Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/321

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MEDBERRY
MEEHAN

1828 he established the " Ohio Sun " to advocate the claims of Gen. Jackson for the presidency. He was elected as a Jackson man to the state house of representatives in 1884, was then sent to the senate, and, after serving two years, removed to Columbus and purchased the "Western Hemisphere," which was afterward changed to the "Ohio Statesman," and which he edited almost continuously till 1857. This paper soon became a power, not only in Ohio but in all the northwest and the south. He supported Jackson in his contests with the U. S. bank, and advocated his views on the tariff with ability, and probably no man enjoyed the confidence and warm personal esteem of the president to a greater extent than Medary. The cry of " Fifty-four forty, or fight," relative to the Oregon boundary question, is said to have been originated by him, and he became the warm friend of Stephen A. Douglas from his support of that measure. In 1844 he was chairman of the Ohio delegation to the Baltimore convention. Jackson had written a letter to Mr. Medary asking him in the event of discord to present the name of James K. Polk for the presidency. In the midst of wild excitement Mr. Medary produced this letter with the result that Polk was nominated by acclamation. Mr. Medary declined the office of U. S. minister to Chili in 1853. In 1856 he was temporary chairman of the Cincinnati convention that nominated James Buchanan, and strongly advocated the nomination of his friend Douglas. He was the last territorial governor of Minnesota in 1857-8, and of Kansas in 1859-'60. His administrations were eminently successful, particularly in Kansas. The press of both parties in that territory accorded him equal praise. In December, 1860, he resigned and returned to Columbus, Ohio, to establish the "Crisis," which he edited until his death. In his early days he was devoted to horticulture and agriculture, and he was one of the originators of the Ohio state fairs, being their first treasurer and for several terms president. He also actively aided Samuel P. B. Morse in promoting the electric telegraph. He was known as the " Old wheel-horse of Democracy." One of his characteristics was the ability to write while keeping up a running conversation. In 1869 a monument was erected to his memory in Columbus by the Democrats of Ohio.


MEDBERRY, Rebecca B. (Stetson), author, b. in Roxbury, Mass., in 1808; d. in Lynn, Mass., in 1868. She married Rev. George Kalloch in 1829, and after his death became in 1837 the wife of the Rev. Nicholas Medberry, pastor of the Baptist church in Watertown, Mass., and afterward city missionary in Portsmouth, N.H. She published “Memoir of William G. Crocker, late Missionary in Western Africa, with a History of the Bassa Mission” (Boston, 1848); “Memoirs of Mrs. Sarah Emily York” (1853); and numerous Sunday-school books, besides contributions to journals.


MEDILL, Joseph, journalist, b. in New Brunswick, Canada, 6 March, 1823; d. in San Antonio, Texas, 16 March, 1899. His father removed to Ohio, where the son worked on a farm, subsequently practising law at Massilon. He founded a Free-soil paper at Coshocton in 1849, established “The Leader,” a Whig journal, at Cleveland in 1852, and in 1854 was one of the organizers of the Republican party in Ohio. Soon afterward he went to Chicago, and with two partners bought, in May, 1855, the “Tribune,” with which he was afterward identified. He was a member of the Illinois constitutional convention of 1870, and author of a minority representation clause; in 1871 he was a member of the U.S. civil service commission, and was elected mayor of Chicago. He spent a year in Europe in 1873-'74, and on his return purchased a controlling interest in the “Tribune” of which he became and continued editor-in-chief.


MEDILL, William, governor of Ohio, b. in New Castle county, Del., in 1805; d. in Lancaster, Ohio, 2 Sept., 1865; He studied law, and in 1832 was admitted to the bar of Lancaster, Ohio, to which state he had previously removed. He was soon afterward elected to the legislature, served several years, was twice speaker, and in 1838 was elected to congress as a Democrat, serving till 1843. He was first assistant postmaster in 1845-'49, then became commissioner of Indian affairs, and in 1850 was chairman of the Ohio constitutional convention. He was lieutenant-governor of the state in 1851-'53, and governor 1853-'56. During Buchanan's administration he was first comptroller of the U.S. treasury.


MEDINA, Antonio (may-dee'-nah), Cuban au- thor, b. in Havana in 1824 ; d. in 1884. He was of African descent, but was born free. He opened in 1861 a public school for colored boys, where many of the African race received free education, and he worked in other ways for the elevation of the col- ored people. He showed from his youth a love for poetry, and in 1849 published a drama. " Ladoiska." He was also the author of a volume of poems (1851); "El Guajiro generoso" (1858); and "Jaco- l30 Gerondi," a drama (1880) ; and wrote two other dramas, " La Maldicion " and " La hija del pueblo."


MEDLEY, John, Canadian Anglican bishop, b. in London, Eng., 19 Dec, 1804; d. at Fredericton, N. B., 9 Sept., 1892. He was graduated at Oxford, and in 1838 became vicar of St. Thomas's, Exeter, and prebend- ary of the cathedral there. In 1845 he was consecrated first bish- op of Fredericton, his diocese including the entire province of New Brunswick. In 1864 the degree of D. D. was conferred upon him, and in 1879 he became metropolitan of Canada. Among other works he was the author of " Episcopal Form of Church Gov- ernment " (London, 1835) ; "Translation of the Homilies of St. Chrysostom" (Oxford, 1839-'40);

" Sermons " (London, 1845) ; "Translation of the

Book of Job " (Fredericton, 1879) ; " The Reformation," and charges to clergy, republished at Oxford.


MEEHAN, Thomas, botanist, b. in Potter's Bar, Middlesex, England. 21 JIarch, 1826. He was educated in public schools in England, and spent two years in botanical studies in Kew. In 1848 he arrived in the United States and settled in Phila- delphia, where he became a gardener, and in 1854 established a nursery in Germantown, which he still (1888) maintains. In 1876 he accepted the ap- pointment of botanist to the Pennsylvania board of agriculture without compensation, and he has been annually re-elected since that time. He is also professor of botany to the State herb associa- tion and vice-director of the Academy of natural sciences of Philadelphia, of which he became vice- president in 1879. In 1883 he was elected to the city council of Philadelphia, and he has been an- nually re-elected. His scientific work has included original investigations in botany, which have been