Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/121

Rh McCULLOUGH, John Edward, actor, b. in Coleraine, Ireland, 2 Nov., 1887; d. in Philadelphia, Pa., 8 Nov., 1885. His parents, who were small farmers, brought him to this country in 1853 and settled in Philadelphia, where the lad was appren- ticed to learn the trade of a chair-maker. In 1855 McCuUough made his first appearance in a minor character in " The Belle's Stratagem," at the Arch street theatre in Philadelphia, and soon afterward chose the stage as a regular profession. For several years he acted in small parts in Boston, Pliihidcl- phia, and other cities. From 1866 until 1868 Mc- CuUough travelled with Edwin F'orrest, filling the second parts in the latter's plays. In 1869, and for some years afterward, in connection with Lawrence Barrett, he managed the Bush street theatre in San Francisco, where his forcible, robust style of acting had many admirers. In 1872, when Forrest died, that actor left his manuscript plays in McCullough's possession, looking upon him as his legitimate suc- cessor. From 1878 until 1888 the tragedian played, with more or less success, throughout the United States, in the heroic roles of John Howard Payne's " Brutus," " Jack Cade," •' The Gladiator," " Vir- ginius," and " Damon and Pythias," with occasion- al performances of " Othello," *' Coriolanus," and " King Lear." In 1884 he became prostrated, both mentally and physically, but rallied for a time and filled an engagement in Milwaukee. Thence he went to Chicago, where his managers induced him to play in " The Gladiator," but he broke down, and was led from the stage in the midst of his per- formance. He ended his days in a lunatic asylum. In 1881 McCullough appeared in London in a round of his favorite parts, but made no marked im- pression on English audiences. His shortcomings were a lack of originality and deficiency in liter- ary culture. He was inferior to his model, Forrest, in natural endowments, and when he appeared in the parts that distinguished his master he dis- played all his defects, and too closely rendered the faulty readings that were based on the judgment of his predecessor. Unlike him, however, he en- riched the stage with no new dramas, and created no original characters.

McCULLY, Jonathan, Canadian jurist, b. in Amherst, Nova Scotia, 28 July, 1809 : d. in Halifax, Nova Scotia, 2 Jan., 1877. He was admitted to the bar in 1837, established himself in practice at Hali- fax in 1849, and in 1860 was appointed solicitor- general of the province. He was a frequent writer in the press of Halifax and an earnest advocate of colonial union, and was a delegate to the confer- ences on the Intercolonial railroad and the con- federation of the provinces at Quebec in 1861 and 1862. He was an active member of the legislative council from 1847 till 1867, and served as chairman of the board of railways. In 1867 he entered the Dominion senate, but resigned in 1870, being ap- pointed judge of the supreme court of Nova Scotia.

McCURDY, Charles Johnson, jurist, b. in Lyme, Conn., 7 Dec, 1797 ; d. there. 8 June, 1891. He was graduated at Yale in 1817, studied law, became eminent as a counsellor, and was for many years a member of either the upper or lower house of the legislature, and for three sessions speaker. He was lieutenant-governor in 1847-8, and origi- nated the law allowing parties to testify in their own suits. He was charge d'affaires at Vienna from 1850 till 1852. He was appointed a judge of the superior court of Connecticut in 1856, and was sub- sequently a judge on the supreme court bench un- til his retirement in 1867. Judge McCurdy was an active member of the peace congress in 1861. He was given the degree of LL. D. by Yale in 1868.

McCURDY, James Frederick', orientalist, b. in Chatham, New Brunswick, 18 Feb., 1847. He was graduated at the University of New Brunswick in 1866, and in 1871 at Princeton theological semi- nary, where he was instructor in oriental languages in 1873-82. After studying in Gottingen and Leip- sic in 1882-'4, he lectured on the Stone* foundation in Princeton in 1885-'6, and in the latter year be- came professor of oriental languages in University college, Toronto, Canada. In the Lange-Schaff commentary on the Bible he translated and edited the Psalms, part ii., and the Book of Hosea, and wrote the commentary on Haggai (New York, 1872-'3), and he has published " Aryo-Semitic Speech " ( Andover and London, 1881) ; and a paper on " The Semitic Prefect in Assyria " in the " Trans- actions of the Congress of Orientalists " (Leyden, 1883) ; and is preparing for publication (1887) his Princeton lectures on " The Assyrian Inscriptions and the Old Testament."

McDANIEL, Edward Davies, physician, b. in Chester district, S. C, 7 July, 1822. He was gradu- ated at Erskine college, S. C., in 1844, and began the study of medicine, but relinquished it to be- come principal of the academy at Pine Grove, S. C, in 1845. After teaching for ten years, he was graduated in 1857 at the Medical college of South Carolina, and settled at Camden, Ala. In 1887 he became professor of materia medica and thera- peutics in the Medical college of Alabama at Mo- bile. He was chosen president of the Alabama state medical society in 1876. Dr. McDaniel is the inventor of a new method of artificial respiration, and has advanced the theory that urinification and digestion are dependent on respiration. He is the author of a report on hfemorrhagic malarial fever in Alabama (1874) and of various professional papers.

McDANIEL, Henry Dickerson, governor of Georgia, b. in Monroe, Walton co., Ga., 4 Sept., 1837. He was graduated at Mercer university, where his father, Ira 0., was a professor, in 1856, studied law, and practised in Monroe. He was the youngest member of the Georgia secession conven- tion in 1861, and at first opposed disunion, but finally voted for the measure. He joined the Con- federate army as a lieutenant, rose to thfe rank of major in 1862. commanded a brigade at Gettysburg, was severely wounded at Hagerstown in the retreat from Gettysburg, and was in the hospital at Ches- ter, Pa., and subsequently a pi-isoner at Johnson's island, Ohio, until the close of hostilities. He re- sumed practice at Monroe, Ga., in 1865, and was a member of the State constitutional convention in that year. On the removal of his civil disabilities in 1872 he was elected to the legislature, and, as chairman of the finance committee of the house, proposed a law for the taxation of railroads that has been followed in other states. After the adop- tion of the constitution of 1877, as chairman of the judiciary committee, he had charge of the legisla- tion that was made necessary by constitutional changes. On the death of Gov. Alexander H. Stephens he was elected governor, 24 April, 1883, for the unexpired term, and in 1884 was re-elected without opposition for the succeeding term, which ended in November, 1886.

McDILL, Alexander Stuart, physician, b. in Crawford county. Pa., 18 March, 1822; d. near Madison, Wis., 12 Nov., 1875. He was educated at Alleghany college and Cleveland medical college, where he was graduated in 1848, and engaged in general practice in Pennsylvania till 1856, when he removed to Plover, Portage co.. Wis. He was elected to the state house of representatives in 1861, and to the senate in 1863, was a presidential