-General of his 

 State, which office he abandoned for an edi- 

 torial position, as more in consonance with the 

 literary bent of his mind. In 1842 he became 

 Judge of the County Court of Tuscaloosa, and 

 during his term of office published a xiseful 

 "Digest" of the laws of the State. In 1845 

 he held the post of law clerk, in the office of 

 the Solicitor of the Treasury at Washington, 

 and in 1846 was appointed United States Dis- 

 trict Attorney for Southern Alabama, which 

 post he held for four years, the next five being 

 devoted to editorial duties, during which time 

 he was elected, in 1855, to the State Legisla- 

 ture, where he originated and carried out the 

 Free School system of the State. In 1854 he 

 was appointed Judge of Probate for Mobile 

 County, from which office he was ousted at 

 the next election by the Know-Nothing party, 

 who then held the reins of power in Mobile. 

 In 1856 he was a Democratic Presidential 

 Elector, and also in 1860, when he supported 

 Mr. Breckinridge. In 1859 he was reflected 

 to the Legislature, and chosen Speaker of that 

 body, an office which he filled with a grace and 

 dignity and thorough knowledge of parliamen- 

 tary usages which can never be forgotten by 

 his associates. For years prior to his death, 

 however, his attention was mainly devoted to 

 literary pursuits, and in 1855 he published 

 " Red Eagle," an historic poem of the Creek 

 war, which was soon followed by " Songs of 

 the South," and " Romantic Passages in South- 



