Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/180

148 McMAHON, Laurence Stephen, R. C. bishop, b. in Nova Scotia, 24 Dec, 1885 ; d. in Lakeville, Conn., 21 Aug., 1893. After coming to the U. S. he studied in Boston, Worcester, Mass., Baltimore, Md., and Montreal ; he then went abroad, and received his theological education at Aix and in Rome. He was ordained to the Roman Catholic priesthood in I860, and, returning to the United States, was first stationed at the cathedral in Boston, Mass. In 1863 he became chaplain of the 28th Massachusetts regiment, and after the war he was pastor in Bridgeport, Conn., and subsequently in New Bedford, Mass., where he built the church of St. Lawrence and a hospital under the charge of the Sisters of Mercy. He was vicar-general of the see of Providence in 1872-'9, and at the latter date was consecrated bishop of Hartford, Conn. He received the degree of D. D. from Rome in 1872.

McMAHON, Martin Thomas, soldier, b. in La- prairie, Canada, 21 March, 1838. He was gradu- ated at St. John's college, Fordham, N. Y., in 1855. and subsequently studied law. For a time he was special post-office agent for the Pacific coast, and also served as Indian agent, but at the beginning of the civil war he volunteered and was made cap- tain, becoming aide-de-camp to Gen. George B. McClellan. In 1862 he was appointed adjutant- general and chief of staff of the 6th corps of the Army of the Potomac, under Gen. William B. Franklin, serving also under Gens. John Sedgwick and Horatio G. Wright until after the final opera- tions before Petersburg. He I'esigned in 1866, after receiving the brevets of brigadier- and major-gen- eral of volunteers on 13 March, 1865. In 1866-'7 he was corporation attorney of the city of New York, and in 1868-9 he was tJ. S. minister to Paraguay. In 1872 he was appointed receiver of taxes in New York city, which office he held until 1885, when he became U. S. marshal of the southern district of New York. Gen. McMahon received the degree of LL. D. from St. John's college in 1866. During 1886-'7 he was president of the Society of the Army of the Potomac. His brother, John Eugene, b. in Waterford, Ireland, in 1834, d. in Buffalo, N. Y., in May, 1863, and another brother, James Power, b. in Waterford, Ireland, in 1836, killed at the bat- tle of Cold Harbor, in June, 1864, each had com- mand of the 164th New York volunteers. They had previously graduated from St. John's college, and w^ere practising lawvers when the civil war began.

'''MACMASTER. Donald''', Canadian member of parliament, b. in Glengarry, 3 Sept., 1846. He was graduated at McGill university as bachelor of civil law in 1871, admitted to the bar of Quebec in that year, and to that of Ontario in 1882, when he also became a Queen's counsel. He represented Glengarry in the Ontario parliament from 1879 till he resigned in May, 1882. to become a candi- date for the Dominion parliament, to which he was elected for the same constituency. He has gained reputation as an eloquent speaker.

McMASTER, Gilbert, clergyman, b. in the parish of Saintfield, Ireland, 13 Feb., 1778; d. in New Albany, Ind., 15 March, 1854. He emigrated with his parents to the United States in 1791, studied two years at Jefi'erson college, Pa., and was licensed to practise medicine in 1805, but aban- doned it for theology, and in 1807 was licensed to preach, being ordained the next year as pastor of the Reformed Presbyterian church of Duanes- burg, N. Y. He officiated tiiere until 1840, when he accepted a call from the church in Princeton, Ind., which he resigned, on account of the failure of his health, in 1846. Union gave him the degree of D, D. in 1828. His works include " An Essay in Defence of Some Fundamental Doctrines of Chris- tianity" (Utica, N. Y.. 1815); "The Shorter Cate- chism Analyzed" (1815): "An Apology for the Book of Psaims " (1818) ; and the " Moral Character of Civil Government" (1832). — His son, Erasmus Darwin, clergyman, b. in Mercer, Pa., 4 Feb., 1806: d. in Chicago, 111., 11 Sept., 1866, was gradu- ated at Union in 1827, studied theology under his father, and in 1831 was ordained pastor of the Presbyterian church in Ballston, N. Y. He be- came president of South Hanover college, Ind., in 1838, but resigned in 1845 to accept the presidency of Miami university. After four years' service in that institution he was made professor of systematic theology in New Albany theological seminary, and from January, 1866, till his death, a few months afterward, occupied the same chair in the Theo- logical seminary of the northwest, Chicago, 111. Dr. McMaster exercised an almost unbounded in- fluence over the students with whom he was con- nected. Union gave him the degree of D. D. in 1841. — Another son, James Alphonsus, journalist, b. in Duanesburg. Schenectady co., N. Y., 1 April. 1820 ; d. in Brooklyn, N. Y., 29 Dec, 1886, entered Union college, but left without being graduated, began the study of law, and became a private tu- tor. In 1845 he united with the Roman Catholic church, and soon afterward went to Belgium, where he entered a Redemptorist novitiate for " reflection and study to decide his vocation." His own inclination at that time tended toward the priesthood, but his confessor commanded him to " enter the world and become a Catholic journal- ist." He returned to the United States, bought in 1848 the " Freeman's Journal and Catholic Regis- ter," and for nearly forty years was regarded as the chief Roman Catholic journalist in this country. In 1861 he was arrested and confined in Fort La- fayette for his uncompromising strictures upon the war measures of President Lincoln, and his paper was suppressed. At the end of eleven months he was released, and the publication of the " Free- man's Journal " was resumed, 19 April, 1862. Al- though a life-long Democrat, he bitterly opposed the candidacy of Samuel J. Tilden, and, in spite of his devotion to his church, he did not spare its highest dignitaries. Much of his violent language during the last ten years of his life was attributed to chronic disease.

McMASTER, Guy Humphrey, poet, b. in Clyde, N. Y., 31 Jam, 1829 ; d. in Bath, Steuben CO., N. Y., 13 Sept., 1887. He was graduated at Hamilton college in 1847. with the reputation of being the most brilliant student that the college had ever known. At nineteen years of age he wrote " Carmen Bellicosum," better known as " The Old Continentals," which was published in the "Knickerbocker Magazine," and at once attained popularity. In his youth he also contributed to the " Whig Review " and " Putnam's Monthly." and published a " History of Steuben County, N. Y." (Bath, 1849). He afterward abandoned literature for law, and contributed to the press only at intervals. He edited the "Steuben Courier" in 1855, again in 1876, and in 1877, while he was abroad, he contributed to its columns a series of articles called " Other Side Letters," that were widely copied. His best-known poems besides " Carmen Bellicosum " are a " Dream of Thanksgiving Eve " (1864) ; " The Commanders," a poem delivered at the Newton Sullivan centennial celebration, which is included in " Gen. Sullivan's Indian Expedition " (New York, 1887); and "The Professor's Guest Chamber " (1880). He was admitted to the bar of Steuben coimty in 1852, and practised until 1863,